Grey being a colour, NOT a state of mind.

“Learn to get in touch with the silence within yourself 

and know that everything in life has a purpose.” 

~ Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

Jubilantly joyous GREY weather ... grey being a colour, NOT a state of mind!

Howling winds, bouncing waves, erratic rain ... Sunday had it all.  

Thank goodness we DIDN’T have the wind and rain at Milford on Saturday. 

 I think the gazebo MIGHT not have survived.

It wasn’t just the waves that were bouncing. The hound was too.

Market days mean no long ramble, especially on Milford market days.  The beach is close to hand when we do Browns Bay Market or Orewa Market so she gets to take the chauffeur to the sand.  She doesn’t at Milford though so by the time Sunday morning comes round, she’s chomping at the bit to be in the waves.

She had Bessie for company on Sunday and Molly.

Molly’s another Black Lab we’ve got to know on our daily rambles.  She’s all of 9 years old and is going blind.  The fact that she can’t see doesn’t deter her from WANTING to chase balls in the waves.  She’s eagerness personified and stands frantically waiting, ears pricked for the sound of the rugby ball hitting the water. 

She’s incredibly accurate when the ball’s in shallow water. The deeper the water where the ball is though and the less able she is to find it.  My hound reluctantly comes to the rescue.  Despite not wanting to hand her stick to Bessie, she WILL drop the stick and retrieve the ball if encouraged to do so.  She glares at me reproachfully whilst doing it and is apt to drop the ball in the shallows in her haste to return to the stick.

Molly’s just delighted to have the ball back within hearing.  

Her happiness ISN’T diluted at all by her inability to see.

Her human is another human I admire.  Despite Molly’s disability she still brings her to the beach on a regular basis and everything is done at Molly’s pace and within the limitations Molly has.  

Humans who LOVE their hounds ... they make my heart smile.

“Dogs lives are too short. You know the pain is coming, but there’s such beauty in the hard honesty of that, in accepting and giving love, while always aware that it comes with an unbearable price.” 

~ Dean Koontz

Despite the early hour of the morning that we ramble, silence ISN’T always present, especially when Bandit and the hound espy one another on the beach.  They have a VERY  vocal love affair. Their rather verbose conversation was even audible to the other half on his way down to the bus-stop this morning ... and we were down the FAR end of the beach.

Heaven help anyone trying to have a sleep-in on a week day morning!

I shall be shouting LOUDLY this Saturday ...

What an awesome weekend of rugby! It puts Carol and I at opposite ends of the field this next weekend .... she’s convinced her Chiefs are going to win and I’m just as convinced they’re not!

I think I have a traitor in my midst though ... the hound LOVES Sam’s rugby ball .... and it’s a CHIEFS rugby ball. I wonder if she knows something I don’t. Regardless of her allegiance, or anyone else’s allegiance, I shall be shouting loudly ... VERY loudly ... for my Sharks this coming Saturday.

OUR favourite tipple!

Our weather has been a bit dismal since Sunday. I didn’t have a market this weekend so, knowing we would be up 3am on Sunday morning to watch rugby, we headed out with the hound for an extra long walk on Saturday. It was a blue sky and sunshine day with the city clearly visible from Glover Park .... no clouds to obscure the view.

I did a really blonde thing at the view site. I managed to drop the lens cover over the railing and it landed on the ledge below us. Fortunately Gav was able to clamber over the railing and, using the railing for support, work his way along the ledge to where I’d dropped it. The hound thought it was a great game .... try and catch Gav’s hands as he edged along the railing. She couldn’t understand how he’d got down there.

Molly

She had a great time on the beach with Molly, another black Labrador we know. Molly’s going to be famous, she’s going to be in the 2013 Labrador Calendar put out by the Labrador Club. Molly’s 7 years old but still thinks she’s a puppy and had a great time chasing the hound’s ball while the hound worried one of the huge logs she’d managed to unearth on the beach.

The wet and woeful weather that started yesterday seems to be sticking around. There were hardly any hounds on the beach this morning, just Bandit and the Boxer we often see. My Labrador Gang was noticeable by it’s absence ... both Julia and Carol aren’t well, though I did see Carol when she walked down to the shop with Sam later during the morning.

Bandit

Bandit is SO bouncy ... he reminds me of the gymnasts we’ve been watching at the Olympics. When they do their floor exercises they seem to have springs in their feet. Bandit’s the same ... he’s like Tigger from Winnie the Pooh as he bounces through the waves. He still tries to herd the hound ... much to her annoyance. She just wants to fetch balls and logs and he’s like a niggle in her side .... always in the way!

Such characters ... such diversity .... my morning rambles just wouldn’t be the same without them.

They're like 2 little kids .... always yelling at one another!