It's enough to make you believe in spirits.

Photo copyright Aji, 2021; all rights reserved.

Sometimes dawn is the best thing about this season. Climate change is affecting even that, though. Not in any kind of diminishing way; it's just that over the last three or four years, we've begun getting sunrise cloud patterns this time of year that we've never had before before. In the six-A.M. chill, it's enough to make you believe in spirits.

Of course, we've always known they're there, anyway. The dogs have always chased them at night and in the early hours before the dawn, beginning in October and lasting into January. Cricket's been especially busy the last few nights. What we don't have this year are the usual markers of the beneficent spirits of this season, no harvest because no planting because no water, and it seems both prophetic and to be leaching over into every aspect of existence now. The last year and a half have been exceedingly costly, and with colonial governments unwilling to do the bare minimum in a time of deadly pandemic, it's clearly not going to change anytime soon.

Meanwhile, the expenses mount. I paid quarterly taxes Wednesday night, and I have most of our regular monthly bills yet to pay, plus vet fees for the pups' shots at the end of the month. Wings had his audiology follow-up today, and apparently the cost was in fact covered despite what they said earlier . . . BUT they don't work the way we had hoped, which explains why the ones we wanted for him cost 3 times the price of these; he's going to have a long period of adjustment, and frankly, 'm not sure they're ever going to be right, based on what I've seen so far. Meanwhile, I still cannot afford to schedule my eye appointment, which I need to make sure the lupus meds aren't damaging my vision (and to reorder lenses I'm a year overdue in ordering), because the whole thing is likely to set us back at least another grand, probably more (actually, it's definitely more; I pulled out my old receipts from the last time around, and they were more than that). 

But the worst is the constant fight to keep the land alive, and the animals, and ourselves. We need that well, and we can't even get on the drill list. Yet another tree is dying. Oh, and now? Saturday I had to order a new burner for the propane tank that heats Wings's studio, another $100 our the door, because the one we bought last year is deader than a doornail, and in this season, there will be no silverwork without heat. The kicker? They sent the wrong one. He went and filled up the propane tanks yesterday (another big bill), but we don't even know if this one's going to work. We're sending it back and they're shipping what is allegedly the correct one, but for now, he'll be without heat in the studio for that much longer.

I've got to bring in more income, and without sales, there's no way to do that. We're also dealing with the same supply-chain issues as everyone else, and at some point soon, Wings is going to have to get silver and stones to produce holiday inventory, and I'm hearing that the price is already spiking on the metals. I've posted a ton of new work by Wings: another new pair of silverwork earrings Sunday night, here, and three all new pieces here two nights ago, in addition to other recent ones here and here (one of those is now sold) and here, and here. If I could sell one of the big works, like one of the belts, maybe I could get us on the drill list. But I've got way too much to do and too few hours and other resources to do it. 

Anyway, lupus pain is spiking badly and I've got a ton of physical stuff yet to do, including errands, so links are here:

• Sales here; 
• Testimonials here; 
• Amazon wishlist here (priorities are first and foremost, the ladders, because see above, and coffee coffee coffee, which we're finding it harder and harder to get locally);
• 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 cover all this staggering outlay somehow and get us through what's left of the year. And right now? I have no way to do it.  But there's lots of fabulous new work, so please share all of 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.