Bubbly .... bouncy ..... and blonde!

“Be brave enough to live creatively.  You have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition.  You can only get there by hard work, by risking and by not quite knowing what you are doing.

What you discover will be wonderful ... you will discover yourself.” 

~ Alan Alda, 1936 (Quoted in The Educators Book of Quotes)

Bubbly ... bouncy .... and blonde.

.... and BAFFLED at having his ‘FIND’ taken off him in the waves.

Nope ... I’m not talking about me, I’m talking about Sam ... the bubbly bouncy blonde Labrador.  To avoid more mischief and mayhem whilst crossing the road in the morning to get our caffeine boost, I now stay on the beach with the hounds whilst Carol goes to the Co-op.

It’s a full-on task kicking and throwing balls for these hounds.  As one returns to the beach with a ball so I’m throwing the other ball into the waves for the other hound.  Sam always drops his ball instantly he hits the sand ... he can’t wait to leap back into the waves to fetch it again.  My hound’s a bit of a tease and practices the same movements on me as what she does on Sam when she DOESN’T want to share any log she might have found.

It’s unusual for Sam to NOT return to the beach with a ball so I knew something of interest had attracted his attention when he sprung from the waves WITHOUT the ball.  

The ‘something of interest’ was something SMELLY which he snatched off the sand.

Clever hound that he is, he headed BACK into the waves with his ‘FIND’ 

.... a fish skeleton ... and started to EAT it.

He’d forgotten though that it wasn’t HIS Carol standing on the sand throwing balls

 .... it was ME .... and I’m not scared of getting my feet wet.

The look of disbelief on his face was PRICELESS as I waded into the waves, 

shoes and all, grabbed his collar and snatched the skeleton OUT of his mouth.

Maggie, a 5 month old Boxer pup we meet on the beach.

I wish I’d had another pair of hands ... one pair just wasn't enough.

The skeleton was sent flying out into the waves.  I had hold of Sam’s collar as I knew, given half the chance, he’d race off after his smelly snack. My other hands, if I’d had any, would have been busy taking photos of the baffled look on his face.  

That’ll teach him to think the waves are a place of refuge when he’s doing something he shouldn’t!

I could hear my hound SNIGGERING as I told him off.

They’re BOTH carrying Chiefs rugby balls at the moment ... much to my dismay.  Sam the Man has managed to kill ANOTHER rugby ball, my second South African one. 

It’s NOT a good omen.  Carol of course is deliriously happy. 

This weekend the Chiefs play her beloved Hurricanes so Carol has a bit of a dilemma.  

Who does she support? 

I’m backing the Hurricanes as I DON’T want the Chiefs to win Super Rugby this year.  Not because they won last year but because I don’t want Carol to have the satisfaction of telling me my hound was right in choosing that darn Chiefs rugby ball!!

It's the COFFEE ... it makes her demented!

Who would have thought that a Labrador could LOOK so positively EVIL!

This is how she SHOULD look!

She looks manic ... as if she’s about to attack.  I suppose she was attacking something .... her ball .... trying to bury it alive.  Pity it wasn’t the Hurricanes ball ... or the Chiefs one.  The oldest lemming reckons I've given her TOO  much coffee.  What nonsense .... you can NEVER have TOO much coffee!

The Hound of Baskerville looks TAME compared to her. 

She’s completely INSANE!!

She dug trenches from one end of the beach to the other this morning. She was on a mission to let everyone know she’d been on the beach!  I just smile and shake my head and click away with the camera.  Shots like this are few and far between as the movement is so fast and furious

... and I have to avoid the sand.  It flies EVERYWHERE!

Oh wow .... a part of the beach she hasn't dug up yet!

Between her and the seagulls it was humour overload. 

The seagull and HIS leaf 

The tide was coming in and one of the seagulls picked up a leaf in the surf.  

Every time a wave washed over him he lost the leaf.

  He’d flap and flutter back to the leaf, pick it up  ... 

AND another wave would wash it out of his beak .... 

and so the cycle continued.

What was so special about THAT particular leaf I’ll never know.  All I do know is that his antics made me laugh.  They even briefly distracted the hound from her trench digging.

She makes people smile in a way I can’t.  I watch their faces as they walk along the boardwalk whilst she’s doing her manic trench-digging act in the sand.  As the bus trundles past I can see the faces of the people on the bus.  Some are smiling and pointing and I know she’s added some sunshine to their day.

Even some of the lycra-clad loonies can’t help but smile when they see this rugby-ball touting hound on her way up to the view site.  She only relinquishes the ball when the going gets tough OR there’s a LOG that just HAS to be carried.  LOGS are fun ..... in her eyes that is .... and you need a HUGE trench to bury a log in!

Oh dear .... it's home time and SOMEONE doesn't want to leave the beach.

After sending Julia on her way to work I returned to the beach with my coffee and sat on the sand whilst the hound dug trenches.  Fraternising with the enemy for my caffeine fix hadn’t been necessary today.  My usual addiction fixing haunt had been open for business with the girls warm friendly greetings and cheerful smiles.  Why on earth would I EVER want to get my coffee elsewhere.

This morning's sunrise ... too gorgeous!

Hercules ... our friend down the road

This village has become ‘home’ in a way I never expected it to.  It’s my little piece of heaven on earth.  This journey I’m on is moulding me, it moulds us all. It’s been exactly what it’s needed to be.  Each and every situation I’ve encountered was necessary.  Each and every person I’ve ever met was relevant for however long or however brief a period of time.  Nothing is wasted.  

I am in the here and now and I’m right on time ...

 .... and I’m smiling, as usual.  It’s my FAVOURITE form of exercise!

This picture has a story ALL of its own.  The hound wanted to chase after WHAT she thought was a BALL in the water.  It's NOT a ball though, it's our friend GOM with his swimming cap on!!  Wouldn't it have been FUN if I'd LET her CATCH the ball!!

I'm confused ... and it's NOT just because I'm blonde!

Hounds in sync!

“A brilliant light is within me. My job is to let it SHINE!!”

~ courtesy of FB page ‘An affirmation a day’

That there moon in my morning sky!

It had to happen. I jinxed the weather. I should have known better than to wax lyrical about the glorious summer we’ve been having.

Gorgeous reflections this morning.

My early morning’s aren’t QUITE as bright as they used to be. That there sun’s already started it’s long trek back to the Northern Hemisphere and each morning’s sun rise is a minute or two later than the day before. It’s funny how much more notice I take of the Sun and the Moon’s position in the sky since I started my early morning rambles with the hound.

Despite the early morning cloud coverage the rest of the day has been beautiful .... albeit windy.

The Oyster Catchers DON'T like being stalked!

Butterflies struggle to flutter by when it’s windy.  I’m watching them from my desk as I’m writing this and they’re getting whooshed every which way but the direction in which they were trying to fly.

 It’s rather amusing .... for me that is .... not the butterfly.

.... nor does the Heron.

The gulls did a good job with this.

Sam the Man was delighted to see the hound and I this morning and the two of them couldn’t wait to get to Waiatarua.  The level of the noise in the car rises the closer we get to the reserve.  Sam’s as vocal as Indy and his excitement is contagious. My hound can’t help but join in .... with her warble!  She’s hilarious .... she doesn’t bark like Indy, or whine like Sam .... she has a long burbling warble which rises in intensity the more excited she gets!

It’s like taking young children to a playground. The two of them are bubbling with enthusiasm and glee as they pick up EACH other’s rugby balls.  Yep, the hound INSISTS on having Sam’s Hurricanes rugby ball.  As we begin our ramble around the reserve they quite literally BOUNCE along the path in front of us.

I’m hoping the hound’s fascination with the Hurricanes rugby ball doesn’t translate into them winning the Super Rugby tournament this year. She had a penchant for the Chiefs rugby ball last year and look what happened to them ... they beat my Sharks in the Final.  I can’t possibly have her supporting the winning team AGAIN this year .... that just wouldn’t do!

This ISN'T Sam .... it's another Golden Lab that decided to help the hound retrieve her ball.
She was NOT impressed!

I know Carol would be happy.

Maybe I should try and get a Sharks rugby ball .... would be interesting to see which ball she’d choose to carry.

4 month old Guide Dog Puppy making friends at the dog pond.

Yay for Super Rugby!  This year’s tournament begins on 15th Feb and I can’t wait. Early morning rugby watching will be the order of the day .... or should that be night. With all 3 countries falling in different time zones it must be extremely difficult providing an accurate schedule of start times of all the matches.  Daylight saving only adds to the confusion. South Africa’s the only country of the 3 that DOESN’T have daylight saving and Queensland has a different daylight saving schedule to New South Wales. Add in to the mix that Perth is in a different time zone to Sydney and you have a recipe for disaster as far as the accuracy of the schedule is concerned!

Making friends 'doggy style'

I’m confused just talking about it .... and it’s not JUST because I’m blonde!

My stalking chased the Oyster Catchers away

A friend posted this quotation this evening .... my evening .... and, having chatted to her earlier and caught up on her news, it’s just so relevant to life and our approach to living it.

“Let every moment be what it’s going to be.  What’s meant to be will come your way.

What’s not will fall away.” 

~ Mandy Hale

Clouds and moon ... my kind of beautiful.

Another OLDER Golden Lab that joined us at the pond

Hmmmm ..... and she sneaks in everywhere!