Monday Photo Meditation: The Flowers of Autumn

Photo copyright Wings, 2016; all rights reserved.

Now posted at The NDN Silver Blog, it's a photo meditation for a wet and rainy Monday morning that will nonetheless soon give way to the bright fall sun. It's also a contemplation of autumn's evolving and still-thriving spirits.

The post is here. Wings's main page is here. The photo is available for purchase in any of the usual three formats; simply inquire via the site's Contact form. And, as always, sales are much needed, so shares of the site links are much appreciated.



All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2016; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.

Work resumes tomorrow, under the final stage of the crowdfunding process. Shares needed

Tomorrow, the first day of work begins under the auspices of this stage of the process.

It's daunting.

From what I've been told most recently, they'll be adding particleboard on the subfloor preparatory to insulating, then beginning the upper-level framework. In a matter of days, the house will be visible from the road from every vantage point. It will also begin to look very different. 

Beginning at 8:30 tomorrow morning, things are going to move very, very fast.

It was only yesterday morning that we launched what we intend to be the final stage of the crowdfunding process. Under ordinary circumstances, this stage would have been broken down into roughly three separate stages, but we're out of time. The lows will be down in the twenties every day this week. There's no precipitation forecast until next Saturday, but depending on the time of day it arrives, it could be snow. We're up against the clock, and we know, realistically, that we may not make it.

We're determined to try.   

But to do it, we'll need help. We'll need daily shares of the link to our current YouCaring page via the widgets it provides. Especially helpful is use of the widget code from the box at the lower right-hand corner of the page, which will produce the image above, with the running tally clearly visible. We'll also need consistent shares of the link to Wings's Web site, which pays the bills and helps fund the construction. If you'd like to submit a testimonial endorsing Wings's work, send it to me via the site's Contact form. If you're contemplating commissioning one or more holiday gifts from him, use the same form to let me know what you have in mind; he's beginning that process now. It typically takes two to three months for him to get through the volume of commissions that are placed with him in a given year. The creative process takes time, to say nothing of shipping during the carriers' busiest season of the year.

In just over a day, we have been blessed beyond description, with a far more successful launch of this stage that I could ever have dreamed. We're profoundly grateful to everyone who has helped in any and every way. We hope you'll continue to share the links, and help us beat winter's arrival.

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Aji, 2016; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.

  

Autumn's Blood

Photo copyright Aji, 2016; all rights reserved.

Autumn’s blood is winter’s cocoon, a place of metamorphosis.




All content, including photos and text, are copyright Aji, 2016; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.

A Dream for a New Day

Photo copyright Aji, 2016; all rights reserved.

Now posted at The NDN Silver Blog, it's one of Wings's more recent works that embodies a number of powerful spirits. In this form, it represents their gifts to us, of guidance, of abundance, of a dream for a new day.

The post is here. Wings's main page is here. Inquiries via the site's Contact form. And, as always, sales are much needed, so shares of the site links are much appreciated. 



All content, including photos and text, are copyright Aji, 2016; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.

We began one year ago today. We have come so far, and have so far to go.

It was one year ago today that we launched the first stage of our crowdfunding effort to build, at long last, a house. At that point, we'd been without a real home, living in this tiny tin can, for five years. Today, it's almost six.

And today, we have the beginnings of a home.

It's been a long, hard road. We were halted almost immediately after we started by a combination of an early winter and the seemingly universal unavailability of anyone with an interest in taking either our money or the job. We spent the next eight months trying desperately to find someone with the requisite skills, and the requisite willingness. 

We've really only been at this in any significant way since a week into July. At that point, we had some layers of fill on the site, but not nearly enough, much less graded and tamped. A foundation? Not even close. 

But fewer than three months later, we have the makings of a house. That photo up there? That's what it looks like right this moment; I took that this morning, just after sunrise.

We have a long, long way to go. Upper level framework (up is more energy-efficient than out, especially with a small home); stairs; roof; wiring and plumbing; windows and doors and floors; bathroom fixtures and kitchen appliances that went with the old house; a new septic system, relocated entirely; insulation and interior finish work; mudding in and plastering the entire structure. And winter is now just around the corner. We had hoped to be in it before the real cold hits, but that's not guaranteed. Oh, our crew, who are genuine masters at what they do, have told us definitively that they can have us in the house by Thanksgiving — if we can keep the work funded.

Normally, we would have split what remains up into at least two, and probably three, separate stages. But we're running out of time. So today, we bit the bullet, made the decision to fold the remaining stages into one large stage, and launch the new crowdfunding site for an amount that I still can't really get my head around. And we're going to be asking you to share the link daily, in hopes that we can reach enough potential donors to keep the work funded consistently, and be safe inside a real home by winter.

The link to our YouCaring page is here; as always, the best ways to share it are via the widgets provided, and with the widget code from the lower right-hand corner that produces the image shown above. We also need folks to continue to share Wings's site; the holidays are approaching rapidly, and folks who want to commission holiday gifts will need to start getting their orders in now so that he'll have sufficient time to complete them and get them shipped.

Also as always, we send our profound thanks to everyone who has given us a hand thus far. Because of a few generous souls just today, we've been able to hit the ground running on this stage; not even half a day since going live with it, and we've raised far more than I could have dreamed, especially for a busy Saturday. We are blessed, and we are grateful.

Shawl Dancer

Photo copyright Aji, 2016; all rights reserved.

She comes to me on this first day of the moon to commune in clear air and golden light: a shawl dancer lifting her fringes to the sky, summoning the falling leaves to join us in the dance.

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Aji, 2016; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.

The World of Dreams

Photo copyright Aji, 2016; all rights reserved.

Now posted at The NDN Silver Blog, it's Wings latest, completed only this week. It's also a work that captures our world in miniature, from turquoise skies to forested peaks to the dreams of the rain.

The post is here. Wings's main page is here. Inquiries via the site's Contact form. And, as always, sales are much needed, so shares of the site links are much appreciated.



All content, including photos and text, are copyright Aji, 2016; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.