When is a nudist NOT a nudist?

 "Hide your craziness behind a BEAUTIFUL smile!"

 ~ Paulo Coelho

When is a nudist NOT a nudist?

Early morning red skies on our way up to the view-site.

According to Wikipedia, nudity or nakedness

is the “state of wearing no clothing”. 

It should be an ART form. 

The wearing of clothing is a predominantly human characteristic .  

It evolved from our functional need to PROTECT ourselves AGAINST COLD after the loss of body hair, and migration to colder climes.  

Yes, inane information provider Google regurgitated that little tit-bit (no pun intended).

No, it's NOT upside down, it's a reflection ... they were amazing this morning.

So why the question?

On our ramble this morning we happened upon the GOM.  

Not face to face you understand, as some of our more confrontational

encounters in the past have been, but at a distance.  

The faces she pulls when she catches a shell ... a new game we play on the beach

He was taking his early morning dip in Ladies Bay and we’d been watching the sunrise from the viewing platform.  We knew it was GOM courtesy of the red fleece discarded on the rocks with his clothing. 

 It’s his trademark ... the red fleece that is.  

He was swimming naked which isn’t unusual in Ladies Bay.  

We weren’t intentionally playing voyeur but happened to glance down as he waded into the water.  

A white derriere at that time in the morning is hard to miss. 

His attire ... or lack thereof ... got me thinking.

When is a nudist NOT a nudist?  

He wasn’t wearing any clothes but he WAS wearing a swimming cap.

Is that still classified as nudism?

The significant other remarked that at his age ... GOM, not significant other

 ... he’s probably wanting to keep warm the parts of his body that still work.  

Hence the cap.

Yep ... there's a shell about to enter her mouth!

It was early in the morning and the significance of this comment 

didn’t register for a few seconds. 

Then it left me chuckling!

Yes, I’m blonde.

I like it when the sight of GOM makes me chuckle rather than boil though.

Julia and I took the hounds to Big King park ... yep, another reserve on a volcanic cone
 ... views all around Auckland.

The hound of course didn’t understand all this hilarity so early in the morning.

“The unexpected is waiting for you. And it contains great good. Our next insight, our next opening, our next opportunity often comes when we least expect it. Never think for a moment that "the game is over." It’s not. Just when all the chips are down, the chins should be up. So...chin up. This round may not have gone well, but I promise you, this is not the last word.” 

~ Neale Donald Walsch

Did you know that your furry feline was a sadistic killer?

Full Moon once again this evening

Between Grumpy Old Men and Gareth Morgan we sure AREN’T being deprived of mirthful moments.  For those who DON’T live in NZ, Gareth Morgan is an NZ philanthropist with some rather radical ideas about a variety of things, cats being one of them. He believes cats are responsible for the dramatic decline in the native bird population here in NZ. He has suggested, amongst other things, that anyone with a cat as a pet, should NOT replace it when it dies.

He calls cats sadistic killers.

All the Hibiscus are in bloom at the moment ... gorgeous colours!

It’s not the first time he’s courted controversy.

Last year he told the Greens they don't understand economics, urged farmers to abandon "environmental retards”, and suggested that the tax and welfare systems needed an overhaul. He's co-authored several books setting out his opinion on climate change, public health, the world's fisheries - because he believes they’re running out, and the finance industry.

Tower Bakery .... he makes the MOST delicious almond croissants!

He’s an entertaining, albeit arrogant, individual and, where the cat issue is concerned, has opened up a hornet’s nest!

Whilst I understand and can see logic in some of the suggestions he’s made to curtail the “murder rate” of native birds here in NZ, I think he’s missing the bigger picture. Endemic birds here in NZ aren’t only being killed by cats ... we have stoats, rats and possums too ... and man! The native birds natural habitat is being over-run by introduced birds who were bought into the country as game birds or as a biological control, amongst other things. 

Bear in mind, stoats and possums are introduced mammals in this country too. Possums have become a serious menace because of the effect their eating habits have on native bush. Possums were originally introduced for hunting and possum skins have now become an export commodity, generating huge income. No chance of eradicating them now.

There are so many other “pests” which are contributing to the decline in the native bird numbers too ... man being one of them. It seems grossly unfair to only target the domestic cat. In my humble opinion, Mr. Morgan needs to do a bit more homework on the subject.

Phew .... I feel better already for having aired my view. 

This sea-gull didn't like us being at the view-site. He was trying to chase us away.

There are so many things we, as responsible pet-owners, can do to help curtail the problem. Keeping our fur-balls in at night is one of them, ensuring they always wear a collar and a bell when they go out is another. Our fur-balls are cunning though .... they find ways and means to overcome the disadvantages that wearing a collar and bell cause.

Shimmer, the “cat-who-lived” has the unenviable reputation of having managed to disown more than a dozen collars and bells! Somewhere on Waimarie Street, near where we used to live, she’s created a stash of gorgeous kitty collars and bells. How she manages to get them off is anyone’s guess. Someone, somewhere is making money out of this!

Now that my rant’s over I’ll end with a quotation which is so true of my life this last year.

“As I look back on my life I realise that every time I thought I was being rejected from something good, I was actually being redirected to something better.”

 ~ Steve Maraboli - motivational speaker and author