The Medicine of Being

Photo copyright Aji, 2017; all rights reserved.

Now posted at The NDN Silver Blog, it's a work that manifests as a map of our world, one now as much gold as what remains of the green. It's a reminder, too, to look to the center of all things, and to be grateful every day for the medicine of being.

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



All content, including photos and text, are copyright Aji, 2017; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.

Exterior plasterwork paid, but enforced hiatus looming for next week. Sales/shares badly needed.

Photo copyright Aji, 2017; all rights reserved.

That's what even the back of the house looks like now — as of last Friday, actually. No trimwork yet, and that will have to be done before the real cold hits, because the window- and doorsills need the protection. But we have at least a few more days of highs in the fifties, although it's getting down into the teens regularly at night now. This, in fact, is what the pond looks like:

Photo copyright Aji, 2017; all rights reserved.

You should see the close-ups. I've never seen ice look braided before.

Sherm came and did some touching up around the edges today, and he's paid in full. Marcos finished up the interior steps and risers today, and is doing a few little odd jobs tomorrow, and we'll pay him then. And then everything else is up in the air, because this push to get the exterior [mostly] protected has wiped our resources out completely. We will not have a working kitchen sink until Floyd can tile the top of the one small base cabinet that's done, and I have no idea what that's going to cost. Compared to the floors, etc., not a lot, but it's money we don't have right now, forget the regular labor costs for the crew. We might be back to a three-man crew anyway, which will help, but we may find ourselves on an enforced hiatus next week if I can't raise the scratch over the holiday weekend. And no, no word yet on the scheduling of all my medical tests, which means no word yet on my condition. I'm hanging in, reacquainting myself with how to breathe through whatever hits.
So anyway, here I am back to posting links, and I hope folks will continue to share them all daily, because there's still a lot to be done to make this place weathertight and functional (especially the kitchen, which for now has no water hooked up at all):

• Wings's direct PayPal link;
• Wings's site, for sales;
• Wayfair gift cards, to replenish all the furnishings that the RV has destroyed in one way or another.
• Partial registry #1, from Bed, Bath and Beyond. It's not complete; I've added a few more kitchen-y items, but there'll be some later additions, too.
• Partial registry #2, from Wayfair. Also not complete, but there are more items to be added there, too, once I get them to resolve this fulfillment/shipping problem they have with their site. Now, it's going to be mostly odds and ends that make this place more liveable, because of the sheer volume of stuff destroyed by too many years in the RV (e.g., by the oven and stovetop, by the wiring, by the water, by the mold, etc.), or that we simply gave away seven years ago because we had no room and no place to put them and despaired of ever being able to use them again. But about Wayfair, and VERY IMPORTANT: They make it possible to crowdfund each item. So if you'd like to help, but the prices are too much for one person? You can kick in 20 bucks, or ten, or five, on any one item; many small donations can add up to one item.

As I said last night, I am still catching up, not only from the health issues (I'm still not allowed to do anything but walk here and there), but also from the pace of the construction and the wedding. There hasn't been any choice to maintain the pace I did over Friday and especially Saturday, but it has wiped me out as badly as the construction has our finances, so I'm not good for a whole lot right now. Which means I'll be doing some cooking tomorrow instead of cramming it all into Thursday, and no, I'm not baking pies this year, because I simply don't have the energy. I thought I was tired before; I had no idea. So please continue to share the links, and given that the holidays are essentially here, please refer folks to Wings's site (and if you have an endorsement, too, so much the better). I'll be trying, slowly but, I hope, steadily, to get caught up over the course of this week. Thanks again, to everybody, and we love you all.

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Aji, 2017; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.

Red Willow Spirit: Survival Medicine

Photo copyright Wings, 2017; all rights reserved.

Now posted at The NDN Silver Blog, it's an edition of Red Willow Spirit for a week of identity and existence, medicine and the giving of thanks, none of which requires a title, label, or capitalization. It's also a meditation on the nature of such things from an indigenous perspective, and on the intersections between self-identification and survival medicine.

The post is here. Wings's main page is here. It's a series of four photos today, and as always with Wings's work, they're available for purchase in any of the usual three formats; simply inquire via the site's Contact form. Also as always, sales are very much needed (especially now, with the push for exterior work having wiped out our resources), so shares of the site links are much appreciated.



All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2017; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.

Wedding flowers (late but no less beautiful)! Truck repairs; tile delivery for kitchen counters; a lot to do yet. Sales/shares still very much needed.

Photo copyright Aji, 2017; all rights reserved.

That was what my wedding bouquet was supposed to be: mini calla lilies and blue eryngium. It arrived today, along with the maid of honor's bouquet and the boutonnieres and petals for the flowers girls and a single incredible centerpiece. We didn't buy these — they were a gift from a dear friend — and wires got crossed somewhere in the process and they didn't make it up here until today. Which is fine; for the wedding, I used the flowers Wings bought me at the grocery store, which were also beautiful, and now I have some extra beauty in the house, along with a reminder that [some] schedules and plans can always be rearranged to good effect. 

We had to be up early this morning, because I had an acupuncture appointment at 9 AM, the first concrete step in trying to get over whatever this [waves vaguely in direction of heart, then hospital] actually is. Still waiting on the scheduling of the stress test and the heart imaging. I can't let myself think about what all of this is going to set us back. Wings just tells me to go forward and not worry about it, because it has to be done.

After that, we filed the marriage license with the county clerk and got certified copies of the application to start the laborious process of changing my name. I mean, I've been using it for a good long while already, given how long we've been together, but I might as well get it on my driver's license and so forth, too. That, however, is all a much longer process, and I'm not going to stress myself out over trying to get it all done at once. But now everything's all 100% official.

We also paid the drum group, and paid 2/3 of the balance on the exterior plaster (the remaining 1/3 has to wait for tomorrow, because we're waiting for sales funds to clear). He'll pick it up here tomorrow morning. And that, once again, pretty much wipes us out. Which is not a huge deal at this particular moment, because except for Marcos finishing up various odd jobs on the house like replacing the last few interior steps, we're on hiatus for this week. But the crew is slated to pick up again next Monday, and in the meantime, the truck has set us back another $300, and there are still all the medical costs looming like a vulture atop a caduceus, and it's just endless. So, here I am back to posting links, and I hope folks will continue to share them all:

• Wings's direct PayPal link;
• Wings's site, for sales;
• Wayfair gift cards, to replenish all the furnishings that the RV has destroyed in one way or another.
• Partial registry #1, from Bed, Bath and Beyond. It's not complete; I've added a few more kitchen-y items, but there'll be some later additions, too.
• Partial registry #2, from Wayfair. Also not complete, but there are more items to be added there, too, once I get them to resolve this fulfillment/shipping problem they have with their site. Now, it's going to be mostly odds and ends that make this place more liveable, because of the sheer volume of stuff destroyed by too many years in the RV (e.g., by the oven and stovetop, by the wiring, by the water, by the mold, etc.), or that we simply gave away seven years ago because we had no room and no place to put them and despaired of ever being able to use them again. But about Wayfair, and VERY IMPORTANT: They make it possible to crowdfund each item. So if you'd like to help, but the prices are too much for one person? You can kick in 20 bucks, or ten, or five, on any one item; many small donations can add up to one item.

It is very cold here now, getting down into the teens at night. The pond is less a pond and more a small lake now, and most of it is frozen solid, even through the day. It's really quite beautiful, but I wouldn't advise trying to walk on it. We have no snow predicted anytime soon, at least per the current extended forecast, but the cold is expected to get worse. I cannot tell you what a blessing it is to wake up in the early dark hours of the morning when the woodstoves have gone completely cold and be able to walk downstairs in only one ordinary layer of clothes instead of three or four plus a blanket or two and a space heater, and be perfectly comfortable. It's also pretty amazing not to have the power constantly going out thanks to said heaters, and to know that we will not have a $500 power bill this month. Thank you, everyone who helped make this possible. If I have to be sick, at least I'm doing so in a warm, safe space, and I don't have words for the kind of gratitude I feel for that.

I am still catching up, not only from the health issues (I'm still not allowed to do anything but walk here and there), but also from the pace of the construction and the wedding. Just being able to sleep in our home and know that we don't have to be up at some ungodly hour tomorrow feels scandalously like a honeymoon. But Home Depot delivered the tile today, and we need to get Floyd's crew back at least to cover the one kitchen countertop so that we can hook up the sink and have a minimally-functional kitchen, and that's more money. So please continue to share the links, and given that the holidays are essentially here, please refer folks to Wings's site (and if you have an endorsement, too, so much the better). I'll be trying, slowly but, I hope, steadily, to get caught up over the course of this week. Thanks again, to everybody, and we love you all.

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Aji, 2017; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.

Monday Photo Meditation: What the Red Willows Know

Photo copyright Wings, 2017; all rights reserved.

Now posted at The NDN Silver Blog, it's a photo meditation for a week in which the dominant culture pretends to see us even as it erases us for the most colonial and capitalistic of days. It's also a reminder to us to learn from the hardy plants from which Wings's people take their name, because what the red willows know is that power resides in our spirits, and acting upon ensures our existence.

The post is here. Wings's main page is here. As always, Wings's photos are available for purchase in any of the usual three formats; simply inquire via the site's Contact form. Also as always, sales are very much needed (especially now; on a week's partial hiatus but with a lot of work scheduled to resume next week, and a lot of costs associated with it), so shares of the site links are much appreciated.



All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2017; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.

One more wedding photo, some good words, and a lot of love.

Photo credit Marcos Martinez, 2017;
all rights reserved.

For those of you not on Facebook, that up there is my new banner.

We spent the day mostly on clean-up, and I don't just mean paper plates and cups and tables and chairs. The last ten days have seemed like the last gasp of some dark force's concerted effort to keep us from having a wedding, from my hospitalization last weekend to sundry other occurrences throughout the week to the seeming failure of the water heater two nights before (it didn't fail, but rather did exactly what it was supposed to do; the guys taped over the exhaust vent to prevent the adobe getting into it, and forgot to tell us) to yesterday's events. We had to pick up a few last-minute items, including the Champagne (okay, it's Gruët, the local version, but it's really, really good), and wound up having to go into Albertson's very early to do it.

And the truck died.

We just spent a small fortune in replacing the starter and a bunch of other stuff, and it wouldn't start. It seemed to be the solenoid, which we wound up replacing today ourselves, but it still required a jump to be able to drive it to our mechanic. It needs a new battery and a new alternator, and there seems to be a leak in the oil pan.

Yesterday, though, we just left it there, and Joe T picked us up, and prep began in earnest. There were various other obstacles yesterday, too, from the cold to the flowers that didn't arrive to the traffic delay for the minister to the inevitable one person who sets out to be relentlessly negative and argumentative and just a problem about everything.

We weren't having it.

We absented ourselves from everyone for a bit while waiting for the minister's arrival, put our heads (and hearts) together, and walked back out and jointly took charge of all of it, which is part of why we also wound up walking down the aisle together as well as up it. Wings said this morning that I looked like a warrior, a radiantly beautiful one, and Spirit knows he looked every inch the Indian Holy Man he was assumed to be during the infamous Colorado Wildfire Incident a few years ago, LOL. But we do everything as a team, and why should this be any different?

The ceremony took place under the arbor, and we wrote our own vows, because nothing out there captured both of our traditions and everything we wanted to say to each other:

Ajijaakwe/Day Plume Wings, I love you.
I choose you to love, with all my heart, with all my mind, with all my body, with all my spirit.
My wife/husband, I give you this ring as my promise:
I will always love you,
I will always honor you,
I will always care for you,
I will always support and protect you.
I will hold silence for your voice, and speak for you when you cannot.
I will catch your dreams and hold them safe for you.
I will guard your sleep and feed your body and your spirit. 
I will be your helper and your healer, your refuge, your sanctuary, and your sacred space.
I will be your husband/wife, yours and yours alone, always, in all times and seasons, in this and all other worlds.
I love you, Ajijaakwe/Day Plume Wings, my wife/husband.

And when it began, instead of staying in their seats, everyone crowded around the arbor, forming a circle around us. Yes, we know that it was mostly so that they could hear, but the feeling of the love that encircled us with it was unmistakable, and tears leaked out my eyes all the way through it (although my mascara is apparently a very sturdy brand). Afterward, and after the round dance, Marcos asked us to go over by the pond (now more a small lake), where the low sun was filtering through the willows, and that photo was the result.

In part because of expenses (the need to pay the balance on the plaster, plus now the truck and whatever's coming down the pike for my medical issues), but mostly because we're just tired, we're taking [mostly] a week's hiatus on the house. It's good timing: It's Thanksgiving week, and that way the crew can spend time with their families. Marcos is going to come and do a few things, like replace the last three interior steps and so forth. And we're going to relax a bit (which means that Wings has time to get back in the studio, and I buckle down and push holiday sales), and just enjoy being, officially, husband and wife. Today's been one of extraordinary joy for both of us, so it seems like we're off to an auspicious start.

I still don't feel much like bothering with the house-funding start, however much I should probably do it. Here's the last post with all the links, if you're inclined to want to know. One thing I will be doing is added items to the two registries soon, because the longer we're in here, the more we find we're missing. If we do Thanksgiving dinner, though, we'll be doing it without a working sink anyway, so what are a few more paper plates? We've got lots of plasticware left from the reception, so it may as well get used, right?

Many thanks and much love to all of you: those who came, those who wrote, those who donated, those who kept me sane and gave us moral support all the way through. You'll never know how much we appreciate everything you've done. For tonight, we're just going to enjoy being warm and safe together. It was 19 degrees at 7 o'clock this morning, both fires had burned down, and I was perfectly comfortable in fleece and sweats. This is a well-made house, thanks to a whole bunch of you, and we're profoundly grateful.



All content, including photos and text, are copyright Aji, 2017; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.

Sunset Blues and Moonlight

Photo copyright Aji, 2017; all rights reserved.

Now posted at The NDN Silver Blog, it's one of Wings's most recent works, and one that captures a moment when power gives us a glimpse of the impossible. It's a work of sunset blues and moonlight, and that mystical moment when our skies, just for a minute of two, become green by the magic of the light.

The post is here. Wings's main page is here. Inquiries via the site's Contact form. And, as always, sales are very much needed (especially now, with temps in the teens, and a lot to do yet), so shares of the site links are much appreciated.



All content, including photos and text, are copyright Aji, 2017; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.