Sunshine & Shadows~

Our Route

Friday afternoon, I received the sad news of the loss of my dear friend Petra...  Her six-month  struggle with Leukemia ended peacefully...  Having know & loved her for almost 30-years, it is hard to even grasp that I will no longer hear her cherry, crisp English accent... or see her smiling face. Always the adventuress, I know that she is now on a final Great Adventure...

I called my friend Charlotte & lucky for me, she had time to ride on Sat. I really wanted some time in the saddle, surrounded by nature. So, on Sat. morning I loaded Khari & we headed north to Big Lake. Met up with Charlotte, transferred Khari to her trailer & drove on to Whidbey Island & the Heart Lake area. The first time either of us had been riding there since Diane moved to CA.  
Armed with maps of the area we "explored". Doing one "loop", coming back to have lunch & going out again in the afternoon! It was almost like "spring" except that the trails were dry. We spotted;   Indian Paint Brush, Twinflower, Foamflower, Honeysuckle & a yet to be identified blue flower!

Charlotte was kind enough to listen to a few of my many stories of Petra's life, the trails were soft under the horses hooves, breeze in the trees & we rode so far that the only sounds to be heard were the songs of the birds.

We returned to the parking area just in time to witness a fly-over of five Navy jets! The horses made friends with children who wanted to "pet" them :-) It was a really good day... helping me to relieve a bit of my deep grief.