Not a good thing.

Photo copyright Aji, 2024; all rights reserved.

Welp. It appears that the fire that birthed that smoke plume we saw yesterday was not properly doused, because it's back. Either that, or it's a second ignition; if the latter, it would mean that there's a firebug trespassing on closed tribal lands up the mountain. See that little pointy wisp in the center at the ridgeline? That's the current one.

Whichever it is, it's not a good thing.

But it is distracting, which is useful for my brain today. It's been thirty-one years this afternoon since my sister's life was ripped away by a murderer, and time and distance don't make it any easier. When you come from a background as impoverished as mine, both financially and in terms of love, having one person in your life who loves you unconditionally is sometimes all that keeps you going. For the first two decades-plus of my life, she was that person. Very often, the only person. So whatever else is going on today, Indigenous People's Day, genocidal colonizer day, some birthdays, I'm sorry, but this is who's in my mind today: trying hard to remember her from childhood, rather than in death.

Meanwhile, it's already been a day, and a costly one.  We're awaiting two separate payments, neither of which has arrived yet. In the meantime, we shelled out $325 on something I was expecting this morning . . . and another $450 on something I wasn't. Which mostly wipes us out for the month, unless those two payments arrive, and/or we sell something in the meantime. I need to make up that almost $800 outlay this weekend. I mean, it is Indigenous People's Day, both today [actual] ad Monday [official], so people should be buying from Natives now.

Because, of course, all of the pressures we're facing mostly haven't changed in any meaningful way, and a couple of extremely welcome sales that are helping us catch up still don't have us breaking even on the year yet. To that end, I've updated the list below, striking through the items no longer available, because, as always?

I have got to bring in sales. NOW. Our traffic is down to almost nothing, and I can't conjure the money everyone's demanding from us out of thin air.

Also, buy: I posted two new pairs of earrings the other day, one incredible chrysocolla in malachite, here [sold], and another equally fabulous Red Creek jasper, here [sold just this afternoon]. I posted four new pairs of earrings last week, here [also now sold as of today], here, here [these are also sold now], and here. Last week, I posted the four new pairs of sterling silver tab earrings, all with Deco-infused stampwork and at a lower price point than most of his earrings: here, here, here, and here. That new necklace I've been talking about [it's phenomenal] became Wednesday's feature, and its gallery entry is here. In addition, his new naja pendant is up, here, and his new cuff, here. The former features both an interior pendant and amber cabs at the ends; the latter is extraordinary, two strands of Deco butterflies set with something that's not a stone, but is phenomenal all the same. The first links are the four pairs of sterling silver tab earrings with amazing stampwork that I promised. If I could sell them all, I'd feel a lot more confident about the next several weeks.

The rest of the month [hell, the rest of the year] is going to be geared around making sales, because I don't have a choice about that. I'm so tired after all the nonsense of this year to date, but I can't let up, because so far, we're not even breaking even on the year, and I will have to worry about next year's tax bill soon enough. But there's tons of new work on the site, in addition to all that's coming up shortly [including three new pairs of Picasso jasper earrings possibly tonight, but more likely tomorrow], so go look:

• Completed just a couple of weekends ago, two absolutely phenomenal new cuffs, here and here;
• Completed the previous weekend, an all-new wristband, here;
• One extraordinary new belt buckle set with an incredible Skystone, here;
• Another new vintage-style cuff with a mysterious Skystone, here;
• Three new pairs of earrings in his gemstone-bead series, here, here [sold]. and here;
• Three new cuffs from last week, two set with incredible turquoise focals, one solid silver; go here, here, and here.
• Six pairs of new concha floral earrings in the Earrings Gallery here [larger are garnet, golden rutilated quartz, and malachite; smaller are amber, carnelian [sold], and iolite];
• Art Deco Labradorite cuff here;  
• Triangle wire youth bangle here; 
• Art Nouveau vine pattern-wire youth bangle here; 
• Small Art Nouveau pattern-wire bangle pair here; 
• Malachite butterfly/leaf-wing earrings here; 
• A big solid silver classic cuff here; 
• Ten Five remaining new pairs of the gemstone-bead earrings are also up in the Earrings Gallery;
• And another new cuff is also here. 

There's more on the way very soon. And I need to sell them all, because I still need to make multiple sales daily for us to catch up on the year [and that's just breaking even] and cover all the stuff still in the pipeline that needs covering [roof, more medical, etc.]. So: GO BUY! PLEASE! Links are here:

• Sales here; 
• Testimonials here; 
• Amazon wishlist here (Priority is the liquid soaps and Amazon cards, probably most useful at this point); 
• Patreon here;
• Ko-fi here.

After such a grim year, this one already far worse than the last, we really need to get what's left of 2024 onto a better footing, so please share all of the links. 

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2024; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.