Light and Shadows

"There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you."

 ~ Maya Angelou in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

The dance of light and shadow happens in ALL our lives. 

Light illuminates and shadows define.

Together they tell a great story.

I’ve learnt not to question the shadows of the past and not to apportion blame.  

Only idiots drive forward whilst looking in the rearview mirror.

We each  have our own story to tell. 

Mine’s in the present.

And I choose for it to be happy.

Friends and family add to that happiness.

They understand the peculiarities of the person I am and aren’t fazed by it.

Well.

Most of the time they’re not.

Some of the wackiest of individuals are in my corner, 

braving the wild waters with me.

They add their own brand of humour and craziness to the world we inhabit.

Their kaleidoscope swirling in unison with mine.

Both illuminating AND defining it.

This is a good thing.

They lift me up when I’m down.

Give me wings when I struggle to fly

and kick my backside when all else fails.

I find Christmas a difficult time of the year.

Chock full of light and shadows of Christmas past.

As I navigate the treacherous waters this month brings

there’s an overwhelming sense of gratitude.

Gratitude for the steps taken.

Gratitude for the lessons learnt

and gratitude for the those glorious souls 

who illuminate and define my every day.

It’s a cheerful thought indeed!

“I prefer the company of happy people who are believers in magic

... and of magical people who are believers in happy.”

~ courtesy of the Wild Woman Sisterhood

Some furry, MOST human!

They come in all shapes and sizes, a variety of ages, both male and female .... some furry, MOST human. They’re scattered higgledy piggledy all over various parts of the world.  

They ALL have a zany sense of humour and an ability to laugh at themselves!

The water at the reserve is so clean and still.

Who on earth could they be?

All that rain has sure made everything green ... vibrantly so!

My friends and family of course. 

 They’re a vital extension of me and a very necessary addition to my life and the life of my immediate family.  They make the downs bearable and the ride of my life exhilarating.  

InSANEly so. 

 They make my world go round.  In CRAZY circles sometimes, but circles nevertheless.

The hound and her furry friends only add to these crazy circles that engulf us. 

She’s the reason behind every rainy ramble and every splendiferous sun-rise. 

I wouldn’t be up and out at 6.30 in the morning if it wasn’t for the hound.  

She has a LOT to answer for.

There are mornings when the snugness of my bed beckons, when the chilly wind and the relentless rain send me snuggling down under my duvet. I feel the eyes on me, rather than see them.  I know they’re liquid-brown AND shining AND begging me to get up.  

No sound needs to be uttered .... the eyes speak volumes.

I dare anyone to resist her.

The raindrops hit us as we stretched at the view-site.  I stretched, not her.  We’d been beaten to the look-out point by the same group of school-children and their teachers who run up Cliff Road every Friday. It’s obviously a training exercise and while the teachers huff and puff at the top of the hill, the children chase each other up and down the stairs and on and off the benches. 

They’re like Sam the Man ... NO end to their energy.

The hound finds it all so exciting and DESPERATELY wants to join in.

One of the teachers points out the front moving in rapidly from the city.  

You can SEE the rain falling as it makes it’s way across the bay.  

I just KNOW it’s going to hit me BEFORE I make it down to the village.

The front moving in from the city ... it rained!  Hard!

It did.  As I packed the camera in the backpack and donned my anorak, it started.  

Heavy FAT raindrops .... drenching raindrops. 

By the time I got to the Co-op where Carol was picking me up, I was soaked.  

Caffeine fixes everything though.

Carol picked me up with a very exuberant Sam.  This hound has a definite lingerie fetish.  He’d been in the laundry basket and found the g-string she wore to gym yesterday evening.  With one end in his mouth and the other end over his leg, he must have looked a comical sight.  I can’t wait for the day Carol remembers to grab the camera and snap a pic.

For the moment though, we’re off to Waiatarua again. 

 I want to see what’s happened to ALL that water from Thursday.

The furball did her usual road-trip of the bed ...

 

“Humour is the sunshine of the mind.” 

Edward G. Bulwer-Lytton (British politician 1803 to 1873)

Sunshine might have been in short supply over the last few days but it sure made up for it this morning.  Sunshine and smiles in abundance! Where did the magic come from!  

Mornings like this are therapy for the soul.

They re-ignite my belief in me and in a world that seems to be falling apart.

It’s Equinox and just for today, the length of day and night is almost equal everywhere in the world.  My little part of the world now starts its tilt away from the sun :( 

This is an image captured by NOAA’s GOES 13 Satellite of the Earth at Spring Equinox.

Isn’t it awesome!

No time constraints today so I walked up to the view site a little later than usual.  Absurd as it may sound I’m actually looking forward to daylight saving coming to an end.  It’s almost 7.30 at the moment before the sun lifts it’s head over the horizon.  The hound and I have been out and about for an hour already by then.  For most of April and May though I’ll be able to watch the sun rise BEFORE we head back down to the beach ... Yay!

I created consternation in the furball’s mind this morning by NOT having the alarm go off at it’s normal time.  She did her usual road-trip of the bed, vibrating noisily as she moved around and between us, then settled back down to wait for the alarm.  In her mind the alarm is an ON switch ... not just for her but for us too.  She is the most loving and most cuddly of furballs.

Sometimes I’d like to PAUSE these moments in the morning and just REVEL in them because they’re so precious and far too fleeting.

The sun rise is calling though ... and so is the hound.  She doesn’t do the PRECIOUS and CUDDLY bit quite as well as the furball.

She was in a HURRY this morning and, unusually for her, quickened the pace on the way up.  Hills are NOT her forte ... nor mine .... but without hills there wouldn’t be magnificent views and sublime sunrise vistas, so we take them in our stride .... quite literally.  Just a random thought .... would my day be any longer if I spent it at the top of the hill rather than in the valley?

It’s low tide and clear skies so I know the reflections on the beach are going to be magical and I also know some of the Heron family will be fishing.  There were THREE herons on the beach this morning.  I somehow managed to chase two of them away and then stalked the third one up and down the beach for what seemed like aeons.

I did get some great pics of him though.  

Brian had HIS camera out too .... yes, OUT of the bag ... I nearly fell over!  If it rains tomorrow, I know just who to blame!

Between Brian and I, that lone Heron didn’t stand a chance.  I lost count of the number of times it flew up and down the beach.  I just changed direction and went up and down the beach in pursuit of it.  I’m hoping one day it’ll get the message that I’m NOT a threat ... just an annoying itch with a camera who wants to preserve these images forever.

Today I’m sharing the sunshine and the love and the peace that’s in my heart .... just because I can!

My little piece of paradise rocks!