Bread and circuses on steroids now.

Photo copyright Aji, 2025; all rights reserved.

Mid-January. Everything below the sky in that shot should be entirely white, buried under several feet of snow. Instead, what minuscule amount the peaks got several days ago is now essentially gone.

The really bad part of it is that people simply refuse to acknowledge how dangerous this is, refuse to engage with the fact that their behaviors are very literally killing the land. And no one's interested in dealing with reality; it's bread and circuses on steroids now.

This week has both flown by and seemed endless. A couple of good things [one of them very good]; the rest, mostly bad, and some of it very bad indeed. When I posted here yesterday, I didn't yet know that the mutual-aid and rescue communities here had lost one of their leaders, a woman who was so generous and kind and dedicated to such work. It's very sudden; no one expected it, and I don't know if they even know the cause yet. But it's a tragedy for a lot of folks here who were very close to her, and for the work itself. I had only recently gotten to know her personally, and it has affected me profoundly, so I can only imagine the hole in the hearts of those who were much closer to her.

She was one of the driving forces behind a great deal of local rescue work, and also behind the outreach campaign to unhoused folks locally; the woman who coordinates that work was a very close friend of hers. So all of that goes back up here now, daily. It's especially crucial today, given that it's going to get down below zero starting tomorrow night [actual temp; the wind chills will be much worse]. Everything on it helps save lives; you can buy items here.  Backpacks are urgently needed now.  So are hats/gloves/socks/etc.  So are L/XL dog coats and step-in dog harnesses in all sizes. I'll push the local GFMs I know about on social media, but I will point out this one here, the daughter of our niece's husband, battling metastatic cancer. If you can give, please do.

And for us, of course, now would still be a good time to buy. TONS of new and fabulous work on the site, and tons more on the way, too.

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 urgently need to 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.                                                

Friday Feature: The Gift of Life In Breath and Light

Photo copyright Aji, 2025; all rights reserved.

It's our Friday Feature at The NDN Silver Blog, with a masterwork manifest as all the power and medicine of illuminating skies. It's an old-style traditional butterfly concha belt, an extraordinary twenty-six separate silverwork pieces braided together as we are bound to our world, an embodiment of the gift of life in breath and 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 urgently 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.      

A matter of great precision.

Photo copyright Aji, 2025; all rights reserved.

That's how careful you have to be. Stamp placement is a matter of great precision, and it's one of those rare moments when I can capture his work without his hands being in constant motion.

That's going to be a cuff. No, I don't know any details yet; might be able to find out tomorrow. Today was a mess of things that needed to get done, hence why everything is late tonight. If I have my way, I'm not going anywhere for at least the next four or five days. I'm guessing I won't have my way, though.

It's been one of those days in another way, too, since this one is a marker. Lately I've been running up against reminders that, for some inexplicable reason, have been giving me full-on PTSD flashbacks in ways I couldn't prepare for and never expected. Today might be part of the reason; would've been my dad's birthday today. He would've been 101. Yes, you read that correctly:  one hundred and one. Were he still alive, that is. But as I've said so many times before, memory is a motherfucker, and it will gleefully mess you up in ways you never anticipated.

The one saving grace is that after I just . . . sort of abandoned everything yesterday, said I can't do anything more without being able to fix our situation? A miracle of sorts arrived, an hour or so later. It does NOT mean that I can quit pushing sales; there is nothing that obviates the need to bring in at least one sale a week if we're going to have a hope in hell of breaking even, and that remains the case. But it DOES mean that I could schedule our next round of appointments, knowing that we can pay for it. The water pressure issue doesn't induce panic like it did only yesterday morning. Maybe I'll sleep tonight [unlike last night, which had me still wide awake at 6 AM this morning, presumably from the sheer amount of intractable pain I'm in these days].

But I'll put the wishlist back for outreach to local unhoused folks; it's going to get down below zero starting Saturday night [actual temp; the wind chills will be much worse]. Everything on it helps save lives; you can buy items here.  Backpacks are urgently needed now.  So are hats/gloves/socks/etc.  So are L/XL dog coats and step-in dog harnesses in all sizes. I'll push the local GFMs I know about on social media, but I will point out this one here which I skipped yesterday, the daughter of our niece's husband, battling metastatic cancer. If you can give, please do.

And for us, of course, now would still be a good time to buy. TONS of new and fabulous work on the site.

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 urgently need to 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: To Dance, to Breathe, to Live, to Be

Photo copyright Wings, 2025; all rights reserved.

It's #ThrowbackThursday at The NDN Silver Blog, with a #TBT featured work that dates back nearly two decades, wrought in a vintage traditional style very much older yet. It's a ring set with a complex focal in an old-style blossom design, this one with a figure at the center of the petals and the light, reminding us that to dance, to breathe, to live, to be is the most effective resistance, and one the world needs from us now.

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. 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.      

We have got to make some sales. Period.

Photo copyright Aji, 2025; all rights reserved.

Enlarge that. That's a spot near the top, and the snow? Barely a dusting. 

This land is not dying, it's being killed by colonialism.

I, on the other hand, am being killed by autoimmune disease and stress.

I'm eliminating all the other stuff for the moment. Sometimes, we have to matter, too, and right now? It's bad. I can't pay medical stuff, I can't pay his dental, the well pressure pump is worsening and theres absolutely no way I can cover that, can't replace my laptop, can't prepay taxes, can't do anything at all. Last year was indescribably bad, and this year is starting off worse, if that's even possible, and I didn't think it was.

We have got to make some sales. Period. I cannot do anything else, for anybody or anything, until we get some income coming in again. There is all kinds of new work on the site, and it's got to start moving. If you know folks in the market, share, please.  If you are? Well, considering that we just had our worst holiday sales season ever, now would be a good time to buy. 

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 urgently need to 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.                                               

A Living, Breathing Green Earth

Photo copyright Aji, 2025; all rights reserved.

Now posted at The NDN Silver Blog, it's a work to remind us that we are witness daily to another turn of the Earth, and we must root ourselves and stand strong on its behalf. It's a cuff wrought with the imagery of shelter and guidance and set with an old and extraordinary stone, a symbol of a living, breathing green earth and our obligations to protect it.

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 urgently 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.      

Not a thing I can do about it.

Photo copyright Aji, 2025; all rights reserved.

That was late morning. It's gonna be perfectly clear skies tonight, and very, very cold. And except for a few patches that get very little sun, the snow here was mostly gone by early afternoon. That dusting on the craggy face of El Salto? Most of that's already gone, too.

Every year, I hope for it to be a good year. The last two or three have been flatly terrible right out of the gate. This one? With no sales, on top of what's coming next week, this one's on track to be really, really bad.

And there's not a thing I can do about it.

I have GOT to be able to bring in some sales immediately, but I can't do anything more than I'm already doing. I can't force people to buy. I can't force subscriptions. I can't do anything more; I'm already killing myself trying to bring in income and juggle everything else, and there's no way to do all of that.

As terrible as everything is, and as worrying as things are here right now on so very many fronts? We are all fortunate to be safely housed.

Too many here are not. It's not really possible to overstate how bad it is out there, nor how great the need is. At some point, I'm very likely going to come to y'all and ask for help funding backpacks for a different local outreach group that's doing amazing, life-saving work locally. Their survival kits are created on a limited budget, and it came down to choosing between blankets and backpacks to hold everything. Given this cold, I would've made the same choice, I expect. But the need remains, and at some point, when I have details of exactly what and how many and so forth, I'll be asking folks to support it.

On that note, go here, buy something, or several somethings, off the other outreach group's wishlist, and you will literally be saving a life, probably more than one. I've sorted it in their Priority order. They're giving out gear as fast as it comes in, and all of it contributes, quite literally, to saving lives.

And then there's us. My laptop nearly crapped out on me entirely Friday night, shutting itself down literally every ten seconds; I don't know how much it's got left in it. There's the well pressure pump [URGENT NOW] and the roof still to be done. There's medical [and I've had to up my chemo dose again, because the lupus and RA are progressing] and dental. Taxes are coming up all too fast. There is no way I can cover anything right now. Not a damn thing. I need help, and there isn't any.

We need sales now. Or a miracle. Or both. THERE'S SO MUCH NEW WORK ON THE SITE. There's also a new bolo and a new pair of earrings coming, maybe tonight, maybe not until tomorrow [the bolo's done, and so are the earrings; I just have had no time to get the photos edited and descriptions written. STILL.] There's the second bolo coming, too, no longer dino-bone, which is probably going on a cuff [bolo's likely turquoise], but it's still amazing already. 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 urgently need to 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.