Punctured balls.

Who would have thought Sparrows could look so cute and fluffy!

 "When we least expect it, life sets us a challenge 

to test our courage and willingness to change."

~ Paulo Coelho

This was taken whilst we were in the car crossing Harbour Bridge.
I'm amazed that it came out so well.

I needed a morning like this one.

Breath-taking beauty and exuberance in abundance.

Our morning ramble took us to Takapuna.  

Not with my mate Sam as is the norm, but with the significant other.

... who's feeding the sparrows!

Other Carol, she with the exercise fetish, was heading off to Rotorua for the weekend

to participate in yet ANOTHER half-marathon.  

All the better to prepare her and Pete for their Great Wall of China half-marathon in May.

Takapuna Beach

Yes.  She’s nutty in the extreme.

The first bouncing hound!

She missed out on what was a glorious morning’s ramble.

Boulder hopping, rock climbing

and wading through the waves took us further along the coast than usual.  

Taken from the other end of Takapuna Beach before we began boulder-hopping and rock-climbing.

The remoteness is astonishing. 

The scenery breath-taking.

A food for my soul kind of morning.

My world still rocks, even in all it’s chaos.

Our ramble was FULL to the brim of smile-inducing moments.

Especially after meeting Hugo.

He’s a TIGGER in disguise.

He BOUNCES.  Abundantly.

Into the waves AND back out of them.

He’d even give Sam a run for his money with his exuberance and enthusiasm. 

His human had a tale to tell about Hugo and LARGE balls of the rugby and soccer ilk.

Hugo has expensive tastes where balls are concerned.

He used to have a rugby ball like the hound’s which he loved to chase in reserves and on the beach.  

Whilst chasing it at a reserve one day, 

he was distracted by a group of youngsters playing with a soccer ball.  

Another caffeine addict??

Hugo being Hugo discarded his own ball to join in their game.

Hugo being Hugo punctured their soccer ball in his attempt to catch it.

Maybe.

He had to hang his head in shame.  

The ball he’d punctured was a signed World Cup Soccer Ball with a replacement value of $300.  

His owner was left with only mothballs in his wallet after paying for a replacement ball.

No more pocket money for Hugo.

No more rugby or soccer balls either.

We took the warming signs about falling rocks VERY seriously.
These could cause a bit of damage.

The hound can relate to his story.  

She’s managed to burst a fair number of  balls too.

I'm relieved NONE of them were $300 World Cup Soccer Balls!

"Lovely days don't come to you ... you should walk to them."

~ Rumi

This is a whacky fur-ball.  The hound is wet but he has to rub himself all under her tummy
... and then expects to be dried too.
There's something amiss with the 4-legged members of this family

Friday 13th ... is that a problem?

Friday 13th and despite my best efforts this week I haven’t found any traffic wardens to run over ... or dog wardens for that matter.  In fact, come to think of it, the dog wardens have been conspicuous by their absence.

Not that I’m complaining.

Maybe today is THE day!

We’ve been pushing our luck on the beaches in the morning and we’re bound to get caught before long. 
 Carol ... other Carol that is ... is ITCHING for the wardens to catch us. 
 I think she wants to give them a piece of her mind. 
 (They’d better be quick though as, just between you and me, there’s not much of it left!)

I blame Sam for that.

He’s one of the most delightfully DEVIANT hounds of the doggy world and I say that in the nicest of possible ways.  It’s IMPOSSIBLE to get cross with him, even when he IS being naughty.   He keeps us on our toes and totally ensconced within the confines of his lead ... quite literally.

Burnt legs and trapped ankles are two of the minor hazards of his actions.

We parked outside this house last time we went to Takapuna and again this time. It's so quaint.

This morning we headed off to Takapuna. 

It’s Friday you see ... big YAY ... and it’s a BEAUTIFUL day.  

Even BIGGER yay ... the hounds are allowed off-leash on Takapuna beach until 10am.

Takapuna Beach, for my friends in SA and the UK, is across the Harbour Bridge on North Shore.  
You don’t need a passport to cross the bridge but you’d be forgiven for thinking that you do. 
It’s a world apart from our little village ‘by the sea’!

Getting out of the car and putting hounds on leash to cross the road to the beach is an exercise in itself.  The girl hound ‘she who ONLY wants to please’ sits on the verge with a resigned look on her face whilst the delinquent tells the world how happy he is to be there.  

He DOESN’T stop moving.  

Even sitting on his bum is done whilst in motion.

Have you ever seen a hound sitting on it’s bum but still moving?  Believe me, it’s belly-laughter inducing.  Not only does the bum still move backwards along the ground but the tail doesn’t stop wagging either.

Magic, the 10 week old German Shepherd pup we met today ... she's gorgeous!

Eventually, hounds on lead and balls to hand, we reach the beach.  Removing Sam’s lead though is just as much an exercise as attaching it!  The girl-hound KNOWS the routine.  Sit down ON your bum and the leash is removed. 

Not so the delinquent.  He’s too busy trying to get the rugby ball of Carol.  He doesn’t seem to understand that the SOONER he puts his bum on the ground, the sooner he’ll be IN the waves WITH the rugby ball.

Our traverse of the beach takes place with many smiles and much laughter.  It’s not only us that the hounds make smile.  Many are the smiles we see on the faces of other beach goers as the hounds, each with a rugby-ball firmly grasped in their mouth, dash in and out of the waves.  

The very busyness of their actions restores some semblance of normality to an upside-down world.  They are focused on the HERE and NOW and they compel us, without any thought on our part, to do the same.  

I’d be a basket-case by now without my girl.

“Dogs have a way of finding the people who need them, 

filling an emptiness we didn’t even know we had.” 

~ Thom Jones