Life is messy.

Reflections at Panmure Basin

“It’s all messy: 

The hair.  

The bed.  

The words.  

The heart.  

Life.” 

~ William Leal

Life is short.  

And messy. Very messy.

One of the images from our rambles last week

Thoughts have crept unbidden into my mind this last week.

Early morning rambles do that.

It’s the solitude.

No one else around.

Just the hound and I.

And that glorious red glow in the sky.

We like it like that.

It leaves room to think.

To ponder on the loss I’m feeling.

Loved ones, be it family or friends, leave holes that aren’t easily filled.

We even got to ramble with the oldest lemming and two of his charges
Chase and the rather gorgeous Walter

The hound knows when my heart is sore.

So much is read in those soulful eyes.

Every move she makes is aimed to please.

She nudges my hand as we walk.

Drops the rugby ball for me to kick.

Another image from my rambles this last week

No matter how ineffectual the kick, 

she pounces on the ball with gusto.

Her enthusiasm and waggling bum can’t help but elicit a smile.

Our ramble this morning though was about to get messy.

Courtesy of a discarded fully inflated soccer ball.

Her delight on finding this treasure was infectious.

How could I not grin?

Chase and the hound whuispering sweet nothings
in each other's ears.

No Labrador’s mouth though is large enough to carry TWO balls.

Unless you’re Chase the Chocolate Labrador 

who quite comfortably fits 3 to 4  tennis balls in his mouth.

Even HE though would struggle with a rugby ball AND a soccer ball.

It’s just not possible.

So she worked out a plan.

Chase with only 2 balls in his mouth

She carried one ball a few hundred metres, dropped it, 

then went back for the other.

Our ramble back to the car was slower than the ramble from it.

Walter ... he might be old but there's nothing wrong with his attitude

Neither ball was left behind though.

BOTH came home with her.

It was a lesson in ingenuity,

but farcical in the extreme.

Mornings like this make any messy moments in life more bearable.

No matter how sad I might feel,

no matter the voids loved ones leave,

I can’t help but feel that my life is blessed.

“A good life is when you smile often, dream big, 

laugh a lot and realise how blessed you are for what you have.” 

~ anon.

Water .... mud .... logs ..... AND birthday girls!!

Ready and raring to go!

Hmmmm ... what do you get when Indy decides to eat the cat food?  Cat food and water scattered all over the kitchen floor and Indy racing outside with the cat bowl in his mouth wanting to be chased!!!  My hound didn’t mind .... she got to hoover the cat food off the kitchen floor ... she knows she can’t touch it when it’s in the bowl but it’s a different matter entirely when it’s spread all over the

floor ... Indy has yet to learn that the cat food in this house is out of bounds!


Indy’s antics always amuse me and it got our day going with a smile!


It’s Julia’s birthday (28th) and she invited the hound and I to spend the day with her and Indy.  The original plan had been that we’d go to Waiheke Island but if the weather turns foul and you’re stuck there for the day it isn’t much fun .... so we went to Auckland Botanic Gardens instead.  

What a gorgeous place, and within half an hour drive of home .... hounds are welcome there ... they even have a marvelous off-leash area with a pond and a river ... my hound was in her element!


She found the duck pond first though ... the “out-of-bounds to swimming hounds” one and decided to join the ducks for a swim.  I’d been half expecting this to happen but we’d successfully negotiated our way around a large part of the pond and I’d relaxed my grip on the lead.  I should know by now .... water and my hound are inseparable ... I had to drag her out kicking and screaming and make haste for the off-leash area!!

Close up of the sculpture

There she found just what she was looking for ..... water ... mud .... logs .... what more could a hound possibly want!!  She was spoilt for choice where logs were concerned and swopped one log for another and another again .... happily charging past Julia and I with no regard for

our legs or clothes ... what’s a little mud to a girl!  One log did put up a fight ... that could have had something to do with it still being attached to a tree .... the log came off the victor.  Even MY hound, with her iron-strength jaw, couldn’t detach it regardless of how hard she tugged!

No matter HOW hard she tugged, she couldn't detach this one!

Indy did what he does best ... explore .... explore .... and explore some more!  So many new scents ... so many trees to examine .... so many shrubs to look under.  Typical Indy though..... he even managed to find some  discarded food!!

Why is it though that when Julia and I go exploring we come across couples in compromising situations!! We’ve had it happen to us on Ladies Bay and it happened again at the Botanic Gardens.  We visited the African garden .... all the Aloes and Proteas, Strelitzias and even a Quiver tree ...

just so many recognisable plants and trees. That’s where we found our couple ... him sitting forward on a bench ... her sitting on the floor facing him with her legs under the bench and her head at the level of his thighs .... somehow I don’t think they were just talking ....

I forgot to show Julia how to zoom out on my camera!

We’ve had a wonderfully special kind of day .... lots of walking ... lots of talking .... a delicious lunch ... laughs aplenty with our hounds ... and in addition, Julia introduced me to what I know is going to become one of my favourite shops!!  Gordon Harris Art Supplies ... a treasure trove of absolutely essential items that make a creative soul’s heart beat faster!  It’s like being a kid in a candy shop ... only my sweets are of the paper and craft kind!  I could have spent hours in there doing the Indy thing ... but the hounds were waiting in the car so we had to keep our visit short.  


Thank you Julia for inviting us to share your special day with you .... it has been so much fun and the bonus ...  we've found another gorgeous place to explore!

I have taken so many photos today .... over 300 I think and even after judicious editing there are still way to many to put on my blog.  I'm going to load some of the others ... no, not all 300 .... onto an album on my Facebook page and I'll make it public so it's visible to anyone who enjoys my blog ... or just enjoys my photos!

Hmmm ... close up of the Prickly Pear spikes ... what a well protected plant!

I just love sunflowers ... I love the way they follow the sun across the sky ... my kind of flowers!

One would have thought they'd be tired after our busy day .. but nope ... they still have energy to have a
tug-of-war over Chocolat's teddy!

It puts Midsomer Murders to shame!

The sun rise this morning was AMAZING!

I just LOVE living in my little village ... and not just for the reasons you’re expecting!  Yes ... I love it’s proximity to the waves .... I love being able to see Rangitoto and Browns Island and the Coromandel in the far distance.  I love the view site and the public reserves and the secluded beaches, even

the nudist one.  The beauty of each and every day, regardless of the weather, never ceases to excite me .... but there’s more to my little village than just the scenic beauty of it ... I love the people too .... especially my humans with hounds!!  

Everyone knows everyone else .... but ..... there’s always that someone who knows far more than the rest of us about everybody .... well, everybody that’s worth knowing about, that is.  I just love it ... it puts Midsomer Murders to shame!!  The only thing missing are the bodies ... dead ones of course.  We don’t seem to have many of those ... though I can think of a few residents of our little village that would not be missed should they suddenly disappear ... does the acronym GOM mean anything to anyone?

I steer clear of the ladies who like to know all ... they’re often well-intentioned but can’t help repeating everything they hear ... regardless of the accuracy of the information they have. The story of the broken telephone comes to mind

Indy pretending to be a statue

 ... how a story can be embellished beyond recognition in a few short hours. 


 I can only assume that the storytellers in question have very little else to do with their time ..... they obviously don’t own hounds.

It’s not just the village gossip though .... or my humans with hounds  ... it’s the relationships you develop with the owners and employees at the various shops in the village.  I love the everyday banter at the coffee shop with Pete and the girls .... cricket and rugby are always on the menu .... particularly when

What she loves to do after swimming in the waves!

the Kiwi’s are winning. There’s always someone to say hello to .... Meredith from the pharmacy .... Gerry, my doctor, who’s expecting her first baby soon .... the owner of Bakers Delight who’s forever giving us samples of new products to try ... the friendly staff at the Post Shop, especially the manager ... he’s always got a cheerful greeting if you happen to pass him in the village.

It got me thinking about the friends that I’ve made since I’ve lived in the village ... I quite honestly can’t think of a single one that doesn’t own a hound, apart from our neighbours Rae and Gordon.  They used to own a King Charles Spaniel but since they’ve both retired, and since they travel so very much, they

Cruise Liner coming into the harbour

decided against replacing their much loved last one.


It reinforces for me the belief that humans who love their hounds are my type of people ... there’s a connection to them that isn’t there with those who don’t or never have owned hounds. I still have to hide a smile when the

The "Old Boys" of the boardwalk .. Sonny and Sebastian

hound shakes herself on the boardwalk and water droplets fly every where .... the humans WITHOUT hounds cringe .... I so want to remind them that it’s ONLY water!


Everyone I meet ... everyone I have contact with .... adds something to

my life ... yep, even the GOM.  He makes me aware of how sad life COULD be if I allowed intolerance and prejudice to have an impact on me. I am too positive to be doubtful .... too optimistic to be fearful of a future I cannot determine and way too determined to EVER find myself defeated.

Last night's sunset