It's a soap opera ... with feathers!

“Your mind is vast. 

Your heart is wide, your soul is deep.  

Do not let anyone make you feel small so they can feel big.  

Your power is within you.  You are extraordinary.” 

~ unknown

I’m one of the luckiest people in the world.  

I get to ramble with the hound each and every day regardless of the weather. 

 I get to commune with nature ... touch base with my soul

 ... witness the world waking up.  

Kick that ball .....

BREATHE in, BREATHE out .... exhale negativity, inhale peace.  Happiness is a choice and I CHOOSE it regardless of the difficulties life keeps throwing our way.  They’re just ANOTHER hill to climb.

She's so gorgeous when she's dry!

Early morning sounds intrigue me.  One would think that at a time of the day when most of the world is still waking, that it would be peaceful .... silent .... STILL even.  

Not so.  

As spring approaches the decibel level of the Dawn Chorus rises.  

I feel a smidgeon of sympathy for those still trying to sleep as we hike to the view-site
 .... but only a smidgeon.  

Sleeping when the sun’s up is sacrilege ... at least in my eyes that is.

Those feathered friends I like to photograph sure know how to make a racket though.

 In my part of the world it’s the Tui and the Bellbird that wake first and initiate the chorus.  

They’re the birds with the largest eyes and large eyes are the most light-sensitive.  

As the sun rises more and more join in until you have a veritable cacophony assaulting your ears.

The little girl Kingfisher was BACK on the beach this morning!

It’s NOT always very musical.

... and sat there as I got closer

Despite calling it a chorus, it isn’t really a chorus at all ..... but a COMPETITION.  

It’s full of intrigue and weighted with consequence.

... and still closer!

Sexual consequence ... particularly in Spring.

Birdsong is all about territory ... ownership .... making a statement 

.... attracting AND keeping a female.

So what’s a male to do when he’s got his female and doesn’t want to lose her?  

He has to rise before the sun's up and woo his mate with song. 

He needs to be ready, eager and willing for copulation the minute she leaves the nest.  

Any delay on his part, any flaw in his song and she’ll be off looking for a more
robust male to father her offspring. 

He who sings LOUDEST and LONGEST and floods his mate’s consciousness with HIS song from the moment she wakes is less likely to be CUCKOLDED.

That early morning spring air is rife with hidden and deceitful liaisons!

It’s a SOAP OPERA .... with feathers!

But back to the present .... and our ramble.

A TRIO of chocolate mousse!

The Labrador Gang was out in force, joined this morning by a whole heap of hounds
 ... big, small, smaller, round, skinny, old, young ... you name it, it was there.  

Balls changed paws, teeth were bared.  

Bandit got nipped on his ear, not that he even noticed.  

As is his wont he was determinedly trying to herd Sam along the shoreline but Sam WON’T be herded.  

Bandit even took to grabbing Sam’s tail as he swam out to retrieve his ball.

Our Labs have one-track minds though and despite all the distractions and interference, the rugby ball was priority number ONE.  I lost count of the number of times Keith and Sarah and I tossed rugby ball after rugby ball after yellow ball into the waves.  

The yellow ball was Bessie’s but she was monopolising one of the rugby balls so the yellow ball got left in the waves ... temporarily.

A rather TIRED Bessie!

Eventually after much to-ing and fro-ing Sam fetched the yellow ball and dropped it on the sand .... luckily for Keith.  He might have had to wade out and save it, not something he would have wanted to do on his day off!

“Whatever you do mindfully is meditation.” 

~ Thich Nhat Hanh

A rather muddy Sam!

It's a HAPPY place.

The elusive Tui .... yep, I stalked him too!

"Sometimes you find yourself in the middle of nowhere, and sometimes

in the middle of nowhere you find yourself."

~ unknown

Sitting on the steps drinking our caffeine fix whilst the hounds dismantle the beach is NEVER quiet.  Not only do Carol and I talk nineteen to the dozen .... Carol’s much noisier than me .... but we’re usually joined by 1 or other lemming, and sometimes an extra, as well as a motley crew of regular ramblers.

It’s a happy place to be.  Voices fill the air .... as does laughter AND the occasional bark.  It’s an opportunity to forget the busyness of life and the stresses and just BE.

The beach could be another setting in our soap opera, another story-line where unfamiliar characters are introduced .... characters that DON’T frequent the more familiar location of the wetland that’s known as Waiatarua.  

(If you’re lost at this stage, taking a peek at this previous blog might help!)

I’m not sure that many of the hounds that ramble the boardwalk would be permitted to go to Waiatarua.  For one, they’d get muddy and two, they’d get wet.

The beach is slowly becoming as social a place for the hounds though as Waiatarua.

Patiently waiting on the beach
for the others to arrive.  Cayl's is
playing with her phone.

We didn’t know WHAT was happening this morning when we heard a thunderous noise on the boardwalk behind us.  It sounded like horses galloping.  As we all turned to look Charlie, the Golden Lab shot down the stairs with her human in tow.  I’m still not sure if her human’s feet even TOUCHED the stairs.  Charlie had dragged her slipping and sliding all along the boardwalk in his determination to say hi to our hounds. She bemusedly apologised as we all chuckled.  Who would have thought that a human and a hound could make SUCH a racket!

Not quite the gentle morning stroll her human had envisaged. 

Charlie after having said hi to the hounds

Carol's learnt how to retrieve rugby balls too!

The hound takes her role as Sam’s minder very seriously.  No wannabee Labrador is going to pinch her mate’s ball .... not on her watch.  The wannabee Labrador in question got put in his place in no uncertain terms when he grabbed Sam’s ball as Sam came bounding out of the waves.  He hadn’t counted on being chastised by my girl.  She bounded over as only she can and charged between the hounds, snarling at the new comer.  He understandably let go as Sam, rather smugly, trotted up the beach with his ball proudly held in his mouth. 

Her look as she trotted along behind him said it all.  DON’T mess with me and my boy.

The hounds are loving the higher tides we’re having this week and they’re all thanks to the perigee full moon.  It has been breathtakingly beautiful.

A full moon on a clear night is magical but a full moon setting over my city on a clear morning is even more mind-blowing.  I’ve had the best of both words this week and have captured some awesome shots of this spectacular full moon.  Yesterday the clear skies meant I captured the start of the sunrise over Browns Island AS WELL AS the moon setting over my city.  How cool is that.

I LOVE Full Moons .... and not just because I get to ride on my broomstick.  It’s been way too cold to fire THAT up in the evenings this week.  There’s an extra kind of energy around at full moon .... I think the hounds feel it too.  It’s difficult to explain but it leaves me feeling buoyed, upbeat .... energised even! 

That moon is a connection to all I hold dear ... love, friendship, family .... and at full moon, I feel that connection even more deeply.  To all my friends and family out there, no matter where in the world you are, I love and miss you all!

Some of the photo art on display at last week's Orewa market.

It could be a SOAP opera!

It could be a soap opera!! A glimpse into the lives of the humans and hounds that frequent the wetland known as Waiatarua. I have a script, a location, a cast .... and some of the most unbelievable characters. 

It has drama, intrigue, suspense .... you name it, I’ve got it!

The defining feature of a soap opera  is that it has a continuous open narrative .... each episode ends with the promise that the storyline will be continued in another episode. We have all that and more!! We have more than one storyline .... several of which run concurrently and at times, interconnect with one another. Not all the characters appear in every episode ... typical of any soap.

Most are set in one familiar location with occasional forays to other locations. 

We have that too!

I think I’m on to a winner!!

Our rambles have DRAMA .... in bucketfuls! Woe betide anyone who runs off with Sam or Chocolat’s ball and not bring it back. OUR hackles rise ... NOT the hounds! Carol in full flight is a sight to behold, she doesn’t mince words. 

We have INTRIGUE ... of the highest order. We make plans .... or PLOT .... to rid the park of inconsiderate hound owners. You know the kind I mean ... the ones who don’t SCOOP after their hounds POOP! There are far too many of those at Waiatarua at the moment and I’m running out of poop bags!!

Ebony ... trying to tempt one of them to come and take it off her.

We DEFINITELY have our own version of SUSPENSE 

.... fighting birds, amorous hounds, grumpy humans. 

I could go on and on and on but I think you get the picture. I’d thought of giving you a brief synopsis of the characters but I’m not sure that’s such a good idea. For a start the characters in the daily soaps on TV are generally well-groomed, beautiful, sexy and usually very wealthy. I’m not saying my fellow ramblers aren’t beautiful or sexy but we’re certainly NOT well-groomed when we ramble .... anything but. Trainers and shorts are the order of the day for me when I ramble .... ditto for Carol .... and Julia adds the stripy socks .... all the better to SEE her with!

She's lost her ball .... very confused!

Days like today .... wet, woeful but NOT windy .... deter the ‘precious’ kind of pooch owners from rambling at Waiatarua. They’re the well-groomed ones, with make-up and jewellery and VERY clean hounds ... no MUD on them. Goodness knows HOW they manage to avoid the mud ... it’s EVERYWHERE! 

It got stuck for Sam too ... but he saw it!

We make mischief when we ramble. We solve the problems of the world ... but not our own. We know who’s going to win the Rugby Championship .... but we’ve each picked a different team. We discuss the dramas that are unfolding in each of our lives ... the fire .... me moving house again ... Julia’s toothache. We discuss our hounds and the impact they have on our lives ...... AND ....... we drink COFFEE!

All the necessary ingredients for a really good soapy!

Indy found himself a stick to chew on!

Even Shadow went for a swim!

Julia's making a habit of ending up on her bum ... can't imagine why.

Shadow WON'T take the ball from Chocolat

She's winking at me!