Deep down, Sam wants to be a CHOCOLATE hound!!

Tired hounds .... after a morning at Waiatarua

What you do EVERY day matters more than what you do once in a while.

Fueling up on the important stuff before we take them on their ramble.

EVERY day I greet the sun .... when I can see it, that is .... with a smile. It’s my early morning reminder that life is never static, change is all around us and that each sunrise brings with it a fresh beginning.

Every day I wash my trainers. They’re generally full of either mud or sand and sea water. Every day I optimistically believe that maybe, just maybe, I might not have to wash them that day at all .... that I could begin the day AFTER my ramble WITHOUT having to clean my shoes.

It’s a forlorn hope. I’m one of those people who can’t go to the beach and NOT get wet, no matter how hard I try. Those waves, they just keep coming regardless of how far up the beach I walk. I guess it doesn’t help having a hound that thinks she belongs in the water. The plentiful showers that accompany this water-loving hound DON’T help me stray dry.

Walking at Waiatarua DOESN’T help either ..... the sand and sea water gets replaced by mud .... lots of it. 

The rain we had yesterday has turned Waiatarua into a quagmire again .... NOT that the hounds mind. They think they’ve died and gone to doggie heaven! It’s difficult to see the mud on my hound ..... she just changes colour from a chocolate brown hound to a muddy brown hound. On Sam though, it’s a different story. The mud is displayed in all it’s GLORY ... and BOY .... can he get MUDDY!! I think, deep down, he WANTS to be a chocolate hound!

There was much excitement at the dog pond! Sam got out of his depth and started to SWIM!  I’m not sure yet if HE’S aware that he knows how to swim though. There was an inordinate amount of splashing with his front paws before he got into a rhythm and took off after Chocolat. It was wonderful to see as he’s been so cautious about going out of his depth.

It might still be a while before he plucks up the courage to swim in the waves so Carol’s days of retrieving the ball for him when the hound and I aren’t there might NOT be over yet. He’s got Chocolat and her SO well-trained. I just need to train Brian now to take photos of these defining moments when they happen!

We stopped at Nosh for some well-earned breakfast on the way home and were asked by a couple for directions to a road in Glen Innes. My friends will know I’m VERY navigationally challenged but I’ve met my match in Carol .... she’s even WORSE than me if that’s at all possible! She was inside paying when the couple asked for directions. I told them Carol might know where the road is but asking her for directions could be dangerous ... they might end up on the other side of North Island.

Look Mom .... NO feet!!

They chuckled as they didn’t think I was serious ..... but I was! BOTH Carol and I are capable of getting lost in our own back yard. There is greatness in each and every one of us but in our case, it’s NOT navigation!

A sad moment for me at the end of my day .... the news that a dear friend back in South Africa has passed away. I got to know Frances through working in the Library at Highbury many years ago when my boys were in Junior School. She had a wicked sense of humour and the biggest of hearts. It's at moments like this that I feel the distance between here and SA. RIP Frances .... you will be remembered with much love.