Thanks to all of you, and Aji, Wings, and their work crews pushing like mad, it's truly amazing how much has happened at the build over the last few weeks. Aji, Wings, and the work crews have no choice but to keep on being amazing. Temps were in the twenties last night as winter closes in. The outside of the house must be finished before day time temps are too cold to do so. Aji, Wings, and the crews are pushing hard to make the house livable full time. When Wings isn't helping with the build, he's in the shop crafting more of his, as a customer called it, "wearable art."
The push to get things done by November 18th means larger work crews, more materials, and more costs. Yes, November 18th is the hard deadline, though with Winter moving in so quickly — there's a winter storm warning up for tonight — the sooner things are done the better.
And that's where we come in. Thanks to all of your help, the house has heat and usable bathrooms. Aji was able to take the first long hot shower in years.
The dogs are in and out of the house all the time now. They've finally internalized not merely that this is their new home, but that it doesn't mean that there's anything wrong that we're all sleeping over there instead of in the RV now. Also, with yesterday and today being cold and windy and causing massive pain and therefore sleeplessness for me, I took my first 10-minute+ shower this morning. I just stood and let the hot water soak in nonstop. I haven't been able to do that in seven years.
Your support and generosity have made all the difference. From Aji —
I truly don't have words to express my gratitude to all of you. You have refused to let me give up, refused to take NO for an answer, just refused to quit in the face of, well, EVERYTHING, and I will never be able to thank you properly for that. You all have kept me going so many times when I didn't think even one more step, physically or metaphorically, was possible, and that has saved me more times than I can count. So, thank you.
Because of your caring support, Aji and Wings have pushed through health issues and contractor screw ups. Because of all your help, they are going from an over forty year old mold infested, electrical fire prone, leaking, unsafe at any speed, travel trailer to this —
Getting the deck done is essential to being able to finishing the exterior. The deck, wood trim on the windows and doors, and the exterior adobe need to be sealed before temperatures drop even further and the snow flies. That means spray treating the deck, the adobe color coat — the hoppering and then application — and the exterior primer and paint for the exterior wood trim must be done. All the materials are going to be purchased locally and getting the work completed will be labor intensive. Your help will make all of it possible.
After all, your help made the installation of their wood stoves a reality.
Your kind support helped make it possible for Aji, Wings, and their dogs to sleep safe and warm for the first time in seven years.
Your help is furnishing their home as the furnishings in the travel trailer were either mold contaminated or burnt out from bad wiring. (Speaking of bad wiring eating things like microwaves and coffee makers, it ate their lamps too. So if you feel like seeing what you could get for them at the registries, lamps and tables are badly needed.) It took a few of us to convince Aji to add the Wayfair and Bed, Bath, and Beyond registries to her blog posts. You have and are responding. Together, we have been helping their home rise from bare earth to this —
Because of all of you, Aji and Wings have been able to sleep in a safe, warm home for the first time in seven years. Now the push is on to get the work done that will free them from having to return to that toxic travel trailer for meals and Aji's internet work. With our help they can be in their new home permanently.
The majority of the build is being funded by Wings’ exquisite craftsmanship. Shares of this post and of Aji and Wings’ sites are crucial to creating sales. As the Holidays get closer, Wings is creating more master works in silver and stone, like the earrings Petals of Light —
Petals of Light Earrings
Even when the days are short and the shadows long, earth and sky still flower into petals of light. Wings honors the blooms of the indigo hours, the subtle and essential glow of dawn and dusk, with his newest earrings, a traditional blossom design that shimmers in the shades of shadow and storm. They begin with the settings, an old traditional motif in cut freehand in the form of desert blooms, each dangling sterling silver drop an oval possessed of eight scalloped petals, all given a shimmering finish just slightly brighter than the softest Florentine. At the center of each earring, in a plain, low-profile bezel, rests an oval sodalite cabochon in brilliant cobalt blue, the hue as intense as that of Afghan lapis, the matrix as mysterious as the sky in a twilight storm. At the Four Sacred Directions sit small round cabochons of misty labradorite, silvery-gray with their own internal light; at the ordinal points sit quartets of bright rainbow moonstones, cool and clear and refracting spectrum, spectral blues. Earrings hang 1.25″ across by 1.5″ long (excluding wires); sodalite cabochons are 5/8″ long by 3/8″ across at the widest point; labradorite cabs are 3/16″ across; rainbow moonstones are 1/8″ across (dimensions approximate).
Two weeks ago, Wings crafted this world spanning beauty into existence.
The Web of the World Cuff Bracelet
The web of the world is the spirits’ embrace, an elemental cradle of earth and water, storm and light. Wings pays tribute to its nurturing power and animating force with his newest cuff bracelet wrought in the avatars of those elemental beings. It begins with a sterling silver cuff, sparingly hand stamped in traditional patterns representing the winds and the vortex and the sacred directions. The chased symbols cascade down the length of the band beneath paired Eyes of Spirit, cut freehand, ajouré-fashion, and edged with rays of illuminating light. At thetop of the band, the focal stone is flanked by pairs of malachite ovals, bold banded emerald green cabochons in the color of the earth, set into saw-toothed bezels. And at the center rests a jewel of water and sky, a luminous and elegantly outsized freeform cabochon of ultra-high-grade Cloud Mountain turquoise from China’s Hubei District, deep teal blue and crisscrossed with a web as tight and perfect as any constructed by Grandmother Spider, this one inky black backlit by hints of warm rusty red glowing through its filaments. All four cabochons are bezel-set onto a single backing, elevated slightly off the top of the band to protect the integrity of both the stones’ settings and the band’s arc. The band is 1.25″ across, with each ajouré Eye extending .75″ across; the malachite cabochons are 3/8″ long by 5/16″ across at the widest point; and the center cabochon is 1.5″ long by 1-1/8″ across at the widest point (dimensions approximate). Other view shown below.
And a few days ago, Wings continued his meditation on light in silver and stone.
A Mediating Light Earrings
Like sun and stars, the moon is a mediating light, one that intercedes on our behalf between earth and sky, between the seasons, between the shadows and the dark. Wings pays tribute to the centrality of her power with his latest earrings, a pair hand-wrought in a traditional blossom design. The sterling silver settings are hand-cut, vintage-style, in a rough orb shape, their edges only lightly shaped to evoke an older style, then hand-stamped in flowering rays to enhance their shimmering light. At the center of each drop, a brilliantly faceted Indian rainbow moonstone rests in a plain low-profile bezel, each cabochon refracting gold and pink and purple and blue amid silvery-white light. Each center stone is ringed by a collection of eight small round cabochons per earring: a random mix of mostly turquoise stones in varying shades of blue and green with a wide diversity of matrix patterns, representing the colors of earth and sky and season; one earring also bears a single bright green jade cabochon asa counterpoint to the lime green turquoise opposite it. Each earring hangs suspended from delicate sterling silver wires. Earrings are 1″ across by 1-1/8″ long (excluding wires); small cabochons are 1/8″ across; moonstone cabochons 3/8″ across.
The pieces above are just a sampling of Wings’ work. The Holidays are coming closer day by day. November is less than a week away. Do yourself and loved ones a favor and peruse Wings' extraordinary work at his web site. Wings work will be gifts treasured for years.
Avilyn put together a convenient list of links to individual pages of Wings’s site. They work well, including for those on mobile devices.
If you’ve stayed with me for this long, thank you. I’ve seen comments in the past with people who have trouble with Wings’ website, especially on mobile browsers. Here’s some links to help with mobile browsing:
As close as they are to finishing their home, there's still much to be done. That means a lot of labor to pay for, materials to buy, and damaged goods to replace. So here are the links for donations toward the match, sales, to purchase give cards or items on the registries.
- Wings's direct PayPal link;
- Wings's site, for sales;
- Lowe's cards (the physical version) via our Amazon wishlist;
- Lowe's e-cards (delivered via e-mail) here; and
- Home Depot cards via the company site. The e-version using my e-mail address is great; I take the tablet to the store with me, and they scan it off the screen.
- Our Amazon wishlist generally.
- 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; what's on it so far are drapes for the upstairs, associated curtain rods, bath rugs for both bathrooms, and doormats and a few other miscellaneous items.]
- Partial registry #2, from Wayfair. Also not complete, but covers a number of the area rugs needed for the upstairs and some kitchen items. I've finally added a bunch of items to it, although nothing in the way of small tables or lamps or kitchen items beyond three basic things, because yesterday proved to be a time-suck of epic proportions, and today was more of the same. What I did get to is all of the rugs for the whole house, and a few basic furniture items. 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. Also, it appears that everything that was listed as out of stock/on backorder is back in stock. It's a slow process, but every day I find a few more items that fall into the badly-needed category, because the wiring and mold and lime and everything else in this toxic tin can has destroyed so much of what we used to have. I'm sickened by the amount of stuff we have to throw out (on top of the things that were simply ruined, such as the microwave fried by the wiring in this place).
There is an offer of $500 in MATCHING FUNDS available. If we raise $500 through donations, that will instantly double to $1000! Your $5 becomes $10, $20 becomes $40, etc. There is no such thing as a small donation. They all add up to something wonderful. Each dollar, each share, each sale, each rec, is how wood stoves are keeping them warm at night, and so much more. We can meet the match and help Aji and Wings move into their home full time.
Together, we'll keep on pushing until it's done. Now that will be something worth celebrating.
Blessings, hope, and deepest thanks to all.
Update: We're at least half way to the match. Waiting to get confirmation from Aji who is doing chores. I'll let you know.
Update: $315 towards the match! Woot!! You all rock! Thank you so much, darlins. Let's keep it going, shall we? This is fun! :)
Update: Match met!! Can't thank you all enough. Neither can Aji and Wings, They're both so stunned and thankful for this community's on-going support through what has not been an easy time. To quote Aji — you have been "the greatest gift.”