Rainbows that only I can see.

“Don’t grieve.  Anything you lose comes round in another form.” ~ Rumi

My stall at Matakana today

Some days are good and some days are bad and when I have a bad day I need to remind myself that it’s not going to last forever.  Yesterday was a BAD day but today has been gorgeous .... a sunshiny kind of day when what’s wrong with my world seems repairable and when I feel invincible.

My world is full of rainbows .... but only I can see them.

I’ve been experimenting with Chocolatandco and lugging stock to markets further afield.  Whilst it’s fun and exciting exploring new areas and meeting new people it means earlier starts on my weekend mornings!

Yes, yes I know ... people like my friend John get up when the sun’s still sleeping EVERY morning ... but I don’t have to.  I CHOOSE to get up early to ramble with the hound on weekdays.  Hmmm .... I say it’s a CHOICE but since the teeniest of fur-balls arrived it’s like having an EXTRA alarm clock.

She has her very OWN internal clock and woe betide ANYONE who DOESN’T respond to her early morning cuddles. 

They start off gently enough .... albeit noisily.  You HEAR the purring before you FEEL the body.  She’s normally warmly ensconced between us but as her internal alarm clock goes off she stretches and stands on tippy toes ... and stretches again.  You feel the vibration of the purr as she moves up the bed and the purring intensifies as she lies on my neck.  I can not only HEAR the purring LOUDLY in my ear but my whole head is VIBRATING with the intensity of it too!

It’s designed to get me to move and, if I ignore her for long enough, she’ll head over to Gav and try her luck there.  She is one CLEVER fur-ball.

Returning it all to the studio

But back to the early mornings .... and my desire to sleep a tad longer on weekends.  It just doesn’t happen.  If we aren’t rambling, we’re at markets .... and both require an early start.  You can guess which one of those activities the hound DOESN’T like! 

Rumi’s quote comes to mind but I don’t think he meant it from a loss of sleep perspective.

Talking of Rumi, here’s another of his quotes I like ... and this one REALLY appeals!

“Forget safety. Live where you fear to live.  Destroy your reputation.  Be notorious.”

Be NOTORIOUS .... 

Tonight's moon .... before the sun set ...

.... and after the sun set.

Hercules

Oyster Catchers in flight

Bessie and Chocolat

Depraved manic dervish!

“What is photography. It’s a camera, and a lens, and a light. 

That’s it. It’s simple.” 

~ Zach Arias, photographer.

When I once said to the oldest lemming that all you need to take a photo is light, he laughed at me and told me that was obvious .... but he was missing the point!!

I was trying to portray how very simple photography needs to be and he didn’t get it .... he thought I was being dim or typically blonde. Technology, whilst providing us with the most amazing equipment, has also made photography more complicated. This chap, Zach Arias, put it in a nutshell. 

Photography IS all about the light AND how well you know your camera.

Will there EVER be a day when I DON’T learn something new?

I pinch myself some mornings to make sure I’m awake. The dark moments of the night when I’m surrounded by shadows are chased into oblivion by the awesomeness of Mother Nature. Every day begins afresh with the rising of the sun. It’s my talisman .... a sure fire reminder that life is cyclical and that nothing remains the same forever. Each day is a new one. Each day I get the chance to try living once again.

Who could ask for more.

Being enthusiastically greeted by an exuberant hound and a purring fur-ball every morning isn’t everyone’s cup of tea .... but I love it. Not only does the fur-ball purr but she also vibrates ..... vigorously! Should my alarm not wake me, I can be certain of being woken by a noisy vibrating fur-ball wrapping itself around my neck.  

Nothing’s ever normal in my world ... but would I want it to be?

I’ve worked in the shop the last 3 days so this morning’s ramble was a long one ... both the hound and I needed it. Carol’s away in Melbourne watching the tennis .... she’s a fanatical tennis nut and they’ve got tickets for both semi-finals. I hope Pete manages to restrain her during the Djovich match. He’s NOT her favourite tennis player, Djovich that is, and she’s been known to use some choice words whilst watching him play. Poor Pete .... he might have welts on his arms and be deaf by the time they return to Aux.

We did our usual early morning hike with Julia and Indy and then returned to the beach. The sunshine DOES something to my hound, I’m sure of it. She turns into a depraved manic dervish hell bent on digging up as much of the beach as she can, in order to unearth the ball or log she’s buried. Why bury it in the first place if you’re only going to dig it up again?

Suitably covered in sand and beach debris we headed back up the hill to the viewsite chasing butterflies as we walked. Watching them flutter away every time I tried to get close enough for a photo made me think of the butterfly effect in chaos theory. Simply put, the theory states that a butterfly flapping its wings in one part of the world  might ultimately cause a hurricane in another part of the world.

Hmmmm ...... so I wonder how many hurricanes we caused today!

“Find what you love and let it kill you.” 

~ Bukowski 1920 - 1994