I don't have it in me to pretend right now.

Photo copyright Aji, 2025; all rights reserved.

Look at that nonsense. Bone-dry. Everything should be covered in white right now; instead, it's gray and dying.

Strike that; not simply "dying." It's being killed, systematically exterminated. And there isn't a damn thing we can do about it.

Apparently nothing we can do about the jackasses like the one this morning who had a fire going in the foothills to the south. Gale-force winds yesterday, with the possibility of more today, and some dipshit is lighting fires, and if that's your relative at the Forest Service, it doesn't change the colossal jackassery of it, or them, in the slightest.

I don't even know how we make it through this month. Then again, who knows how much of our world will be around by year's end. It's been a hard weekend, and the week ahead's going to be harder. I don't have it in me to pretend right now.

I have four figures' worth of expense to cover this week. That will wipe us out completely. If the sales logjam doesn't break soon, I don't know what we do. And none of that four figures includes the two hellishly expensive repairs [well pressure pump and roof] that need to be made sooner rather than later, nor the fact that I still need to replace my laptop, plus all the usual medical, plus the fact that taxes will due before we know it, and last year's sales were so terrible that I couldn't prepay anything. This is all just all the shit that comes due every January, and goes up very single year.  January, April, and July are hell months. 

We need sales, and we need them now. Or a miracle. Or both.

And yes, I know we're lucky. The housing crisis worsens daily here. On that note, go here, buy something, or several somethings, off the outreach group's wishlist, and you will literally be saving a life, probably more than one. It's not really possible to overstate how bad it is out there, nor how great the need is. I've sorted it in their Priority order, but once again there's a new order of priorities, not yet entirely reflected in the list itself. This is from the organizer herself [I've italicized the three that I'm told are the most urgent at this moment]:

• The bulk backpacks - at least six 12 packs
• Pepper spray
• Bulk packs of work socks
• Whistles
• Money/document belts (look like tan fanny packs, worn under the clothing  to hide and keep documents safe and protected.
• Bulk dog leashes
• XXL dog harnesses
• Chapstick
• Packs of wipes

The outreach program is giving gear out as fast as they get them, and being mostly housebound now, it's hard for me to get out to pick up any before they're gone. That's why I put some of those essentials on our own wishlist, with a note that they're for the outreach effort; soon, I'll adjust those priorities accordingly, too.  Right now, they really, REALLY need pepper spray for the safety kits, and backpacks. I know a lot of people get weirded out by the idea of pepper spray, but if you're alone on the streets, assault of every type is always a possibility that's with you every single moment, and here, we also have wild animals that venture into town [a mountain lion spent a good share of the summer walking the streets downtown, and those of the nearby residential areas] This is a non-lethal way of stopping an attack in time to get away.

For us? SALES. PLEASE. THERE'S SO MUCH NEW WORK ON THE SITE. There's also a new bolo and a new pair of earrings coming, maybe tonight. And I need to sell them all, because I still need to make a ridiculous amount of sales to cover all the stuff still in the pipeline that needs covering [laptop, roof AND now the well pressure pump, more medical, always prepaid taxes, etc.]. So: GO BUY! PLEASE. [Yeah, I know; I don't know why I bother, either. As I said, hope is a stupid, stubborn, fucked-up thing sometimes, even if it's also very thin and half-broken.] Links are here:

• Sales here; 
• Testimonials here; 
• Amazon wishlist here (Amazon cards are probably most useful at this point); 
• Patreon here;
• Ko-fi here.

After such a grim year, this one far worse than the last, we really begin 2025 on a better footing before taxes take every cent, so please share all of the links. 

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2025; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.                                               

By Storm and Shadow Do We Know the Light

Photo copyright Aji, 2025;
all rights reserved.

Now posted at The NDN Silver Blog, it's a work for a season of short days and long hours of darkness, for a world weaving the blanket of night. It's a pair of earrings that remind us that everyone has value, and all conditions too, for by storm and shadow do we know the light.

The post is here. Wings's main page is here. Inquiries via the site's Contact form. We have enormous repair costs ahead and we need to get 2025 under way on a much better footing than last year, so shares are very much needed and much appreciated.

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2025; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.      

An absolute horror show.

Photo copyright Aji, 2025; all rights reserved.

See all that haze?  Not clouds; not snow. That's dirt. The winds today were an absolute horror show, the kind of thing we've gotten, the last ten or fifteen years, daily in April.

It's January fourth, FFS.

And it's full dark now, and they're still blowing.

The cold was brutal, but that was the wind chill. What we should have now are single-digit temps and three feet of snow on the ground, with another storm in the forecast. 

Instead, they've revoked most of what little chance we had in the forecast for early next week.

And yes, everything's late again. Someone needed my help today, so I had blocked off a good chunk of it expressly for that, which is fine. The problem is that in the hours before that, it was one derailment after another, and here we are, me doing all of my daily work well after full dark once more. Those derailments have to stop.

So does the endless expense. We're staring down two hellishly expensive repairs sooner rather than later, plus the fact that I still need to replace my laptop, plus all the usual medical, plus the fact that taxes will due before we know it, and last year's sales were so terrible that I couldn't prepay anything. 

We need sales, and we need them now. Or a miracle. Or both.

It's endless, on every single front, and it all has to be done, and all on top of our own daily work just to make ends meet. Because if we're going to survive [and thereby be able to help anyone else]? That includes constantly chasing sales. We have GOT to get 2025 off onto a better footing than 2024 was, and do it immediately, or we're screwed. I can't go through another year like these last two, but especially 2024, and we already know we have some massive expenses ahead [the well's pressure pump and the roof come immediately to mind].

And yes, I know we're lucky. The housing crisis worsens daily here. On that note, go here, buy something, or several somethings, off the outreach group's wishlist, and you will literally be saving a life, probably more than one. It's not really possible to overstate how bad it is out there, nor how great the need is. I've sorted it in their Priority order, but once again there's a new order of priorities, not yet entirely reflected in the list itself. This is from the organizer herself [I've italicized the three that I'm told are the most urgent at this moment]:

• The bulk backpacks - at least six 12 packs
• Pepper spray
• Bulk packs of work socks
• Whistles
• Money/document belts (look like tan fanny packs, worn under the clothing  to hide and keep documents safe and protected.
• Bulk dog leashes
• XXL dog harnesses
• Chapstick
• Packs of wipes

The outreach program is giving gear out as fast as they get them, and being mostly housebound now, it's hard for me to get out to pick up any before they're gone. That's why I put some of those essentials on our own wishlist, with a note that they're for the outreach effort; soon, I'll adjust those priorities accordingly, too.  Right now, they really, REALLY need pepper spray for the safety kits, and backpacks. I know a lot of people get weirded out by the idea of pepper spray, but if you're alone on the streets, assault of every type is always a possibility that's with you every single moment, and here, we also have wild animals that venture into town [a mountain lion spent a good share of the summer walking the streets downtown, and those of the nearby residential areas] This is a non-lethal way of stopping an attack in time to get away.

For us? SALES. PLEASE. THERE'S SO MUCH NEW WORK ON THE SITE. There's also a new bolo and a new pair of earrings coming, maybe tonight. And I need to sell them all, because I still need to make a ridiculous amount of sales to cover all the stuff still in the pipeline that needs covering [laptop, roof AND now the well pressure pump, more medical, always prepaid taxes, etc.]. So: GO BUY! PLEASE. [Yeah, I know; I don't know why I bother, either. As I said, hope is a stupid, stubborn, fucked-up thing sometimes, even if it's also very thin and half-broken.] Links are here:

• Sales here; 
• Testimonials here; 
• Amazon wishlist here (Amazon cards are probably most useful at this point); 
• Patreon here;
• Ko-fi here.

After such a grim year, this one far worse than the last, we really begin 2025 on a better footing before taxes take every cent, so please share all of the links. 

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2025; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.                                               

The Life and Breath of Love

Photo copyright Aji, 2025; all rights reserved.

Now posted at The NDN Silver Blog, it's a work for the healing power of an atmospheric love, of two distinct hearts coming together in common cause and care. It's a pair of earrings in the brilliant blues of the desert sky, manifest as the life and breath of love that keeps our world alive.

The post is here. Wings's main page is here. Inquiries via the site's Contact form. The last year was frankly terrible, and we need to get 2025 under way on a much better footing, so shares are very much needed and much appreciated.

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2025; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.      

Friday Feature: A Sky Ceremony For the Cold Season

Photo copyright Aji, 2025; all rights reserved.

It's our Friday Feature at The NDN Silver Blog, with a trio of works created as a series in miniature, bracelet, bolo, and buckle collectively forming the Sky Ceremony Collection. The cuff Wings created earlier; the bolo and buckle are all new, explicitly intended to match, together forming a sky ceremony for the cold season, medicine our small world needs so desperately now.

The post is here. Wings's main page is here. Inquiries via the site's Contact form. The last year was frankly terrible, and we need to get 2025 under way on a much better footing, so shares are very much needed and much appreciated.

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2025; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.      

This is the work.

Photo copyright Aji, 2025; all rights reserved.

It's noon on January 3rd. It's sixty-two and a half degrees outside.

Actual temperature. At eight thousand feet.

I don't know how people think the planet can survive this.

The sky is an absolute mess of contrails everywhere, which is a big part of the problem. No, it's not the "chemtrails" nonsense, so don't even think of going there. It's the irrefutable scientific fact that contrails suck residual moisture out of the atmosphere, which deepens drought. Add to that the sheer volume of fossil fuels being burned to ferry these useless flights everywhere overhead all day every day [and the level of pandemic spread for which the passengers are wholly responsible]? This is not end-stage capitalism, or end-stage colonialism. This is end-stage human existence, extinction deliberately inflicted by humanity itself.

I know you all scorn me on this as just a Cassandra, but you forget that Cassandra was actually right.

And no, none of has the right to say "Fuck it," give up, and let it all burn. We owe this Earth that birthed and shelters us, the sky and the waters, our plant and animal relatives, each other, and future generations. I don't care that modern American Christianity is an apocalyptic cult that thinks genocide and ecocide are good and necessary.  Every. single. person. owes those obligations to everyone and everything else. A lot of this world is in for a very big surprise, and very much sooner than they think, because when what they're doing to the earth leads to its utterly inevitable result, they will not be spared, either. Elon Musk can sit there rage-tweeting at the rising sea levels and the raging wildfires until the grid collapses, but they will take everything he owns. You cannot take any of it with you, and it's about time this country started showing some morals, some ethics, a conscience.

We are not peoples given to apathy, because apathy is not given to us as an option. It never has been. And it's hard work, caring in a world that not only doesn't care, but actively tries to shut down all caring and sense of community. But we do. And I'm seeing a change locally, too. Just this morning, a friend of ours, the guy we bought Miika's hay from, reached out to Wings just to see how he was doing, making sure he's okay. Someone else local reached out to me to find out how to go about providing a resource for folks in need who an organization they're involved with serves. A couple of other folks asked me the same question yesterday. We have four new members of the mutual-aid group, people who want to help. 

This is the work.

And it's endless, on every single front, but it has to be done. For us, that has to be done on top of our own daily work just to make ends meet. Because if we're going to survive [and thereby be able to help anyone else]? That includes constantly chasing sales. We have GOT to get 2025 off onto a better footing than 2024 was, and do it immediately, or we're screwed. I can't go through another year like these last two, but especially 2024, and we already know we have some massive expenses ahead [the well's pressure pump and the roof come immediately to mind].

And yes, I know we're lucky. The housing crisis worsens daily here. On that note, go here, buy something, or several somethings, off the outreach group's wishlist, and you will literally be saving a life, probably more than one. It's not really possible to overstate how bad it is out there, nor how great the need is. I've sorted it in their Priority order, but once again there's a new order of priorities, not yet entirely reflected in the list itself. This is from the organizer herself [I've italicized the three that I'm told are the most urgent at this moment]:

• The bulk backpacks - at least six 12 packs
• Pepper spray
• Bulk packs of work socks
• Whistles
• Money/document belts (look like tan fanny packs, worn under the clothing  to hide and keep documents safe and protected.
• Bulk dog leashes
• XXL dog harnesses
• Chapstick
• Packs of wipes

The outreach program is giving gear out as fast as they get them, and being mostly housebound now, it's hard for me to get out to pick up any before they're gone. That's why I put some of those essentials on our own wishlist, with a note that they're for the outreach effort; soon, I'll adjust those priorities accordingly, too.  Right now, they really, REALLY need pepper spray for the safety kits, and backpacks. I know a lot of people get weirded out by the idea of pepper spray, but if you're alone on the streets, assault of every type is always a possibility that's with you every single moment, and here, we also have wild animals that venture into town [a mountain lion spent a good share of the summer walking the streets downtown, and those of the nearby residential areas] This is a non-lethal way of stopping an attack in time to get away.

For us? SALES. PLEASE. THERE'S SO MUCH NEW WORK ON THE SITE. There's also a new bolo and a new pair of earrings coming, maybe tonight. And I need to sell them all, because I still need to make a ridiculous amount of sales to cover all the stuff still in the pipeline that needs covering [laptop, roof AND now the well pressure pump, more medical, always prepaid taxes, etc.]. So: GO BUY! PLEASE. [Yeah, I know; I don't know why I bother, either. As I said, hope is a stupid, stubborn, fucked-up thing sometimes, even if it's also very thin and half-broken.] Links are here:

• Sales here; 
• Testimonials here; 
• Amazon wishlist here (Amazon cards are probably most useful at this point); 
• Patreon here;
• Ko-fi here.

After such a grim year, this one far worse than the last, we really begin 2025 on a better footing before taxes take every cent, so please share all of the links. 

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2025; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.                                              

This is it.

Photo copyright Aji, 2024; all rights reserved.

January 2nd, and it's sixty degrees.

That's sixty degrees too warm. What we should have had is three feet of new snow at the end of December, and now the ensuing deep freeze where the mercury doesn't even hit zero at midday.

Sixty. Degrees. You want to know what a dying planet looks like? What an extinction-level event looks like? This is it.

It's not right, and we cannot let the murderous monsters who pretend to "leadership" continue driving us headlong to extinction. And that means ordinary people have to be willing to give their colonial ideas of entitlement. Stop traveling everywhere at a moment's notice. Stop flying. Stop driving just for the hell of it. Combine your trips to town for errands in a single day. Stop buying a goddamned new iPhone or Galaxy every year just because you "want" one. And for the love of all that's holy, STOP USING AI IN ANY FORM.

You're killing us. All of us. And so is your beloved "decent" president, who is a profoundly indecent excuse for a human being.

Here, we're trying our damnedest to take care of each other. We had to order a cord of wood this week, and the guy who sells it to us just knocked almost 40% off his price. Out of the blue. Just because. Ironically, we had already packed up a pair of earrings to give to him for his M-I-L, who's been going through a rough time. He didn't know that then, though. He just did it as a kindness, as had we. Folks in Pueblo/town/county are looking out for each other, because no one else is going to. This place is not dying, it's being killed around all of us, deliberately, and we're [all of us] the only line of resistance, so we have to make it count.

And it's hard work. It's endless, on every single front, but it has to get done, and for us, if we're going to survive? That includes constantly chasing sales. Because we have got to get 2025 off onto a better footing than 2024 was, and do it immediately, or we're screwed. I can't go through another year like these last two, but especially 2024, and we already know we have some massive expenses ahead.

And yes, I know we're lucky. The housing crisis worsens daily here. On that note, go here, buy something, or several somethings, off the outreach group's wishlist, and you will literally be saving a life, probably more than one. It's not really possible to overstate how bad it is out there, nor how great the need is. I've sorted it in their Priority order, but once again there's a new order of priorities, not yet entirely reflected in the list itself. This is from the organizer herself [I've italicized the three that I'm told are the most urgent at this moment]:

• The bulk backpacks - at least six 12 packs
• Pepper spray
• Bulk packs of work socks
• Whistles
• Money/document belts (look like tan fanny packs, worn under the clothing  to hide and keep documents safe and protected.
• Bulk dog leashes
• XXL dog harnesses
• Chapstick
• Packs of wipes

The outreach program is giving gear out as fast as they get them, and being mostly housebound now, it's hard for me to get out to pick up any before they're gone. That's why I put some of those essentials on our own wishlist, with a note that they're for the outreach effort; soon, I'll adjust those priorities accordingly, too.  Right now, they really, REALLY need pepper spray for the safety kits, and backpacks. I know a lot of people get weirded out by the idea of pepper spray, but if you're alone on the streets, assault of every type is always a possibility that's with you every single moment, and here, we also have wild animals that venture into town [a mountain lion spent a good share of the summer walking the streets downtown, and those of the nearby residential areas] This is a non-lethal way of stopping an attack in time to get away.

For us? SALES. PLEASE. THERE'S SO MUCH NEW WORK ON THE SITE. And I need to sell them all, because I still need to make a ridiculous amount of sales to cover all the stuff still in the pipeline that needs covering [laptop, roof AND now the well pressure pump, more medical, always prepaid taxes, etc.]. So: GO BUY! PLEASE. [Yeah, I know; I don't know why I bother, either. As I said, hope is a stupid, stubborn, fucked-up thing sometimes, even if it's also very thin and half-broken.] Links are here:

• Sales here; 
• Testimonials here; 
• Amazon wishlist here (Amazon cards are probably most useful at this point); 
• Patreon here;
• Ko-fi here.

After such a grim year, this one far worse than the last, we really begin 2025 on a better footing before taxes take every cent, so please share all of the links. 

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2025; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.                                              

#TBT: The Gifts of the Cold Season

Photo copyright Aji, 2025; all rights reserved.

It's #ThrowbackThursday at The NDN Silver Blog, with a #TBT work that was a very special commission by a very dear friend, a coil bracelet intended to be worn by a third party, and created to certain specifications. It's an extra-large version, seven wraps at rest, likely four upon the wearer's wrist, strung with ultra-high-grade materials in a cascading spiral, manifest as the gifts of the cold season.

The post is here. Wings's main page is here. As always, this work 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 [albeit not for couple of weeks yet, probably; commissions have not officially reopened yet]. The last year was frankly terrible, and we need to get 2025 under way on a much better footing, so shares are very much needed and much appreciated.

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2025; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.     

First light, with crows.

Photo copyright Aji, 2025; all rights reserved.

First light, with crows.

Technically not first light, really; dawn was perfectly clear, not a cloud anywhere in the sky. The clouds moved in between the first rays of coral color and seven o'clock or so.

And now, they're mostly gone. The crows remain, of course, along with their fellow raven and magpie corvids. At least they're finding something out in the fields.

It's a slower day today, some things left to wait for the rest of the week. But it's still just another day, in one sense; our traditional ways, those divorced from colonial influences, recognize other days and dates as the start of a new year, so . . . ::shrugs:: it's largely a day that we treat like any other. 

And right now, that means work. It's endless, on every single front, but it has to get done, and that includes constantly chasing sales. Because we have got to get 2025 off onto a better footing than 2024 was, and do it immediately, or we're screwed. I can't go through another year like these last two, but especially 2024, and we already know we have some massive expenses ahead.

And yes, I know we're lucky. The housing crisis worsens daily here. On that note, go here, buy something, or several somethings, off the outreach group's wishlist, and you will literally be saving a life, probably more than one. It's not really possible to overstate how bad it is out there, nor how great the need is. I've sorted it in their Priority order, but once again there's a new order of priorities, not yet entirely reflected in the list itself. This is from the organizer herself [I've italicized the ones that seem to be the most urgent at this moment]:

• The bulk backpacks - at least six 12 packs
• Whistles
• Pepper spray
• Money/document belts (look like tan fanny packs, worn under the clothing  to hide and keep documents safe and protected.
• Bulk dog leashes
• XXL dog harnesses
• Chapstick
• Packs of wipes

The outreach program is giving gear out as fast as they get them, and being mostly housebound now, it's hard for me to get out to pick up any before they're gone. That's why I put some of those essentials on our own wishlist, with a note that they're for the outreach effort; soon, I'll adjust those priorities accordingly, too.  Right now, they really, REALLY need pepper spray for the safety kits, and backpacks. I know a lot of people get weirded out by the idea of pepper spray, but if you're alone on the streets, assault of every type is always a possibility that's with you every single moment, and here, we also have wild animals that venture into town [a mountain lion spent a good share of the summer walking the streets downtown, and those of the nearby residential areas] This is a non-lethal way of stopping an attack in time to get away.

For us? SALES. PLEASE. THERE'S SO MUCH NEW WORK ON THE SITE. And I need to sell them all, because I still need to make a ridiculous amount of sales to cover all the stuff still in the pipeline that needs covering [laptop, roof AND now the well pressure pump, more medical, always prepaid taxes, etc.]. So: GO BUY! PLEASE. [Yeah, I know; I don't know why I bother, either. As I said, hope is a stupid, stubborn, fucked-up thing sometimes, even if it's also very thin and half-broken.] Links are here:

• Sales here; 
• Testimonials here; 
• Amazon wishlist here (Amazon cards are probably most useful at this point); 
• Patreon here;
• Ko-fi here.

After such a grim year, this one far worse than the last, we really begin 2025 on a better footing before taxes take every cent, so please share all of the links. 

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2025; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.                                              

The Sky Medicine of Winter Spirits

Photo copyright Aji, 2025; all rights reserved.

Now posted at The NDN Silver Blog, it's a masterwork for a new day, a new world, sheltered beneath the cover of a buffalo sky, the softer edges of a curly mane concealing that which is strong and solid beneath it. It's an extraordinary old-style collar necklace of the sort popular a century ago, one manifest in the beauty and the power and the sky medicine of winter spirits, so needed by our world now.

The post is here. Wings's main page is here. Inquiries via the site's Contact form. The last year was frankly terrible, and we need to get 2025 under way on a much better footing, so shares are very much needed and much appreciated.

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2025; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.