Deep down, Sam wants to be a CHOCOLATE hound!!

Tired hounds .... after a morning at Waiatarua

What you do EVERY day matters more than what you do once in a while.

Fueling up on the important stuff before we take them on their ramble.

EVERY day I greet the sun .... when I can see it, that is .... with a smile. It’s my early morning reminder that life is never static, change is all around us and that each sunrise brings with it a fresh beginning.

Every day I wash my trainers. They’re generally full of either mud or sand and sea water. Every day I optimistically believe that maybe, just maybe, I might not have to wash them that day at all .... that I could begin the day AFTER my ramble WITHOUT having to clean my shoes.

It’s a forlorn hope. I’m one of those people who can’t go to the beach and NOT get wet, no matter how hard I try. Those waves, they just keep coming regardless of how far up the beach I walk. I guess it doesn’t help having a hound that thinks she belongs in the water. The plentiful showers that accompany this water-loving hound DON’T help me stray dry.

Walking at Waiatarua DOESN’T help either ..... the sand and sea water gets replaced by mud .... lots of it. 

The rain we had yesterday has turned Waiatarua into a quagmire again .... NOT that the hounds mind. They think they’ve died and gone to doggie heaven! It’s difficult to see the mud on my hound ..... she just changes colour from a chocolate brown hound to a muddy brown hound. On Sam though, it’s a different story. The mud is displayed in all it’s GLORY ... and BOY .... can he get MUDDY!! I think, deep down, he WANTS to be a chocolate hound!

There was much excitement at the dog pond! Sam got out of his depth and started to SWIM!  I’m not sure yet if HE’S aware that he knows how to swim though. There was an inordinate amount of splashing with his front paws before he got into a rhythm and took off after Chocolat. It was wonderful to see as he’s been so cautious about going out of his depth.

It might still be a while before he plucks up the courage to swim in the waves so Carol’s days of retrieving the ball for him when the hound and I aren’t there might NOT be over yet. He’s got Chocolat and her SO well-trained. I just need to train Brian now to take photos of these defining moments when they happen!

We stopped at Nosh for some well-earned breakfast on the way home and were asked by a couple for directions to a road in Glen Innes. My friends will know I’m VERY navigationally challenged but I’ve met my match in Carol .... she’s even WORSE than me if that’s at all possible! She was inside paying when the couple asked for directions. I told them Carol might know where the road is but asking her for directions could be dangerous ... they might end up on the other side of North Island.

Look Mom .... NO feet!!

They chuckled as they didn’t think I was serious ..... but I was! BOTH Carol and I are capable of getting lost in our own back yard. There is greatness in each and every one of us but in our case, it’s NOT navigation!

A sad moment for me at the end of my day .... the news that a dear friend back in South Africa has passed away. I got to know Frances through working in the Library at Highbury many years ago when my boys were in Junior School. She had a wicked sense of humour and the biggest of hearts. It's at moments like this that I feel the distance between here and SA. RIP Frances .... you will be remembered with much love.

Mist .... MUD ..... and Mayhem!

Julia, Anna and Carol with the hounds .... at the look-out point above the dog pond

“Above all, BE the HEROINE in your life ..... NOT the victim.:" ~ Nora Ephron .... Amen to that!


MIST .... MUD .... and MAYHEM!!


Mud ... GLORIOUS mud .... and more mud .... at Waiatarua this morning! The hounds LOVED it. On a day like today you go there knowing you’re going to get wet, muddy and cold .... you don’t have a choice!

Carol and Sam were coming to the reserve with us too .... as was Julia’s niece, Anna. Carol collected the hound and I and, after picking up our VERY necessary caffeine fix - it’s cold, you know .... we headed to the reserve to meet the others.

A rather muddy Sam

Meeting up with them proved a tad more difficult than expected. Carol parks in a different car-park to where Julia normally parks. No problem we thought ... we’ll just head in the direction of where they’re parked and meet up with them. Forgot one thing though ... I’m directionally challenged. I am USELESS ... yes, capital letters USELESS .... at navigation. It is NOT one of my strengths. Getting LOST is one of my strengths. We’ve discovered many weird and wonderful places when we get lost .... but NAVIGATION isn’t.

Sasha's managed to stay a lot cleaner than Sam

We've found someone's ball

Carol’s directionally challenged too .... must be something to do with us sharing the same name. It was like the blind leading the blind .... round in circles .... quite literally. I think Julia and Anna probably traversed the entire reserve before stumbling upon us. Indy was delighted to see the hound and Sam. Julia hadn’t had time to walk him yesterday so his energy levels were at an all-time high!

Visibility WASN’T good today - the mist was thicker than I’ve ever seen it at the reserve and as for the MUD .... it was doggie heaven! It wasn’t just the hound that needed a wash-down with the COLD hosepipe when we got home ... yours truly did too.

Life is short. Live it!

Whilst I love walking on the beach and wading through the waves I so enjoy walking in the reserve too. It’s a completely different kind of ramble for the hounds .... they can be off-leash the entire time and we seldom encounter anyone who doesn’t like hounds. It’s one of the few places where the entire reserve is off-leash for dogs despite there being a bird wetland there. The hounds soon learn they can’t go in the water where the birds are and that Ducks and Pukeko are too silly to chase! 

White chocolate and milk chocolate mousse

My hound is EXHAUSTED with a capital E. I’m downstairs in the office/shop sorting out stock for the market tomorrow and she’s stretched out on the carpet FAST ASLEEP .... tongue out ..... snoring. I’ve been upstairs twice to fetch things and she hasn’t budged. Normally she’d be trotting up the stairs behind me to see where I’m going.

If my next life, I’m definitely coming back as my hound!!