Gold.

Photo copyright Aji, 2023; all rights reserved.

Our whole world now is gold. It's the same in town, even moreso — other than trips to the post office to ship items, this was my first time in town in two or three weeks (probably closer to three), and everything was on fire. The foliage, that is.

It was another one of those gorgeous October days, not a single cloud anywhere in the sky, just a deep, dark blue backdrop for gold and honey and amber and crimson leaves. It was also a day for some walking and standing in line for long periods of time at the post office and the store, and I will be barely able to move tomorrow, but that's nothing new anymore. Neither is the hand that won't heal, or the pain from the lovely new sublux of the left side of my jaw. So tomorrow, I'm not going anywhere, and I'll be doing the bare minimum.

And for now, I have a ton of today's work to get through yet, so the rest is cut and paste, and it leads, again, with the fundraiser for Frank, because with me not home to push it, it's been stuck all day at the $1,228 mark, and that's great but it's not nearly enough:

Aside:  Y'all know tomorrow's my birthday. Welp. This is what I want: to get Frank fully funded. Details immediately below.

Some of you are already familiar with Frank Rain Leaf's work; you've bought his paintings or received cards from us with his prints on the front. He's an incredible artist. But it's hard to do your life's work when you're hospitalized, and we didn't know it, but that's where his been for a good while. Today he had to travel to Santa Fe for more tests, and yeah, it's an easy enough trip when you're young and healthy, but for the rest of us? Not so much. He hasn't been able to work, and depending on what comes out of these tests and whatever else they do, who knows how long it'll be before he can again. The medical establishment doesn't care; they'll keep billing anyway, as will the utilities and everyone else. He needs some breathing room so he can focus on getting well.

That's where all y'all come in, too. Yesterday, we gave him what we could to help cover gas and food and lodging for his travel today. We don't have the kind of money [especially not after this god-awful year] to fund what he'll need thereafter. He doesn't have a GFM or any other means to do it himself, so we're raising funds for him.  The goal for yesterday was $1K, for immediate bills and needs, and I would love to bring in $5K overall so he has some breathing room while he recovers [and we beat it!]. Since I posted this yesterday, we've managed to raise a little over $1,200 through our PayPal account, and we're asking everyone we know who can [not if you're not able; only if it won't harm your own situation] to give, too.  Here's our direct PayPal link.  Please put "FOR FRANK" in the notes section. [Anything that comes in today goes to him; I'll just assume folks forgot to include it. The only reason I want it specified is so that come next year, we're not paying taxes on pass-through gifts to someone else.]

Now, all the rest. None of this means that I'm not pushing sales; we need them badly, especially after giving what we could to him this morning. And I'm slower than ever because of my illness; everything takes me so much longer. I mean, everybody already knows that this year has been terrible on virtually every front, so much so that we're really up against it now. This year has been so slow that we're way behind on everything, including prepaying next year's taxes [that's a zero; a big fat zero]. I'm so much farther behind on everything, even more than I usually am: pushing sales, paperwork, housework, you name it. I did at least get his two newest works up here the other night, so there's that. They're both amazing, but the turtle is something truly extraordinary. If I could sell that this week, I could quit worrying at least until November. 

But there's a big difference in being able to buy Wings's work and being able to kick in $5 or $10 or $20 or whatever to help an elder out.

Still. We have to make up a LOT of ground financially over the next three+ months. A LOT. I need to bring in at least one sale a week, preferably two, for the remainder of the year. And it's clear that my illness's progression means that I cannot maintain the pace or workload I have in years past. That means that we need help with shares, and with testimonials, too. If you have some of Wings's work and are willing to have a testimonial published on the site, send it to me via the Contact form (we will list you however you wish, by name, name and initial, initials only, some other way that doesn't identify you; you can see an example in our newest, here, and with luck, I'll have a second one up by tonight). All the links are listed below, so please share:

• Sales here; 
• Testimonials here; 
• Amazon wishlist here (apparently the sponges are unavailable, but the other two things I need that I can't get here are the Bar Keeper's Friend coffeemaker cleaner and descaler; we're entirely out of both [or Amazon cards, and I can order them myself]); 
• Patreon here;
• Ko-fi here.

There's lots of fabulous work on the site, and there will be much, much more in the weeks to come. The way this year has gone, things will still be grim for a good while and the holidays will be here before you know it, so please share all of the links. 

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2023; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.