The most important thing.

Photo copyright Aji, 2022; all rights reserved.

Welp. Another year around the sun, as they say. Yes, I do feel old this year; my pain levels made sure of that. 

Still.

And yes, that little thing in the flowers does say "Happy Thanksgiving," but Wings didn't care because he knew I would, either.  The important part was the fact that this one is the one that contained the lilies, and he knows how I love those, so he brought me these when he came back from the feed store. He also brought dinner (so that for once I don't have to cook), take-out from our favorite Méxicano place, where they still wear masks for food prep. Not expensive, but really, really good food, and the house smells of pork and buffalo and chile and spices now.

And I made out like a bandit. He told me he had three things in the works for me, but I had no idea what. Turns out it's a necklace and two pairs of earrings: the necklace is an eagle-feather pendant with old turquoise chips inlaid at the top on bunished silver beads; one pair of earrings is a pair of hand-cut, microstamped butterflies (which I can wear with my butterfly inlay choker in honor of my late sister), and a pair of hand-cut sterling silver peace-sign earrings. I'll post photos of each at some point, probably individually.  I'm wearing the first two items right now. The most important thing was the words in the card (with what looked like a picture of Ice in front of the moon on it), but those you don't get to see.

But there is never any rest, for the weary or the wicked or anybody else now. This season has cost us so much already, financially and otherwise; grief, loss, expense on so many fronts. And no matter how hard I try, I can't juggle enough to get caught up. There's no end to it, especially now that I'm dealing again with all the stresses of an IRS screwup. I have GOT to make some sales this week. I've still got to bring in a low four figures to deal with everything, because even though it's their mistake, we will still have to pay it, so I need to get this off my desk now, need it like I need air to breathe, because I'm not breathing very well at the moment between this flare and the bivalent booster autoimmune side effects. 

There's a ton of new work on the site already. The holidays will be here before you know it. And speaking of which, we're already into the holiday season here from a creative perspective, and yes, I have GOT to bring in enough for him to order silver, which has tripled in cost this year. If I don't bring in some more sales this weekend and in the week to come, we don't make it out of the month (and that's on top of all the stress that comes with disabling conditions increasing seemingly by the day now). All the links are here; please, share them, too (and there's a new wishlist priority, the automatic composter, which will do wonders for saving on waste and allow Wings to compost the land and trees regularly even through the winter):

• Sales here; 
• Testimonials here; 
• Amazon wishlist here (priorities are, first and foremost, the automatic composter and the wheelbarrow, then the other ladder);
• Patreon here;
• Ko-fi here.

We're still hoping to put aside enough for a new well when the ground thaws enough to drill in the spring, too, Nah, we've given up on the well. No one's available to drill before late next year at the earliest, and this year's tax burden means we would never be able to afford it anyway. But it's even more of a good time to make a purchase, because Uncle Sam is a vindictive colonizer, and my current stress levels about paying it all are off the charts. And there's lots of fabulous work, so please share all of the links. 

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2022; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.