Down the River

One advantage to not having a full time job is that I get to spend time doing things that I enjoy. And one of those things is being in the boat on the water. I've been spending a lot of my afternoons and evenings on the water recently. The above pictures are from several trips over the past few weeks. Another thing that I've had more time to do is forage for wild foods. As you probably know ramps are in season right now. I've harvested ramps 3 times in the past week. I have a whole post on ramps that I am working on including what to do with the ramps once you've harvested them. We went out last night and I harvested what will probably be my last batch since the leaves of the ramps are starting to turn yellow. So stay tuned for more details on ramps.Life on the river is easy. A lot of people complain about it because the river can get crowded and people aren't always considerate. We've lived on, or near, the river for the entire time we have lived in New York (the better part of 17 years). People get really territorial and they don't like it when you tell them they are trespassing or that no, they cannot access the river from your private property. We watched three guys walk completely across someone's lawn last night. But if you overlook these minor details, the river is peaceful, especially from the boat. You can load a lot of things in the boat. I like food so I always take a feast with us regardless of how long or short the float is. You can also see a lot of river from the boat. It's always a good time. Of course I'm not fishing so I can't attest to that part of the trip.The boat is also a good place to practice photography skills. The picture above with me in my favorite wellies (worn because, you know, foraging!) was shared by the wellie company, Le Chameau. As you probably know, my instagram is heavily homesteading focused and I've been trying to get my pictures shared on Instagram for a long time now but it was a non-homesteading related post that got the job done! I'm so proud of that picture and the fact that the boot company shared it on their instagram.Speaking of learning photography, the latest thing I've learned is about shutter priority. And I didn't really understand it until one of our float trips. I decided that the river was a really great place to try to figure out the whole shutter priority mode. At first when I was taking the pics of the water I didn't think they turned out. But as you can hopefully see they did. I like shutter priority because I think my pictures are getting better light and color but I couldn't figure out how to use it for making the water more dramatic. I think I still need to practice that part but I like the results so far.And how about a peek at the Mister? He really doesn't want to be included on my blog or on my instagram, but how could I not share those photos? The river has always been his 'thing' and being able to spend time with him on the river gives us a chance to be alone and catch up. Or just to be. It means a lot to me that he wants to share this part of his life with me. For many years the Mister and I did everything together. And then I started working in the library world and that took me out of the house. And then we didn't do everything together and I missed that. But when we moved back to the fishing lodge, it was like old times. We are doing everything together again. And I like that. So spending some time on the river together has been an added bonus. Sometimes we go out on the boat with other people and that's fun too. But it's also nice when it's just the two of us. I'll talk more about the trials and tribulations of living at the fishing lodge in another post.And the sunsets from the river. Oh my. Just beautiful. Shutter priority mode has helped me capture those beauties! Some days on the river are overcast and foggy. Other days are bright and sunny. Yesterday was so cold and rainy that I didn't even pull the camera out to take a single photo!Anyway, the river is fun. And peaceful. And helps me push the reset button. And I now have time to be on the river. Maybe I'll even do some fishing.