playing catch-up

Summertime in Montana is very short......almost makes me crazy how short our summer really is. June rains, July gets crazy busy, and August flies by. I can't even believe that this summer is nearly gone.....So I have been playing very hard, trying to cram in as much as possible before it starts snowing (and that sounds like an exaggeration, but we have had snow in August before, so I am hoping I can get through the month without seeing that blasted white stuff)

My girlfriends and I took the dogs to link lake the other day, four people and three dogs in the top-down 4-runner (gotta love that truck!) we almost got airlifted out by the amount of MOSQUITOS up there.....we got to the lake and could barely take it, those damn things chased us out of that alpine lake so fast it was almost funny. almost.

Good looking boys, Tank, Tex and Lamar (from left to right)

also went rock climbing this week with friends from work. I haven't been climbing in probably 10+ years.....a very fun (and humbling) experience....being up on rock is such a rush, and sooooo hard. My fingers are pretty sore, and my lats (i think those are the muscles that run over your shoulder blades and right behind your armpits? ) are sooore! Kinda nice remembering that it feels good to be physically challenged, something I have always enjoyed, and forget every once in awhile.....

It's easy to forget when you're sitting at a jeweler's bench for a lot of the summer....pumping out what should have been a year's stache worth of work. I have learned a lot about shows this summer, and a lot about what it is really going to take to make this a living. I need time. I need a show a month. I need creative space, and creative love. I need to quit my day job.

Annie on the rock face, much better than me...I am watching in the blue. Maybe I will go more, and get better.....she makes that look so easy!

Huckleberries and thimbleberries are out this week, and I intend on getting my year's supply, there's nothing better than huckleberry pancakes in the middle of february.....my bench and all those stones that need setting can wait!