#TBT: Holiday Fire and Returning Winter Light

Photo copyright Wings, 2023; all rights reserved.

It's #ThrowbackThursday at The NDN Silver Blog, with a #TBT work that dates back some ten to fifteen years ago, and a work from one of Wings's longest-running signature series. It's a Pueblo pin wrought in his older style, this one perfect for the Winter Solstice, adorned as it is with the color of holiday fire and returning winter light.

The post is here. Wings's main page is here. As always, this work will never be duplicated exactly, but if the style speaks to your spirit, simply inquire via the site's Contact form; Wings can create a version uniquely your own. And with fewer than two weeks left in this last month of this fourth year of pandemic and loss, and facing enormous expenses in the middle of our worst sales year in a very long time, we still need to make consistent sales, so shares are very much needed and much appreciated.

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2023; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.    

No idea how to fix it.

Photo copyright Aji, 2023; all rights reserved.

Wings like Thunderbird, stretching across the sky.

No thunder today, but there might be a little snow later. The sky is white, and the air is cold.

Fitting for the last full day of the Earth's year. Not that I'm able to so anything with it. I woke up in the early-morning hours with my second migraine in five days, and this one's far worse than the first. All of my RA symptoms have come roaring back, too: hands, elbows, shoulders, hips, knees, feet. Plus several other symptoms, too many to detail or try to explain. I feel like death, not even warmed over, and I have no idea how to fix it.

Mostly because there isn't a way. That was lost when doctors patted me on the head for a quarter of a fucking century and told me to stop looking for something wrong. It was wrong all the time, and if they had any kind of humane and accurate training, they'd have known that, but they couldn't be bothered. And here I am. At the point where it's progressive, where organ damage is going to happen [probably already is], and where my chances at being decently mobile seem to be decreasing by the day. The pain is unbearable, and nothing touches it.

And given how terrible a year this has been sales-wise, through it all I still have to make sales, of course. We've had a half-dozen now since T-Day, but we'll need to sell a lot more between now and year's end, obviously. My Patreon for the month is still down ~$250 at the moment [that's how much it was short on the December 1st payout for subscriptions for the month of November, and so far, all of those still haven't been paid]. My guess is that those won't materialize later in the month; that will be the penalty [or one of them anyway] for taking a vocal stand about the genocide being perpetrated against Palestine and its people now. Of course, we haven't brought in anywhere nearly enough sales all year across the board, even before recent developments that require a moral stand of us. It's grim.

And aside from all of that, I also need to bring in at least $6K in sales between now and year's end to cover tax prepayments, and we haven't hit the $1K mark on that yet. Normally, I would've been paying them quarterly, but not this year; we haven't had enough sales to do that, and I'm behind on everything else, too, all while my illness worsens seemingly by the day. Until those prepayments are off my desk, I can't relax, can't do anything other than push to get them covered. I really need help. As always, all the links are listed below, and sales are the most important:

• Sales here; 
• Testimonials here; 
• Amazon wishlist here (priorities now are Wings's Flex-Tape, and especially the vacuum, because mine has died a complete and ignominious death, and if I don't vacuum every single day, the dog hair takes over completely); 
• Patreon here;
• Ko-fi here.

There's lots of fabulous work on the site, and there will be much more in the days to come [EIGHT NEW PIECES LAST NIGHT, plus two new ones a couple of nights ago]. The way this year has gone, things will still be grim for a good while and the holidays are already here, so please share all of the links. 

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2023; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.                           

Sun and Earth, Honoring the Light

Photo copyright Aji, 2023; all rights reserved.

Now posted at The NDN Silver Blog, it's a masterwork perfect for this last full day of the Earth's year, all the shades of the sun marking the final day before the Winter Solstice. It's also a illustration of a powerful truth our peoples have always known, that elemental forces combine for medicine greater than the sum of its parts, including the gift of celebration by a Sky, and a Sun and Earth, honoring the light.

The post is here. Wings's main page is here. Inquiries via the site's Contact form. With fewer than two weeks left in this last month of this fourth year of pandemic and loss, and facing enormous expenses in the middle of our worst sales year in a very long time, we still need to make consistent sales, so shares are very much needed and much appreciated.

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2023; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.        

I am tired.

Photo copyright Aji, 2023; all rights reserved.

Fabulous cloud formations today. No snow from, but these are the kind that presage stormy weather; they don't deliver it themselves.

And still, the forecast insists nothing before Saturday.

I am frankly exhausted in every sense of the word. I slept for almost twelve hours — not unbroken; pain always wakes me up repeatedly, but I was so tired I always went right back to sleep — going to bed a little after nine last night and getting up somewhere around 8:30 this morning. And I never, ever do that.

But the last two weeks have been sheer hell on me, body, mind, and spirit, and all due to circumstances entirely outside of my control. And because of those circumstances, my plan to stay home and catch up on thing this week was already shot completely to hell by yesterday morning. We did finally get our tree today, which is still in the bed of the truck. It'll go up tomorrow. Decorating it? Who knows? It gets later every damn year, no matter how much I try to get stuff done early, and usually because of outside nonsense. Which is why we leave our tree up every year at least through January 6th — the old way. It's the only way we get to enjoy any of it.

But I am tired. The kind of tired where you're at the point of not caring about anything, except that that's not an option. And last night's sleep hasn't even really put a dent in the fatigue I feel, but that's to be expected with multiple autoimmune diseases in full flare. And given how terrible a year this has been sales-wise, through it all I still have to make sales, of course. We've had a half-dozen now since T-Day, but we'll need to sell a lot more between now and year's end, obviously. My Patreon for the month is still down ~$250 at the moment [that's how much it was short on the December 1st payout for subscriptions for the month of November, and so far, all of those still haven't been paid]. My guess is that those won't materialize later in the month; that will be the penalty [or one of them anyway] for taking a vocal stand about the genocide being perpetrated against Palestine and its people now. Of course, we haven't brought in anywhere nearly enough sales all year across the board, even before recent developments that require a moral stand of us. It's grim.

And aside from all of that, I also need to bring in at least $6K in sales between now and year's end to cover tax prepayments, and we haven't hit the $1K mark on that yet. Normally, I would've been paying them quarterly, but not this year; we haven't had enough sales to do that, and I'm behind on everything else, too, all while my illness worsens seemingly by the day. Until those prepayments are off my desk, I can't relax, can't do anything other than push to get them covered. I really need help. As always, all the links are listed below, and sales are the most important:

• Sales here; 
• Testimonials here; 
• Amazon wishlist here (priorities now are Wings's Flex-Tape, and especially the vacuum, because mine has died a complete and ignominious death, and if I don't vacuum every single day, the dog hair takes over completely); 
• Patreon here;
• Ko-fi here.

There's lots of fabulous work on the site, and there will be much more in the days to come [EIGHT NEW PIECES LAST NIGHT, plus two new ones a couple of nights ago]. The way this year has gone, things will still be grim for a good while and the holidays are already here, so please share all of the links. 

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2023; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.                           

Red Willow Spirit: A Land In Love With the Light

Photo copyright Wings, 2023; all rights reserved.

Now posted at The NDN Silver Blog, it's an edition of Red Willow Spirit for changes in the weather and gathering winter storms and sunset fire on the shortest days of the year. It's two hauntingly beautiful images linked by a single fiery (and all-new) work of wearable art, here to honor a land in love with the light.

The post is here. Wings's main page is here. As always, his photos are available in any of the usual three formats; simply inquire via the site's Contact form. With fewer than two weeks left in this last month of this fourth year  of pandemic and loss, and facing enormous expenses in the middle of our worst sales year in a very long time, we still need to make consistent sales now, so shares are very much needed and much appreciated.

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2023; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner. 

So it's been a day.

Photo copyright Aji, 2023; all rights reserved.

Once in a while, you get a lens flare that's actually beautiful. The weather, notsomuch. Fifty-two degrees today, thirty degrees too warm, and the snow is melting fast. Of course, it'll all freeze into something deadly overnight.

It's been a day. Not the good kind. I had SO many things that had to get done today, and I was actually lucky to get the one accomplished that I did, because it's been the Monday from hell. First, three brownouts, raising fears that we'd lose power altogether, especially since Indian Killer Power would only concede that they had "unidentified issues" that they were trying to fix. Then, Wings went to start the ATV, intending to use the snowplow on it to level out the ice so it's safer for us to walk on it.

Nope. Dead. Spent the day charging the [newish] battery, and it's still dead. It hasn't even been truly cold, and he's been starting it every couple of days. 

then the smoke/CO2 detector picked this morning to die. As in, ear-piercing shriek every two minutes to let know. We finally found new batteries. It wasn't the batteries. Finally tracked down the problem to "the sensors have failed," which means it's trash now. but the fucking thing would NOT stop beeping at 120 decibels, and even earplugs wouldn't block it.

On top of absolutely crippling pain today, everywhere? You think I wasn't ready to scream?

Fortunately, our electrician agreed to come out and fix it. He got here, I don't know, around 3 PM? Late, so I've been dealing with this shit all day, but he replaced it. Don't ever get a Nest-brand detector.

Oh, and I've been trying to refill scrips for both of us today, because it's Xmas week and we don't need to be without them by the weekend, when the pharmacy is now closed, but their online refill system refused to submit my refill requests. Why? Because it's closed today, too. Not because it's a regular closure, but because these corporations treat their people so badly that they can't keep staff, and if one person calls in sick, it's all over. 

The only thing I got done today was packaging an order for shipment, and Wings took it in to the post office so I wouldn't have to stand in a long line for half an hour in absolute agony.

So it's been a day. And through it all, I still have to make sales, of course. We've had a half-dozen now since T-Day, but we'll need to sell a lot more between now and year's end, obviously. My Patreon for the month is still down ~$250 at the moment [that's how much it was short on the December 1st payout for subscriptions for the month of November, and so far, all of those still haven't been paid]. My guess is that those won't materialize later in the month; that will be the penalty [or one of them anyway] for taking a vocal stand about the genocide being perpetrated against Palestine and its people now. Of course, we haven't brought in anywhere nearly enough sales all year across the board, even before recent developments that require a moral stand of us. It's grim.

And aside from all of that, I also need to bring in at least $6K in sales between now and year's end to cover tax prepayments, and we haven't hit the $1K mark on that yet. Normally, I would've been paying them quarterly, but not this year; we haven't had enough sales to do that, and I'm behind on everything else, too, all while my illness worsens seemingly by the day. Until those prepayments are off my desk, I can't relax, can't do anything other than push to get them covered. I really need help. As always, all the links are listed below, and sales are the most important:

• Sales here; 
• Testimonials here; 
• Amazon wishlist here (priorities now are Wings's Flex-Tape, and especially the vacuum, because mine has died a complete and ignominious death, and if I don't vacuum every single day, the dog hair takes over completely); 
• Patreon here;
• Ko-fi here.

There's lots of fabulous work on the site, and there will be much more in the days to come [EIGHT NEW PIECES LAST NIGHT, plus two new ones a couple of nights ago, and another one tonight if I have enough time]. The way this year has gone, things will still be grim for a good while and the holidays are already here, so please share all of the links. 

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2023; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.                           

Monday Photo Meditation: Light As Pure Magic

Photo copyright Wings, 2023; all rights reserved.

Now posted at The NDN Silver Blog, it's a Monday Photo Meditation for a week that marks the return of the light. It's a photo that Wings shot almost exactly eleven years ago, showing a phenomenon of winter that we rarely see now — that of snowfire, light as pure magic.

The post is here. Wings's main page is here. As always, his photos are available in any of the usual three formats; simply inquire via the site's Contact form. With fewer than two weeks left in this last month of this fourth year  of pandemic and loss, and facing enormous expenses in the middle of our worst sales year in a very long time, we still need to make consistent sales, so shares are very much needed and much appreciated.

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2023; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.