To insanity and beyond ...: 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!