It's a HAPPY place.

The elusive Tui .... yep, I stalked him too!

"Sometimes you find yourself in the middle of nowhere, and sometimes

in the middle of nowhere you find yourself."

~ unknown

Sitting on the steps drinking our caffeine fix whilst the hounds dismantle the beach is NEVER quiet.  Not only do Carol and I talk nineteen to the dozen .... Carol’s much noisier than me .... but we’re usually joined by 1 or other lemming, and sometimes an extra, as well as a motley crew of regular ramblers.

It’s a happy place to be.  Voices fill the air .... as does laughter AND the occasional bark.  It’s an opportunity to forget the busyness of life and the stresses and just BE.

The beach could be another setting in our soap opera, another story-line where unfamiliar characters are introduced .... characters that DON’T frequent the more familiar location of the wetland that’s known as Waiatarua.  

(If you’re lost at this stage, taking a peek at this previous blog might help!)

I’m not sure that many of the hounds that ramble the boardwalk would be permitted to go to Waiatarua.  For one, they’d get muddy and two, they’d get wet.

The beach is slowly becoming as social a place for the hounds though as Waiatarua.

Patiently waiting on the beach
for the others to arrive.  Cayl's is
playing with her phone.

We didn’t know WHAT was happening this morning when we heard a thunderous noise on the boardwalk behind us.  It sounded like horses galloping.  As we all turned to look Charlie, the Golden Lab shot down the stairs with her human in tow.  I’m still not sure if her human’s feet even TOUCHED the stairs.  Charlie had dragged her slipping and sliding all along the boardwalk in his determination to say hi to our hounds. She bemusedly apologised as we all chuckled.  Who would have thought that a human and a hound could make SUCH a racket!

Not quite the gentle morning stroll her human had envisaged. 

Charlie after having said hi to the hounds

Carol's learnt how to retrieve rugby balls too!

The hound takes her role as Sam’s minder very seriously.  No wannabee Labrador is going to pinch her mate’s ball .... not on her watch.  The wannabee Labrador in question got put in his place in no uncertain terms when he grabbed Sam’s ball as Sam came bounding out of the waves.  He hadn’t counted on being chastised by my girl.  She bounded over as only she can and charged between the hounds, snarling at the new comer.  He understandably let go as Sam, rather smugly, trotted up the beach with his ball proudly held in his mouth. 

Her look as she trotted along behind him said it all.  DON’T mess with me and my boy.

The hounds are loving the higher tides we’re having this week and they’re all thanks to the perigee full moon.  It has been breathtakingly beautiful.

A full moon on a clear night is magical but a full moon setting over my city on a clear morning is even more mind-blowing.  I’ve had the best of both words this week and have captured some awesome shots of this spectacular full moon.  Yesterday the clear skies meant I captured the start of the sunrise over Browns Island AS WELL AS the moon setting over my city.  How cool is that.

I LOVE Full Moons .... and not just because I get to ride on my broomstick.  It’s been way too cold to fire THAT up in the evenings this week.  There’s an extra kind of energy around at full moon .... I think the hounds feel it too.  It’s difficult to explain but it leaves me feeling buoyed, upbeat .... energised even! 

That moon is a connection to all I hold dear ... love, friendship, family .... and at full moon, I feel that connection even more deeply.  To all my friends and family out there, no matter where in the world you are, I love and miss you all!

Some of the photo art on display at last week's Orewa market.