A bright spot in a tough week.

Photo copyright Aji, 2021;
all rights reserved.

So these are a bright spot in a tough week. Wings had to go in to the grocery store yesterday to pick up a bulk order (we order staples in bulk anyway to the extent possible, and it's been helpful over this last year to be in the habit already), and he got these for me while he was there. One of the things that makes me so happy when he brings them for me is that he doesn't just grab any old flowers. If they don't have any that he thinks I would particularly like, he doesn't bother (and that's been the case a lot with this pandemic; their stock has often been pretty anemic, to say the least). But when they are stocked well, he always chooses colors and groupings with care.  And now, on a very gray day, the console table is bright with shades of violet and fuchsia and magenta and coral and ivory and jade.

Yes, it's a small thing, but one that makes me inordinately happy.

And I can use that about now. This re-upping of these dangerous episodes is extremely stressful all by itself, but almost worse is the way they render me nonfunctional for days. I started feeling better yesterday after starting a new supplement I've been waiting for for a month. And I should be clear that none of this has anything to do with the vaccine; to the contrary, aside from some IM pain in my left bicep and residual tiredness the first few days, I have actually felt better overall since getting it, with an obviously-improved ability to focus. That was a plus I was not expecting (although of course I realize that the second dose is probably going to make me feel miserable for a couple of days).

But this other stuff, this holdover from '17, is the problem now, and it's not insignificant. I don't really have a choice right now; I've got to be able to work. I've got to be able to make sales, and I'm so far behind on everything that I'll never catch up at this rate. I paid off the three remaining monthly bills yesterday, so that was a big hit, and the amount of mutual aid we'd shared by this time last year is nothing compared with what we've had to shell out just in the last couple of weeks alone. It's been . . . A LOT.

But as I said about that being why we do what we do, especially now in these days of pandemic, it's become abundantly clear that too often, there IS NO tomorrow, and the only chance you might have to help someone stay alive is TODAY. Things are bad locally; no economy, nothing. No vaccines for most folks dependent on the state system, either. And yet the governor has canceled tourist quarantine (not that she ever enforced it in the first place) and reopened most of the state to limited-capacity indoor, sit-down, maskless dining, because she's completely in thrall to the restaurant lobby and is willing to let them kill us as a result. People are literally dying all around us from the government's failures, and I don't know how we keep them, or us, alive unless I can cover the bills. We have lost SO much to 2020, so very, very many people, and the gifts and the talents and the knowledge and the wisdom they carried too often lost with them. People have needed so much more help than we could give them, but we did as much as we could, even when it put us in a bind, and we will need to do much more of that this year. We have shelled out close to 2 grand over the last 2 weeks of January, including $600 two weeks ago to fill the propane tank, which I was not expecting; close to a grand last weekend for the firewood; and my Patreon remains $300 short again for the second month running. We had to help a family with heat last Sunday, and Wings's clan brother a few days ago with car rental for a week or two. There've been more since, and I have no doubt there will be more to come, and I have to make some sales to cover it all.

We have spent so much time on the kind of work that is utterly unrelated to income that I have got to be able to devote time to replacing all the outlay, and time is in short supply now. We've laid out between $1,100 and $1,200 cash in mutual aid in less than a week (actually it's up to 2 grand now) , and I have GOT to make it up somehow. My Patreon, which is all monthly our income these days, is wiped out and then some, I still have three monthly bills yet to pay, and one $65 sale in seven weeks is not going to cut it. Yes, I can juggle for now, but I've got to find it again somewhere. Part of my work involves me reorganizing the Web site and then promoting the hell out of everything again. That's on top of all the other work I need to do around here, and I have been mostly useless, largely due to the recent flurry of episodes with my health. For every episode, it takes me multiple days to recover, all while hoping that another one doesn't set me back even further. That's not good. Too many people need help, and the government remains determined to see us die. There's work to do. I've got to make it up somewhere. So:

• Sales here; 
• Testimonials here; 
• Amazon wishlist here (copper/metal/glass cleaners on it are needed most);
• Patreon here;
• Ko-fi here.

And if you've been contemplating a purchase? This would be a very, very good time to do it; I've got to make it this staggering outlay somehow. There's even new work, here and here and now here, among other new pieces from 2 weeks ago, too, so please watch for them and share the links. 

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2021; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.