Eat The Bear Necklace

  I was fishing one day about six years ago (or more???) and found myself daydreaming about the fish rising up out of the water to eat the bears -- to consume their troubles, to gobble them up whole!  And so this series depicting the bear in the belly of the trout was born.  I had a lot going on at the time.  I had a long, drawn-out "single white female" situation with another smokejumper wife that was extremely creepy, a permanent part of my social life and very isolating for me since we were living on base half the year.  I had another individual turn into a malicious stalker who did terrible, awful, ruinous things to me over a span of 2.5 years -- the situation finally fizzled out with the help of law enforcement.  Both those situations changed how I interacted with people -- I felt safe when I was alone.  I quit trusting others.  I grew very sick with an autoimmune disease that I continue to carefully manage to this very day.   Those times redefined the word "friend" for me and red