"Why do you sit there like an envelope ....

Haha ....  a quotation I love .... from a list of glorious insults before the English language got boiled down to 4 letter words! Thanks Smiles!!!   It  describes exactly how I feel sometimes ... those days when I feel I have no idea where I’m going .. figuratively that is .... or what my purpose in life really is ... those days when I really don’t know which way to turn ... and yes, they do happen ... probably to all of us!

Mark Twain once said “Why do you sit there like an envelope with no address on it?”

Ha ... I love it ..... the analogy is brilliant ..... directionless .... that’s exactly how I feel sometimes!

Those moments are fleeting though .. but they do exist ..... the confidence and belief I have in myself does sometimes wane .. and it’s in those moments that I feel lost ... no fixed abode! Fortunately they don’t last long and I do think they’re very necessary .... they’re often a time for re-appraisal and a look-see at where I’m at ... check the compass .. make sure I’m heading in the right direction!

My bay this morning was very grey!

I choose to be a full participant in this life of mine .... it’s no good being here ... in this spot in the world .... at this moment in time .... and not participate fully in it!  I will always see the glass as “half full” ... I am and always have been an eternal optimist ..... blonde maybe ... but an optimist nevertheless!  So ..... when I get that “directionless” feeling ..... it’s time to check the compass again .... see which direction I should be heading in.

The hound is an eternal optimist too ... she has a compass and a clock .....  “built-in” ..... I’m sure of it!!  She knows what time we should be exiting the front door .... which direction we should be heading in .... where she should .... purely as a token gesture .... place her bum on the kerb before crossing the road.   I’m sure the cars coming to the intersection of Cliff Road and Tamaki Drive expect her to step out on to the road ...... but she doesn’t ..... she walks to the side of the road and sits on the very edge of the kerb ...... for a big Labrador she has the position VERY finely tuned .... 1mm further forward and she’d overbalance onto the road!

I could probably do our walk blindfolded ... holding onto her lead .... she’d know exactly at which point to cross the road ..... which corners to turn ..... she probably even knows which people we’re likely to bump into and how long I’m likely to spend chatting to them ... she’s got it all sussed out .. this hound of mine .... no flies on her!

Bessie, the black Labrador Cross we played with on the beach on Sunday, does seem to have a few screws missing from her head though ..... she was so intent on retrieving my hound’s rugby ball
that she left her small orange ball bobbing out at sea.  Her human picked up a stone and threw it near the orange ball .... Bessie swam out after the stone and completely ignored the ball .... returning to the beach sans stone or ball.  He throws another stone .. bigger this time ... right next to the ball ... Bessie swims out again ...  swims right OVER the ball and returns to the beach still without ball or

Looking down on a board paddler from the view site

stone!  He throws a third stone .... and it lands in the water about a metre ahead of the ball .... off goes Bessie and just as we all expect her to swim right over the ball again ... she grabs it and returns to shore .... hooray!!!   If she wasn’t so black I would have said she was having a few serious blonde moments!!!

Despite my hound’s affability and optimistic temperament there are still some hounds we meet who have serious issues and just want to eat her.  We had an unfortunate encounter with one of these on Ladies Bay this morning .... and my hound did come off the worse ... a bite to her stomach and a very wounded pride ... poor baby :(   I can’t be angry with the owner of the aggressive hound or the dog itself ... it’s a rescued dog and has been severely ill-treated in the past. I’m hoping that the incident will make Chocolat a little more cautious when approaching unknown dogs ..... but she’s a Labrador ... nothing is ever done at half pace or without full enthusiasm.

She is participating in her life fully ... as only a Labrador can ..... 100% enthusiasm .... 100% love ..... 100% smiles .....