From snow to sixty degrees.

Photo copyright Aji, 2020; all rights reserved.

That was yesterday. Today? We've gone from snow to sixty degrees.

Operating today on not much sleep; yesterday was far, far better than Sunday (not feeling like you're skating to the edge of dying again will do that for you), but the pred kinda guarantees insomnia. It will induce a monster headache, too, and that's where we are right now.

The other headache is the lack of sales, and how we're going to survive — not this quasi-quarantine, but the rest of the year.

Everything here is canceled. The whole economy of this county is based around tourism, and the reality for Indigenous folks here is that there will NO economy for us, none at least for the duration of the summer, and at this rate?  Probably not all year. No tourism, no art markets, no ability to sell. Most of our clientele has moved to online patronage now, so we are hit less hard than most. But the three sales we've had so far this year? That might be all we get. We'll be fine for a while, having stocked up on food and supplies and firewood and so forth. But the bills still have to get paid, and honestly? If we don't start making some sales soon, I don't know how we survive the year.

Three sales are not going to keep us alive, and we still have taxes and other expenses to pay. Just to cover all of the outgo over recent weeks, I need to bring in about $5,000 fast; I've got to make sure we can get through the rest of the year. So please share all of our links, because while we're all in isolation? Income is already nothing, and we can survive the isolation, but not the inability to feed the maw of all the bills. The links are here:

• Sales here; 
• Testimonials here; 
• Amazon wishlist here;
• Patreon here;
• Ko-fi here.

Note: For now, please don't buy anything off the Amazon wishlist; to do so would be crossing a picket line, and some of their workers have struck this morning to fight for safer working conditions because their lives are being put at even greater risk during this pandemic. If you find one of the items elsewhere, wonderful (I need to find a bread machine with a GF setting somewhere!), but for the duration of the strike, please don't buy anything off the list from there. 

Other than that, please share everything. Thanks.

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Aji, 2020; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.

Red Willow Spirit: The Flow of the First Medicine

Photo copyright Wings, 2020; 
all rights reserved.

Now posted at The NDN Silver Blog, it's an edition of Red Willow Spirit for an earth in need of healing at a time of risk and renewal. It's a meditation on the nature of love and life and water, and on the healing powers to be found in the flow of the First Medicine.

The post is here. Wings's main page is here. As always, his photos are available in any of the usual three formats; to order them or the silverwork shown, simply inquire via the site's Contact form. And, as always, sales are very much needed (with an unusually huge cluster of bills and expenses for January, February, and March, taxes ahead for April, and the pandemic having reduced our sales to zero), so shares of the site links are much appreciated.

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2020; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.

A constant stream of storms.

Photo copyright Aji, 2020; all rights reserved.

A constant stream of storms. That was yesterday at day's end. This morning, we have snow, albeit only flurries, but wave after wave of weather coming in from the west.

A constant stream of other storms, too. We learned night before last that for Indigenous folks here is that there will NO economy for us, none at least for the duration of the summer, and at this rate?  Probably not all year. No tourism, no art markets, no ability to sell. Most of our clientele has moved to online patronage now, so we are hit less hard than most. But the three sales we've had so far this year? That might be all we get. We'll be fine for a while, having stocked up on food and supplies and firewood and so forth. But the bills still have to get paid, and honestly? If we don't start making some sales soon, I don't know how we survive the year.

Three sales are not going to keep us alive, and we still have taxes and other expenses to pay. Just to cover all of the outgo over recent weeks, I need to bring in about $5,000 fast; I've got to make sure we can get through the rest of the year. So please share all of our links, because while we're all in isolation? Income is already nothing, and we can survive the isolation, but not the inability to feed the maw of all the bills. The links are here:

• Sales here; 
• Testimonials here; 
• Amazon wishlist here;
• Patreon here;
• Ko-fi here.

Note: For now, please don't buy anything off the Amazon wishlist; to do so would be crossing a picket line, and some of their workers have struck this morning to fight for safer working conditions because their lives are being put at even greater risk during this pandemic. If you find one of the items elsewhere, wonderful, but for the duration of the strike, please don't buy anything off the list from there. 

Other than that, please share everything. Thanks.

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Aji, 2020; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.

Monday Photo Meditation: The Waters of Spring

Photo copyright Wings, 2020; all rights reserved.

Now posted at The NDN Silver Blog, it's a photo meditation for hope and healing at a time when the world outside our door is reeling with illness and death. It's a reminder of the cycles of Mother Earth, of the powers of the First Medicine, and of our need now for the healing delivered by the waters of spring.

The post is here. Wings's main page is here. As always, Wings's photos are available in any of the usual three formats; simply inquire via the site's Contact form. And, as always, sales are very much needed (with an unusually huge cluster of bills and expenses for January, February, and March, taxes ahead for April, and the pandemic having reduced our sales to zero), so shares of the site links are much appreciated.

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2020; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.

So much trouble.

Photo copyright Aji, 2020;
all rights reserved.

It looks so beautiful. It causes so much trouble.

Pollen everywhere, and in icy cold gale-force wind to send it even further. Today, though, we have clouds again, and supposedly will get rain and snow tomorrow, so that may tamp it down a bit. It helps for the allergies, but it's hell on my subluxed hips. The whole lower half of my body is subluxed right now, since when one major joint system moves out of place, everything connected to and through it does, too. So I'm gimpy today, and in a great deal of pain that nothing touches. 

Speaking of so much trouble, shit got real locally last night. The town leadership is finally showing some belated signs of taking this pandemic seriously: They've canceled ALL public events and gatherings, even the local farmers' market, at least through Labor Day, and are considering instituting a curfew.

These are necessary, and should've been handled weeks ago. But what it means for Indigenous folks here is that there will NO economy for us. No tourism, no art markets, no ability to sell. Most of our clientele has moved to online patronage now, so we are hit less hard than most. But the three sales we've had so far this year? That might be all we get. We'll be fine for a while, having stocked up on food and supplies and firewood and so forth. But the bills still have to get paid, and honestly? If we don't start making some sales soon, I don't know how we survive the year.

Three sales are not going to keep us alive, and we still have taxes and other expenses to pay. Just to cover all of the outgo over recent weeks, I need to bring in about $5,000 fast; I've got to make sure we can get through the rest of the year. So please share all of our links, because while we're all in isolation? Income is already nothing, and we can survive the isolation, but not the inability to feed the maw of all the bills. Also, I added some new items to the wishlist, so that breakfast is less boring, and so that I can make bread without the altitude destroying it. Oh, and I also added candles and a set of essential oils for our diffuser back on, because we're going to have to cancel the plumber AGAIN, so there's no fixing the mildew problem until we can reschedule, which may be months out yet; the candles and diffuser help deal with the smell. Why cancel? Because in his spare time, he was an instructor at the Ski Valley. You know, where a person who should never have been traveling by then in the first place went and exposed everyone. There are some other new items on there, too, things that have always been sort of on my mental wishlist but I cold never justify the indulgence (waffle iron, bread machine). Now they're much less indulgent, given that we're going to be here for a very long while, and bread would be nice occasionally (and so would waffles).

Speaking of sewing, I'm just waiting for the filter materials to arrive now, and then I can start making masks. Here I can think of at least four facilities that can use them: IHS; our own doctor's office, which is a certified community health care center (and, last I knew, nearly out), the local urgent care center, and the local hospital. We'll also distribute them to folks who need them here, because literally no one is wearing them in town, and that's deadly. Thereafter, I'll use it for our mending and alterations and sewing for tradish purposes.

Meanwhile, I have to get cracking on our taxes, so there's been a lot more outlay, with a lot more yet to come. As I keep saying, we need sales, very badly. The links are here:

• Sales here; 
• Testimonials here; 
• Amazon wishlist here;
• Patreon here;
• Ko-fi here.

Please share everything. Thanks.

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Aji, 2020; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.

A Visionary Vantage Point

Photo copyright Aji, 2020; all rights reserved.

Now posted at The NDN Silver Blog, it's a work for a world, and a collective humanity, in need of healing now. It's a reminder of the ancient powers and elemental forces that lend us their medicine in this time for old dreams made new again, time for life lived from a visionary vantage point.

The post is here. Wings's main page is here. Inquiries via the site's Contact form. And, as always, sales are very much needed (with an unusually huge cluster of bills for January and February, with more already paid for March, and current circumstances in the outside world having reduced our sales to zero), and this would take care of about half of what we need to raise now, so shares of the site links are much appreciated.

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2020; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.

Something that looks like hope.

Photo copyright Aji, 2020; all rights reserved.

New flowers from Wings, mixed with the old. It feels thoroughly like winter here, so it's nice to have something warm and sunny indoors. Also nice to have something that looks like hope.

That mask screwed up my neck yesterday, so of course I'm battling a monster migraine today. [My neck is permanently a mess because of an accident decades ago, and the lifetime of unDX'd EDS has only made all of that much worse.] Once the filters get here, I can make myself a fabric mask with ties instead of straps. Because the sewing machine is here! Now, it's just the filter fabric for the inserts (half activated-carbon, half polypropylene medical-grade, all antimicrobial fabric). And then I can start churning out masks for everyone, I hope.

Because yesterday was frankly terrifying. Wings told me last night that he was embarrassed at first, going out masked and gloved, but now he's proud to be doing it. And yeah, we both saw the smirks yesterday, plenty of them. People are assholes. But we intend on us being well after this is all over, and we also intend not to spread any opportunistic bugs to innocent people while we're at it.  Because what we saw EVERYWHERE locally yesterday? Criminal recklessness. Oh, and also? yesterday's county breakdown was incomplete. Taos County does not have two new cases; it has FIVE. Total of eight confirmed now. Given people's behavior, that's going to spike in another couple of weeks. Badly.]

And now, I hope we're both in for another 2-3 weeks without needing to leave for anything but picking up mail.

But speaking of mail, my primary source of stress right now is the bills. Sales are nonexistent. I just paid a monster electric bill, because apparently they lost a bill in the mail or some nonsense, and when we thought we were paying the February bill, we were paying January's past-due instead. Between February and March, courtesy of the need to run an electric heater for longer ours in his studio, I shelled out almost $500 in cash today just to get us into April. And with having made only three sales all year, I need to bring in about $4,500 to feel confident of getting through whatever's waiting for us with this pandemic. We've spent far more than we would ordinarily have done over the last six weeks getting ready to quarantine ourselves, because we saw what was coming even if the so-called "leadership" of this country still refuses to acknowledge reality. We also shot what is for us an extraordinary (I mean that word; by any measure, it was A LOT) amount of cash to various folks, mostly Indigenous and disabled, over the last few weeks, precisely because we could see what was coming, and most of them don't have the privilege we do of an isolated home with natural resources and hard experience to help keep us going.

Three sales are not going to keep us alive, and we still have taxes and other expenses to pay. Just to cover all of the outgo over recent weeks, I need to bring in $4,500 fast; I've got to make sure we can get through the rest of the year. So please share all of our links, because while we're all in isolation? Income is going to be next to nothing otherwise, and we can survive the isolation, but not the inability to feed the maw of all the bills. Also, I added some new items to the wishlist, so that breakfast is less boring, and because I'm going to have to return to sewing (supplies, mending, etc., and eventually maybe other stuff for local folks). Oh, and I also added candles back on, because we're going to have to cancel the plumber AGAIN, so there's no fixing the mildew problem until we can reschedule, which may be months out yet; the candles help deal with the smell. Why cancel? Because in his spare time, he was an instructor at the Ski Valley. You know, where a person who should never have been traveling by then in the first place went and exposed everyone. There are some other new items on there, too, things that have always been sort of on my mental wishlist but I cold never justify the indulgence (waffle iron, bread machine). Now they're much less indulgent, given that we're going to be here for a very long while, and bread would be nice occasionally (and so would waffles).

Speaking of sewing, a huge thank-you to whomever took the sewing machine off the wishlist the other night. I've started the process of keeping up my end of the bargain, and the elastic bands and filter layers for making medical masks are already ordered and on the way. Here I can think of at least four facilities that can use them: IHS; our own doctor's office, which is a certified community health care center (and, last I knew, nearly out), the local urgent care center, and the local hospital. Thereafter, I'll use it for our mending and alterations and sewing for tradish purposes.

Meanwhile, I paid the last three bills for the month day before yesterday, and this week, I have to get cracking on our taxes, so there's been a lot more outlay, with a lot more yet to come. As I keep saying, we need sales, very badly. The links are here:

• Sales here; 
• Testimonials here; 
• Amazon wishlist here;
• Patreon here;
• Ko-fi here.

Please share everything. Thanks.

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Aji, 2020; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.

Memory, Premonitory — Lines of Future Past Now Present

Photo copyright Aji, 2020; all rights reserved.

Now posted at The NDN Silver Blog, it's a work of visionary proportions, of the use of beauty remembered to show us the way forward now. It's memory, premonitory — lines of future past now present, childhood dreams and ancestral visions here to fulfill our need for strength and courage in real time.

The post is here. Wings's main page is here. Inquiries via the site's Contact form. And, as always, sales are very much needed (with an unusually huge cluster of bills for January and February, with more already paid for March, and current circumstances in the outside world having reduced our sales to zero), and this would take care of about half of what we need to raise now, so shares of the site links are much appreciated.

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2020; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.

Criminal recklessness.

Photo copyright Aji, 2020; all rights reserved.

We came home to that today. That was one of two completely separate sections of fence that were down, thanks probably to the same whirlwind that came through right after we left, hammering the truck as we were driving two miles down the highway.

Town is awful. It's not really a ghost town, except for the more artsy types of businesses, and whatever percentage of restaurants preferred to close rather than switch to take-out/delivery only. But most businesses are still open, and people are being appallingly reckless, both of their own lives and others'. Even at the pharmacies, not one single solitary person was masked; most weren't even gloved. None at the grocery store, or anywhere else. Not much in the way of social distancing by most of them, either. We both wen't into every single place masked and gloved, and yes, it was fucking hot and miserable in line at the grocery store, and yes, we kept them firmly in place until the groceries were loaded into the truck.

Here's the deal: I said that by the end of this week, NM would be seeing a BIG uptick. Yesterday was a record, with 24 new cases; today? FIFTY-FIVE. Two of them are here in Taos County. And Public Health released a study today that says that if the state continues to its current level of so-called "social distancing?" For the week from April 23rd through April 29th, we will see, state-wide, MORE THAN 16 DEATHS PER DAY. MORE THAN 500 DEATHS OVERALL, and that's only if we're very, very lucky. And this town is acting like it's nothing.

Criminal recklessness. 

I got my scrips. we got everything else done that we could possibly do. And I hope we do't pay for it because no one else feels at all responsible to anyone else, not even their own loved ones.

Beyond that, my primary source of stress right now is the bills. Sales are nonexistent. I just paid a monster electric bill, because apparently they lost a bill in the mail or some nonsense, and when we thought we were paying the February bill, we were paying January's past-due instead. Between February and March, courtesy of the need to run an electric heater for longer ours in his studio, I shelled out almost $500 in cash today just to get us into April. And with having made only three sales all year, I need to bring in about $4,500 to feel confident of getting through whatever's waiting for us with this pandemic. We've spent far more than we would ordinarily have done over the last six weeks getting ready to quarantine ourselves, because we saw what was coming even if the so-called "leadership" of this country still refuses to acknowledge reality. We also shot what is for us an extraordinary (I mean that word; by any measure, it was A LOT) amount of cash to various folks, mostly Indigenous and disabled, over the last few weeks, precisely because we could see what was coming, and most of them don't have the privilege we do of an isolated home with natural resources and hard experience to help keep us going.

Three sales are not going to keep us alive, and we still have taxes and other expenses to pay. Just to cover all of the outgo over recent weeks, I need to bring in $4,500 fast; I've got to make sure we can get through the rest of the year. So please share all of our links, because while we're all in isolation? Income is going to be next to nothing otherwise, and we can survive the isolation, but not the inability to feed the maw of all the bills. Also, I added some new items to the wishlist, so that breakfast is less boring, and because I'm going to have to return to sewing (supplies, mending, etc., and eventually maybe other stuff for local folks). Oh, and I also added candles back on, because we're going to have to cancel the plumber AGAIN, so there's no fixing the mildew problem until we can reschedule, which may be months out yet; the candles help deal with the smell. Why cancel? Because in his spare time, he was an instructor at the Ski Valley. You know, where a person who should never have been traveling by then in the first place went and exposed everyone. There are some other new items on there, too, things that have always been sort of on my mental wishlist but I cold never justify the indulgence (waffle iron, bread machine). Now they're much less indulgent, given that we're going to be here for a very long while, and bread would be nice occasionally (and so would waffles).

Speaking of sewing, a huge thank-you to whomever took the sewing machine off the wishlist the other night. I've started the process of keeping up my end of the bargain, and the elastic bands and filter layers for making medical masks are already ordered and on the way. Here I can think of at least four facilities that can use them: IHS; our own doctor's office, which is a certified community health care center (and, last I knew, nearly out), the local urgent care center, and the local hospital. Thereafter, I'll use it for our mending and alterations and sewing for tradish purposes.

Meanwhile, I paid the last three bills for the month day before yesterday, and this week, I have to get cracking on our taxes, so there's been a lot more outlay, with a lot more yet to come. As I keep saying, we need sales, very badly. The links are here:

• Sales here; 
• Testimonials here; 
• Amazon wishlist here;
• Patreon here;
• Ko-fi here.

Please share everything. Thanks.

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Aji, 2020; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.

Friday Feature: A View of, and From, the Mountain

Photo copyright Aji, 2020; all rights reserved.

It's our Friday Feature at The NDN Silver Blog, it's a traditional work that teaches us that no one vantage point is sufficient for the wisdom we need. It's a work to embody Mother Earth herself with a view of, and from, the mountain — a reminder that as we must take care of her, so she takes care of us now.

The post is here. Wings's main page is here. Inquiries via the site's Contact form. And, as always, sales are very much needed (with an unusually huge cluster of bills for January and February, with more already paid for March, and current circumstances in the outside world having reduced our sales to zero), so shares of the site links are much appreciated.

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2020; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.

Watching the storm building in real time.

Photo copyright Aji, 2020; all rights reserved.

That's what it looks like watching the storm building in real time. That was yesterday afternoon. Today's it's gray, with storms in a monsoonal pattern many months early: intermittent rains heavy, hard, and sometimes mixed with hail (like now, a lot of it), driven horizontally on 40-mph winds and accompanied by the rhythms of thunder and lightning.

I have to subluxed hips and a subluxed pelvis today, and needless to say, wind and weather aren't doing them any good. There's also the rampant pollen; at least three of the aspens no longer have catkins on them, but full strands of pollen blowing everywhere, and our allergies are off the charts. Between all of that and my two very bad episodes this week, my pain levels are also off the charts, and so is the fatigue. And we will have to break quarantine on Friday to deal with prescription nonsense. Taos is reportedly a ghost town, which is as it should be; please, do NOT come to rural areas to visit, and especially stay the entire hell away from all rezes. But we saw this storm building in real time, too, and there's no excuse for the failures of leadership at the federal level and elsewhere in the country right now. People are dying as a direct result, and that's not acceptable. 

Beyond that, my primary source of stress right now is the bills. Sales are nonexistent. I just paid a monster electric bill, because apparently they lost a bill in the mail or some nonsense, and when we thought we were paying the February bill, we were paying January's past-due instead. Between February and March, courtesy of the need to run an electric heater for longer ours in his studio, I shelled out almost $500 in cash today just to get us into April. And with having made only three sales all year, I need to bring in about $4,500 to feel confident of getting through whatever's waiting for us with this pandemic. We've spent far more than we would ordinarily have done over the last six weeks getting ready to quarantine ourselves, because we saw what was coming even if the so-called "leadership" of this country still refuses to acknowledge reality. We also shot what is for us an extraordinary (I mean that word; by any measure, it was A LOT) amount of cash to various folks, mostly Indigenous and disabled, over the last few weeks, precisely because we could see what was coming, and most of them don't have the privilege we do of an isolated home with natural resources and hard experience to help keep us going.

Three sales are not going to keep us alive, and we still have taxes and other expenses to pay. Just to cover all of the outgo over recent weeks, I need to bring in $4,500 fast; I've got to make sure we can get through the rest of the year. So please share all of our links, because while we're all in isolation? Income is going to be next to nothing otherwise, and we can survive the isolation, but not the inability to feed the maw of all the bills. Also, I added some new items to the wishlist, so that breakfast is less boring, and because I'm going to have to return to sewing (supplies, mending, etc., and eventually maybe other stuff for local folks). Oh, and I also added candles back on, because we're going to have to cancel the plumber AGAIN, so there's no fixing the mildew problem until we can reschedule, which may be months out yet; the candles help deal with the smell. Why cancel? Because in his spare time, he was an instructor at the Ski Valley. You know, where a person who should never have been traveling by then in the first place went and exposed everyone. There are some other new items on there, too, things that have always been sort of on my mental wishlist but I cold never justify the indulgence (waffle iron, bread machine). Now they're much less indulgent, given that we're going to be here for a very long while, and bread would be nice occasionally (and so would waffles).

Speaking of sewing, a huge thank-you to whomever took the sewing machine off the wishlist the other night. I've started the process of keeping up my end of the bargain, and the elastic bands and filter layers for making medical masks are already ordered and on the way. Here I can think of at least four facilities that can use them: IHS; our own doctor's office, which is a certified community health care center (and, last I knew, nearly out), the local urgent care center, and the local hospital. Thereafter, I'll use it for our mending and alterations and sewing for tradish purposes.

Meanwhile, I paid the last three bills for the month day before yesterday, and this week, I have to get cracking on our taxes, so there's been a lot more outlay, with a lot more yet to come. As I keep saying, we need sales, very badly. The links are here:

• Sales here; 
• Testimonials here; 
• Amazon wishlist here;
• Patreon here;
• Ko-fi here.

Please share everything. Thanks.

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Aji, 2020; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.

#ThrowbackThursday: Direction and Flow, Illumination In Rivers of Light

Photo copyright Aji, 2020; all rights reserved.

It's #TBT at The NDN Silver Blog, with a throwback only to a few days before Christmas, and a work that was first in a very special commissioned collection. It's a coil bracelet in the shades of the sky and the earth and the waters, all lit from within with power — direction and flow, illumination in rivers of light.

The post is here. Wings's main page is here. This work obviously will never be duplicated exactly, but if the style speaks to your spirit, simply inquire via the site's Contact form; Wings can create a version uniquely your own. And, as always, sales are very much needed (with an unusually huge cluster of bills for January and February, with more already paid for March, and current circumstances in the outside world having reduced our sales to zero), so shares of the site links are much appreciated.

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2020; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.

Everyone's exhausted.

Photo copyright Aji, 2020; all rights reserved.

Everyone's exhausted.

For us, it's less the quarantine than it is dealing with the usual demons of this season: pollen bombs, gale-force winds, and weather that changes in the blink of an eye. We're both suffering on the allergy count, Wings more than in years past because it's both earlier, and, I think, with new things blooming that shouldn't be here, or at least not here now. Between all of that and my two very bad episodes this week, my pain levels are off the charts, and so is the fatigue. And we will have to break quarantine on Friday to deal with prescription nonsense (yes, we've bumped it two days in order to get some things done here). 

Beyond that, my primary source of stress right now is the bills. Sales are nonexistent. I just paid a monster electric bill, because apparently they lost a bill in the mail or some nonsense, and when we thought we were paying the February bill, we were paying January's past-due instead. Between February and March, courtesy of the need to run an electric heater for longer ours in his studio, I shelled out almost $500 in cash today just to get us into April. And with having made only three sales all year, I need to bring in about $4,500 to feel confident of getting through whatever's waiting for us with this pandemic. We've spent far more than we would ordinarily have done over the last six weeks getting ready to quarantine ourselves, because we saw what was coming even if the so-called "leadership" of this country still refuses to acknowledge reality. We also shot what is for us an extraordinary (I mean that word; by any measure, it was A LOT) amount of cash to various folks, mostly Indigenous and disabled, over the last few weeks, precisely because we could see what was coming, and most of them don't have the privilege we do of an isolated home with natural resources and hard experience to help keep us going.

Three sales are not going to keep us alive, and we still have taxes and other expenses to pay. Just to cover all of the outgo over recent weeks, I need to bring in $4,500 fast; I've got to make sure we can get through the rest of the year. So please share all of our links, because while we're all in isolation? Income is going to be next to nothing otherwise, and we can survive the isolation, but not the inability to feed the maw of all the bills. Also, I added some new items to the wishlist, so that breakfast is less boring, and because I'm going to have to return to sewing (supplies, mending, etc., and eventually maybe other stuff for local folks). Oh, and I also added candles back on, because we're going to have to cancel the plumber AGAIN, so there's no fixing the mildew problem until we can reschedule, which may be months out yet; the candles help deal with the smell. Why cancel? Because in his spare time, he was an instructor at the Ski Valley. You know, where a person who should never have been traveling by then in the first place went and exposed everyone. There are some other new items on there, too, things that have always been sort of on my mental wishlist but I cold never justify the indulgence (waffle iron, bread machine). Now they're much less indulgent, given that we're going to be here for a very long while, and bread would be nice occasionally (and so would waffles).

Speaking of sewing, a huge thank-you to whomever took the sewing machine off the wishlist the other night. I've started the process of keeping up my end of the bargain, and the elastic bands and filter layers for making medical masks are already ordered and on the way. Here I can think of at least four facilities that can use them: IHS; our own doctor's office, which is a certified community health care center (and, last I knew, nearly out), the local urgent care center, and the local hospital. Thereafter, I'll use it for our mending and alterations and sewing for tradish purposes.

Meanwhile, I paid the last three bills for the month day before yesterday, and this week, I have to get cracking on our taxes, so there's been a lot more outlay, with a lot more yet to come. As I keep saying, we need sales, very badly. The links are here:

• Sales here; 
• Testimonials here; 
• Amazon wishlist here;
• Patreon here;
• Ko-fi here.

Please share everything. Thanks.

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Aji, 2020; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.

From the Angle of a Dream

Photo copyright Aji, 2020; all rights reserved.

Now posted at The NDN Silver Blog, it's a work for a world in need of dreamers and warriors alike. It's a reminder, too, one of solidity and substance, of the truth that from the angle of a dream, a new and better world really is possible.

The post is here. Wings's main page is here. Inquiries via the site's Contact form. And, as always, sales are very much needed (with an unusually huge cluster of bills for January and February, with more already paid for March, and current circumstances in the outside world having reduced our sales to zero), and this would take care of about half of what we need to raise now, so shares of the site links are much appreciated.

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2020; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.

Fanned clouds and clearing skies.

Photo copyright Aji, 2020; all rights reserved.

That was yesterday, all fanned clouds and clearing skies. Today finally feels like spring, and I don't need a jacket to go outside for most things. 

No clearing on other fronts, though. Day seven of full quarantine for me, which I will have to break tomorrow and probably again on Friday, all to deal with prescription nonsense. They really do want us dead, and barring that, in as much pain and suffering as they can legislate. Speaking of dead, and pain and suffering, yesterday was bad. Really bad. Some episodes are worse than others and the last two have been ghastly. I'm feeling better today, but tired, slow, and in a lot of pain. 

None of that helps primary source of stress right now, which is the bills. Sales are nonexistent. I just paid a monster electric bill, because apparently they lost a bill in the mail or some nonsense, and when we thought we were paying the February bill, we were paying January's past-due instead. Between February and March, courtesy of the need to run an electric heater for longer ours in his studio, I shelled out almost $500 in cash today just to get us into April. And with having made only three sales all year, I need to bring in about $4,500 to feel confident of getting through whatever's waiting for us with this pandemic. We've spent far more than we would ordinarily have done over the last six weeks getting ready to quarantine ourselves, because we saw what was coming even if the so-called "leadership" of this country still refuses to acknowledge reality. We also shot what is for us an extraordinary (I mean that word; by any measure, it was A LOT) amount of cash to various folks, mostly Indigenous and disabled, over the last few weeks, precisely because we could see what was coming, and most of them don't have the privilege we do of an isolated home with natural resources and hard experience to help keep us going.

Three sales are not going to keep us alive, and we still have taxes and other expenses to pay. Just to cover all of the outgo over recent weeks, I need to bring in $4,500 fast; I've got to make sure we can get through the rest of the year. So please share all of our links, because while we're all in isolation? Income is going to be next to nothing otherwise, and we can survive the isolation, but not the inability to feed the maw of all the bills. Also, I added some new items to the wishlist, so that breakfast is less boring, and because I'm going to have to return to sewing (supplies, mending, etc., and eventually maybe other stuff for local folks). Oh, and I also added candles back on, because we're going to have to cancel the plumber AGAIN, so there's no fixing the mildew problem until we can reschedule, which may be months out yet; the candles help deal with the smell. Why cancel? Because in his spare time, he was an instructor at the Ski Valley. You know, where a person who should never have been traveling by then in the first place went and exposed everyone.

Speaking of sewing, a huge thank-you to whomever took the sewing machine off the wishlist the other night. I've started the process of keeping up my end of the bargain, and the elastic bands and filter layers for making medical masks are already ordered and on the way. Here I can think of at least four facilities that can use them: IHS; our own doctor's office, which is a certified community health care center (and, last I knew, nearly out), the local urgent care center, and the local hospital. Thereafter, I'll use it for our mending and alterations and sewing for tradish purposes.

Meanwhile, I paid the last three bills for the month yesterday, and next week, I have to get cracking on our taxes, so there's been a lot more outlay, with a lot more yet to come. As I keep saying, we need sales, very badly. The links are here:

• Sales here; 
• Testimonials here; 
• Amazon wishlist here;
• Patreon here;
• Ko-fi here.

Please share everything. Thanks.

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Aji, 2020; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.

Red Willow Spirit: A View From Beneath

Photo copyright Wings, 2020; all rights reserved.

Now posted at The NDN Silver Blog, it's an edition of Red Willow Spirit for dark days and heavy burdens. It's also a lesson to us not to forget the old ways, to pray, to make offerings, to hold ceremony and make medicine, a reminder that a view from beneath holds the promise of the heavens, and that is reason enough to live.

The post is here. Wings's main page is here. As always, his photos are available in any of the usual three formats; to order them or the silverwork shown, simply inquire via the site's Contact form. And, as always, sales are very much needed (with an unusually huge cluster of bills for January and February, with more already paid for March, and current circumstances in the outside world having reduced our sales to zero), so shares of the site links are much appreciated.

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2020; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.

Talk about your unexpected gifts.

Photo copyright Aji, 2020; all rights reserved.

No, it's not a goose egg, or even duck's egg. It's a turquoise chicken egg from one of our Americaunas. And yes, it's almost three and a half inches long. Talk about your unexpected gifts. 

Nothing else is cooperating so much. The wind is howling and shrieking and gibbering outside the door. Normally, this house is too airtight to hear it, but not today. And my body has decided to crap out on me with another episode this morning, a bad one. Apparently there is something in one of my supplements that's setting it off, at least if I don't have much food in my stomach. But these are terrifying, and all the more so because I know what a danger it would be to have to go to the hospital now. I'm tired and wrung out and irritable and scared, because that's what these things always do. And for those of you minimizing what COVID19 victims are feeling? what I get with these episodes is a transient taste of it. Imagine that kind of terror unabated, for days on end, while you can't breathe and don't know whether you're going to survive.

Beyond that, my concern is the bills. Sales are nonexistent. I need to bring in about $4K to feel confident of getting through whatever's waiting for us with this pandemic. We've spent far more than we would ordinarily have done over the last three by now four to six weeks getting ready to quarantine ourselves, because we saw what was coming even if the so-called "leadership" of this country still refuses to acknowledge reality. We also shot what is for us an extraordinary amount of cash to various folks, mostly Indigenous and disabled, over the last few weeks, precisely because we could see what was coming, and most of them don't have the privilege we do of an isolated home with natural resources and hard experience to help keep us going.

And so the $700 for the vehicle stuff last week and the $300+ for medical and the unexpected need to help some other folks and the costs for the farrier, the hay, and the discing of the land to prep for reseeding this year are all combining to set us back a great deal. To add to it, we've had three sales total all year. Yup, 3. That's not going to keep us alive, and we still have taxes and other expenses to pay. At this point, I need to bring in about $4K in sales, subscriptions, Ko-fi, any source possible just to cover all of that. So please share all of our links, because while we're all in isolation? Income is going to be next to nothing otherwise, and we can survive the isolation, but not the inability to feed the maw of all the bills. Also, I added some new items to the wishlist, so that breakfast is less boring, and because I'm going to have to return to sewing (supplies, mending, etc., and eventually maybe other stuff for local folks). Oh, and I also added candles back on, because we're going to have to cancel the plumber AGAIN, so there's no fixing the mildew problem until we can reschedule, which may be months out yet; the candles help deal with the smell. Why cancel? Because in his spare time, he was an instructor at the Ski Valley. You know, where a person who should never have been traveling by then in the first place went and exposed everyone.

Speaking of sewing, a huge thank-you to whomever took the sewing machine off the wishlist the other night. I've started the process of keeping up my end of the bargain, and the elastic bands and filter layers for making medical masks are already ordered and on the way. Here I can think of at least four facilities that can use them: IHS; our own doctor's office, which is a certified community health care center (and, last I knew, nearly out), the local urgent care center, and the local hospital. Thereafter, I'll use it for our mending and alterations and sewing for tradish purposes.

Meanwhile, I paid the last three bills for the month yesterday, and next week, I have to get cracking on our taxes, so there's been a lot more outlay, with a lot more yet to come. We need sales, very badly. The links are here:

• Sales here; 
• Testimonials here; 
• Amazon wishlist here;
• Patreon here;
• Ko-fi here.

Please share everything. Thanks.

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Aji, 2020; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.