Not quite human yet, but almost. Meanwhile, the world keeps delivering new issues (and I keep falling further and further behind).
Yesterday, it delivered unseasonal clouds and bitter cold, sufficient to need to keep the fires going all day. It also delivered a new birds (and some returning ones here entirely out of season). That's a brown thrasher. In migratory terms, they sometimes make it along the eastern border of the state, but not here. Until now. Its tailfeathers glow rusty red and luminous in the sunlight. The yellow-headed blackbird was here six months out of season, too, and a female grosbeak all by herself. We have the new woodpeckers, the young pair of scrub jays, and the hawks playing overhead. And today we have bright sun (and will eventually have a high a good 20-25 degrees higher than yesterday's).
We will also have a slight return to more usual markers. No, there will be no public feast day this year, but I've qualified that all along with the word "public" (although I'll bet most folks focused on the word "feast" and missed my very specific qualifier altogether). They've announced this morning that it will take place, but in private, no one from outside tribal lands except tribal members (and those from outside the area would have needed to return and quarantine two weeks ago to participate). Masks, distancing, sanitation, and limited gathering.
There's also a new positive COVID-19 case here. At IHS, natch, which makes it all the more dangerous for everyone. There are five current ones total, all reportedly doing well, although the state still stubbornly refuses to count the May one that was not. And still I feel the need to keep pointing this out, because people truly do not understand the ravages of the last four years, or the last six months, on our communities: Among the wider community of people Wings is related to, friends with, or simply knows, he's lost at least an average of one per week since the first week of May. In one really terrible week, there were four in one day; then another four two days later. Since the state is busy reopening everything in defiance of all care and common sense, we can expect winter to be not merely brutal but positively deadly And we are at particularly heightened risk.
It will also mean that we can expect sales to continue to be terrible. As I said, thanks to a friend, we've got September completely covered. If my Patreon clears properly (yes, it's still down by ~$110 a month, but I mean the rest of it), then I'll pay the quarterly taxes on Friday. If I could make a couple of large sales, I could feel fairly confident that I've got October covered, but not until then. Which means that, no matter how sick I still feel from this vaccine, I've got to get on it. I'm still delaying the tow and the car repair because it's going to be many more hundreds of dollars than we can afford. Selling Wings's newest work would do it: It's the "Summer" entry in Wings's limited series of necklaces, The Four Seasons ("Winter" sold back in, well, winter; "Spring" is still available here; and "Fall" is, of course, yet to come). You can see it here, and it's incredible.
We're still going to need help to make sales through the rest of this awful year. I'm not asking for donations; there are too many people worse off than us, people who don't know where their next meal is coming from, who very shortly may not have (or already don't have) a roof over their heads. But this pandemic has killed tourism for Indigenous artists like Wings, and has killed everyone's sales. Businesses are closing left and right here, and we're blessed to be able to work out of our home, but still, sales are, in relative terms, down to nothing.
You can help by sharing our links. You can especially help if you're in the market for high-end, Spirit-infused Indigenous wearable art, for yourself or as a gift, by considering Wings's work for purchase. It's also back-to-school season, even if remotely in some places, with all the events that that entails; birthdays come and go year-round; Halloween and Thanksgiving and Christmas especially will all be here before we know it.
The links are here:
And making sure everything's covered? That part of it is all on me, no matter how sick I am, no matter how much pain I'm in, no matter how little sleep I get. And with this hanging over me, I'm getting precious little sleep now. We need to be able to continue to help folks, and we're going to keep on doing it. But to do that, and to keep our own heads above water, we need to bring in sales closer to normal rates. Items from the wishlist help, too; most important at the moment is the Lamina Saver for Miika. The farrier changed his appointment from yesterday to Thursday, so that's another expense, but this helps with prevention. But the big thing is bringing in sales, so please help us do that if you can. Thanks.
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.
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