Hope. is. everywhere.

 “Hardships often prepare ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny ...” 

~ C.S. Lewis

Takapuna Beach on a glorious Friday morning.

At times I’m discouraged by the negativity that seems to dominate my world at the moment. There are times when it brings me down. 

All I see around me is despair, a lack of confidence  and sadness.  

We see SO many different breeds of dogs there ... from this little Dachshund

It makes me lose hope for the people in my life.

... to this rather nervous German Shepherd.

Then I’m reminded of this quotation from Jack Sparrow

“The problem is not the problem. 

The problem is your attitude about the problem.  

Do you understand?”

This was the rather vocal German Shepherd's buddy.

I understand COMPLETELY.

 Attitude is everything.

Sam found a friend the same age to play with .... Richie after Richie McCaw

I have to CHOOSE to focus on the little victories.

On the magic of the moment as it happens.

On the sunshine and the blue skies.

Even on the ‘words falling out of my mouth’ thingy.

A rather grumpity looking Boxer.

Be grateful for what IS in your life because

HOPE. is. EVERYWHERE.

Had to get Carol to wait whilst I captured the reflection in her glasses ... it was sublime!

I might not be in control of the situation, 

but I am in control of my thoughts.

A Hinds Variety that we've met before ... he loves his tennis ball as much as ours love their rugby balls.

THINK good ones and REMEMBER the magical ones.

A trio of chocolate mousse .... white, milk and dark.

This moment with Sam on Friday WAS a magical one.

Another Border Collie cross

Often, when the hounds get up close and personal, it’s impossible to zoom out and refocus quickly enough to capture the feel of the moment. 

Not so in this case.

The sister of the Shetland Sheepdog duo

Sam’s face says it all.

Oh yes .... he's realised just how clever that was.

He knocked my coffee over.  

Spillages are lickable.  

Yummily so!

Yep .... that was YUMMY!

The first time was an accident.

The second DEFINITELY wasn’t.

The Sparrow that distracted me.

I was distracted by the Sparrows.  

He was distracted by my coffee ... deviously so!

It was a smile inducing moment.  

Humour by the bucketful.

A necessary accessory in this crazy world I’m living in.

The brother of the Shetland Sheepdog duo

“If you only walk on sunny days, you’ll never reach your destination.”

~ Paulo Coelho

Outside the Takapuna Cafe where we indulge our caffiene addiction after our ramble

Life can be absurd!

A photo from the weekend as the weather today was too dismal for photos

The weather this morning!

I got told today that ATTiTuDE is contagious and that my attitude was a good one to catch! I love that! It comes courtesy of one of the customers in the shop this morning. Her and I were having a good old chin-wag and laughing at the absurdness of people ... and life in general. Those were her parting words to me.

Taking cover in the bus shelter to drink our first fix of the day!

What is it that makes for a GOOD attitude? Is it my approach to life that she found so refreshing ... a positive attitude and a ready smile? I’m not sure BUT it did get me thinking .... and PEOPLE watching! 

My favourite piece of real estate lit up by the struggling sunrise.

The hound this morning ... wind and rain don't deter her.

People are FASCINATING!! I watch them as they scuttle along the sidewalk. Some are in such a hurry - places to be, people to meet .... no time for window shopping, no time for smiles. Others stroll along, waving and smiling at faces they know .... stopping to chat to acquaintances ... admiring something they see as they’re passing by.

More photos from Saturday

Ike, one of my previous neighbour's dogs

You pick up the most arbitrary snippets of conversation too. Listening to them reminds me of when Gav and I were last in New York .... sans children .... sitting on a bench in Central Park indulging in my favourite activity - people watching. We could have written the most humorous novel from the snippets of conversation we overheard .... it would have included murder, mayhem, office gossip and the inevitable love and romance!

Maggie, their other dog.

The idiosyncrasies of my fellow homo sapiens never cease to intrigue me. Walking along the beach at 6.45 this morning Julia and I see a car parked on the boat ramp .... the BOTTOM of the boat ramp .... where the WAVES are. The windows are all tinted so we can’t see if anyone’s in it though the front passenger window is down just a fraction.

It’s a wild wet morning and must have been icy during the night but the car looks like it might have spent the night there .... with or without an occupant ... who knows?

Tweedle-dee and Tweedle-dum

The waves meanwhile are starting to wash around the wheels. Julia knocks on the window ... no response .... so she knocks again. Harder. Still no response.

We both walk away from the car wondering what we should do. As we’re debating our next step the passenger window’s wound down and a very sleepy looking individual pokes his head out. We point to the waves and suggest he should move the car. He thanks us and winds the window back up.

Love the Oyster Catchers

Duty done, we move on down the beach with the hounds. There are a thousand questions we would have loved to ask him but we’ll just have to let our imagination run riot .... we’re both GOOD at that!
“Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life’s coming attractions”. ~ Albert Einstein

Hmmmm .... Gareth and Defenders!

Rambling and rugby balls go together.

Wow wow WOW ... but the weather’s turned dismal this afternoon!!!  The wind’s howling and the rain’s making music on the window panes ... what a turnaround from the last week or so. Any sunshine that was visible this morning is long gone - hidden behind these dark grey clouds that are threatening to engulf my city. 

Change is everywhere. I see it when I ramble in the mornings ... the change in the weather, like now... the change in the ocean tides and currents ... the changes taking place in our village as new buildings alter the visual facade of Tamaki Drive as I head down the hill. Change is supposedly good ... though a lot of the more elderly residents in our village might not agree!

I learn so much from my kids about change too (don’t ever tell them I said that though) ... I had a timely reminder from one of them today that attitude is everything. I can choose to deal with the chaos surrounding me and put myself above it all ... or I can choose to drown in it. Those of you who know me well will also know I have no choice ... my response to what’s happening will always be positive. I will always choose to rise above any difficulties I might face, even if, for a brief moment in time, I feel defeated.

Love the cloud formation

The hound though is NEVER defeated ... even when Indy pinches her ball and won’t give it back. She’s learnt that Indy’s attention span is way shorter than hers, especially where rugby balls are concerned ... and that eventually, without too much prompting from her, he’ll lose interest and drop the ball. He’s a Kiwi hound ... and we all know how these Kiwis play rugby.

You want me to what???? 

Rambling and rugby balls go together - from my hound’s perspective, that is - no ramble would be complete without the requisite number of kicks of a rugby ball into the waves. She was in luck this morning ... the eldest lemming has decided to join me on my morning meanders. A change to his routine and a change to mine ... not an unpleasant change I might add. You have no idea of the pleasure it gives me to open his bedroom door at 6.15 in the morning and instruct the hound to ‘GO FETCH GARETH!’ .... payback ..... for all the early mornings and sleepless nights when he was a littler version of himself!

If she wants it, she can come and take it off me!!!

I think he enjoyed the spectacle of the sun rise this morning almost as much as Julia and I did.  There was a lot of cloud cover but it was still beautiful and another reminder that change is all around us ... I can’t escape it!


Would I want to though?  

Just KICK that darn ball!

Change is what makes us grow into ourselves ... become the people we’re meant to be. Without change I’d face no obstacles, overcome no difficulties .... I’d stagnate. Without change, there wouldn’t be opportunities - I wouldn’t have this vision in my mind of where I want to be with my photography and art ... I wouldn’t have a DREAM.

Rumi’s quote, that a friend shared with me yesterday, says it all “Let yourself be silently drawn by the strange pull of what you really love.  It will not lead you astray.”

He's pinched my coffee .... he's as bad as the hound!!!