July skies.

Photo copyright Aji, 2025; all rights reserved.

Last day of April, and it feels cold. A big share of that is the wind, but the temperature is also a lot lower than it's been over recent weeks, not really getting out of the fifties now. So we have winter air, but those are July skies.

I mean, that thunderhead started boiling up over the ridgeline about nine o'clock this morning; I shot that around 10:45. Look at the size of that thing. It's even bigger now, and the slate-gray base is what's showing toward us by now. And yet, we're unlikely to get anything out of it.

Yesterday's forecast for "rain" only brought us a couple of scattered showers, very brief and light. You could see snow squalls racing around the horizon in the mountains, but even so, there's no new accumulation on the peaks. Those peaks look like July, too.

Fortunately, we had better luck with the metaphorical rain yesterday. I am SO profoundly grateful to everyone who bought something or otherwise gave us a boost, because I'm now in the middle of getting the insurance crap sorted out, Wings has his scrip, and we have some breathing room. Not much, given the enormity of what we're facing, but I don't have to worry about us going into the red at midnight when all the first-of-the-month bill autopays hit. And that's only because of y'all, and thank you, thank you, from both of us.

Even so, we still have to bring in steady, regular sales now. It used to be one a week would even out over the course of the year, and typically keep us going, but after last year and this, and all the catastrophic expense, that's no longer true; I need to bring in a few a week, at least for a god while yet. I still have to be able to pay the rest of this year's taxes and start prepaying next year's. I can't go through this again. I also have to cover the well pump replacement. And Spirit only knows what's waiting for me health-wise, but it's not good. It might just be disease progression; it might be something very much worse. I know what the symptoms I'm having can signify. I won't have any chance to to get even the most basic answers for another month, because that's the soonest I can get in to the doctor, and that appointment's been scheduled for months. If it is what I'm afraid of? It doesn't matter, because sales or no, we can't afford the tests and travel, never mind the treatment. 

So. We still need shares, and we most definitely still need sales. As in now, today, every day for a while, until I can get everything covered that has to get covered. Links are here:

• Sales here; 
• Testimonials here; 
• Amazon wishlist here (Priorities are Amazon gift cards, which we can ALWAY use; I've added bandages for Wings for his knee wraps [and they get used on Miika, too] as well as a disinfecting unit to use on food items, since we no longer have safety controls or inspections on food; those adjustable Black KN95 masks are also badly needed, because I gave away all the rest of ours to relatives; it would good to have several boxes, so I can keep handing them out, too); 
• Patreon here;
• Ko-fi here.

After such a grim year last year, and this one beginning at least as badly, we urgently need to move 2025 onto a better footing because taxes to this Nazi administration have already taken every last cent and we still owe them more anyway, so please share all of the links. 

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2025; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.               

Love and Bravery, Blossoming Into Being

Photo copyright Aji, 2025; all rights reserved.

Now posted at The NDN Silver Blog, it's a work for hard days and dangerous times, a reminder of the need for strength and of the truth that love flowers from an iron heart. It's also an object lesson in creating extracting beauty from its opposite, a product of love and bravery, blossoming into being.

The post is here. Wings's main page is here. Inquiries via the site's Contact form. It's grim; sales are way down, there have been far too many demands on us already this year, and we have already had to send our first big installment on taxes. There will be more payments to come, plus the well pump replacement and new tires for the truck. I still need to bring in multiple sales this week. So we need shares, but most of all, we urgently need sales.

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2025; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.       

Red Willow Spirit: Like Petals Delicate and Strong

Photo copyright Wings, 2025;
all rights reserved.

Now posted at The NDN Silver Blog, it's an edition of Red Willow Spirit for the rites of spring, and the early arrival of the flowers that adorn them. It's two related images linked by a single subtle yet striking work of wearable art with an important lesson now: to be like petals delicate and strong, capable of the work of survival.

The post is here. Wings's main page is here. Inquiries via the site's Contact form. It's grim; sales are way down, there have been far too many demands on us already this year. We've already paid our first big installment on taxes, but there will be more payments to come, plus the well pump replacement and new tires for the truck. We can't do any of those things without making a large number of sales. We need shares, and more, we urgently need sales now.

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2025; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.       

Grim.

Photo copyright Aji, 2025; all rights reserved.

Reverse order again today, because late start, longest writing day, and new work that needs to get posted ASAP. Also because I'm not sure how long my body and brain will hold out today, and once the NDN Silver post is done, I'm not sure how much more I'll be able to face.

Things are grim. Worse than grim. I have GOT to bring in about $600 in sales, at least, TODAY, if I'm going to cover all the emergency stuff I have to cover before this stupid, horrible month finally ends tomorrow. I had to shell out $214 yesterday that I wasn't expecting and didn't know about, because since we lost our doc and are now seeing a PA [same practice], rates have apparently doubled and Medicare has halved what they'll cover. Meanwhile, I have to pay out over $100 for one of his scrips this week, AND I have to disentangle a thoroughly fucked-up insurance problem before the end of today, hence the other $500. And people are still coming to us asking for money. Doesn't matter; we don't have any. Everyone tapped us out before this month began. 

I still have to be able to pay the rest of this year's taxes and start prepaying next year's. I can't go through this again. I also have to cover the well pump replacement. And Spirit only knows what's waiting for me health-wise, but it's not good. It might just be disease progression; it might be something very much worse. I know what the symptoms I'm having can signify. I won't have any chance to to get even the most basic answers for another month, because that's the soonest I can get in to the doctor, and that appointment's been scheduled for months. If it is what I'm afraid of? It doesn't matter, because I can't afford the tests and travel, never mind the treatment. But I have all of this hanging over me every minute, there's nothing I can do about any of it, and I don't know how much more I can take.

So. We need shares, and we most definitely need sales. As in now, today, every day for a while, until I can get everything covered that has to get covered. Links are here:

• Sales here; 
• Testimonials here; 
• Amazon wishlist here (Priorities are Amazon gift cards, which we can ALWAY use, and those adjustable Black KN95 masks are badly needed, because I gave away all the rest of ours to relatives; it would good to have several boxes, so I can keep handing them out, too); 
• Patreon here;
• Ko-fi here.

After such a grim year last year, and this one beginning at least as badly, we urgently need to move 2025 onto a better footing because taxes to this Nazi administration have already taken every last cent and we still owe them more anyway, so please share all of the links. 

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2025; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.               

This is not normal.

Photo copyright Aji, 2025; all rights reserved.

First aspen leaves today. They're early, like everything else this spring. In the photo, that's a clone that popped up between the deck post [you can just see the edge of it at left] and the deck itself. It's a tight fit, but this is still little and it fits just fine. There are also new leaves opening on the aspen at the north corner of the house — only on one branch, the one that overhangs the balcony up there. Maybe it's just enough warmer? I hope we're getting more than that one branch this year.

Windy and cold today. I feel like I've gotten nothing done. I actually have gotten some things accomplished, but I'm just so far behind that it doesn't feel like I'm making any headway. It's made all the harder by the fact that I can't get a break from the pain, including the new stuff, and the constant discomfort is an equally constant reminder that, even for me, this is not normal.

Which could be said of the whole world right now, I realize, but that doesn't help.

And with my illness progression [and that progression is clearly getting much worse], it's getting harder and harder to keep pace with everything I need to do every day, never mind this extra burden, but there isn't a choice. This is two years in a row where everything has gone to hell immediately and refused to let us get our heads above water, and I don't know how much more I can take.

So. We need shares, and we most definitely need sales. As in now, today, every day for a while, until I can get everything covered that has to get covered. Links are here:

• Sales here; 
• Testimonials here; 
• Amazon wishlist here (Priorities are Amazon gift cards, which we can ALWAY use, and those adjustable Black KN95 masks are badly needed, because I gave away all the rest of ours to relatives; it would good to have several boxes, so I can keep handing them out, too); 
• Patreon here;
• Ko-fi here.

After such a grim year last year, and this one beginning at least as badly, we urgently need to move 2025 onto a better footing because taxes to this Nazi administration have already taken every last cent and we still owe them more anyway, so please share all of the links. 

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2025; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.               

Monday Photo Meditation: Knowing When to Flower

Photo copyright Wings, 2025;
all rights reserved.

Now posted at The NDN Silver Blog, it's a Monday Photo Meditation for the early arrival of perhaps the most archetypal signs of spring. It's also a reflection on the medicine they have to share with us, the wisdom of knowing when to flower, when to follow, when to fold and rest. 

The post is here. Wings's main page is here. Inquiries via the site's Contact form. It's grim; sales are way down, there have been far too many demands on us already this year, and we've already sent our first big installment on taxes. There will be more payments to come, plus the well pump replacement and new tires for the truck. We can't do any of those things without making a large number of sales. We need shares, and more, we urgently need sales now.

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2025; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.       

Done.

Photo copyright Aji, 2025; all rights reserved.

This whole day in a nutshell.

It's absolute misery, on every front.

My pain levels are . . . well, there aren't words. I tried describing it here yesterday, along with everything else I'm dealing with, but I know I failed miserably, too. Not that that's anything new.

Today? Today, I'm just done. I can't do this. Not now. If you want to know, you can read it in yesterday's post; I can't even be bothered to link it now. I am buried under pain and sadness and worry and grief and exhaustion and no small amount of fear. For me? No, there's no help, but they are plenty of demands made of me by others. And apparently, none of that will ever change.

And with my illness progression [and that progression is clearly getting much worse], it's getting harder and harder to keep pace with everything I need to do every day, never mind this extra burden, but there isn't a choice. This is two years in a row where everything has gone to hell immediately and refused to let us get our heads above water, and I don't know how much more I can take.

So. We need shares, and we most definitely need sales. AS in now, this weekend, TONIGHT. Links are here:

• Sales here; 
• Testimonials here; 
• Amazon wishlist here (Priorities are Amazon gift cards, which we can ALWAY use, and those adjustable Black KN95 masks are badly needed, because I gave away all the rest of ours to relatives; it would good to have several boxes, so I can keep handing them out, too); 
• Patreon here;
• Ko-fi here.

After such a grim year last year, and this one beginning at least as badly, we urgently need to move 2025 onto a better footing because taxes to this Nazi administration have already taken every last cent and we still owe them more anyway, so please share all of the links. 

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2025; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.               

Blues In Flower

Photo copyright Aji, 2025; all rights reserved.

Now posted at The NDN Silver Blog, it's a work perfect for this season as spring elides into summer, as the blue flax blossoms emerge to follow the path of the light. It's also a gift at our hardest season of the year, one made harder by record drought and real-time climate collapse, reminding us to be thankful for the blues in flower that are part of these days' gifts of life and breath.

The post is here. Wings's main page is here. Inquiries via the site's Contact form. It's grim; sales are way down, there have been far too many demands on us already this year, and we had to send our first big installment on taxes. There will be more payments to come, plus the well pump replacement and new tires for the truck. I still need to bring in multiple sales this week. So we need shares, but most of all, we urgently need sales.

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2025; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.       

Some things are going to have to change.

Photo copyright Aji, 2025;
all rights reserved.

More work in progress: earrings, one pair of turquoise [Kingman, IIRC], and one pair of orbicular malachite. He had intended to have them done today, but there's just too much to get done, and these stupid winds make everything take so much longer, and also be so much more difficult.

Tomorrow's are supposed to be much worse.

Some things are going to have to change. Yesterday was so bad, and I was so wiped out, that I found myself making stupid mistakes in posts and threads, the kinds of things I know without even having to think about it, and yet screwing them up drastically. That kind of exhaustion should mean falling asleep immediately, right?

NOPE.  I didn't fall asleep until somewhere between 5 and 6 AM, and that was fitful at best. The amount of pain I'm having is unmanageable, and some of it's new, and it's manifesting in ways that could be nothing, could be terrifying. Something is wrong. I know it; I can feel it. I also know that no one will listen, and besides that, I can't get in before my scheduled appointment anyway, and that's a month away. Now, it could all be lymph; both lupus and RA can cause random lymph swelling that can wreak all sorts of havoc, and I of course have both.  But if so, what's driving it?  I'm not sick in the infectious sense.  At all.  It could be the chemo; I feel so much like death right now [today is the worst yet, and my bones literally feel like they're breaking] that this coming week I'm going to need to try scaling my dose back to where it was previously. Chemo can cause all sorts of nasty side effects, even at low doses.

Or, it could be something else. Breakthrough symptoms that the chemo has thus far suppressed. We already know that I have at least one tumor on my thyroid and at least two on my liver. Their assumption is that they are benign, because as with the breast issues, absolutely nobody can read my fucking scans. Or my biopsies, either. NONE of them. They're always "inconclusive," and then they unilaterally and arbitrarily decide that it's nothing to worry about because they treat not to disease or symptoms but to insurance company bullshit, pat me on the head, and tell me not to worry [oh, but "be sure and come back in a year and give us a few more thousand dollars to do the same shit all over again, y'hear?"].

But I have swelling where I'm not supposed to have swelling. I have pain where I'm not supposed to have pain. I have other symptoms of a sort and various locations that I'm not supposed to be having. And I cannot afford the fucking tests, nor can I handle the travel it would entail.

And I have to deal with this on my own. [No, I don't need advice, and no, I don't want to talk about it. But I'm going to backing off on a lot of things starting this coming week, and this is why.]

And on top of all of this, I have GOT to bring in some sales. I am at my absolute wits' end. I can't do anything about the regular expenses [and my next Patreon payout is still at least a week away]. but people keep coming to us for money and we don't have any [and that's got to stop, too; I can't take the stress, never mind the fact that there isn't any anyway]. Zero; zip; nada. Right now, I'm fighting just to keep us out of the red over the next week.

And with my illness progression [and that progression is clearly getting much worse], it's getting harder and harder to keep pace with everything I need to do every day, never mind this extra burden, but there isn't a choice. This is two years in a row where everything has gone to hell immediately and refused to let us get our heads above water, and I don't know how much more I can take.

So. We need shares, and we most definitely need sales. AS in now, this weekend, TONIGHT. Links are here:

• Sales here; 
• Testimonials here; 
• Amazon wishlist here (Priorities are Amazon gift cards, which we can ALWAY use, and those adjustable Black KN95 masks are badly needed, because I gave away all the rest of ours to relatives; it would good to have several boxes, so I can keep handing them out, too); 
• Patreon here;
• Ko-fi here.

After such a grim year last year, and this one beginning at least as badly, we urgently need to move 2025 onto a better footing because taxes to this Nazi administration have already taken every last cent and we still owe them more anyway, so please share all of the links. 

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2025; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.               

The Blues of Abundance

Photo copyright Aji, 2025;
all rights reserved.

Now posted at The NDN Silver Blog, it's a work for the misty blues of spring fog and showers leading to the stormy rains of summer. It's a pair of gemstone-bead earrings wrought as the embodiment of those atmospheric gifts that we pray will come, bringing with them the blues of abundance.

The post is here. Wings's main page is here. Inquiries via the site's Contact form. It's grim; sales are way down, there have been far too many demands on us already this year, and we sent our first big installment on taxes a few days ago. There will be more payments to come, plus the well pump replacement and new tires for the truck. I still need to bring in multiple sales this week. So we need shares, but most of all, we urgently need sales.

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2025; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.       

Talk about a devil.

Photo copyright Aji, 2025; all rights reserved.

That's what today's looked like. That dust devil stayed right there, building and rising and spinning down a little and spinning back up for something like an hour straight. The winds have been awful, sandblasting everything in their path, and sapping everything else of every bit of energy.

Including me.

I know most people with autoimmune diseases hate humidity, or cold, or whatever, but I can deal with all of those. I may not like it, but I can deal with it. Wind? At this velocity? This kind of wind kills me. My pain levels have been off the charts all week, and fatigue levels, too. And I'd hoped for an otherwise quiet week, but no, and the exhaustion is living, breathing, ravening thing now. I'm so tired, and so far behind on everything. Talk about a devil.

And I have GOT to bring in some sales. I am at my absolute wits' end. I can't do anything about the regular expenses [and my next Patreon payout is still at least a week away]. but people keep coming to us for money, and we don't have any. Zero; zip; nada. Right now, I'm fighting just to keep us out of the red over the next week.

And with my illness progression [and that progression is getting much worse], it's getting harder and harder to keep pace with everything I need to do every day, never mind this extra burden, but there isn't a choice. This is two years in a row where everything has gone to hell immediately and refused to let us get our heads above water, and I don't know how much more I can take.

So. We need shares, and we most definitely need sales. AS in now, this weekend, TONIGHT. Links are here:

• Sales here; 
• Testimonials here; 
• Amazon wishlist here (Priorities are Amazon gift cards, which we can ALWAY use, and those adjustable Black KN95 masks are badly needed, because I gave away all the rest of ours to relatives; it would good to have several boxes, so I can keep handing them out, too); 
• Patreon here;
• Ko-fi here.

After such a grim year last year, and this one beginning at least as badly, we urgently need to move 2025 onto a better footing because taxes to this Nazi administration have already taken every last cent and we still owe them more anyway, so please share all of the links. 

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2025; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.               

Friday Feature: The Path From Spring to Harvest

Photo copyright Aji, 2025; all rights reserved.

It's our Friday Feature at The NDN Silver Blog, with a trio of seasonally apt works from Wings's signature series of gemstone-bead necklaces, The Standing Stones Collection. Together, these three carry us along the path from spring to harvest, from snow to rain to blue corn growing to the full moon of fall.

The post is here. Wings's main page is here. Inquiries via the site's Contact form. It's grim; sales are way down, there have been far too many demands on us already this year, and we sent our first big installment on taxes a few days ago. There will be more payments to come, plus the well pump replacement and new tires for the truck. I still need to bring in multiple sales this week. So we need shares, but most of all, we urgently need sales.

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2025; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.      

Disruptions.

Photo copyright Aji, 2025; all rights reserved.

All tilled and ready for planting watering. Couldn't plant anything in it right now; much too dry.  Once it's soaked in, the frame will go back down. This is going to be the main garden, for vegetables and fruits; the current plan is to till another spot on the west side for the corn [which we've done there before, and it worked really well; of course, it wasn't a 1,200-year drought then, only a 500-year one]. Nephew did the tilling, and he and Wings also cut apart one of our old giant galvanized metal horse troughs to create two planters, which will hold flowers and herbs.

Yes, I know this is absurdly late, but this is what happens when every single day is nothing but constant disruptions. I thought I had done this [and the Ko-Fi/Patreon links], and just realized, at 9 PM, that I never got back to any of it. This week has been a nightmare, and if I don't bring in some sales over the next day or so, it's going to get a whole lot worse.

Meanwhile, all the other work plagues us apace. I had hoped to have at least some small respite once the taxes were [mostly] behind us this year, but no. So the time I usually use to get caught up is involving less getting caught up and more trying to keep our heads above water with all the work that's swamping us now. Nothing this week, nothing lined up, and with my illness progression, it's getting harder and harder to keep pace with everything I need to do every day, but there isn't a choice. And that progression is getting much worse; today is the first day in weeks I haven't felt measurably worse than the day before. Haven't felt any better, either, but when it's this bad, I'll take what I can get.

So. We need shares, and we most definitely need sales. Links are here:

• Sales here; 
• Testimonials here; 
• Amazon wishlist here (Priorities are Amazon gift cards, which we can ALWAY use, and those adjustable Black KN95 masks are badly needed, because I gave away all the rest of ours to relatives; it would good to have several boxes, so I can keep handing them out, too); 
• Patreon here;
• Ko-fi here.

After such a grim year last year, and this one beginning at least as badly, we urgently need to move 2025 onto a better footing because taxes to this Nazi administration have already taken every last cent and we still owe them more anyway, so please share all of the links. 

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2025; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.               

#TBT: A Season of Rebirth, and a Time of Abundance

Photo copyright Wings, 2025; all rights reserved.

It's #ThrowbackThursday at The NDN Silver Blog, with a #TBT work that dates back to 2008, if memory serves, and one of an informal series of bracelets wrought in an old classic style. It's a spare and elegant triangle-wire cuff set at either end with stones in the shade of the storm, a reminder of hope that the clouds arriving early now will herald a season of rebirth, and a time of abundance.

The post is here. Wings's main page is here. As always, this work will never be duplicated, but if the style speaks to your spirit, simply inquire via the site's Contact form; Wings can create a version uniquely your own. It's grim; sales are way down, there have been far too many demands on us already this year, and we sent our first big installment on taxes a few days ago. There will be more payments to come, plus the well pump replacement and new tires for the truck. We can't do any of those things without making a large number of sales . We need shares, and we need sales urgently now.

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2025; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.         

No thunder; certainly no rain.

Photo copyright Aji, 2025; all rights reserved.

Some gorgeous thunderheads today. No thunder; certainly no rain. But pretty skies.

It's been a hell of a hard day. Lots of standing in lines, which is hard on me any time now, but the last few weeks? Every day is worse than the last, and today was the worst of all, and the hell of it is, I don't know why. I mean, yes, I know it could just be disease progression, but if so, it's galloping now. It could also be something else that's particularly nasty, but I can't get in to see the doctor for another month.

Of course, if I keep getting worse at this pace, I'm not going to have a choice; I'm going to have to shell out for the testing.

That's money we don't have. 

But I can't go on this way, not and keep up with everything that I have to do.

Meanwhile, all the other work plagues us apace. I had hoped to have at least some small respite once the taxes were [mostly] behind us this year, but no. So the time I usually use to get caught up is involving less getting caught up and more trying to keep our heads above water with all the work that's swamping us now. Nothing this weekend, nothing lined up, and with my illness progression, it's getting harder and harder to keep pace with everything I need to do every day, but there isn't a choice.

So. We need shares, and we most definitely need sales. Links are here:

• Sales here; 
• Testimonials here; 
• Amazon wishlist here (Priorities are Amazon gift cards, which we can ALWAY use, and those adjustable Black KN95 masks are badly needed, because I gave away all the rest of ours to relatives; it would good to have several boxes, so I can keep handing them out, too); 
• Patreon here;
• Ko-fi here.

After such a grim year last year, and this one beginning at least as badly, we urgently need to move 2025 onto a better footing because taxes to this Nazi administration have already taken every last cent and we still owe them more anyway, so please share all of the links. 

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2025; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.               

The Medicine of a Warm Season's Skies

Photo copyright Aji, 2025; all rights reserved.

Now posted at The NDN Silver Blog, it's a masterwork for days of warmer winds, and for a season of a buffalo sky, albeit one too early arrived. It's an old-style traditional collar necklace, an extraordinary work featuring five separate pendants of incredible beauty and power, the whole the very embodiment of the medicine of a warm season's skies, like that this land needs so badly now.

The post is here. Wings's main page is here. Inquiries via the site's Contact form. It's grim; sales are way down, there have been far too many demands on us already this year, and we sent our first big installment on taxes a few days ago. There will be more payments to come, plus the well pump replacement and new tires for the truck. I still need to bring in multiple sales this week. So we need shares, but most of all, we urgently need sales.

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2025; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.      

Terrifying.

Photo copyright Aji, 2025; all rights reserved.

The snow is basically gone. Spoon Mountain shouldn't look like that before the end of June.

It's terrifying.

Of course, everything is these days. Everything's drying up, from the air to the ground to any sales to anything like hope. As I said yesterday, I have felt like absolute death for days; I can feel that there's something wrong, but there's no way of identifying it, which means no treating it. [Yes, I have an unpleasant suspicion; no, I'm not going to share it unless and util it can be shown, bt which time it will likely be too late, because that's how this country does "medicine." [That's always assuming that the genocidal monster at HHS (RFK Jr.) doesn't manage to put us all lists for extermination first, which is what he's working on now. May his father's and uncle's ghosts haunt him every moment of every day; may he never know a moment's peace for such evil.]

Meanwhile, all the other work plagues us apace. I had hoped to have at least some small respite once the taxes were [mostly] behind us this year, but no. So the time I usually use to get caught up is involving less getting caught up and more trying to keep our heads above water with all the work that's swamping us now. Nothing this weekend, nothing lined up, and with my illness progression, it's getting harder and harder to keep pace with everything I need to do every day, but there isn't a choice.

So. We need shares, and we most definitely need sales. Links are here:

• Sales here; 
• Testimonials here; 
• Amazon wishlist here (Priorities are Amazon gift cards, which we can ALWAY use, and those adjustable Black KN95 masks are badly needed, because I gave away all the rest of ours to relatives; it would good to have several boxes, so I can keep handing them out, too); 
• Patreon here;
• Ko-fi here.

After such a grim year last year, and this one beginning at least as badly, we urgently need to move 2025 onto a better footing because taxes to this Nazi administration have already taken every last cent and we still owe them more anyway, so please share all of the links. 

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2025; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.               

Red Willow Spirit: First Medicines of Lifeblood and Breath

Photo copyright Wings, 2025; all rights reserved.

Now posted at The NDN Silver Blog, it's an edition of Red Willow Spirit for an impossibly rapid shift in conditions, and for what is required of us to remedy it. It's two images shot a short two years apart linked by one of Wings's newer works of wearable art, all of them manifest in the twinned first medicines of lifeblood and breath that ensure our own survival.

The post is here. Wings's main page is here. Inquiries via the site's Contact form. It's grim; sales are way down, there have been far too many demands on us already this year, and we sent our first big installment on taxes. There will be more payments to come, plus the well pump replacement and new tires for the truck. We can't do any of those things without making a large number of sales. We need shares, and more, we urgently need sales now.

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2025; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.       

It seems like a metaphor for everything now.

Photo copyright Aji, 2025; all rights reserved.

Nothing but contrails everywhere.

That wouldn't be so bad on its own, but they suck up whatever remnant moisture is in the atmosphere, and in a twelve-hundred-year drought, that's very, very bad.

The snow has long since melted into the ground. It's already drying up again now. And on a day like this one, it seems like a metaphor for everything now. 

Everything's drying up, from the air to the ground to any sales to anything like hope. I have felt like absolute death for days, but today was the worst, tacking a monster migraine onto everything else. But nothing's working, I can feel that there's something wrong, but there's no way of identifying it, which means no treating it. And, as usual with me, by the time it does show up in some way that satisfies this country's stupid idea of "medicine," it'll be too late.

Meanwhile, all the other work plagues us apace. I had hoped to have at least some small respite once the taxes were [mostly] behind us this year, but no. So the time I usually use to get caught up is involving less getting caught up and more trying to keep our heads above water with all the work that's swamping us now. Nothing this weekend, nothing lined up, and with my illness progression, it's getting harder and harder to keep pace with everything I need to do every day, but there isn't a choice.

So. We need shares, and we most definitely need sales. Links are here:

• Sales here; 
• Testimonials here; 
• Amazon wishlist here (Priorities are Amazon gift cards, which we can ALWAY use, and those adjustable Black KN95 masks are badly needed, because I gave away all the rest of ours to relatives; it would good to have several boxes, so I can keep handing them out, too); 
• Patreon here;
• Ko-fi here.

After such a grim year last year, and this one beginning at least as badly, we urgently need to move 2025 onto a better footing because taxes to this Nazi administration have already taken every last cent and we still owe them more anyway, so please share all of the links. 

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2025; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.               

Monday Photo Meditation: Turning Over a New Leaf

Photo copyright Wings, 2025; all rights reserved.

Now posted at The NDN Silver Blog, it's a Monday Photo Meditation for this moment when it finally feels like time to get down to the business of spring. It's the time when the trees are engaged in the literal work of turning over a new leaf as best they can in these days of climate collapse, and the world needs us to do the same.

The post is here. Wings's main page is here. Inquiries via the site's Contact form. It's grim; sales are way down, there have been far too many demands on us already this year, and we sent our first big installment on taxes. There will be more payments to come, plus the well pump replacement and new tires for the truck. We can't do any of those things without making a large number of sales. We need shares, and more, we urgently need sales now.

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2025; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.      

A momentary break from the rest of the day's work.

Photo copyright Aji, 2025; all rights reserved.

Beautiful clouds this morning. Perfect for a spring holiday.

We don't do a lot for most holidays. We'll have a nice meal tonight, but not a huge one. A lot of years, it's chicken, because that's what we have, but this we happened to have one of those little boneless quarter hams [which works out to three separate big meals for us, so we're only using part of it today, and the rest is in the freezer]. I'll make a little glaze for it, because I'm making herbed Japanese sweet potatoes, and gravy doesn't taste right on them [I can no longer have potatoes, and these have a much lower glycemic load than potatoes or yams, which is good for Wings, and besides, they taste wonderful]. My sister-in-law brought us calabacitas the other day, so we're having those, too, and that should about cover it. Oh, and I'm making deviled eggs, because Wings loves mine. I don't use paprika, but I use other seasonings. It's a momentary break from the rest of the day's work, so I'll take it.

Meanwhile, all the other work plagues us apace. I had hoped to have at least some small respite once the taxes were [mostly] behind us this year, but no. So the time I usually use to get caught up is involving less getting caught up and more trying to keep our heads above water with all the work that's swamping us now.

Unfortunately, sales are not swamping us; they haven't for a couple of years now, and I need to remedy that, but it's not something you can force. I need to bring in at least $500 before the day is out, and a couple more sales yet this week on top of that, but I don't have any confidence in any of it happening, frankly. With my illness progression, it's getting harder and harder to keep pace with everything I need to do every day, but there isn't a choice.

So. We need shares, and we most definitely need sales. Links are here:

• Sales here; 
• Testimonials here; 
• Amazon wishlist here (Priorities are Amazon gift cards, which we can ALWAY use, and those adjustable Black KN95 masks are badly needed, because I gave away all the rest of ours to relatives; it would good to have several boxes, so I can keep handing them out, too); 
• Patreon here;
• Ko-fi here.

After such a grim year last year, and this one beginning at least as badly, we urgently need to move 2025 onto a better footing because taxes to this Nazi administration have already taken every last cent and we still owe them more anyway, so please share all of the links. 

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2025; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.               

A New World Is Born At Our Creation

Photo copyright Aji, 2025; all rights reserved.

Now posted at The NDN Silver Blog, it's a masterwork wrought in an old traditional style, a night sky ringed with planet present at the birth of new worlds. It's also perfect for the symbolism of this day, one devoted to cycles of life and death and resurrection, reminding us that a new world is born at our creation, and we are obligated to get it right.

The post is here. Wings's main page is here. Inquiries via the site's Contact form. It's grim; sales are way down, there have been far too many demands on us already this year, and we sent our first big installment on taxes a few days ago. There will be more payments to come, plus the well pump replacement and new tires for the truck. I need to bring in at least $500 in sales before tonight is through, and another sale or two over the course of this week now. So we need shares, but most of all, we need sales.

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2025; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.