Sometimes you hear news that just seems so ‘wrong’ that you can’t believe it’s happened. I feel like that today after hearing of my friends’ friend who died on Sunday.

I didn’t know her personally, although she did once leave a comment on one of my photos. Sadly now I will never have the opportunity to meet this lady who was, by all accounts, extraordinary. What I do know is that she’s deeply loved by her two friends who we’ve been sharing for the last few years.

Her life has been tragically cut short by breast cancer, that most terrible of illnesses, which, when contracted so young, is almost always a killer. Very, very few women who are diagnosed at under 40 manage to beat off this disease. I know that Catherine was a contemporary of my friends so she's way too young to have lost her life.

When I last commented on this illness, I was shocked by the number of people who contacted me to say that they too knew of the misery that this illness brings, even three of my fellow pbasers had first-hand experience of living with the disease.

There seems so little that anyone can do for her friends, family and husband she has left behind but somehow I feel it’s important to do SOMETHING.

So, I thought about a symbolic gesture, celebrating something beautiful, intoxicating and full of life that’s here and gone quickly but is something that once you’ve experienced it you can’t forget it. The Evening Primrose is a perfect example – wild, beautiful yet in one short day, it has gone.

But has it? Can anyone who has ever seen a field full of Evening Primroses forget the joyous sight? Can anyone who has brushed past a plant forget its heady, exuberant scent? Is it really gone? What about the little seeds that find their way into fertile ground and grow? Don’t they in turn captivate and delight a new onlooker? Would something so beautiful ever not be cherished in the heart and memory?

Beautiful people live on in our hearts, not just for today but tomorrow and forever. Catherine will be remembered for everything that she was loved for in life I am sure.

I know from the updates I have been getting from my friend that she has borne this illness with dignity and now she’s been released from pain and suffering. Sunday was Catherine’s birthday and her last day. She is gone, but she won’t be forgotten. Her friends will, when they have found a way to set aside their grief, remember her with joy and pleasure.

So, this is for Catherine – a beautiful, sunny, intoxicating gift of nature gone all too quickly from this world.

Last year, I was visiting Claz - my oldest friend - and she's coming to visit me soon!