Good vibrations

“What lies before us and what lies behind us are small matters compared to what lies within us and, 

when you bring what is within out into the world,  

miracles happen.”

~ Henry David Thoreau

Love this view of the city!

I was recently told by a very dear friend that rising to challenges 

whilst still being able to kick off my shoes is my speciality.

I like that.

Especially the kicking off the shoes bit.

Early morning mist over the Sculpture Trail on the Kaipara Coast

I think the challenges of the last few years have allowed lots of practice.

.... and another one

There are some little things though that still stump me!

Leaving a warm comfy bed is one of them.

Contrary to popular opinion

I do NOT leap out of bed bright-eyed and bushy-tailed of a morning.

Especially at THIS time of the year.

"Cowtitude" .... a cow with attitude

Mornings are DARKER.

COLDER.

FAR less inviting.

Snuggling up under the duvet as the alarm reaches it’s crescendo 

is my way of trying to escape the chilly morning air.

Murawai Beach ... love it  on mornings like this

Whilst I try and ignore the alarm, the hound does anything but.

To her, it’s the signal to rise and shine

‘Shining’ being the furthest thing from my mind!

The warmth of that bed is SO tempting.

As I resignedly emerge from under the covers

she leaps off the bed with an enthusiasm I can’t even begin to muster.

My favourite spa buddy ... the Lady Kereru

Zombie-like, I move round the flat, chocolate brown shadow in tow.

There’s a furball to feed.

Curtains to open.

A bed to make.

The theory behind making the bed is that I can’t climb back in.

Well ... technically I could - but then I’d have to make it again.

Way too much effort.

Breakfast on the rocks

The upside for persevering with this early morning rising, even in winter,

are the sun rises I’m witness to at this time of year.

They’re breathtaking.

Ample reward indeed!

They feed my heart and soul in a manner that’s beyond quantifying.

I vibrate BACK the energy they give out.

That can ONLY be a good thing.

“The universe is not punishing you or blessing you.  

The universe is simply responding to the vibrational attitude you are emitting.”

~ anon

Tigger lost her bounce.

The lop-sided smiling lemming with his sister.

The skies look and feel oppressive today ... courtesy of that tropical cyclone working it’s way up the country I guess.  Why is it though that I sometimes wake on mornings like this feeling overwhelmed by the worries of the world.

One of my favourite cars parked in a disabled bay and the owner was definitely NOT disabled.

The greyness of the day matches my mood.

A road trip to the Waitakere Ranges and then a ramble

Even the brilliance of the weekend that WAS doesn’t change how I feel today.  

It’s not the words falling out of my mouth thingy this morning,

 it’s the tears wanting to fall from my eyes.

These two were also heading out for a ramble

For a brief moment in time, Tigger’s lost her bounce.

I just don’t get it.  I love rambling in the rain. 

I love the moodiness and the melancholy of mornings like this

 .... the starkness of the landscape, the monochromatic colour.

There’s so much to see, even though it appears hidden.

Sunday was gorgeous!

So WHY am I feeling so gloomy?

It’s mornings like this that remind me of how many shades of grey there are in the kaleidoscope of colour that fills our world.

Today there’s been NO sunshine, just a mixed up muddled world of grey.

There IS relevance to the way I view my world.  

It IS mixed up and muddled at the moment but, even when I think of it as being grey,

 it’s still FULL of colour and vibrancy and beauty.

I just forgot that for a moment.

Editing photos from the weekend helps put things in perspective.

Beauty is all around and so accessible to us.  We headed out to the Waitakere Ranges this weekend to ramble the Karamatura Falls track.  It’s only a couple of kms long but it’s steep .... mountain goat steep.  It’s made for the likes of my mate Carol and Kangaroo Sam.

Not that the hound had a problem.

She even managed to find replacement logs/sticks at the waterfalls every time we persuaded her to leave one behind. 

What would a forest be without logs!

At last I've managed to photograph a Kereru (a NZ Wood Pigeon) ... common resident of forests.

On a more serious note, I hadn’t realised the severity of the disease that’s killing Kauri trees.   I’ve seen a bit about it on social media sites and in the news recently but the significance of it had eluded me.  Kauri trees, for those of my friends in other parts of the world, are one of the largest rainforest trees on earth.  They’re to New Zealand what the pyramids are to Egypt, and Stonehenge and cathedrals are to England.  

Commercial use of Kauri decimated it.  Today the patches that remain are being carefully protected, not just against commercial use but also against the disease that’s threatening to wipe them out.

“It can be heard in the song of the bird

It can be felt in the breath of each new day

It lives in the spirit of Mother Earth ...” 

~ unknown