Friday, 14 Dec 2001

VASHON ISLAND, Wash.

Up extra-early today because I have a ferry to catch. I’ll skip my exercises (just this once!) and Matt will take care of morning chores for me. A ferry won’t wait if you’re late, and I need to get to Vashon Island to teach a class on Winter Horse Farm Management.

The Puget Sound region where I live is sprinkled with islands where people live and work. Vashon Island is one of those, a small island community close to Seattle; a majority of residents commute into the city for work via ferry. Like many island communities, it has a slower, more relaxed pace of life. Nearly everything on the island is imported by ferry, whether it’s groceries and supplies at the store or hay and shavings for the horse farm. Also typical of many Puget Sound islands, Vashon boasts a substantial, close-knit, and thriving horse community.

I’m joined today by one of my canine program associates, Tess. A 9-year-old Aussie-mix, Tess is the ultimate in friendly. I can use her help, even if it’s just to smile at me, as today I’ll be the whole show: I’ll do the set up, the registration, teach the class, answer questions, clean up, pack up, and leave.

I’m looking forward to the ferry ride and to spending my day on an island with fellow horse-owners. I also have a good friend on the island, whom Tess and I will visit afterwards.

I catch the 8:20 a.m. ferry and the ride is perfect. I feel so lucky to be able to spend the commute watching the birds and the water. As Seattle grows smaller and smaller and Vashon Island grows larger, it feels like I am leaving one world and entering another.

It’s just a short drive from the ferry to Vashon High School, where I’ll be holding the workshop. (That’s not surprising, as most things on Vashon are just a short drive from the ferry.) I arrive at the school and set out the signs announcing my “Horses for Clean Water Event.” I have been advertising this workshop for several months and hope for a good turnout. I arrange the chairs and set up my slide projector. I lay out row after row of the handouts and materials on mud and manure management for horse-owners. Shortly before 10 a.m, the participants began filing in. My program associate greets each one with a friendly woof and a generous wag of her tail.

The program goes well; a group of committed horse-owners turn up, and we cover mud management in the morning and manure in the afternoon. At the end, the participants have many questions about how to best implement these management techniques on their specific properties. They thank me for what they learned, and, as often happens, many tell me that they found my class much more interesting then they had anticipated.

Afterwards, Tess and I head to my friend’s house for a little visit. Susie and her family built their place themselves, complete with natural landscaping, large widows, beautiful wood finish, and warm lighting. Everything blends together, in harmony with the environment. Susie and I go for a walk with Tess and her big, black dog, aptly named Grizzly Bear. Even the woods on their property seem loved and cared for — favorite places have names, and benches and artwork have been incorporated into the landscape.

Life on Vashon Island seems so peaceful and quiet. Returning to the mainland will be such a contrast, especially with the traffic hassles on the way home, that I hate to leave … except that Matt and the horses will be waiting for me on my farm and it’ll be time to ride!