Seems impossible.

Photo copyright Aji, 2023; all rights reserved.

The birds are back.

Actually, they returned mid-afternoon yesterday, in droves, which tells us that both the harrier and the new red-tail had moved on.

For the moment. They'll both be back. But for now, the birds are enjoying sitting in the cooler air — and, of course, scavenging whatever they can beyond the seed Wings puts out for them daily.

It's November. It seems impossible; it was just New Year's a few weeks ago. This is the heart of our holiday sales season, except we haven't made any. Sales, I mean.

On top of that, lots of expenses came due yesterday, with more to come this week and next. My Patreon, such as it is, won't clear the bank before tomorrow, but worse, it's more than $200 down from last month. And that's on top of the more than $300 it was already down from this summer, so I'm now down more than $500 a month, and we cannot afford that kind of hit. Between that and the progression of my disease, I'm so far behind now that I can't do anything, and I am at my wits' end. I have to come up with a couple hundred for Wings's scrips tomorrow (we've been bumping the pick-up, but he has to go and get it tomorrow, because the pharmacy's not open on the weekends anymore), and a good four figures the rest of this week and next for autopays, septic service, and a few other one-offs, and I have no way to do it. Meanwhile, my illness seems to be attacking my kidneys now, along with several other things. I spent Tuesday night throwing up, the night before wide awake and literally sobbing with pain, and last night on the edge of throwing up again, although I narrowly avoided it. I'm beyond my wits' end into uncharted territory now.

I have three of Wings's latest pairs of earrings up, here, and here, and the newest ones, brilliant blues completed only yesterday, here. Selling those would be a start, but even that would be only a start. I've got to do better, but how? I feel like I'm losing my mind, and the unbearable physical pain just adds to that.

It's been a terrible year on virtually every front, and now, nearing the end, I'm afraid we actually might not make it. I need help. There isn't any.

We have to make up a LOT of ground financially over the next two+ months. A LOT. 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 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 (liquid soaps are priority now [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.