Health update, Goat Peak, and Peek-a-boo Lake hike

So you gals and guys are blowing my mind. I can't tell you how touched I am about the overwhelming response to my recent health scare post. I received so many wonderful, positive messages, helpful advice, and even a sincere offer to pay for some of my tests! 

Honestly, y'all are just too nice, and you are making my heart happy. And that's what we want: my heart to be happy.

I'm going to see a cardiologist in the middle of November to track my strange irregular heartbeat issue. I still think it's anxiety and stress.

I've been de-stressing, slowing down, knitting a lot, enjoying the heck out of my family and friends, and making nettle and lemon balm tea, plus a tea called "Happy Heart" from Mountain Rose Herbs.  

I'm also taking Hawthorne and Coenzyme Q 10. Let's see if I can love my heart back to a normal heart beat with all these lifestyle and nutritional changes, shall we?

Another wonderful therapy that's good for my heart is spending time with my family and friends, preferably in a beautiful natural spot.  A couple of week ago, my honey and I drove over the pass to the East side to hike Goat Peak, with a fire lookout on top.

On the drive up to the trailhead, we met not a goat, but a cow.

Last week, two of my dear girlfriends and I hiked to another beautiful spot called Peek-a-boo Lake, off the Mountain Loop Highway.

These are friends I've known for a long time. We've seen each other through a lot, including attending our kids' births, supporting each other through sicknesses, and attending each others' weddings.

Part of my getting-healthy-scheme is making time for friends. It feels so nourishing and supportive, so life-sustaining and important.

We hiked, chatted, gorged ourselves with wild blueberries that were already half frozen on the hillsides, sunned ourselves at the fairy tale lake, and enjoyed the solitude (except the solitary fisherman who seemed very taken aback by three chattering girls and even more pissed off when my dog ate his lunch. It's true. I felt terrible about it).

Ahhhh, my friends, autumn is fully underway.  Mushrooms are popping up everywhere, foliage is gorgeous, temperatures are dropping, the garden is fully harvested, cider is being pressed...

But since this post is already too long, I'll have to show it all to you another time.

For now, I'll leave you with images of fall... 

Hope you are doing well, and thanks for being such an awesome reader and supporter of yours truly.  Truly, it means a lot.