Hmmmm .... round of applause!

“If the essence of my being has caused a smile to appear upon your face or a touch of joy within your heart .... then in living I have made my mark.” 

~ Thomas L Odem

Judging by the smiles on the faces of the customers at my stall this morning, all those hounds I take photos of have, according to the quotation, “in living made their mark”. 

 It’s rare for someone to pause at my stall and NOT smile.

I trialed a new product this morning and I’m delighted at the reception it received.  I often get asked for a card with a particular hound and a particular quotation and it’s not always easy to oblige.

So I came up with a novel idea!  I now have a selection of 24 hound photos and 6 quotation cards for customers to chose from.  They select a quotation and a hound and I put them together for them there and then.  Done and dusted. I also have Page Clips available of those same 24 hounds that can be added to the card if they so chose, for a small additional cost.

The Shag, drying his wings in the early morning sun ....

Hmmm .... round of applause!!

... there's my round of applause!

I won’t be posting any photos of this morning’s market yet though as my camera’s not well.  Getting caught in a downpour doesn’t seem to agree with it.  The rain came down in buckets just as we were starting to pack up.  Said camera was in a crate at the back of the gazebo and protected from the rain ... or so I thought.  

I'm becoming quite adept at money laundering too as everything in the crate, including my receipt book and cash, was floating in a pool of rainwater.  

Ho-hum ... the joys of outdoor markets!

I do however have photos from yesterday to post.  

It was a morning of LABRADORS and LOGS and LAZY moments on the beach.

Sam, Zak, Chocolat and Hilton ... a 4 month old guide dog pup

The Labrador PUDDLES just keep on coming and each day we seem to attract a larger and larger gathering of various Labs.  I’m the designated BALL and LOG thrower when on the beach.  There’s only so much trench digging a puddle of Labradors want to do though before the ball or log needs to be washed in the waves.  

It’s all that sand that gets in their mouths ... the crunchy stuff.  I don’t think they like it.

These manically energetic hounds keep me busy pitching logs and balls into the waves for washing and retrieval.  I wish I had half the energy they have, particularly Sam.

One of the Labs who joined our puddle yesterday is owned by a lady I’ve met at the Co-op before.  The hounds and their balls are the high-light of her daughter’s school run in the morning.  

Sad is the day that she DOESN’T see us on the beach.

According to her we’re becoming an iconic part of St. Heliers Bay beach

 .... how cool is that!

Fergus, who’s a West Highland Terrier, is copying Sam.  He also likes having his photo taken.  He’s got the Sam thingy down pat and stands expectantly looking at me when he sees the camera pointing in his direction.  What is it about these boy hounds ... they positively salivate in front of the camera!

They love their caffeine fix too.  My hound loves her caffeine fix but it’s always dependent on how avidly the rugby ball or log is holding her interest.  Not so Sam and Indy ... boy hounds again.  If they could, they’d take it off you BEFORE you’ve finished drinking.  I’ve lost count of the number of times Sam swans over to where I’m sitting JUST to see if I’m finished my fix.  He knows that Carol takes AGES to drink hers so it’s no good giving her the “I really need my caffeine fix” look.

Fellow caffeine addicts ... Carol and Moira

That first caffeine fix of the day is liquid gold.  The aroma, the warmth, the taste.  If I was a hound I’d be drooling at the very thought of it too.  Giving the caffeine dregs to Sam is a bit like giving sweets to an already excited toddler.  He bounces enough already.  The caffeine dregs just make him bounce higher .... on tippy toes nogal!

Life is all about living and these very magical moments in time are the very essence of what that living is all about.

Sam wasn't too sure about the balloon ... my hound, of course, popped it.  She LOVES balloons!

Depraved manic dervish!

“What is photography. It’s a camera, and a lens, and a light. 

That’s it. It’s simple.” 

~ Zach Arias, photographer.

When I once said to the oldest lemming that all you need to take a photo is light, he laughed at me and told me that was obvious .... but he was missing the point!!

I was trying to portray how very simple photography needs to be and he didn’t get it .... he thought I was being dim or typically blonde. Technology, whilst providing us with the most amazing equipment, has also made photography more complicated. This chap, Zach Arias, put it in a nutshell. 

Photography IS all about the light AND how well you know your camera.

Will there EVER be a day when I DON’T learn something new?

I pinch myself some mornings to make sure I’m awake. The dark moments of the night when I’m surrounded by shadows are chased into oblivion by the awesomeness of Mother Nature. Every day begins afresh with the rising of the sun. It’s my talisman .... a sure fire reminder that life is cyclical and that nothing remains the same forever. Each day is a new one. Each day I get the chance to try living once again.

Who could ask for more.

Being enthusiastically greeted by an exuberant hound and a purring fur-ball every morning isn’t everyone’s cup of tea .... but I love it. Not only does the fur-ball purr but she also vibrates ..... vigorously! Should my alarm not wake me, I can be certain of being woken by a noisy vibrating fur-ball wrapping itself around my neck.  

Nothing’s ever normal in my world ... but would I want it to be?

I’ve worked in the shop the last 3 days so this morning’s ramble was a long one ... both the hound and I needed it. Carol’s away in Melbourne watching the tennis .... she’s a fanatical tennis nut and they’ve got tickets for both semi-finals. I hope Pete manages to restrain her during the Djovich match. He’s NOT her favourite tennis player, Djovich that is, and she’s been known to use some choice words whilst watching him play. Poor Pete .... he might have welts on his arms and be deaf by the time they return to Aux.

We did our usual early morning hike with Julia and Indy and then returned to the beach. The sunshine DOES something to my hound, I’m sure of it. She turns into a depraved manic dervish hell bent on digging up as much of the beach as she can, in order to unearth the ball or log she’s buried. Why bury it in the first place if you’re only going to dig it up again?

Suitably covered in sand and beach debris we headed back up the hill to the viewsite chasing butterflies as we walked. Watching them flutter away every time I tried to get close enough for a photo made me think of the butterfly effect in chaos theory. Simply put, the theory states that a butterfly flapping its wings in one part of the world  might ultimately cause a hurricane in another part of the world.

Hmmmm ...... so I wonder how many hurricanes we caused today!

“Find what you love and let it kill you.” 

~ Bukowski 1920 - 1994

Use your smile to change your world ....

My manic hound .... digging in the sand does this to her!

How upsetting is this!! I set my alarm for 1am my Monday morning so I can watch the French Open Men’s Final live. I stay watching through two rain delays until 5am and then the match is postponed until tomorrow!  These all-nighters are catching up with me ... between rugby and tennis I’m not getting a lot of shut-eye. Cranky Carol is in town ... or would be .... if it wasn’t for all the caffeine I drink!

Rainbows in my world .... and then it rained ...

The hound was a tad confused  ... it’s Monday and it’s 6.30 and I’m still in bed .... something’s wrong. Gav wouldn’t let her in to disturb me either so by the time I woke and had washed and dressed, she was sitting outside the bedroom door ..... waiting .... IMpatiently!

We headed for the waves and she couldn’t get there quick enough. It’s bad enough I’d slept in ... now I was dawdling .... well at least that’s what she seemed to think. Bella and Suzanne were on their way OFF the beach. Bella was as confused as my hound, she’s the one racing onto the beach to meet us normally, not the other way around.

We met the most beautiful Old English Sheepdog on the sand ... at least that’s what I think he was ... he had a cropped tail and his coat was shorn but he still looked amazing. His name was Nelson .... like the seagull .... and he was VERY clean! Hmmmm ... don’t think he’d have stayed that way had the hound had her way with him. She wanted him to come play in the waves but he wasn’t allowed to.

Denise and Abby were also on the beach today so Denise joined me in a second caffeine fix ..... yep, it’s to counter-act all that late-night tennis and rugby viewing that’s playing havoc with my sleep cycle. We got our coffee and went  to sit on the bench as it was after 10 and the hound’s not allowed on the beach off-leash after 10. Abby’s so cute though ... she jumped up between Denise and I on the bench and, when I got up to take a photo of her, thought she’d have my coffee! 

I’m looking for a new camera at the moment. I’ve had a small payout from a wound-up benevolent fund I was a member of when I was still single. I’ve decided to invest in a new camera, and keep my existing one as a backup. My existing one needs a service and a few adjustments and I’ve been reluctant to send it in as I use it every day. 

Phew .... so much choice though! There are so many cameras out there that fill the criteria of what I need/want - so I’m narrowing it down to those DSLR’s or MILC’s that have the shortest shutter-lag. I want to capture more accurately those manic moments with the hound on the sand and the evil antics of the seagulls! The other ‘must have’ feature I’m looking for is an ability to work well in low light. Those are in addition to the features I feel are essential in a camera for me. I’m not even being that fussy about brand as, at the end of the day, the camera is purely a tool ... it’s what I do WITH it that matters.

The hound got an unexpected second walk this evening. We participated in the inaugural Moretons Miles event - a weekly 5km fun run/walk to Mission Bay and back. Entry was $5 and, completion of the fun run, entitled you to a free beer or cider. I’m not sure the hound found it as much fun as I did ... this wasn’t a “walk and smell the roses” kind of walk like our morning one’s are.

USE your SMILE to change the world. DON’T LET THE WORLD change your smile!