It's been busy. And costly.

Photo copyright Aji, 2025; all rights reserved.

Yesterday's haul, showing them next to the pendant. With luck, by tonight it will be done, but it might be tomorrow; depends on how far he gets with everything else today.

And it's been busy. And costly.  Septic today, another expense I wasn't anticipating having to pay this week, with trash pick-up due tomorrow. I have to take care of insurance, and . . . ::sigh:: for every sale we've made lately, there's always something waiting to swallow it before I can put it on the tax bill. And there are other expenses looming beyond that, including cultural stuff [a great-niece has a life marker coming up at the end of May, and we have to cover some things for that].

And the taxes are still driving me up the wall. The prospect of paying them is even worse, because as I said yesterday, talking about being done with them "once and for all" implies being able to pay everything all at once, and that's extremely unlikely. I have to the end of this week to bring in enough to cover them all, but it's grim, and I'm at my wits' end. Last year was awful in every way; this year has begun with more of the same, with the added problem of a bunch of external demands on us that have drained all of our resources. I'm out of options [but I'm still working 16 hours and day and more to try to get everything done].

I've resented taxes a lot in my life, but never so much as I do right this moment, thanks to this Nazi "administration" stealing our money and what they're doing with it. But there's no choice in the matter, and I'm am truly at the end of my tether right now, between the taxes and the well pump and the lack of sales and income and my accelerating health issues. So now would be a really, really good time to buy, because I really, really need to bring in more income this week. We're out of time.

Links are here:

• Sales here; 
• Testimonials here; 
• Amazon wishlist here (Priorities are Amazon gift cards, which we can ALWAY use, and those adjustable Black KN95 masks are badly needed, because I gave away all the rest of ours to relatives; it would good to have several boxes, so I can keep handing them out, too); 
• Patreon here;
• Ko-fi here.

After such a grim year last year, and this one beginning at least as badly, we urgently need to move 2025 onto a better footing before taxes take every last 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.              

#ThrowbackThursday: A Slumbering Earth Reawakened and Growing Again

Photo copyright Wings, 2025; all rights reserved.

It's #TBT at The NDN Silver Blog, with a #ThrowbackThursday work that dates back a dozen years or so, to somewhere around 2013, and one of a pair of simple single-stone rings wrought in a classic style. This particular ring was set with a subtly beautiful green turquoise cabochon finely webbed with red siltstone, resembling a slumbering earth reawakened and growing again in spring. 

The post is here. Wings's main page is here. As always, this work will never be duplicated, but if the style speaks to your spirit, simply inquire via the site's Contact form; Wings can create a version uniquely your own. It's already April, and we need sales urgently now:  Taxes are due, sales are way down, there have been far too many demands on us already this year, and we have to be able to cover this. We can't do that without making a large number of sales this week. On top of that, the well pump still needs to be replaced thereafter, as soon as we can actually get someone out here, 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.         

A whirlwind, but in a good way.

Photo copyright Aji, 2025; all rights reserved.

That's that little dusting of snow I mentioned yesterday. None down here, just a little sleet and graupel. but today? Today was COLD. Winter's not done with us yet, at least not out here where we are, which is more than ten degrees colder than in town.

Today's been a whirlwind, but in a good way. Multiple errands today, all at top speed, but the highlight of the day was meeting Al and. Sherry at their hotel. Yes, I do have photos, and yes, I did actually manage to get them off my phone, but it occurred to me tonight that she might not want her image everywhere, so I went with a regular one. Suffice to say that they are absolutely beautiful, wonderful folks, and we both felt that vibe with them the moment we walked through the door. Al has his necklace, which has special meaning for him, and Sherry has a pair of Wings's earrings, and believe me, this is the home they were waiting for; both pieces are perfect on both of them. 

They're on the road, traveling around, but they have an open invitation here always. 

Also spent some time with the bead ladies later on, and we've now got the beads for that new piece he's working on that I posted the other night: sterling silver; dendritic Montana agate; tiger's eye. The beads are perfect, and they're going to make the whole thing absolutely pop.

But now I'm beat, and I spent too much time walking and standing in lines today [those other errands], and my feet are a mess, even if I was wearing my most comfortable pair of boots. [They're old, and they're thoroughly broken in and shaped more or less to my feet by now. Doesn't help nearly as much as it used to, though.]

And now, it's back to the grind. The taxes are still driving me up the wall. The prospect of paying them is even worse, because as I said yesterday, talking about being done with them "once and for all" implies being able to pay everything all at once, and that's extremely unlikely. I have to the end of this week to bring n. enough to cover them all, but it's grim, and I'm at my wits' end. Last year was awful in every way; this year has begun with more of the same, with the added problem of a bunch of external demands on us that have drained all of our resources. I'm out of options [but I'm still working 16 hours and day and more to try to get everything done].

I've resented taxes a lot in my life, but never so much as I do right this moment, thanks to this Nazi "administration" stealing our money and what they're doing with it. But there's no choice in the matter, and I'm am truly at the end of my tether right now, between the taxes and the well pump and the lack of sales and income and my accelerating health issues. So now would be a really, really good time to buy, because I really, really need to bring in more income this week. We're out of time.

Links are here:

• Sales here; 
• Testimonials here; 
• Amazon wishlist here (Priorities are Amazon gift cards, which we can ALWAY use, and those adjustable Black KN95 masks are badly needed, because I gave away all the rest of ours to relatives; it would good to have several boxes, so I can keep handing them out, too); 
• Patreon here;
• Ko-fi here.

After such a grim year last year, and this one beginning at least as badly, we urgently need to move 2025 onto a better footing before taxes take every last 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.             

What Holds Steady In Shifting Times and Seasons

Photo copyright Aji, 2025; all rights reserved.

Now posted at The NDN Silver Blog, it's a masterwork for this unsettled and unsettling season, an embodiment of the gifts of sacred directions, sacred earth, and what keeps us grounded in a changing world. It's an old-style traditional pendant created to honor the earth and sacred directions, a reminder of what holds steady in shifting times and seasons.

The post is here. Wings's main page is here. Inquiries via the site's Contact form. We need sales urgently now:  Taxes are due, sales are way down, there have been far too many demands on us already this year, and we have to be able to cover this. We can't do that without making a large number of sales this week. On top of that, the well pump still needs to be replaced thereafter, as soon as we can actually get someone out here, 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.     

It's been a doozy.

Photo copyright Aji, 2025; all rights reserved.

It's not a great shot compositionally, but I included it here for a very specific reason. See that little rounded brown smudge at the horizon in the very center? I thought it was a spot on my camera lens when I first looked at the photo, so I enlarged it. NOPE.  It's a dust devil, roundish instead of a tall skinny spiral, probably shrieking April Fool's! at the top of its dirty lungs as it moves.

There a reason — many reasons, actually — that I hate this day.

As weather goes, it's been a doozy: Sun, clouds, extreme winds, freezing rain, sleet, graupel, snow on the peaks, albeit not down here. But more of all, the wind. And the dirt, and the dust, and the pollen.

I'm so far behind, too. Things keep cropping up and derailing me from the thousand and one things already on today's to-do list. Tomorrow will be busy, too, but then I hope I'm home for the rest of the week and able to get this nonsense off my desk once and for all.

Of course, "once and for all" implies being able to pay everything all at once, and that's unlikely, too. Two days is about all I have left [okay, maybe four] to get everything done on our taxes, too. Being able to pay them is another matter entirely; it's grim, and I'm at my wits' end. Last year was awful in every way; this year has begun with more of the same, with the added problem of a bunch of external demands on us that have drained all of our resources. I have to get our taxes done, to the preparer, and paid this week. I cannot do that if we don't bring in some really big sales this week — either a bunch of sales daily or one or two really big ones; I don't have any preference, as long as I can get it done. It's that last that's the stumbling block, because it's not depending on how hard I work at work. I can't force people to buy. And I'm out of options [but I'm still working 16 hours and day and more to try to get everything done].

I've resented taxes a lot in my life, but never so much as I do right this moment, thanks to this Nazi "administration" stealing our money and what they're doing with it. But there's no choice in the matter, and I'm am truly at the end of my tether right now, between the taxes and the well pump and the lack of sales and income and my accelerating health issues. So now would be a really, really good time to buy, because I really, really need to bring in more income this week. We're out of time.

Links are here:

• Sales here; 
• Testimonials here; 
• Amazon wishlist here (Priorities are Amazon gift cards, which we can ALWAY use, and those adjustable Black KN95 masks are badly needed, because I gave away all the rest of ours to relatives; it would good to have several boxes, so I can keep handing them out, too); 
• Patreon here;
• Ko-fi here.

After such a grim year last year, and this one beginning at least as badly, we urgently need to move 2025 onto a better footing before taxes take every last 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.            

Red Willow Spirit: Another Turn of the Earth, and Its Spirits, Toward the Light

Photo copyright Wings, 2025; all rights reserved.

Now posted at The NDN Silver Blog, it's an edition of Red Willow Spirit for a trickster day and month and conditions, reminding us that beneath the chaos lie the cycles that keep our world alive. It's two images linked by one of Wings's newer cuffs set with an old, old stone to match the photos, perfect for a time of another turn of the earth, and its spirits, toward the light.

The post is here. Wings's main page is here. Inquiries via the site's Contact form. It's April already [how? how?]. We need sales urgently now:  Taxes are due, sales are way down, there have been far too many demands on us already this year, and we have to be able to cover this. We can't do that without making a large number of sales this week. On top of that, the well pump still needs to be replaced thereafter, as soon as we can actually get someone out here, 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.       

Two days.

Photo copyright Aji, 2025; all rights reserved.

That up there? That's the cause of much of what's awful right now. Normally, it it's four to six weeks, sometimes more, between the point that the catkins open and look like little fuzzy puffs and the point at which they turn into those pollen-ridden strands of pure misery. This year? It took two days.

Two days.

That's not the only cause, though. Yesterday was cloudy, squalls circling around the mountains all day, and we thought the gray haze was just mist and fog. That's why we put down our scratchy throats and itchy eyes and breathing difficulties to the aspen pollen. And then at sunset I stepped out on the deck . . . and I realized that the gray haze was smoke. No idea which fire; there are allegedly three in widely-disparate ares a good way south of here, but this seemed to be coming from the west. You could see the smoke pall across the entire western horizon — the sunset turns it a very particular dirty coral shade that's unmistakable — and the air stank of forest-fire smoke. There's still some haze in the air here today even though the wind has shifted; it's supposed to get much stronger late today and all through tomorrow, though, and so I fully expect smog here then. 

It's still March, which makes this a not-promising start to the season. 

Two days is about all I have left [okay, maybe four] to get everything done on our taxes, too. Being able to pay them is another matter entirely; it's grim, and I'm at my wits' end. Last year was awful in every way; this year has begun with more of the same, with the added problem of a bunch of external demands on us that have drained all of our resources. I have to get our taxes done, to the preparer, and paid this week. I cannot do that if we don't bring in some really big sales this week — either a bunch of sales daily or one or two really big ones; I don't have any preference, as long as I can get it done. It's that last that's the stumbling block, because it's not depending on how hard I work at work. I can't force people to buy. And I'm out of options [but I'm still working 16 hours and day and more to try to get everything done].

I've resented taxes a lot in my life, but never so much as I do right this moment, thanks to this Nazi "administration" stealing our money and what they're doing with it. But there's no choice in the matter, and I'm am truly at the end of my tether right now, between the taxes and the well pump and the lack of sales and income and my accelerating health issues. So now would be a really, really good time to buy, because I really, really need to bring in more income this week. We're out of time.

Links are here:

• Sales here; 
• Testimonials here; 
• Amazon wishlist here (Priorities are Amazon gift cards, which we can ALWAY use, and those adjustable Black KN95 masks are badly needed, because I gave away all the rest of ours to relatives; it would good to have several boxes, so I can keep handing them out, too); 
• Patreon here;
• Ko-fi here.

After such a grim year last year, and this one beginning at least as badly, we urgently need to move 2025 onto a better footing before taxes take every last 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.