Walking

By Susan Locke

In 1969, I moved to Honolulu, Hawaii. It’s there that I met my husband, started my career in nursing, and had my 2 children. By 1990, we finally had our own house in Kailua, a nice beach town on the Windward side of the island. After my retirement, I decided to leave Hawaii and move to Gig Harbor. Since 2016, this has been my home. I’m still finding my way around and discovering new places.

I believe that everything is mental. In an effort to cope during this time of virus quarantine, I felt the need to change from a negative state of mind to a positive one. My solution was to get out and walk.

Thankfully, winter was over and spring was here at last. I decided to get outside and discover more about where I live. I grabbed my camera and asked a few friends to join me. We walked through the empty golf course at Canterwood Golf and Country Club. Once we got started, I immediately realized that this was a one-time opportunity to view this beautiful well-groomed area. It was early afternoon, and we saw a few fishermen casting their rods in the ponds that reflect the surrounding greenery.

They were interrupted by an occasional ripple from mother ducks swimming with their baby ducklings trailing behind them.

Bunnies scampered across the greens to hide in the bushes. Small black birds were resting on top of the cattails. As we approached, they took flight revealing a brilliant red under their wings. We admired the stately homes surrounded by flowering bushes. They were filled with colors of purple blues, deep reds, pinks, yellow oranges and an occasional white dogwood in full bloom.

A large weeping willow tree with a pair of Adirondack chairs set underneath, overlooked the brilliantly green grassy hills.

I started walking regularly with a friend in the early mornings and later evenings. We would explore her Point Fosdick neighborhood. This was truly country living. We could hear the early morning birds and pet the horses that greeted us from behind the fences.

We would return with free apples and eggs left out by the neighbors. In the evenings, it was so relaxing to watch the sunset over the waters of the Puget Sound.

I then discovered the trails of McCormick Park and Sehmel Homestead Park.

I would take my dog Hunter, and meet my friend and her dog Lucy “Hunter’s girlfriend.” As we leisurely walked and talked, the dogs read the doggy news with their noses on the trees, wagged tails socially, and barked their greetings to the other dogs passing by.

I later walked the Narrows bridge taking off my hat before it blew away. I let my hair blow in the wind while waving at the passing drivers.

I visited a friend on Fox island. While we walked, I learned the names of new flowers. Looking across the Sound towards Tacoma, was the best view of Mt. Rainer I’ve seen.

I met friends and walked the Chambers Bay Golf Course trails.

While standing on the over bridge, I felt the train rumble directly under me as the conductor blew his whistle and waved hello.

I thought of how I should bring a lock for the bridge and maybe a kite to fly.

At that moment, I looked up as a great bald eagle flew into its large nest on top of the Parthenon like pillars. I think that eagle has the best penthouse view in the area!

All in all, I’m learning to appreciate living in my new home with good places to explore, good photos to take and good friends to do it with.