I don't know if it can be saved.

Photo copyright Aji, 2020; all rights reserved.

::Sigh:: Yesterday. A tiny bit of rain, and a vicious wind that flattened most of the corn. I don't know if it can be saved.

I am sad, and discouraged, and so very, very tired.

The rest is mostly, but not entirely, cut-and-paste. As I said, this is a terrible week, one completely overloaded every single day. I'm know I'm behind with lots of folks, and I promise I'll get back to you, but right now, I barely have time to breathe. Things are terrible on other fronts, too: a forecast of two weeks' worth of rain jettisoned yesterday for more high heat and drought; a new round of local deaths, a percentage of which no doubt are COVID-19 deaths, but the state is steadfastly not reporting them. In last night's update to the local paper, there were four brand new obituaries for people form Wings's various circles (community, acquaintances, etc.) people of wildly disparate demographics and backgrounds, and all too young to die. We're waiting to hear the identity of a fifth, a violent death that occurred last night. People are dying, literally. A lot more won't make it through the year. We have our first confirmed hantavirus case in the county, too, and it's not mere hantavirus but HPS: hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, in which it attacks the heart and is thus fatal more often than not, and in the adjacent county just west of us are the state's first two plague cases of the year, one of them already fatal (and the victim only 20 years old, too).

Meanwhile, our peoples need to survive. The land needs to survive. I'm not sure how the garden will make it — strike that; it's not even a question of how anymore, but simply if. I'm not sure how we make it, for that matter. One thing the high heat and drought managed for us, at least, was keeping the mosquitoes at bay for a while, but it's cooled off enough that they're back, and the grass has to get cut, no matter how much brown there is in it. We can't afford to risk West Nile here (and a lot of you know why we have deeply personal cause to fear it now). We're already flooded with tourists spiking our COVID-19 numbers locally, and categorically refusing to be remotely decent human beings, nothing more than the white supremacist colonizers they are. And in the middle of all this deliberate endangerment of our peoples, as I've said, we're dealing on the fly with the fallout. My monthly budget is blown; when elders need help (and they need it badly now), you give it, and that's what we've done twice last week already. On top of that, Wings picked up the mower for the fifty-billionth time last week, and that's another ~$300 or so down the tubes. I need to bring in another grand in sales to cover all of this unexpected outlay; I'm not quite half-way there, so one more large or two medium-sized sales would do it.

Speaking of which, so much work, and still I have to push to make sales no matter what else is going on. Wings has six new pieces just completed; I was up late last night editing photos, and I'll have them posted later today. But he's also got some gorgeous new work already posted. New piece just the other morning, here. Two brand new and purely phenomenal works from the other day, here. Lots of other new works, too, cuffs and earrings and one new necklace, plus more in the works and coming soon. So please continue to share the links, because we do still need to make regular, consistent sales to get through what's left of this terrible year. I've also added some new items to the wishlist, because, well, puppies, and the plumbing overhaul we can't afford to do because of how badly they screwed us, so those things are near-ish to the top; you'll have to scroll two or three times to see them all. The priorities are the first and foremost, the KT tape, the fly spray, and especially the essential oil kit (not for aromatherapy; my breathing is really labored now from the pollen and the mildew, and we need them badly), as well as the simmer sauces, which I use in cooking ALL the time. The links are here:

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

[Obviously, the wishlist is back in force. There are things I absolutely cannot get except through Amazon, and I can't add that stress onto all the others now.] Please share everything. Thanks.

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.