BE in the moment and own it.

“Where the spirit does not work with the hand, there is not art.” 

~ Leonardo da Vinci

The hound and I had a fabulous day off last week.

More than fabulous actually.

Our first Friday off in months and we made the MOST of it.

Another of those upside down reflections, turned up the right way .... just love them!

Looking far too serious ....

An early morning ramble on the beach.

Log after log after log thrown into the waves.

Catch ups with fur-buddies on the sand.

Coffee with a cranberry cookie.

... having far too much fun!

Moments like this are magical and remind me of how important the little things in life are.

Cherish them.

Our afternoon was filled with catch-ups too.

This time with Yvonne who’s moved north to Kaukapakapa.

I’m missing my bubbles and chats with her in the evenings.

The hound and I love drives out into the country though

so headed out to give her new abode the once over.

She’s found the most perfect spot.

A little piece of gorgeousness and tranquility all of her own.

The hound and I got to share in it for the afternoon.

AND take lots of photographs.

The hound LOVES Yvonne's new spot in the world

We walked and talked and ate and drank bubbles.

Bubbles in our glass and bubbles in the spa.

The perfect mix.

And so much fun.

Super chilled .... bubbles to hand and bubbles in the spa

It was a MORE than fabulous day.

And necessary after the last few months.

No, no ... hounds not allowed in spa

As I look back at this journey we’re on, 

and the obstacles we’ve overcome,

I can’t help but feel a huge sense of gratitude.

Gratitude for the support, both in the physical and cyber sense.

Gratitude for the love we’ve been surrounded with.

And gratitude for the courage we’ve found to face this journey and no, 

it’s very much NOT lion size.

I’m NOT very brave most of the time.

“We don’t know who we are until we see what we can do”

~ Martha Grimes

What to do on an unexpected day-off?

“We learn something from everyone that passes through our lives ... some lessons are painful, some are painless .... but all are priceless.” 

~ unknown

What to do on an unexpected day off?

Yep ... contrary to the norm, I didn’t go to work today.  All those Public Holidays I work have a flip side.  Not only do I get paid time and a half but I get a day off in lieu of the day I worked.  I have FOUR such days-off to use up.  Yvonne’s idea of giving myself some much needed time-out by using one of my days-in-lieu had huge appeal.

So I did!  

Just for today, I’m getting paid to feed my soul.

I DIDN’T get up at the crack of dawn to hike to the view-site.  I DID get up at a much more acceptable hour and head down to the beach with an impatiently waiting chocolate brown dervish in wind-up mode.

She couldn’t understand the delay.  

The sun’s up, there’s only a little cloud in the sky, 

it’s not raining ..... what IS your problem!!

That WASN’T going to be the only thing she didn’t understand today.

Low tide and little cloud means lots of birdlife on the beach .... and with the right light to photograph it in.  I have an abundance of patience when it comes to stalking our feathered friends  .... it’s so ODD as I’m not the most patient of people.  I can spend hours on the mudflats though relentlessly stalking the herons and kingfishers and shags.  Wet and icy feet are a small price to pay for the shots I get.  

Tip-toeing through rock pools on a day off isn’t everyone’s cup of tea but I love it.

That’s the bit that the hound DIDN’T understand.

She thought extra hours on the beach would be all about HER.  

She was WRONG!  

Extra hours on the beach meant more time to trawl through rock pools in pursuit of the ever elusive kingfisher and camera-shy heron.  It didn’t help that the hound was trawling through the rock pools behind me .... with a huge log ... which she dropped in each and every rock pool.  

The heron, understandably, didn’t hang around to find out what this great big lumbering brown thing with the wierdly shaped mouth was.  I don’t blame him.

No day off would be complete without fitting in SOME shopping .... not that I have any spare cash to spend you understand. The middle lemming, SHE who lives with ‘my favourite child’, DID have some spare cash to spend though,  so spend it we did.  I have a lovely new pair of black boots to wear, courtesy of my darling female lemming

Hmmmm ..... I wonder if the word lemming applies to both sexes.  

Now there’s a thought.

"When someone is gong through a storm, your silent presence is more powerful than a million empty words."

~ Thema Davis

A Jellyfish that was stranded by the tide this morning

The most beautiful rainbow on Monday evening.  We went down to try and catch a glimpse of the
Orcas that were in the bay but got caught in the storm instead.  The rainbow made up for the Orcas though!

Last night's sunset.

The Shags taking flight ... they didn't like having their photo taken.

Sha'dock' and Sarah and Jesse joined us on our ramble on Monday