You have to remember to look up.

Photo copyright Aji, 2020; all rights reserved.

Sometimes, the heart of the sky gives you a heart in the sky. You have to remember to look up, though. We do that anyway, but we're doing even more of it now. Self-isolation hasn't meant any break in the volume of work to be done, only that we have more mental space to focus on doing it, but it's made us even more acutely aware of the gifts around us every day. 

My concern now is the bills. We've spent far more than we would ordinarily have done over the last three by now four to six weeks getting ready to quarantine ourselves, because we saw what was coming even if the so-called "leadership" of this country still refuses to acknowledge reality. We also shot what is for us an extraordinary amount of cash to various folks, mostly Indigenous and disabled, over the last few weeks, precisely because we could see what was coming, and most of them don't have the privilege we do of an isolated home with natural resources and hard experience to help keep us going.

And so the $700 for the vehicle stuff last week and the $300+ for medical and the unexpected need to help some other folks and the costs for the farrier, the hay, and the discing of the land to prep for reseeding this year are all combining to set us back a great deal. To add to it, we've had three sales total all year. Yup, 3. That's not going to keep us alive, and we still have taxes and other expenses to pay. At this point, I need to bring in about $4K in sales, subscriptions, Ko-fi, any source possible just to cover all of that. So please share all of our links, because while we're all in isolation? Income is going to be next to nothing otherwise, and we can survive the isolation, but not the inability to feed the maw of all the bills. Also, I added some new items to the wishlist, so that breakfast is less boring, and because I'm going to have to return to sewing (supplies, mending, etc., and eventually maybe other stuff for local folks). Oh, and I also added candles back on, because we're going to have to cancel the plumber AGAIN, so there's no fixing the mildew problem until we can reschedule, which may be months out yet; the candles help deal with the smell. Why cancel? Because in his spare time, he was an instructor at the Ski Valley. You know, where a person who should never have been traveling by then in the first place went and exposed everyone.

Speaking of sewing, a huge thank-you to whomever took the sewing machine off the wishlist the other night. I've started the process of keeping up my end of the bargain, and the elastic bands and filter layers for making medical masks are already ordered and on the way. Here I can think of at least four facilities that can use them: IHS; our own doctor's office, which is a certified community health care center (and, last I knew, nearly out), the local urgent care center, and the local hospital. Thereafter, I'll use it for our mending and alterations and sewing for tradish purposes.

Meanwhile, I paid the last three bills for the month yesterday, and next week, I have to get cracking on our taxes, so there's been a lot more outlay, with a lot more yet to come. We need sales, very badly. The links are here:

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

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.