How I LOVE Fridays

Reality ISN’T black and white.  

Answers don’t always have to be a Yes or a No.  

If I don’t want to do anything today, I don’t have to!

(Courtesy of The Universe)

How I LOVE Fridays!

I choose NOTto ignore the strident tone of that early morning wake-up call,

 even though it’s  Friday.

The weatherman’s forecasting rain but my friend google has reliably informed me that early morning cloud coverage will be sparse.  

Perfect for greeting Mr. Sun as he starts his journey into my day.

There’s a spring in our step as we head out the door.

The hound’s tail is wagging nineteen to the dozen.  

She loves these early morning rambles almost as much as I do.

Friday’s are special.  

There are no time constraints.  

No deadlines to meet. 

Just the hound, the camera and me.

It’s my kind of heaven.

Pink-tinged cotton wool clouds announce the imminent arrival of the sun.

There’s a perceptible sense of stillness in the morning air. 

Raindrops glisten on every surface as we trot along the path beneath the trees.

Yes .... I trot too.

These morning moments are magical.

They imbue my day with a sense of calm and balance

all necessary for this emotional roller-coaster of a journey we’re on.

We met a Bandit on the beach today!

It would be foolish of us all, lemmings included, 

to not give cognisance to the emotions we feel about the situation we’re in.

They’re necessary.

Anger is necessary.

Pain and a sense of loss is necessary.

Compassion is necessary too.

They had their OWN little conversation ... he explained his point of view

Today though, I’m NOT letting them derail me.

I’m choosing to be IN this morning’s moments, warts and all.

.... and she told him where to get off!

I have hounds to meet and greet and balls to throw.

Then the feet-seeking missile arrived.

Even with everything that’s happening in my world, 

there are still moments that make me pause and smile.  

Let me NEVER lose the ability to see them.

“In any given moment we have two options: 

to step forward into growth or to step back into safety.” 

~ Abraham Maslow

It's been an absolutely glorious morning.

Mischief and mayhem ... a daily dose!

“Mischievous” ... my mood of the day.

Mis-chie-vous adj.   pronounciation:  MIS-chi-vus

1. Playful in a naughty or teasing way. 2. Troublesome, irritating, a mischievous prank.

It's rising later and later at the moment.

Yes, I think jumping in puddles and splashing contents of said puddles over unsuspecting fellow ramblers COULD be construed as mischievous.  Teaching hounds how to shake off excess water on command could ALSO be construed as mischievous ... but only if you happen to be the person standing NEXT to said hound when they’re instructed to shake.

One such person thinks we have a cardboard cut-out of him at home

 and that we use it for teaching the hounds exactly that!  

I wonder how he knew ....

There we are .... 12 minutes past 7!

It’s funny how most of the mischief I supposedly get up to involves water.  Removing raindrops from banners by shaking banners over people is deemed to be mischievous too

 .... or so I’ve been told.

North Head bathed in sunshine.

Giving Sam a taste for caffeine could also be perceived as mischievous I guess.  Sam’s added his own brand of mischief to what WE’VE taught him though.  We only showed him how delicious the left-over froth in our coffee-to-go could be ... we never taught him to take the froth off the top of Pete’s homemade coffee.  Silly Pete for putting his coffee where Sam’s tongue could reach it.

Caffeine addict.

Despite the occasional appearance to the contrary, Sam’s DEFINITELY no dumb Aussie.  He just has ‘BLONDE moments’.

Mischievous blonde moments.

He’s fast learning that if he gets Carol UP early enough, he can spend time on the beach with the hound and I before I have to head off to work.  We’re onto winter times at the shop so I only have to be there by 9.30 ..... that’s an extra half hour on the beach .... big yay!  Sam’s method of getting Carol up early though involves retrieving as much clothing as he can from the dressing room.  There’s bound to be something in what he’s found that she can wear to come rambling.

Carol could of course join us on our hike to the view-site at 6.30 but I don’t think Sam would sit as patiently as the hound and Indy do whilst we wait for the sun to appear over the horizon.  There comes a moment in time when even my hound has had enough of waiting and I get a look like this.

Sam’s the hyperactive child of the hound world.  He doesn’t KNOW how to sit still unless he’s tired.  Carol bought him down to the shop this morning and left him with me for a short while whilst she collected some dry cleaning.  He was so tired form the weekend and morning activities that he lay quietly on the floor until she returned.

Trying to cross the road back to the beach after getting our first fix of the day is comical.  

I’m sure we leave the early morning Bistro patrons chuckling into their breakfast as they watch our antics.  My hound’s always in a hurry to get back to the beach and Sam’s in a hurry to get what he perceives to be, HIS coffee!  

He insists on trying to carry the hound’s lead too.  

Between Carol and I AND the two hounds AND 2 rugby balls AND 2 cups of coffee, it’s quite an achievement getting to the beach WITHOUT becoming entangled in either of the hounds leads and WITHOUT spilling our coffee!  

It’s a chuckle a moment with these hounds of ours and an epic start to a day.

Not a photo from today but one I took on Sunday at Waiatarua ... love these swans.

I'm on one knee in the wet sand ...

Raindrops and rainbows seemed to fill my day today .... rampant raindrops that sent us racing for cover during our morning ramble. It’s been one of those days when the wind has blown like it does in Wellywood and the dark clouds have deposited their heavy load over all and sundry. Wet, windy ... and NOT woeful .... because of the rainbows!

Got the whole rainbow by sticking two pics together!

I’ve realised that being silent is something my hound’s NOT good at either .... I wonder why. Her excitement at all things “logs” becomes increasingly vocal depending on the size of the log. I don’t think the residents of Cliff Road were as delighted as she was at finding her log from yesterday still on the sand at Ladies Bay. I was still heading down the stairs when the silence was shattered by barking and crying. At first I thought she was in a fight with a dog on the beach ... but nope ..... she was yelling at us that she’d FOUND her log!! 

Then the rain came down and Rangitoto disappeared from view.

No photos of all this though as it’s still TOO dark at 6.45 in the morning!!

This is why we sought shelter .... it POURED!

Then the sun tried to come out ....

We managed to get coffee before the rain caught us ..... AND Julia managed to DROP her coffee all over the pavement BEFORE the rain caught us!!! Sacrilege! The girls at the Co-op are so sweet though ... Gareth went back to get her another one and they wouldn’t let him pay for it. I think Julia’s fellow staff members owe us a vote of thanks - imagine how grumpy she might have been had she gone to work not having satisfied her craving!

... but there are TOO many clouds!

We took shelter under the overhang of the Pilates Studio as the rain came thundering down ... it was insane! 

Mad Dogs, Englishmen ... AND ... Seagulls!!

The song by Noel Coward comes to mind “Only mad dogs and Englishmen” but he was referring to them going out in the midday sun, not going out in pouring rain .... nevertheless, it has relevance ... I have a mad dog and I guess I’m partly English.

There were few ramblers to join us in the waves today, but plenty of logs so the hound found herself a new one and, very proudly, carried it up and down the beach. Gareth and I were left to kick the ball back and forth, in between feeding the gulls. Let me correct that ... I was feeding the gulls, Gareth was trying to annihilate them with the rugby ball ... unsuccessfully. He eventually ambled off home and left me to feed the gulls in peace .... or so I thought.

I hadn’t taken into account the hound.

With Gareth gone, she wanted ME to throw the log and I was busy making art and FEEDING the gulls .... with HER treats. 

 Picture this if you can .... I’m on one knee in the wet sand, one shoe slowly filling with water, one knee sinking into the sand. With one hand I’m enticing the gulls closer with the treats, the other hand is trying to hold the cameras steady .... and it’s NOT a light camera, especially with the telephoto lens on. Just as I line the shot up and am about to press the shutter the gulls scatter in all directions as a rather wet, rather brown chocolat Labrador deposits a log on my toes .... the ones in the shoe that is slowly filling with water.

I got the message .... the photo session is over for the day .... it’s log throwing time!

Another "MAD" hound on the beach!

Looking up the coastline from the viewing platform ... Ladies Bay is directly below me.