How can I make Rhubarb Crumble when the pie dishes are packed?

Hmmmm .... my sulk about the rugby is OVER. My Bokke were outplayed and at this moment in time, the Flightless Fowls are indeed the best team in the world

 ..... FOR NOW.

Don’t let all my Kiwi friends be fooled by this statement though. It in NO way indicates that I’m supporting YOUR Flightless Fowls. All it means is that I recognise good rugby when I see it and give praise where it’s due. 

My Bokke will be back.

I guess I’ll let the hound use and abuse that Chiefs rugby ball for a little longer. 

My house DOESN’T look like a HOME at the moment, there are boxes and boxes and still more boxes. I think I MIGHT have been a little hasty in packing some of the things in the kitchen. Last night I wanted to make a Rhubarb Crumble and all the pie dishes are PACKED! 

Friday can’t come round soon enough. Disorder and upheaval are not condusive to a creative mind ... I need harmony and ORGANISED chaos to work at my best.

.... and the hound NEEDS her rambles.

Mondays and Wednesdays are always a bit chaotic ... made even more so at the moment with the hubris of the move. Telling customers in the shop that you ramble on the beach at 6.30 in the morning always causes raised eyebrows. You can see what they’re thinking. Why would ANYONE with a sane mind ramble in the waves at 6.30 in the morning?

Ask Julia ... she’ll tell you .... it’s all about the MAGIC ... and that LACK of sanity.

Even when it’s raining, even when the sun hasn’t yet risen in the sky, even those days when the wind tries to blow us to Timbuktoo and back .... there’s a magic in the morning that disappears once the rest of the world wakes. 

I LOVE it!

It’s that sense of oneness with the world as I walk down the road. Very little stirs. I meet and greet the neighbourhood kitties ... and there are a LOT of those. I say good morning to the elderly gentleman who’s always fetching his newspaper from the letterbox as I pass by. The cyclists call out greetings as they not-so-silently swish past. 

The hound takes none of this in. She’s got a one-track mind

 ..... beach, ball, waves .... in that order.

She’s just as focused when we go to Waiatarua. She races on ahead of us, CHIEFS ball in mouth, impatiently looking over her shoulder to ensure we’re still heading in the same direction as her. She was a tad confused today by Carol’s new-found fascination with the BUSH. Sam couldn’t understand why Carol kept on disappearing ... he thought it was a new game!

Ebony, the SUBMARINE Labrador joined them at the dog-pond again. She’s amazing the way she holds her breath to retrieve things of the bottom of the pond floor. She showed us a new trick today too ... carrying a stick AND a rugby ball in her mouth at the same time, even leaping into the pond with them and not dropping them!! 

That’s a girl dog for you!!

“Every morning when we wake up, we have twenty-four brand new hours to live! What a precious gift!” 

~ Thich Nhat Hanh

Rambling and rugby balls go together.

Wow wow WOW ... but the weather’s turned dismal this afternoon!!!  The wind’s howling and the rain’s making music on the window panes ... what a turnaround from the last week or so. Any sunshine that was visible this morning is long gone - hidden behind these dark grey clouds that are threatening to engulf my city. 

Change is everywhere. I see it when I ramble in the mornings ... the change in the weather, like now... the change in the ocean tides and currents ... the changes taking place in our village as new buildings alter the visual facade of Tamaki Drive as I head down the hill. Change is supposedly good ... though a lot of the more elderly residents in our village might not agree!

I learn so much from my kids about change too (don’t ever tell them I said that though) ... I had a timely reminder from one of them today that attitude is everything. I can choose to deal with the chaos surrounding me and put myself above it all ... or I can choose to drown in it. Those of you who know me well will also know I have no choice ... my response to what’s happening will always be positive. I will always choose to rise above any difficulties I might face, even if, for a brief moment in time, I feel defeated.

Love the cloud formation

The hound though is NEVER defeated ... even when Indy pinches her ball and won’t give it back. She’s learnt that Indy’s attention span is way shorter than hers, especially where rugby balls are concerned ... and that eventually, without too much prompting from her, he’ll lose interest and drop the ball. He’s a Kiwi hound ... and we all know how these Kiwis play rugby.

You want me to what???? 

Rambling and rugby balls go together - from my hound’s perspective, that is - no ramble would be complete without the requisite number of kicks of a rugby ball into the waves. She was in luck this morning ... the eldest lemming has decided to join me on my morning meanders. A change to his routine and a change to mine ... not an unpleasant change I might add. You have no idea of the pleasure it gives me to open his bedroom door at 6.15 in the morning and instruct the hound to ‘GO FETCH GARETH!’ .... payback ..... for all the early mornings and sleepless nights when he was a littler version of himself!

If she wants it, she can come and take it off me!!!

I think he enjoyed the spectacle of the sun rise this morning almost as much as Julia and I did.  There was a lot of cloud cover but it was still beautiful and another reminder that change is all around us ... I can’t escape it!


Would I want to though?  

Just KICK that darn ball!

Change is what makes us grow into ourselves ... become the people we’re meant to be. Without change I’d face no obstacles, overcome no difficulties .... I’d stagnate. Without change, there wouldn’t be opportunities - I wouldn’t have this vision in my mind of where I want to be with my photography and art ... I wouldn’t have a DREAM.

Rumi’s quote, that a friend shared with me yesterday, says it all “Let yourself be silently drawn by the strange pull of what you really love.  It will not lead you astray.”

He's pinched my coffee .... he's as bad as the hound!!!

.... Kiwi dogs DON'T bark ...

The road down to Glover Park on an absolutely glorious morning!

It doesn't look like the sun was shining .. but it WAS!!

WOW .... what an absolutely glorious morning .... I could have walked and walked and walked some more today  .... but the hound was getting tired .... or was it that she knew there was a rather large bone waiting for her at home ..... hmmmmm....

Days like today leave me feeling enthused ... I arrive home weary .. sweaty .. oh yes .... but on such a high ...  I know that nothing can unhinge my day ..... I’m at peace with my world.

The hound wasn’t at peace with her world today though!  We deviated to the coffee shop to pick up our daily fix and there was a very large .. very vocal .... German Shepherd outside.  We’ve met her on the beach before but I can’t remember her name, but we’ve not met her outside the coffee shop ... and not when my hound’s hindered by a lead.  

The grass at Glover Park has been moved but not the edges ... I love to
lie on the grass and look out at my world ... it's truly an awesome spot!

I don’t know if the hound was trying to establish her dominance or just having a chin-wag about the summer beach times ... but she was unbelievably vocal ... just as vocal as the German Shepherd in fact!!  The chaps at the building site and the girls and patrons in the coffee shop must have wondered what was going on .... the dogs made such a din!!  It’s so unlike Chocolat .... she’s seldom vocal ..... she knows that Kiwi dogs DON’T bark ... she’s been told this ad infinitum by one of the significant ‘others’ in my life.  She had the grace to look suitably contrite on our way back to the beach .... until her friend at the building site said hello .... then all semblance of trying to appease me was forgotten .... the whole body wagged and waddled as she gave him his very own wet and enthusiastic greeting.  Fortunately he understands Labradors ... he has two of his own ... a wheaten one and a chocolate one ... and his chocolate one is just as crazy as mine!!

This letterbox always attracts me eye ...

Sebastion and his human were heading down for their daily fix too so we stopped to catch up with them .... well I stopped to catch-up ..... the hound buried her ball on the beach.  We chatted for so long that she eventually gave up waiting for me to kick the ball.  She’d already buried it several times .... and dug it up again .... rolled and rolled in the sand until she resembled a sandy-coloured Labrador instead of a Chocolate one .... and finally, in despair of ever getting my attention again, picked up the ball and ambled off to the waves to take the ball for a swim by herself.
Sebastion ... dear old soul that he is .... just lies on the boardwalk and watches her antics .... I’m sure he’s remembering back to the days when he was as enthusiastic and playful as she is.

As our weather improves and summer approaches there are more and more people out in the morning .... some locals ... some tourists ... but all enjoying the abundant opportunities there are here to walk.  There was a group of 4 tourists at the view-site .... European .... and they wanted to take photos of the hound and her ball.  They’d driven past me on their way up to the view site and had seen her walking along, ball in mouth, so they wanted to know all about her. I’d love to hear the stories that are told when all these tourists return home and develop their photos ... so often I get asked if she can be photographed ..... either with her ball in her mouth or carrying one of her ginormous logs.  I hope that when they look at their pics, they remember with a smile the large chocolate brown Labrador that exudes happiness from every pore!


Chocolat is my reminder, on a daily basis, that we create our own happiness.  Our daily rambles and her extreme enthusiasm and exuberance for life rock my world.  I’ve met so many new friends - and yes, most of them have hounds  .... I see so much beauty in the little things that I might have missed if I hadn’t been walking with her ... and ... best of all .... I’m rediscovering myself and quite liking what I see!

Being happy doesn’t mean that everything in my life is perfect .... far from it  ... but it does mean that I’m choosing to look beyond the imperfections.