Your own personal hole in the dirt.

Photo copyright Aji, 2025; all rights reserved.

When you have any number of cushy dog beds, doghouses, dog forts, and a dog run, but nothing beats digging out your own personal hole in the dirt and sleeping in it.

Pigpen from Peanuts has got nothing on these monsters. They all carry their own personal little dustclouds with them now at all times. Which, of course, means they track it into the house multiple times a day, and there's no keeping up with it at this time of year. The winds make sure of that.

Speaking of which, we have extreme wind and fire-watch warnings for today, but so far, the winds haven't gone beyond normal spring nonsense. Which probably means that tonight will be monstrous, but there's nothing we can do about that, either.

The one thing I DO need to do something about is SALES. We're almost out of time to make enough of the metaphorical kind to cover everything that will need covering by the end of next week. I'm trying, but I can't conjure sales out of thin air; can't conjure money out of thin air, either, even though I've got to find some way to do more or less exactly that. I really need everyone to share out site, and if you're in the market [Easter, Mother's Day, graduations, weddings all coming up fast], now would be absolutely the best time of the whole year to buy.

The weekend will be divided between chasing sales and getting our taxes organized and to the preparer, since the last 2-3 days have been forcibly derailed by other people onto other things that were not urgent, but here we are [which means I will have no time left for anything but those two items now]. And truthfully, I need to sell a lot more over the next few days to cover everything we're going to have to cover these next couple of weeks. I've resented taxes a lot in my life, but never so much as I do right this moment, but there's no choice in the matter. 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.           

Animating Spirits of Earth and Light

Photo copyright Aji, 2025; all rights reserved.

Now posted at The NDN Silver Blog, it's a work for these lands and what gives them their name, for light through red willows and the magic and medicine of both. It's a cuff to honor the animating spirits of earth and light that are n elemental part of this place, a reminder of their rich abundance and our obligation to restore it. 

The post is here. Wings's main page is here. Inquiries via the site's Contact form. We have enormous repair and other emergency costs ahead and it's already the very end of March. We urgently need to shift 2025 onto a much better footing, fast, 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.     

Not anticipating any rain of either sort.

Photo copyright Aji, 2025; all rights reserved.

Some amazing cloud formations again this morning. Today's have been less monsoonal than simply the kind that tend to herald a change in the weather. it's about ten degrees cooler today [70s, not 80s] and the wind is rising, so I suspect that we'll have more spring-like weather this weekend.

Which is to say, no mud, but gale-force trickster winds to spread the new pollen everywhere. 

And the pollen's bad. I woke up with itchy eyes, sneezing, congestion, and coughing, and it's ALL allergy. Miserably for me, that means more inflammation, which means I feel worse across the board, and I already felt quite bad enough, thanks. Chemo today, which might suppress a little of it, but it might require a steroid tonight, which will mean no sleep.

Again.

Not anticipating any rain of either sort, unfortunately, and I'm almost out of time to make enough of the metaphorical kind to cover everything that will need covering by the end of next week. I'm trying, but I can't conjure sales out of thin air; can't conjure money out of thin air, either, even though I've got to find some way to do more or less exactly that.

The weekend will be divided between chasing sales and getting our taxes organized and to the preparer, since the last 2-3 days have been forcibly derailed by other people onto other things that were not urgent, but here we are [which means I will have no time left for anything but those two items now]. And truthfully, I need to sell a lot more over the next few days to cover everything we're going to have to cover these next couple of weeks. I've resented taxes a lot in my life, but never so much as I do right this moment, but there's no choice in the matter. 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.           

Friday Feature: Atmospheric Gifts to Enrich the Ground of Life

Photo copyright Aji, 2025; all rights reserved.

It's our Friday Feature at The NDN Silver Blog, with a quartet of works that celebrate the profound daily magic of gifts for the earth, those of air and water and light. It's four pairs of earrings wrought in the Indigenous art Deco style of a century past, all manifest as different aspects of atmospheric gifts to enrich the ground of life.

The post is here. Wings's main page is here. Inquiries via the site's Contact form. We have enormous repair and other emergency costs ahead and March is already nearly over. We urgently need to shift 2025 onto a much better footing, fast, 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.     

There is no normal now.

Photo copyright Aji, 2025; all rights reserved.

Monsoonal patterns in morning skies is definitely not the norm for March. Of course, it's not the norm for summer, either, if we're talking about morning; those cloud formations begin to build around midday.  But we don't usually get them until June.

Of course, there is no normal now.

Not climatically or seasonally or meteorologically, not on any front. And there's not much I can do about any of it except to keep doing what I do, try to make the sales we ned so urgently, try to set aside as much as we can out of those to help other people who are worse off than we are, try to keep as many of us alive and well and safe as possible, even if what's possible isn't very much.

It doesn't help that my pain levels are increasing in an inverse proportion to my functionality, which seems to be deteriorating rather badly. It doesn't seem tied to the weather or overdoing it or anything else [although all those things apply, but I know what that feels like and this isn't that]. Which leads me to believe that this might just be the way it is from now on. That's hard to accept, but it's looking increasingly as though I have no choice.

The rest of this week will be divided between chasing sales and getting our taxes organized and to the preparer [which means I will have no time left for anything but those two items now]. And truthfully, I need to sell a lot more over the next few days to cover everything we're going to have to cover these next couple of weeks. I've resented taxes a lot in my life, but never so much as I do right this moment, but there's no choice in the matter. 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.           

#TBT: From Clay and Light, the Breath of Life

Photo copyright Wings, 2025; all rights reserved.

It's #ThrowbackThursday at The NDN Silver Blog, with a #TBT work that dates back some fourteen to sixteen years ago, and an entry in one small collection from one of Wings's long-running but informal signature series. It's a pair of old-style tab earrings, solid sterling silver saw-cut and stamped freehand, this one in a design that reminds us that our world is one of collective shelter, and that from clay and light, the breath of life animates and sustains it, and us.

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. We have enormous repair and other emergency costs looming now and we're already at the end of March. We urgently need to shift 2025 onto 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.         

We might get lucky.

Photo copyright Aji, 2025; all rights reserved.

It's very warm again today; shorts weather, no sleeves, and no fire in the woodstove since first thing this morning. It looks and feels like the end of May, and that's not limited to the temperature. Those fluffy white clouds scattered widely this morning?

Have all turned into that up there: great blue-back walls of thunderheads, monsoonal patterns that we don't normally see until halfway into June.

You can see the rain falling behind the southern ridgeline earlier. I doubt that we'll see anything here, but you never know. We might get lucky.

Right now, I just need to make it rain in the other sense, because we need to get lucky on that front right now, and badly. I'm slow today, because yesterday did me some damage and my pain levels are agonizing now. Chemo is Friday, and maybe that'll take a little of the edge off, but frankly, I'm not hopeful; nothing's working lately, and it may not. This might just be the way it is from now on. That's hard to accept, but it's looking increasingly as though I have no choice.

The rest of this week will be divided between chasing sales and getting our taxes organized and to the preparer [which means I will have no time left for anything but those two items now]. And truthfully, I need to sell a lot more over the next few days to cover everything we're going to have to cover these next couple of weeks. I've resented taxes a lot in my life, but never so much as I do right this moment, but there's no choice in the matter. 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.