He's a WANNABEE Saffer!

Carol ... (Sam’s Carol) ... can deny it no more.  Not only does Sam have ANOTHER girlfriend .... oh yes, a little Bichon Frise he’s met at the park .... but he’s a WANNABEE Saffer.  Undeniably so!

Given the choice of three balls at Waiatarua this morning ... yes, three DIFFERENT rugby balls .... he CHOSE the Saffer one.  His allegiance is irrefutable.  Just like my hound LOVES Sam’s Chiefs ball and Hurricanes ball, Sam LOVES her Saffer ball.

Sam’s Hurricanes ball has met the same fate as the rugby ball my hound took to the farm with her. It’s been chewed to death and disemboweled by the wannabee Saffer.  That puts the Hurricanes out of the picture for Super Rugby Glory ..... Sam has decreed it.  Could it be another win for the Chiefs this year?

Just a thought .... maybe the time is right for my hound to be carrying a SHARKS rugby ball!

We had a puddle of Labradors at the dog pond this morning.  Anthony had already texted me, at Ebony’s request, to ensure that Sam and Chocolat were going to be there.  Ebony was delighted to see them and came dashing over with the longest of logs in her mouth.  How she didn’t take out the legs of all and sundry in front of us is beyond me as this log was LONG ... VERY long!

The LONG log!

The log was soon forgotten as the rugby balls hit the water. Labrador after Labrador after Labrador leapt in and the chase for the balls was on. We acquired an EXTRA chocolate Labrador who took great delight in racing our hounds for the balls ... beating one or other of them on several occasions.

He ... or maybe it was a she .... didn’t know how the game worked though.  It ran away with the ball and wanted the other hounds to chase it.  They don’t DO chase .... of other hounds that is .... only of balls.

When I look back at the photos I often wonder if the water level in the pond drops when our hounds are there.  They leap in the pond with such gusto that water splashes EVERYWHERE! They create their very own puddles on the side whilst they’re waiting .... impatiently .... for the balls to be flung back in.

Ebony leaping over Sam and Chocolat .... look at ALL that water!

  They NEVER tire of this game!

Mornings like this are a wonderful diversion from the reality of life. There’s no rush, no place to be at any specific time ... just the hounds and their balls and the wet stuff.  

Labrador heaven.

Reality beckons soon enough.  Market mania has begun again as February swings into gear and we’re booked into several markets this month, one of which is brand new.  It’s exciting and challenging but with all the extra hours I’ve been putting in at the shop,
 it’s exhausting too .... but I love it!

The middle lemming has been joining me on my early morning rambles .... I love it!

“Your life does not get better by chance, it gets better by change.” 
~ Jim Rohn

Early morning cloud cover

Reflections everywhere!

An appreciative audience at the dog pond.

Marshmallow fetishes ... and other such things!

I am as relevant as the moon .... and beyond.  We all are.

Even when I feel like I don’t belong or that I don’t fit the mould, I will always be relevant.  Even when I feel like I’m missing something of myself, I am ALL there.  It’s just a cycle I’m going through. I can never disappear. I can never become part of the ether because, just like that moon in my sky that sometimes seems to be missing a part of itself, I am whole and always will be.

The Pied Shag we happened upon at the reserve on Friday

I DO matter, we ALL matter.

Life matters.

I am as relevant in my hound’s world as she is in mine.  Without her I wouldn’t have walked the thousands of kilometres I have.  Without her I wouldn’t have found humour in the simplest of things. Without her I wouldn’t have had moments where I’ve laughed so much I’ve wanted to cry. She is my best friend and constant companion and I’d be lost without her.

What big shoes she fills.

I never expected when I moved to New Zealand that a four-legged chocolate brown hound would become such an integral part of my life .... but she has.

She’s the inspiration in front of my lens.  She’s the reason for our daily rambles.  She shares in my caffeine addiction and marshmallow fetish and would eat Dolly Mixtures all day if she could.  

Yes, I know they’re bad for a hound but have you ever tried telling her that?

She’s TOP dog in this household of humans and fur-balls and the feline fur-balls are happy to say that.  They MORE than tolerate her and to witness the manner in which both of them wind themselves around her legs gives new meaning to the word “love”.  These feline fur-balls love the hound in a way I’ve never witnessed before between cat and dog.

She’s opened up my world .... walks in the waves take on new meaning.  Through her, I’ve met a ‘PUDDLE’ of Labradors, each with their own distinctive personality. It’s not the correct collective noun for a Labrador but it’s just SO apt. 

Wherever there are Labradors and water, there is BOUND to be a puddle!

Each of the PUDDLE we’ve had the privilege of getting to know has their own distinctive personality. 

Sebastian - the gentleman and statesman of the Labrador Puddle.  I can still remember watching Carol walking patiently down the hill with him, at his pace,  for his daily constitutional to the beach.  I only knew him in the golden years of his life but in those few short years, he left his mark on me.  

Sam the Man - his little ‘brother’ is proving just as delightful but in such a different way. Social, engergetic and mischievous .... with a bit of a lingerie fetish .... he’s keeping Carol on the tips of her toes.

Indy - hoover deluxe. The Indiana Explorer of the Labrador Puddle who’s nose gets him into ALL sorts of trouble! He’s way too clever ... and he knows it!

Ebony - the submarine Labrador who loves chasing rugby balls and swimming ALMOST as much as my hound ... AND can carry MULTIPLE objects in her mouth!

Bessie - who always joins in the rugby ball races and log retrievals on the beach. She’ll ALWAYS bring the log back to you and drop it at your feet 'cause once more is NEVER enough!

Bella - the ADD hound of the Labrador Puddle. Bella does everything in double-quick time, even taking a wee! She’s small, agile and a bundle of pulsating energy .... sitting still ISN’T an option.

And let me not forget the Psuedo Labrador - Sha-dock.  He who wants to be a Labrador but wears the wrong coat.  We forgive you for that Shadow and love you just as you are.  You belong with our Labrador Puddle.

There’s still Barney and Pepsi ... and Lilly and Molly .... Murphy and Jet and Coco and Luca. So many Labradors .... so much diversity.

Each one as relevant as the moon.

Melodramatic Mutt-Owners!

My addiction-fixing caffeine provider, the Village Co-Op!

Poor Tully. All she was doing was sitting in the middle of the dog pond minding her own business. Yes, she’d had a look at the tennis ball that landed in the water next to her. Yes, she’d tasted it a couple of times but it didn’t appeal so had let it go, completely unaware that she WASN’T supposed to MOUTH another hound’s ball!! 

Tully, the doggy-paddling hound that loves to sit in the middle of the dog pond

Well .... in the eyes of the melodramatic mutt-owner, that is.

A rather pompous elderly man, with what appeared to be a grey Spoodle, had launched a tennis ball into the pond for his hound to retrieve. His hound was standing precariously on a stone in the pond looking at the ball lying next to Tully .... but making no effort to swim out to retrieve it.

The grey Spoodle walking on water!

The melodramatic mutt-owner glared at Tully then loudly asked WHO she belonged to. Tully’s human was standing with Amy, Julia and I on the opposite side of the pond.  In the same LOUD voice he asked her to remove Tully from the pond as HIS hound couldn’t retrieve her ball whilst Tully was there. DID she know (Tully’s human that is) that Tully had ALREADY mouthed HIS hound’s ball THREE times!

We were doubled over with laughter! Was this guy for real?

Tully even joined in the chase for the toy today

Tully wasn’t the only hound in the pond. Ebony and Chocolat were doing their usual ‘splash all the water out the pond’ trick as they chased down whatever ball/toy happened to be thrown for them.  Indy was having a stroll around the perimeter and several other labs had joined the party.

Watching the action!

Had the melodramatic mutt-owner been a regular at the reserve he’d have known that Tully exits the dog pond in her own time and only when she’s good and ready. She wasn’t ready to leave yet so no amount of calling on her human’s part was going to do the trick. Tully’s human, tongue in cheek, apologised and, very politely, told the melodramatic mutt-owner that she was really sorry but her hound didn’t understand English. 

This just made the rest of us giggle even more!.

Anthony, good-natured soul that he is, persuaded Ebony to fetch

 the melodramatic mutt-owner’s ball and threw it back to him.

He departed the pond and we were left wandering which planet he’d flown in from. 

Aliens REALLY do exist .... at least in MY part of the world, they do.

I wonder if we’ll see him again.

The rest of our ramble was rather uneventful after the unintentional humour at the dog-pond. We chased butterflies again but Indy ....  clumsy fur-ball that he is ..... wanted to chase them too and butterflies aren’t that keen on hounds joining in the game! There are so many butterflies and birds around ..... we pursued a Rosella and a Kingfisher but the Kingfisher wasn’t interested. He took flight .... quite literally .... and disappeared from our air space!

I was supposed to be having an adventure this evening .... a kayaking adventure to Brown’s Island! It’s had to be postponed though because of the adverse weather conditions. The wind's picked up in the Hauraki Gulf and the organisers have decided, in their wisdom, to postpone the trip. I suppose from a safety perspective it’s the only thing they can do but I can’t help but feel disappointed

.... I was so looking forward to it!

But, in the words of a friend, in her affirmation on FB this evening 

" Right here, right now I release my attachment to outcomes .... I surrender to my perfect divine plan by embracing uncertainty and welcoming possibility."

It's an awesome statement and one well worth remembering .... thank you Cheryltjie.

The kayaking trip will happen .... when it's meant to.