After some long overdue catch-up on blog posts I’ve given myself the task/challenge of being more active on the blog here. It’s even on the whiteboard in my home office, so here goes. Aiming for a monthly/ish cadence…

Oh, and the carving gallery has been updated.

Vacation was short and sweet this year but memorable. I headed to Midway UT to attend the Rocky Mountain Carvers Roundup for five days of carving with world-class carvers and Beth flew out mid-week to join me and spend a couple days relaxing (and taking a swim in a freaking crater.) Then we were off on a roadtrip.

After the roundup (more on that next) we took on a pretty long drive out to Great Basin National Park and then down to Death Valley National Park. Some seriously long two-lane highways between. The highlight was one stretch for MILES of these orange wildflowers (top pic). Just stretching forever (like the road, lol.)

From the Northern UT mountains to Southern CA desert in a day

Rocky Mountain Carvers Roundup ‘24 - Midway UT

I carved with John Overby, Roger Stegall, Joe You, Rich Weatherbee and Dale Green. It is remarkable to have the opportunity to carve with people who’ve been making chips for 10, 20, 30 years. My carvings have progressed and I’m excited to be finding my own way in all of this.

And back to the real world, lol. Work has been “work” for the last while but I’m making it a point to enjoy moments along the way. This pic is just a BTS phone snapshot of product photography. Only one step in the process… Who else can say post-production, metadata or CSV with glee…?

Most of the garden has come in strong this summer. Glad I got an earlier start than last season. The cucumber (first time planting) is taking over and the pepper plants are doing ok. One tomato is going good and the other not so much. Glad to see a volunteer sunflower pop up that is taller than the fence. Herbs were refreshed and are strong. Yay!

Haven’t been doing much photography for fun lately, other than shooting carvings, etc. But I did venture down to Long Beach for the Annual Toyota Fest. Good to get out and focus on some details for a few hours. Here’s a couple collage pics, and more here if you’re interest.

Well, that’s it for this entry. Thanks for reading.