why are wednesday's so hard?

So it's my last week in Montana! I am excited to come home. I have recently had many conversations that go like this:
"So how much longer are you here?"
"I'm leaving Friday!"
"But you just got here, you're leaving already?"
"I know! I've been here awhile."
"You don't sound sad about that at all."
"Haha, yeah, I have enjoyed myself, but I'm glad its not forever."
"Well we've been glad to have you here."
And they are glad, very glad. They have been starved for a new perspective on town life, in need of a writer that enjoys her subjects and the people she meets, even if she doesn't agree with them. I have been happy to give them that. I really have met some fascinating, genuine people.

I really think it would be great to work somewhere for a few months and then move on all the time. You can come it and pick up on what people care about, find the unique characters, make your mark and then go before you become complacent and cynical about your location. It would keep things exciting and fresh. But this isn't reality. Even international journalists get stationed in the same place for years. If you work for the middle east bureau, you don't travel, you live in Iraq or Israel. And I get it, the best investigative journalism can only take place when a reporter has become very familiar with her beat, when she's tracked patterns and knows all the ins-and-outs. But I still think it'd be fun to move around a lot.

Anyways, here are some photos I've been hording.

Front page photo from the history museums weekend event. This guy is telling the story of John Ebaugh, a rancher and outlaw from the late 1800s in Phillips County.

Isn't this the most perfect headstone ever? I love George Washington too. Please bury me with one of these things.

Kids, this is called a "lichen," pronounced just like something from a Lord of the Rings book. The orange stuff is extra nitrogen, or bird pooh with algae growing on it.

A weekend trip to Havre. Didn't find Walmart, but I wandered the streets with a camera. I think what's sort of frustrating about wanting to take pictures here, is that there's no people around to capture. So I end up shooting trees and building and signs, and who cares about any of it, I want to see some people.