Tag: Outdoors
Watershed Preserve Trail
I was having a bad moment. My fear of COVID got the best of me.
My eldest went for a walk with a college friend, which didn’t seem like a great idea. If we are asked to social distance even from our family, why would she be out with someone outside our pandemic circle? My anger got the best of me when Bhavna later told me she had been doing it all week.
I flipped out. I screamed at my child about the meaning of physical distancing, lost my cool and ranted about her killing the whole family. Yes, I said that. It was not one of my best moments.
I was a hot mess. I needed to calm down. On the spur of the moment, I drove to the Watershed Preserve ( Administered by Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed Association, 4.8 miles of hiking trails ) and walked the trail.
I thought about what my reaction meant about what I felt about what was happening around me. I was scared and scared to admit it.
I went home, apologised, hugged my daughter and told her how I felt. Fortunately, she understood.
Upper Buttermilk Falls
This photograph was taken last fall during a weekend trip to Seneca Lake. Bhavna and I hiked the Buttermilk Falls trail.
We stopped along the way to rest, but we ere exhausted when we got to the top. We are both in our 50’s, slightly overweight, and do not exercise as much as we want. In my case, the fear of hypoglycaemia limits the activities that I am willing to do. Bhavna is limited by the amount of pain her feet can bare.
I brought my Fuji X-T2, Manfrotto tripod and Hoya neutral density filter. When we stopped to catch a breather, I took some photos. Capturing images proved challenging. The falls are a popular tourist destination, even in the fall. I jammed by tripod up against the stone barricades, doing my best to keep the legs off the path, to avoid tripping other hikers. Hikers would sometimes stop their ascent or descent from asking questions about what I was doing or about my gear.
