Among the lucky ones.

Photo copyright Aji, 2024; all rights reserved.

I am never more grateful for being housed, at long last, than on days like this. Just seeing the smoke come out of the chimney? It's like looking at a full fridge or pantry, capable of making me cry.

These last days have been absolutely murderous, and I'm paying for it. Saturday was one thing, since you could argue it was voluntary, going out in public to that meetup to try to brainstorm solutions for unhoused folks locally. But having to spend Monday walking all over the damn place to solve a bureaucratic fuckup [not done yet], out in that brutal wind, and the winds being even worse yesterday? My pain levels are so bad that I got no sleep last night, had to be out early again today and on my feet and walking and waiting on hard surfaces again, and my misery levels are indescribable now.

And, as evidenced by the smoke up there, I know we're actually among the lucky ones.

It got down to twelve degrees last night, which meant wind chills in single digits, at best. That cold is an issue here, and it's why some of us are doing the work we're doing [although in my case, it's mostly from home and online; other folks are doing the harder stuff out in the streets]. As I said, some of us met on Saturday to try to figure out where we could put a dent in this mess. This was very introductory, but that was the point: figuring out what exists [very little] and what doesn't [nearly everything] and where we might be able to fill in a few of those gaps. I'll have more info in the days and weeks to come, but for now?  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.

Today's feature is a masterwork that's close to heart, but meant for someone else who needs its gentle but powerful spirit. It's a necklace called Butterfly Maiden, sterling silver, onyx, hawk's eye, and simbircite, on a strand of onyx, sardonyx, and sterling silver beads. So for tonight's inventory selections, four other "butterfly" works:

• "Hearts Aflutter" necklace, sterling silver; Rosarita [gold slag]; natural American turquoise that looks like Blue Moon or #8, on sterling silver; fire agate, and high-grade natural American turquoise [likely Sleeping Beauty], here;
• "Migratory Paths" cuff bracelet, sterling silver and old Kingman turquoise, all the micro-stampwork and scorework freehand with a wholly separate butterfly, saw-cut by hand, hand-made ingot beads for the body, the whole overlaid as though hovering, here;
• "Chrysalis Sun" earrings, sterling silver and fiery amber, formed of old-style traditional butterfly conchas, here; and
• "Illuminating Skies," an absolute masterwork of a concha belt, with 13 butterfly conchas, 12 classic oval conchas with perfect freehand concentric stampwork and turquoise focals, plus buckle stamped, scored, and hammered by hand; sterling silver, old turquoise that's likely Montezuma [buckle] and Royston [conchas], and heavy brown-black hardened leather, 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.