To insanity and beyond ...: Fraternising with the enemy ...

“Begin each day as if it were on purpose.”

~ Mary Anne Radmacher

Picnic time at Cornwall Park for the youngest lemming's birthday.

There’s a tiny little fur-ball in this house that has EVERYONE ... including the hound

.... wrapped around her little paw!

A tiny fur-ball doing a ‘Simba-like’ pounce on the bed is ok. A 38kg hound doing a ‘Simba-like pounce on the bed is NOT! The whole bed rocks, rattles and rolls. If I didn’t know better I’d think we were having an earthquake! As the hound’s paws touch the bed, the fur-ball’s catapulted into the air. It’s a WONDERFUL game for all involved EXCEPT the original occupants of the bed!

Waiting for the rain to stop at Waiatarua today.

Dirty toes cause the hound's a bit clumsy!

The other game involves the fur-ball galloping around the room .... and yes, despite her minute size, she sounds just like a racehorse .... and then darting UNDERNEATH the bed. She leopard crawls to the opposite side and scrambles up trying to catch the hound unawares. The hound meanwhile is ON the bed. She’s racing from side to side of the bed, completely oblivious to the bodies sprawled on it, trying to work out where the fur-ball’s going to pop up.

I got up and decided to get ready for my ramble.

There’s only SO much rocking and rolling of the bed that I can handle!

Digby, the SMALL submarine dog!

So .... we’re on to Day No. 4 of rain. What happened to ALL that GLORIOUS weather we had in the build-up to Christmas? It’s gone AWOL .... in a BIG way.

Digby, doing his imitation of a submarine.

Tropical Cyclone Evan might have lost some of his bluster but he certainly blew in enough cloud and rain. Begone now Evan .... I want to see the sun again .... and so do all the other sun-worshippers!

We’re damp ALL the time. If it’s not the humidity coating our skin with a thin film of moisture, it’s the RAIN! Yesterday we got a little damp during our picnic in the park .... today we got MORE than a little damp during our ramble. It POURED.

The Tui weren't deterred by the rain.

Drowned rats couldn’t have looked more glamorous AND we were going out for breakfast.

... and neither were the Rosea

We’d decided to give the new café in the Bay a try. I did feel that we were fraternising with the enemy though as the new café is in direct competition to our regular coffee haunt, the Village Co-op. Having ice-cream at the Co-op afterwards did help appease the guilt slightly.

Last night's ALMOST FULL moon.

Orange Marmalade Ice Cream ... yum!

If Pete and Josh ever need a Quality Control Tester, I’d be first in line for the job. I think Carol and Julia could be elbowing me aside though if that were ever to happen. They love Joshua’s ice cream ALMOST as much as I do.

The week of Christmas and New Year is ALWAYS a busier than usual week in our house and not just for the NORMAL reasons. The youngest lemming had the MISFORTUNE to be born 2 days after Christmas. Just as we finish cleaning up after the Christmas over-indulgence, it’s his birthday and the whole present unwrapping/drinking/eating/celebrating starts all over again!