Friday Feature: Singing Spring Warmth and Sunlight

Photo copyright Aji, 2020; all rights reserved.

Now posted at The NDN Silver Blog, it's a traditional work wrought in the old style by an equally traditional local artist and friend. It's an elk whistle, a tool of communication for a clan that has its own language and song — one now, at this season, singing spring warmth and sunlight.

The post is here. Wings's main page is here. Inquiries via the site's Contact form. And, as always, sales are very much needed (with an unusually huge cluster of bills and expenses for January, February, and March, taxes ahead for April, and the pandemic having reduced our sales to zero), so shares of the site links are much appreciated.

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.

An endless stream of things to mourn these days.

Photo copyright Aji, 2020; all rights reserved.

The mourning dove is here now, too. It's horribly fitting; there's an endless stream of things to mourn these days.

Meanwhile, the weather and wind have my pain levels out of control, and none of it matters; I have to keep going, because the work has to get done.  I have to dig back into all our records and fine something for the accountant on our taxes, and I'm ready to scream. Meanwhile, the expenses mount: The farrier was out this morning for Miika, who (likely because the wind and weather are causing her a lot of pain, too), was obstinately uncooperative. He got her front hooves done, at least, which was the really important part. He also recommended a mild sedative that we have to get a vet to prescribe so that he can work with her better to finish the hind hooves in a couple of weeks. Meanwhile, Wings is picking up the mower, and I have no idea what THAT is going to set us back, but it's going to be ugly. He hauled it down there before official isolation measures began, and we've been waiting to hear; they called last night to say it was done, but without leaving a message as to the cost. ::Sigh:: it doesn't matter; with this kind of acreage (and this kind of moisture), it's a necessity. We now know, better than most, than we cannot afford to have mosquitoes here anymore.

So I have to bring in a lot more scratch on several new levels now, too. We're still waiting to hear on how much we'll have to pay out for taxes (no, we haven't gotten any kind of stimulus check, why do you ask?), on top of all of this. On the apparent plus side, the bread machine I wanted that was in stock only last week is now sold out everywhere except for outrageously priced used versions on eBay, which is an automatic nope, so I guess I won't be springing for that. We also won't have any bread, but . . . details, details.

Anyway, the upshot is that we need to make sales. I think the fields are getting disced next week for planting; that's going to cost. So are the horses' vaxes and spring check-ups, which is tentatively scheduled for May 4th. Farrier's coming out Thursday to do more work on Miika's laminitic left front (she has to be done in stages, and yes, there will be masking and social distancing via the end of a lead). At some point, the dogs have to go in for their vaxes and so forth. And we both have doctor's appointments, which will be telemedicine via my laptop, assuming it holds, the first week of May. That's a hell of a lot of expense, over and above all the usual monthly expenses, monsoonal patterns of another sort, and I need to cover it somehow, hence the next graf:

Over the course of last week, I featured, on his site, some of his most valuable (and highest-priced) works. If we could sell them all, we could sock 90% of it into savings and be assured of making it through the rest of the year and into the next, barring disaster. I don't actually have any real hope of doing that, but if you're one of the folks who's been looking at these works and thinking that someday you might want to invest the money in one or more? Now would be the time; it would help ensure our survival through this pandemic and likely to the first of next year, and help us to be able to help other folks in our community here who are going to need it badly. So please, this week especially, share all of our links, because while we're all in isolation? Income is already at virtually nothing, and we can survive the isolation, but not the inability to feed the maw of all the bills. The links are here:

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

Note: For now, please don't buy anything off the Amazon wishlist; to do so would be crossing a picket line, and some of their workers have struck this morning to fight for safer working conditions because their lives are being put at even greater risk during this pandemic. If you find one of the items elsewhere, wonderful (there's even a wishlist function where you can note that it's been purchased somewhere else).

Other than that, please share everything. Thanks.

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Aji, 2020; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.

#ThrowbackThursday: Scattering Joy and Life

Photo copyright Aji, 2020; all rights reserved.

It's #TBT at The NDN Silver Blog, it's a pair of accidental pollinators of the plants and flowers that give life to our world now. It's earrings in the form of Dragonfly, a pair of small messenger spirits whose other role is not incidental at all, that of scattering joy and life.

The post is here.  Wings's main page is here. This work obviously 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. And, as always, sales are very much needed (with an unusually huge cluster of bills and expenses for January, February, and March, taxes ahead for April, and the pandemic having reduced our sales to zero), so shares of the site links are much appreciated.

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.

Knowing where home is.

Photo copyright Aji, 2020; all rights reserved.

Our solitary hummingbird, knowing where home is. Hummingbirds and hawks, Mr. Yellow-Head, the entire goldfinch clan and the siskins, too: Like us now, they all know where home is, and they're sticking around.

More rain overnight, which was wonderful; possibly more today, which would also be wonderful. That arctic blast we're getting from the north, less so. I'm literally hobbling today, so it's doubtful that I'll get much done. OTOH, I can't sit for too long now — both hops and my entire right leg are subluxed — so maybe I'll manage more than I think.  I can't sit around with this kind of pain, so . . . ::shrug::.

Besides, as I said yesterday, there's just too much around here that has to get done, and because of the isolation requirements of this pandemic, it's back to just Wings and me now, no possibility of hiring anyone to help. And while I used to help with literally everything around here, I can no longer do that physically thanks to what nearly killed me in 2017, and so I have to pick up the slack in other ways. I also have to bring in a lot more scratch, because we're still waiting to hear on how much we'll have to pay out for taxes (no, we haven't gotten any kind of stimulus check, why do you ask?), and I'm going to have to spring for a bread machine by week's end, I think; we're almost out of the only bread I can eat, and the company is closed for a couple more weeks.

Anyway, the upshot is that we need to make sales. I think the fields are getting disced next week for planting; that's going to cost. So are the horses' vaxes and spring check-ups, which is tentatively scheduled for May 4th. Farrier's coming out Thursday to do more work on Miika's laminitic left front (she has to be done in stages, and yes, there will be masking and social distancing via the end of a lead). At some point, the dogs have to go in for their vaxes and so forth. And we both have doctor's appointments, which will be telemedicine via my laptop, assuming it holds, the first week of May. That's a hell of a lot of expense, over and above all the usual monthly expenses, monsoonal patterns of another sort, and I need to cover it somehow, hence the next graf:

Over the course of last week, I featured, on his site, some of his most valuable (and highest-priced) works. If we could sell them all, we could sock 90% of it into savings and be assured of making it through the rest of the year and into the next, barring disaster. I don't actually have any real hope of doing that, but if you're one of the folks who's been looking at these works and thinking that someday you might want to invest the money in one or more? Now would be the time; it would help ensure our survival through this pandemic and likely to the first of next year, and help us to be able to help other folks in our community here who are going to need it badly. So please, this week especially, share all of our links, because while we're all in isolation? Income is already at virtually nothing, and we can survive the isolation, but not the inability to feed the maw of all the bills. The links are here:

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

Note: For now, please don't buy anything off the Amazon wishlist; to do so would be crossing a picket line, and some of their workers have struck this morning to fight for safer working conditions because their lives are being put at even greater risk during this pandemic. If you find one of the items elsewhere, wonderful (I found a lovely convection bread machine with a GF setting via Crate and Barrel online, but I can't justify the cost, at least not now; we haven't had anything like the kind of sales that would permit that), but for the duration of the strike, please don't buy anything off the list from there. That said, if you can find Wings's KT tapes anywhere else?  He uses those virtually every day, and we're almost out; that would save us having to go out and buy them locally, in person and at higher cost. 

Other than that, please share everything. Thanks.

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Aji, 2020; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.

Opening to the Light

Photo copyright

Now posted at The NDN Silver Blog, it's one of my favorites among Wings's more recent works, a tribute to a world in first flower. It's a necklace in the form of a full and graceful bud topped by a single drop of sunlit dew, suspended from a cascade of petal and liquid sun, full and ripe and ready for its first spring dance of opening to the light.

The post is here. Wings's main page is here. Inquiries via the site's Contact form. And, as always, sales are very much needed (with an unusually huge cluster of bills and expenses for January, February, and March, taxes ahead for April, and the pandemic having reduced our sales virtually to zero); if we could sell all of this week's featured pieces, we'd be good into 2021), so shares of the site links are much appreciated.

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.

Monsoonal patterns.

Photo copyright Aji, 2020; all rights reserved.

Early monsoonal patterns again this year, apparently. And, as with last year, some changes: We got rain overnight, soft, steady, soaking, and badly needed. That's not usually the time of day that it rains here, but climate change has altered that. In this one small way, it's for the better, at least in the abstract. But we're under no illusions that the overall changes are good. The mess that is the outside world now is proof enough of that.

I will likely be offline until late in the day, when I run the daily COVID-19 numbers. I've already been mired in several different projects piecemeal here, and I would like to get some sewing in this afternoon if at all possible. Still waiting on two shipments of fabric. The "other project," though, they won't wait, because it looks as though we are finally going to have enough warmth to plant next week. So I'll be spending a lot of this week sorting seeds and plotting out what goes where; our gardens will be significantly expanded this year because of current circumstances. Until the drought intensified three years ago and we got first crops destroyed mid-season and then no water for planting at all, we always raised enough not only to keep ourselves in fresh produce but to have plenty to give away. This year, we're going to have to raise more so that we have even more to give away than usual, because we already know that folks here are going to need it. 

I'm down to two unopened loaves of bread (the only kind I can eat, thanks to my new mid-life allergies, and Wings likes it better, too), and the place where I order them is still closed. I may need to spring for a bread machine after all, regardless of our lowered sales, because this altitude defies all attempts at making GF bread the ordinary way. I wish I had more hours in the day to experiment with recipes, but there's just too much around here that has to get done, and because of the isolation requirements of this pandemic, it's back to just Wings and me now, no possibility of hiring anyone to help. And while I used to help with literally everything around here, I can no longer do that physically thanks to what nearly killed me in 2017, and so I have to pick up the slack in other ways. And I'm probably lengthening this post deliberately so that I don't have to go back to all the stuff I was working on just quite yet.

Anyway, the upshot is that we need to make sales. I think the fields are getting disced next week for planting; that's going to cost. So are the horses' vaxes and spring check-ups, which is tentatively scheduled for May 4th. Farrier's coming out Thursday to do more work on Miika's laminitic left front (she has to be done in stages, and yes, there will be masking and social distancing via the end of a lead). At some point, the dogs have to go in for their vaxes and so forth. And we both have doctor's appointments, which will be telemedicine via my laptop, assuming it holds, the first week of May. That's a hell of a lot of expense, over and above all the usual monthly expenses, monsoonal patterns of another sort, and I need to cover it somehow, hence the next graf:

Over the course of last week, I featured, on his site, some of his most valuable (and highest-priced) works. If we could sell them all, we could sock 90% of it into savings and be assured of making it through the rest of the year and into the next, barring disaster. I don't actually have any real hope of doing that, but if you're one of the folks who's been looking at these works and thinking that someday you might want to invest the money in one or more? Now would be the time; it would help ensure our survival through this pandemic and likely to the first of next year, and help us to be able to help other folks in our community here who are going to need it badly. So please, this week especially, share all of our links, because while we're all in isolation? Income is already at virtually nothing, and we can survive the isolation, but not the inability to feed the maw of all the bills. The links are here:

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

Note: For now, please don't buy anything off the Amazon wishlist; to do so would be crossing a picket line, and some of their workers have struck this morning to fight for safer working conditions because their lives are being put at even greater risk during this pandemic. If you find one of the items elsewhere, wonderful (I found a lovely convection bread machine with a GF setting via Crate and Barrel online, but I can't justify the cost, at least not now; we haven't had anything like the kind of sales that would permit that), but for the duration of the strike, please don't buy anything off the list from there. That said, if you can find Wings's KT tapes anywhere else?  He uses those virtually every day, and we're almost out; that would save us having to go out and buy them locally, in person and at higher cost. 

Other than that, please share everything. Thanks.

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Aji, 2020; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.

Red Willow Spirit: Reaching For the Sky

Photo copyright Wings, 2020;
all rights reserved.

Now posted at The NDN Silver Blog, it's an edition of Red Willow Spirit for the first rains of spring, and the first flowers, too. It's also a reminder to heed the lessons these brave and hardy blossoms have to teach us, especially now: about strength and resilience, about the beauty and abundance that results from a commitment to the work, and to the ways of prayer and ceremony — vulnerable and yet open, petals and spirits reaching for the sky.

The post is here. Wings's main page is here. As always, his photos are available in any of the usual three formats; to order them or the silverwork shown, simply inquire via the site's Contact form. And, as always, sales are very much needed (with an unusually huge cluster of bills and expenses for January, February, and March, taxes ahead for April, and the pandemic having reduced our sales to zero), so shares of the site links are much appreciated.

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.