Closed out October Friday night with post-workday beers, tipping back a Vermont-brewed Long Trail at The Perfect Wife Tavern. Orvis intern Phoebe—a fellow Westerner—and I weren’t feeling much into the Halloween spirit, and went early enough to avoid the crowds. In our fleece, jeans, and boots we looked a bit like we had just come off the river instead of Orvis HQ. (Though that’s a pretty accurate look at normal workwear, too.)
Coming off the river wasn’t quite so inaccurate. Here in Vermont the trout season closed with the arrival of November… a fact that still freaks me out a bit. I’m used to free fishing on the rivers out West. But to make the most of it, Phoebe and I escaped during lunch and tag-teamed a fishing excursion for native brookies.
It wasn’t the first time that week I’d run to the river. A busy, high-stress work week meant I needed some way to download mentally, and time on the water is always better than time soaking it off in a bar (though sometimes both don’t hurt.) Several fishing excursions were made last week, including one soul-lifting run in the pouring rain after a brutal meeting.
Yeah, the river tends to make things better. It puts things back into perspective.
In other news, all is cranking along well. We are due our first real skiff of snow tonight, and I’ve been prepping the apartment for the coming onslaught of winter. Despite grand plans, in reality this task consists of buying more shelving to better organize camera bags, cleaning the fishing gear and sorting the rag-tag assortment of leaders and loose flies from this year, and stocking up on cozy-smelling candles.
On the upside, while the fact I wore winter boots today while helping a friend move makes me cringe with the knowledge it’s going to be a long winter, there have been some promising travel plans come into play. I’m heading down to Belize in two weeks to document an Orvis photo shoot and do a bit of photography for RARE Fish Forever and El Pescador Lodge. It’s going to be a wild, hectic week, but I’m stoked for the challenge and eager to see how this thing comes together.
Freelance work continues to tick along at a quiet roar, and there has been a plethora of midnight and 0100h mornings spent wading through notes, compiling photo submissions and fighting through initial edits. It’s a lot of slogging, but fun little moments pop up in unexpected places and keep the whole balance tenable.
’Til next week. Hope everyone is adding an extra base layer and getting out on the water.
Peter Kutzer and Dylan Snell make the most of a U-Haul on moving day.
