Everything's late.

Photo copyright Aji, 2024; all rights reserved.

No, they're not clouds. They're contrails, blown apart. They're pretty; the sun turns them iridescent. But they suck up whatever tiny amount of moisture might be in the air, and as dry and warm as it is here now, that's a very bad thing.

Colonial culture is killing the planet in real time.

Everything's late because today involved errands, one of which had to be run today; since there wasn't a choice, we combined some others with it. But now I'm beat, and given my pain levels lately, I'm not worth much to anyone right now. And if nothing improves, just expect it to be this way through the end of the year: slow, late, and half-assed.

I'm at the point of needing to average one sale a day to break even, and I have no idea how we do that; we are so far behind on sales this year that I don't know how we make it if people don't shift into holiday-buying gear soon. Because at this rate? We can't. Not even through the month on basic expenses, never mind the fact that I have GOT to replace my laptop before the new year when prices skyrocket thanks to that asshole's tariff announcement.

I don't know what to do. I'm doing everything I can, as fast as I can, and here we are, new week, new month, and it's never enough. I need help, but there isn't any. What I really need is to bring in sales, but I can't force people to buy. And it's looking really grim.

And yes, I know we're lucky. The housing crisis worsens daily here. On that note, also 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 [BUT THROUGH MONDAY, BUY IT ELSEWHERE, SO THAT YOU'RE NOT CROSSING THE AMAZON EMPLOYEES' PICKET LINE; I HAVE THE SHIPPING ADDRESS IF YOU PURCHASE ITEMS ELSEWHERE]. 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! and they've given out all the existing tents already], 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 one of Wings's photos, in shades and spirits that complement yesterday's featured work. There is indeed purple in the image [and a lot of other twilight shades], but it's the red that predominates, and it illustrates a phenomenon for which one of his works is actually named. So here, it's that work, and [unusually, because it's one of his gemstone-bead necklaces, and I usually feature it with the coordinating earrings], a pair of silverwork earrings that matches beautifully, and a ring, as well [all at lower price points than most of his work, so I'd love to sell them all]:

• "Snowfire," a personal favorite, with fabulous beads of smoky quartz; fire agate; sardonyx; rainbow moonstone; amber; sunstone; Indonesian silver; iron pyrite; and black moonstone, here;
• "Firelight," a gorgeous pair of traditional concha earrings, small but powerful, with freehand score- and stampwork in a radiant pattern, sterling silver set with fiery carnelian here; and
• "Beneath the Sun's Red Eye," one in Wings's signature series of two-stone wrap rings, this one set with a pair of wine-red translucent squares of garnet, here.

There's more on the way very soon; he's got something like four more cuffs [a green turquoise one and a rainbow moonstone one that I hope to get posted yet tonight, for two of them], a couple of pendants [one set with incredible genuine spectrolite], potentially several new pairs of earrings, 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! 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 far worse than the last, we really need to end 2024 on a better footing before 2025 and taxes take every cent, 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.