.... would that he came with an "OFF" switch!

Today is officially the first day of summer ... a time of sunshine ... hot weather and ocean waves ... sand between my toes .... so where is the sun????  The waves are here ... I get wet in them and so does my hound .... I get the sand between my toes and she covers herself in it ... but the sun ... that’s noticeable by it’s absence during my morning rambles and I’m getting a little put out!  I get the occasional glimpse of it .... tantalisingly brief .... before it disappears behind the clouds again ... I get the feeling it’s laughing at me ....

It’s out there now .... 6 in the evening ..... the time when I’m feeding the army, sorting the laundry, supervising the housework .... writing my blog .... you know, doing all those things a mother’s supposed to do.   Hmmmm .... I guess writing my blog shouldn’t REALLY be included there ..... but you get my drift ..... the sun is here when I can’t be there ..... and it BUGS me ... big time!

As we head further into summer ...... yes ... summer ...... our evenings are getting longer and longer .... the sun’s not setting much before 8.30 at the moment and the longer evenings are lovely .... but they definitely interfere with my body clock!  It’s difficult to think of making the evening meal when the sun’s bright in the sky .... thank goodness school’s out for the summer!


Gav and I went for an impromptu tea at Cornwall Park this afternoon ..... and just happened to be there as the sheep that are farmed there ... about 500 of them ... were being driven ... as in “by dogs” ..... across the road from one paddock to another.  Just as a bit of history Cornwall Park was gifted to the people of Auckland by a Sir John
Logan Campbell in 1901 and is administered by a trust.  This Trust runs the park and the 81 hectare farm which, unusually for a farm, is located in the middle of an urban area.

The dogs were unbelievably good ... just by barking at the sheep ... no nipping at their heels ... they manoeuvered all the sheep down one paddock .. through a gate ... across the road ... through another gate .. and into the paddock where they graze for the night.  It was fascinating ... the Farm Manager sat in his car ... whistling and shouting one word instructions to the dogs which they immediately understood and obeyed ..... it left me wondering if he’d consider offering  ‘human’ obedience classes.

But boy .... were those sheep noisy!!!  It was on a par with what I’m exposed to every day by my number 2 son!  It’s “white noise”   ..... definition ...... a noise that is used to drown out other noises.  For example if three people are talking simultaneously, your brain can probably still pick out one voice. However if 1000 people are talking simultaneously, there is no way that your brain can pick out one voice -  it becomes a hum .... well, maybe more than a hum!  Essentially, what it means is that you

can’t hear what’s being said because there are too many voices so your brain pushes it all into the background ... you can still hear it but you’re not attempting to decipher it.  That’s what the sheep sounded like ... and that’s what my number 2 son sounds like .... he’s a flock of sheep all on his own!!
Click here to hear the sheep!

I sometimes invite him to join me on my morning rambles ...... and then remember why I don’t do it more frequently.  He doesn’t understand the meaning of ‘quiet’ ..... ‘peaceful’ .... ‘tranquil’ ....  even his voice is deep and loud .... he has an answer for everything - and anything you didn’t ask either!  Logic tells me it’s because he’s the youngest of 3 and had to learn to make himself heard from a very young age ... would that he came with an ‘off’ switch!!