About the only cloud we saw today.

Photo copyright Aji, 2024; all rights reserved.

A cloud of blackbirds, juvenile red-wing variant. Yup, that's what a group of blackbirds is called: a cloud. About the only cloud we saw today.

It did get up round sixty, so there's that. Not anything good, but there's that.

Despite the absurdly high temps, it's still getting bitterly cold at night, worsened by a seemingly nightly now tricksterish north wind. We got word last night that some unhoused folks were stranded three miles from us; their ride home from work had fallen through, and they had no gear. A couple of other folks brought them a small tent and a bunch of blankets, and we added a blanket, sleeping bag, coats, hats, socks, gloves, a pair of weatherproof overalls, and some other stuff like snacks and bottled water and hot coffee. It's good that we were in a position to help.

The downside is that being out in the wind myself last night only aggravated my misery from this week's constant nonsense, and today was lost to resolving my medical excuse from jury duty. It should be permanent, but apparently I'm going to have to go through this mess every three years. At least this one is resolved. The chaos of having to do all this, though, has really messed up my joints and so forth, and my pain levels are off the charts now.  Also, everything is late, obviously.

One interruption today could turn out to be good, IF we can make enough in sales to swing it. One of Wings's old friends stopped by; he's got really good quality grass hay, a little alfalfa mixed in for flavor, for sale.  Grass is running $18-20 a bale here now, thanks to the drought and winter coming, and he'll let us have it for $10 a bale . . . IF we take his whole supply. Which would set us back $800. So I need to bring in $800 in sales tonight, if possible.

And the housing crisis worsens daily. Go here, buy something, or several somethings, off the outreach group's wishlist, and you will literally be saving a life, probably more than one. It's not really possible to overstate how bad it is out there, nor how great the need is. I've sorted it in their Priority order, but they've given out so much stuff this week that they now have new priorities: hand warmers, snacks, tarps, duct tape, two-person tents [only $22 each!], the safety stuff like flashlights and pepper spray; they also need large-size men's stuff, socks, and large- and extra-large-size dog stuff, like collars and harnesses and dog coats, further down on the list.

And then there's my own actual work. WE NEED SALES. As always at this time of year, I'm already putting in 12- to 16-hour days every day, 7 days a week, because the work won't wait, and for us, being able to help anyone else starts with us making those sales, of course. But beyond that? I also am finding myself unexpectedly under the gun on another front; besides needing to bring in enough in seasonal sales to repay a big chunk on our '24 taxes, the election has made the need to replace my laptop NOW absolutely mandatory, before the end of the year, because the price, already hellish for the one I need, will skyrocket at the first of the year. So if you're contemplating buying? Now would be a really, really good time. Our laptop is our whole work, everything, and it fails me on the daily now.

This week's Friday Feature is from one of Wings's signature series of gemstone bead trios, although in this case, the coil is sold, leaving a duo of necklace and earrings, here. As it happens, there are three other duos that were once trios, in all cases, with the coil having already sold, so the necklaces and matching earrings appear in order here [and all are beautifully suited to this time of year]:

• "From Last Snow, First Rain," which works just as well in wintry reverse, strung with beads of iolite; ultra-high-grade aquamarine; white coral; Dumortierite; snowflake obsidian; Picasso jasper; cloud jasper; selenite; and sterling silver, here; 
• "The Dewdrop Returns to the Dawn," the coordinating earrings, of sterling silver; rainbow moonstone; Dumortierite; white-lip mother-of-pearl shell;
  selenite; faceted citrine; and chrome diopside, here;
• "Snowfire," an extraordinary small strand of smoky quartz; fire agate; sardonyx; rainbow moonstone; amber; sunstone; Indonesian silver; iron pyrite; and black moonstone, here;
• "A Cold Crackling Light," that strand's coordinating pair of earrings, formed of sterling silver; faceted citrine; diamond-cut sterling silver; rainbow moonstone; yellow quartz; gray moonstone; and selenite, here;
• "The Sleeping Ground," our third and final necklace featured here tonight, strung with rutilated quartz (clear white with black schorl); rainbow moonstone; snowflake obsidian; jet; tridacna shell; Indonesian silver; gray moonstone; Dolomite; and black moonstone, here; and finally, this necklace's coordinating pair of earrings,
• "The Snow Line," with sterling silver; rutilated quartz (clear white with black schorl); tridacna shell; rainbow moonstone; Dolomite; black moonstone; and African jade, here.

There's more on the way very soon; he's got something like four more cuffs [an incredible one posted here Saturday], a couple of pendants, several new pairs of earrings [again, one, a small tiger iron pair, done yesterday and slated to go up by tonight, really, this time, or not, depending on how long I last tonight], and eventually all the new coils he'll need for holiday inventory. And I need to sell them all, because I still need to make sales weekly for us to catch up on the year and cover all the stuff still in the pipeline that needs covering [laptop, roof next year, more medical, always prepaid taxes, etc.]. So: GO BUY! 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 before it ends, 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.