Red Willow Spirit: A Geometry of Life 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 a world at grave risk now, and a reminder of the dangers that await if we fail it. It's two images linked by a single stunning work of wearable art, all of them tributes to a geometry of life and breath that needs our help and protection now.

The post is here. Wings's main page is here. Inquiries via the site's Contact form. he first week of April is gone; this is our drop-dead moment, and it's grim. We need sales urgently now:  Taxes are due, sales are way down, there have been far too many demands on us already this year, and we have to be able to cover this. On top of that, the well pump still needs to be replaced thereafter, as soon as we can actually get someone out here, so shares and sales are very much needed and much appreciated.

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.       

Everywhere, everything's out of order now.

Photo copyright Aji, 2025; all rights reserved.

Another fire this morning. Turns out it's the Whataburger that was supposed to open next week. No, it's not a Charbucks repetition [folks torched the new Starbucks twice before they started wasting taxpayer dollars defending it, while they're now trying to criminalize . . . shopping carts! unhoused folks]. This was a gas leak, apparently.

Everything's terrible. That's as true here as it is of the rest of the country. And I'm being forced to kill myself over taxes these assholes are using to kill people. The amount of fury I feel right now . . . my normally low blood pressure shot up  dangerously high yesterday, and all of this is part of the enormous [in both senses of the word] mix of things that caused it. I have to be careful today, so things are appearing out of order.

Apt, since everywhere, everything's out of order now.

The NDN Silver post will show up sometime tonight; no idea when at this point. As I said yesterday, I'm a millimeter shy of just telling everyone and everything to go to hell at this point. Last week, with the notable exception of Wednesday, was awful in pretty much every other way, including and all the way through all of yesterday. Between the taxes and the well pump and the lack of sales and income and my accelerating health issues and sheer sleepless exhaustion, I'm at the end of my tether, and this is the drop-dead point, so absent a sudden surge of sales, there's nothing I can do. It is what it is, and I'm too tired to give a shit anymore. But even so, we need to bring in more sales, a lot of them, immediately. We're out of time.

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 will take every last cent and we'll 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.              

Perspective.

Photo copyright Aji, 2025;
all rights reserved.

Now you get an idea of just how tall that dead spruce really is. Miika's not a small horse by any stretch of the imagination, and her back barely comes up to the lower branches.

All a matter of perspective.

Which is what I keep telling myself.

Everything is ridiculously late tonight, because I've spent most of the day [albeit with an equally ridiculous record of interruptions] on taxes. Spent most of last night on them, too. And that will be the case again tonight when all this is done, because I've got to make the daily stuff as quick as humanly possible right now. 

As I said yesterday, I'm a millimeter shy of just telling everyone and everything to go to hell at this point. Last week, with the notable exception of Wednesday, was awful in pretty much every other way, including and all the way through all of yesterday. Between the taxes and the well pump and the lack of sales and income and my accelerating health issues and sheer sleepless exhaustion, I'm at the end of my tether, and this is the drop-dead point, so absent a sudden surge of sales, there's nothing I can do. It is what it is, and I'm too tired to give a shit anymore. But even so, we need to bring in more sales, a lot of them, immediately. We're out of time.

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 will take every last cent and we'll 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: Angle, Focus, and the Broken Lines of the View Ahead

Photo copyright Wings, 2025;
all rights reserved.

Now posted at The NDN Silver Blog, it's a Monday Photo Meditation for the hard days, and for harder times still to come. It's an utterly casual snapshot, yet one to inspire us away from nihilism, to concentrate on angle, focus, and the broken lines of the view ahead.

The post is here. Wings's main page is here. Inquiries via the site's Contact form. The first week of April is gone; this is our drop-dead moment, and it's grim. We need sales urgently now:  Taxes are due, sales are way down, there have been far too many demands on us already this year, and we have to be able to cover this. On top of that, the well pump still needs to be replaced thereafter, as soon as we can actually get someone out here, so shares and sales are very much needed and much appreciated.

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.          

Any precipitation is a good thing at this point.

Photo copyright Aji, 2025; all rights reserved.

Unforecast snow flurries this morning.

Any precipitation is a good thing at this point. Now, if I could only conjure some of the metaphorical kind.

I'm a millimeter shy of just telling everyone and everything to go to hell at this point. Last week, with the notable exception of Wednesday, was awful in pretty much every other way, including and all the way through all of yesterday. Between the taxes and the well pump and the lack of sales and income and my accelerating health issues and sheer sleepless exhaustion, I'm at the end of my tether, and this is the drop-dead point, so absent a sudden surge of sales, there's nothing I can do. it is what it is, and I'm too tired to give a shit anymore. But even so, we need to bring in more sales, a lot of them, immediately. We're out of time.

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 will take every last cent and we'll 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 World Wrapped In Circles of Stars

Photo copyright Aji, 2025; all rights reserved.

Now posted at The NDN Silver Blog, it's a work to honor the coiled cosmic body of the night serpent, to remind us that the beauty of this world is infused by the power of others, too. It's a traditional bolo wrought in an old classic style and set with an extraordinary specimen of Mother Earth's own art, a work to remind us on these cold spring nights that we inhabit a world wrapped in circles of stars, held in place by phenomenal power and breathtaking beauty.

The post is here. Wings's main page is here. Inquiries via the site's Contact form. We need sales urgently now:  Taxes are due, sales are way down, there have been far too many demands on us already this year, and we have to be able to cover this. We can't do that without making a large number of sales now. On top of that, the well pump still needs to be replaced thereafter, as soon as we can actually get someone out here, so shares are very much needed and much appreciated.

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.     

My very own buffalo.

Photo copyright Aji, 2025;
all rights reserved.

Wings brought me flowers earlier this week, all spring shades, and they're still thriving days later. Yesterday, he had to run a couple of errands, including picking up supplies for the animals, and he brought me home my very own buffalo. He's an adorable little thing, silky soft, cloven hooves, little dark-tipped horns. He's hanging out with the stuffed horse he brought home for me when we lost Miskwaki, and the little old stuffed buffalo that somehow materialized in our east field out of nowhere several years ago.

It doesn't take much for Wings to make me smile, and. Spirit knows I need that right now. This is drop-dead territory, this weekend; I've got to get everything done, and I've got to be able to write a very big check next week, and I have only today and tomorrow [and the early pre-dawn hours of Monday] to make it all happen. It's grim, and I'm at my wits' end. Last year was awful in every way; this year has begun with more of the same, with the added problem of a bunch of external demands on us that have drained all of our resources. I'm out of options [but I'm still working 16 hours and day and more to try to get everything done, and I'm so far beyond tired now that I can't even think straight].

I've resented taxes a lot in my life, but never so much as I do right this moment, thanks to this Nazi "administration" stealing our money and what they're doing with it. But there's no choice in the matter, and I'm am truly at the end of my tether right now, between the taxes and the well pump and the lack of sales and income and my accelerating health issues. So now would be a really, really good time to buy, because I really, really need to bring in more income this week. We're out of time.

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 before taxes take every last cent, 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.              

As the Earth Dances Into Spring

Photo copyright Aji, 2025; all rights reserved.

Now posted at The NDN Silver Blog, it's a masterwork for Earth's round dance of seasonal transitions, and a reminder of our place in the light. It's an old-style bolo wrought entirely freehand and set with a spectacularly apt stone, a manifestation of the beauty and motion at work as the Earth dances into spring.

The post is here. Wings's main page is here. Inquiries via the site's Contact form. We need sales urgently now:  Taxes are due, sales are way down, there have been far too many demands on us already this year, and we have to be able to cover this. We can't do that without making a large number of sales by the end of this weekend. On top of that, the well pump still needs to be replaced thereafter, as soon as we can actually get someone out here, so shares are very much needed and much appreciated.

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's not really spring until the meadowlark sings.

Photo copyright Aji, 2025; all rights reserved.

Say hello to the Bluebird Family's home. Mountain bluebirds, to be specific; I was trying to catch a shot of the male diving in and out of it this morning, but I'm too slow.

If memory serves, they used this same house last year, but I think it was a bit later in the season. Plenty of spring birds out now, but also plenty of winter birds left, and besides, it's not really spring until the meadowlark sings.

Haven't heard a peep out of one yet.

Snow squalls around the peaks today; down here at their feet, it's all murderous high winds and bitter cold. In theory, we're supposed to get snow starting in forty minutes or so and continuing throughout the evening and night, but it's also supposed to amount to no more than two inches by tomorrow night, so I'm guessing it won't be much to write home about, either way.

But I have GOT to make it rain, so to speak, this weekend, or we are thoroughly screwed. I have to the end of this weekend to bring in enough to cover our taxes [and finish getting them organized for the preparer], to say nothing of covering the well pump replacement, but it's grim, and I'm at my wits' end. Last year was awful in every way; this year has begun with more of the same, with the added problem of a bunch of external demands on us that have drained all of our resources. I'm out of options [but I'm still working 16 hours and day and more to try to get everything done, and I'm so far beyond tired now that I can't even think straight].

I've resented taxes a lot in my life, but never so much as I do right this moment, thanks to this Nazi "administration" stealing our money and what they're doing with it. But there's no choice in the matter, and I'm am truly at the end of my tether right now, between the taxes and the well pump and the lack of sales and income and my accelerating health issues. So now would be a really, really good time to buy, because I really, really need to bring in more income this week. We're out of time.

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 before taxes take every last cent, 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 Sacred Green Waters of Renewal and Rebirth

Photo copyright Aji, 2025; all rights reserved.

It's our Friday Feature at The NDN Silver Blog, with a pair of works that were created independently of each other, but clearly belong together, each centered around stones from the same parcel. It's a cuff and a pair of earrings, all set with Cripple Creek turquoise, each embodying the sacred green waters of renewal and rebirth that give life and breath to this land in spring.

The post is here. Wings's main page is here. Inquiries via the site's Contact form. We need sales urgently now:  Taxes are due, sales are way down, there have been far too many demands on us already this year, and we have to be able to cover this. We can't do that without making a large number of sales this week. On top of that, the well pump still needs to be replaced thereafter, as soon as we can actually get someone out here, so shares are very much needed and much appreciated.

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's been busy. And costly.

Photo copyright Aji, 2025; all rights reserved.

Yesterday's haul, showing them next to the pendant. With luck, by tonight it will be done, but it might be tomorrow; depends on how far he gets with everything else today.

And it's been busy. And costly.  Septic today, another expense I wasn't anticipating having to pay this week, with trash pick-up due tomorrow. I have to take care of insurance, and . . . ::sigh:: for every sale we've made lately, there's always something waiting to swallow it before I can put it on the tax bill. And there are other expenses looming beyond that, including cultural stuff [a great-niece has a life marker coming up at the end of May, and we have to cover some things for that].

And the taxes are still driving me up the wall. The prospect of paying them is even worse, because as I said yesterday, talking about being done with them "once and for all" implies being able to pay everything all at once, and that's extremely unlikely. I have to the end of this week to bring in enough to cover them all, but it's grim, and I'm at my wits' end. Last year was awful in every way; this year has begun with more of the same, with the added problem of a bunch of external demands on us that have drained all of our resources. I'm out of options [but I'm still working 16 hours and day and more to try to get everything done].

I've resented taxes a lot in my life, but never so much as I do right this moment, thanks to this Nazi "administration" stealing our money and what they're doing with it. But there's no choice in the matter, and I'm am truly at the end of my tether right now, between the taxes and the well pump and the lack of sales and income and my accelerating health issues. So now would be a really, really good time to buy, because I really, really need to bring in more income this week. We're out of time.

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 before taxes take every last cent, 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.              

#ThrowbackThursday: A Slumbering Earth Reawakened and Growing Again

Photo copyright Wings, 2025; all rights reserved.

It's #TBT at The NDN Silver Blog, with a #ThrowbackThursday work that dates back a dozen years or so, to somewhere around 2013, and one of a pair of simple single-stone rings wrought in a classic style. This particular ring was set with a subtly beautiful green turquoise cabochon finely webbed with red siltstone, resembling a slumbering earth reawakened and growing again in spring. 

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 already April, and we need sales urgently now:  Taxes are due, sales are way down, there have been far too many demands on us already this year, and we have to be able to cover this. We can't do that without making a large number of sales this week. On top of that, the well pump still needs to be replaced thereafter, as soon as we can actually get someone out here, so shares are very much needed and much appreciated.

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 whirlwind, but in a good way.

Photo copyright Aji, 2025; all rights reserved.

That's that little dusting of snow I mentioned yesterday. None down here, just a little sleet and graupel. but today? Today was COLD. Winter's not done with us yet, at least not out here where we are, which is more than ten degrees colder than in town.

Today's been a whirlwind, but in a good way. Multiple errands today, all at top speed, but the highlight of the day was meeting Al and. Sherry at their hotel. Yes, I do have photos, and yes, I did actually manage to get them off my phone, but it occurred to me tonight that she might not want her image everywhere, so I went with a regular one. Suffice to say that they are absolutely beautiful, wonderful folks, and we both felt that vibe with them the moment we walked through the door. Al has his necklace, which has special meaning for him, and Sherry has a pair of Wings's earrings, and believe me, this is the home they were waiting for; both pieces are perfect on both of them. 

They're on the road, traveling around, but they have an open invitation here always. 

Also spent some time with the bead ladies later on, and we've now got the beads for that new piece he's working on that I posted the other night: sterling silver; dendritic Montana agate; tiger's eye. The beads are perfect, and they're going to make the whole thing absolutely pop.

But now I'm beat, and I spent too much time walking and standing in lines today [those other errands], and my feet are a mess, even if I was wearing my most comfortable pair of boots. [They're old, and they're thoroughly broken in and shaped more or less to my feet by now. Doesn't help nearly as much as it used to, though.]

And now, it's back to the grind. The taxes are still driving me up the wall. The prospect of paying them is even worse, because as I said yesterday, talking about being done with them "once and for all" implies being able to pay everything all at once, and that's extremely unlikely. I have to the end of this week to bring n. enough to cover them all, but it's grim, and I'm at my wits' end. Last year was awful in every way; this year has begun with more of the same, with the added problem of a bunch of external demands on us that have drained all of our resources. I'm out of options [but I'm still working 16 hours and day and more to try to get everything done].

I've resented taxes a lot in my life, but never so much as I do right this moment, thanks to this Nazi "administration" stealing our money and what they're doing with it. But there's no choice in the matter, and I'm am truly at the end of my tether right now, between the taxes and the well pump and the lack of sales and income and my accelerating health issues. So now would be a really, really good time to buy, because I really, really need to bring in more income this week. We're out of time.

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 before taxes take every last cent, 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.             

What Holds Steady In Shifting Times and Seasons

Photo copyright Aji, 2025; all rights reserved.

Now posted at The NDN Silver Blog, it's a masterwork for this unsettled and unsettling season, an embodiment of the gifts of sacred directions, sacred earth, and what keeps us grounded in a changing world. It's an old-style traditional pendant created to honor the earth and sacred directions, a reminder of what holds steady in shifting times and seasons.

The post is here. Wings's main page is here. Inquiries via the site's Contact form. We need sales urgently now:  Taxes are due, sales are way down, there have been far too many demands on us already this year, and we have to be able to cover this. We can't do that without making a large number of sales this week. On top of that, the well pump still needs to be replaced thereafter, as soon as we can actually get someone out here, so shares are very much needed and much appreciated.

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's been a doozy.

Photo copyright Aji, 2025; all rights reserved.

It's not a great shot compositionally, but I included it here for a very specific reason. See that little rounded brown smudge at the horizon in the very center? I thought it was a spot on my camera lens when I first looked at the photo, so I enlarged it. NOPE.  It's a dust devil, roundish instead of a tall skinny spiral, probably shrieking April Fool's! at the top of its dirty lungs as it moves.

There a reason — many reasons, actually — that I hate this day.

As weather goes, it's been a doozy: Sun, clouds, extreme winds, freezing rain, sleet, graupel, snow on the peaks, albeit not down here. But more of all, the wind. And the dirt, and the dust, and the pollen.

I'm so far behind, too. Things keep cropping up and derailing me from the thousand and one things already on today's to-do list. Tomorrow will be busy, too, but then I hope I'm home for the rest of the week and able to get this nonsense off my desk once and for all.

Of course, "once and for all" implies being able to pay everything all at once, and that's unlikely, too. Two days is about all I have left [okay, maybe four] to get everything done on our taxes, too. Being able to pay them is another matter entirely; it's grim, and I'm at my wits' end. Last year was awful in every way; this year has begun with more of the same, with the added problem of a bunch of external demands on us that have drained all of our resources. I have to get our taxes done, to the preparer, and paid this week. I cannot do that if we don't bring in some really big sales this week — either a bunch of sales daily or one or two really big ones; I don't have any preference, as long as I can get it done. It's that last that's the stumbling block, because it's not depending on how hard I work at work. I can't force people to buy. And I'm out of options [but I'm still working 16 hours and day and more to try to get everything done].

I've resented taxes a lot in my life, but never so much as I do right this moment, thanks to this Nazi "administration" stealing our money and what they're doing with it. But there's no choice in the matter, and I'm am truly at the end of my tether right now, between the taxes and the well pump and the lack of sales and income and my accelerating health issues. So now would be a really, really good time to buy, because I really, really need to bring in more income this week. We're out of time.

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 before taxes take every last cent, 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: Another Turn of the Earth, and Its Spirits, Toward the Light

Photo copyright Wings, 2025; all rights reserved.

Now posted at The NDN Silver Blog, it's an edition of Red Willow Spirit for a trickster day and month and conditions, reminding us that beneath the chaos lie the cycles that keep our world alive. It's two images linked by one of Wings's newer cuffs set with an old, old stone to match the photos, perfect for a time of another turn of the earth, and its spirits, toward the light.

The post is here. Wings's main page is here. Inquiries via the site's Contact form. It's April already [how? how?]. We need sales urgently now:  Taxes are due, sales are way down, there have been far too many demands on us already this year, and we have to be able to cover this. We can't do that without making a large number of sales this week. On top of that, the well pump still needs to be replaced thereafter, as soon as we can actually get someone out here, so shares are very much needed and much appreciated.

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.