It can't POSSIBLY be Monday morning already!

“What day is it?” asked Pooh.

“It’s today!”  squeaked Piglet.

“My favourite day," said Pooh.

~ A.A. Milne

Mine too ... everyday is my FAVORITE day!

.... and this is my FAVORITE hound!

Ok .... so how does it happen that a bus tries to do a u-turn on the Harbour Bridge.

Yep ... that's a bus in the picture and it's trying to do a u-turn .... ON the Harbour Bridge. (Photo courtesy of Google)

Only in Auckland!

I would have understood the driver going the wrong way onto the bridge if it had happened this morning in the mist, but this happened at 1pm this afternoon.  NO mist, NO poor visibility, NO explanation .... just dumb-founded passengers.

This evening's sunset.

Fortunately our on-the-ball traffic police resolved it without injury to anyone.

Browns Bay Market this weekend

It’s been ANOTHER hectically busy weekend and Monday morning comes round way too soon. I’m still trying to catch my breath from the weekend’s activities when the hound puts a wet nose in my face to tell me it’s ramble time.

It CAN’T possibly be Monday morning ALREADY.

But it is.  A murky misty Monday morning. 

Foghorns wailing in the distance.

An obfuscatory morning! 

I love Google.  

It arms me with a wealth of unnecessary descriptive words that boggle the brain.  This morning’s one is “ofbuscatory” and it means ‘to render indistinct or dim'!  It has other meanings too but this particular one is so pertinent for today.

That’s exactly what the mist does on these murky misty mornings.  

EVERYTHING is rendered indistinct.  

Nothing has form or substance.  

Rangitoto is completely obliterated ... so is Browns Island .... and so are the gulls. 

So was my hound!

I wasn’t expecting ANYONE to be at the lookout point when we got there but Julia and Indy were.  They’d driven up.  I think the mist had confused even Indy as he wasn’t as vocal as what he can usually be.  Julia and I made up for his silence.

The mist didn’t lift even as the hound and I made our way back down to the beach.  We bumped, quite literally, into another of our favorite hounds ... Panda, he of the big brown spot round his eye.  

Panda’s gorgeous.  

He’s large and strong and loves to give me a kiss hello! 

He ALSO loves rugby balls but NOT for the same reason our hounds love them. 

Ramble time is over way too soon from the hound’s point of view. 

Despite the mist, despite the dearth of hounds on the beach she’d still rather be in the waves and on the sand than heading home.

I would too.

Her "other" mother when we're at the markets!

I'm a rugby addict....

Morning reflections ......

.... and even earlier before we could see the sun.

Our job .... our invitation from the Universe .... according to Nealle Donald Walsch, is to give people back to themselves. He suggests we look for the best in every person we meet and tell them, right there and then!  It’s not always easy though with someone you’ve just met, but I like the philosophy

behind the idea. Each and every individual has something positive and vital to add to the communities we live and work in ... yes ... even the GOPs!


That’s what’s so awesome about our daily rambles ... we get to meet the nicest of people in this little community we live in.

Indy Explorer!

Indy got to go on a bus today .... not for a ride ... but he got to see what the inside of a bus was like. The nicest of bus drivers had parked opposite Moretons and was obviously waiting for his shift to begin ... he’d been watching the hounds playing on the sand. We headed up to the boardwalk and Chocolat’s ball rolled in his direction so he kicked it back towards her. Both hounds see anyone kicking the ball as an invitation to say hello .... so over they went to greet him with wet and muddy noses ... the poor bus driver had mud splashes all over his trousers but didn’t mind one little bit! 

Clouds in puddles of water!

Indy, in typical Indy explorer mode, headed into the bus and up and down the aisle - I don’t think he was checking out the seating arrangement .... more like he was sussing out the availability of food on board!

The bus driver told us he loves dogs but won’t have another one as he hasn’t got over the loss of his last one. It used to lie under the car in the shade and his son inadvertently ran over it one day whilst moving the car. His grief was palpable and we felt such an affinity for his loss ... it explained why he was happy to have hound slobber all over him.

Love it ... love it ... love it!!

I walked away from him feeling that in some way we’d reached out to him ... in some way talking to us about his loss comforted him and made his day brighter. It just felt so right.


I’m baby-sitting Sebastian for Carol on

Sunday .... or should that be “pensioner-sitting”!! Carol’s participating in a half-marathon at Coatesville and after Sebastian’s stroke this week, she’s understandably worried about leaving him on his own. She was concerned about needing to drop him off early but she forgets .... I’m a rugby addict ... it’s Super Rugby

season and 6 Nations ... both my team’s are playing early Sunday morning .... I’ll be UP and CHEERING!


Sebastian’s looking good though ... I could even see an improvement in him from yesterday ... he stood up with more ease at the coffee shop today. He’s a dear old soul and quite the celebrity in our little village ... how many other 15 year old hounds do you know who’re taken for their daily constitutional at the beach without fail! I reckon that’s what’s kept Sebastian young ... Carol and Pete’s commitment to his daily ramble ... well .... Carol’s commitment to his daily ramble, Pete joins in at weekends.

I’m loving the weather at the moment ... the early morning sunshine creates the most amazing reflections in the low tide. The cotton-wool clouds and blue sky are reflected so clearly in the pools of water on the sand .... the beach is a photographer’s heaven at the moment and I’m milking it for all that it’s worth!

I’ve been asked by Dog Friends Auckland to take photos of some of the other Eastern Bay’s  “empty” beaches this month. I’ve already submitted photos of St. Helier’s beach but they’re needing more ammunition and are finding the locals in our neck of the woods a little apathetic. They’re using the photos in their

submission to Council to have the summer restrictions lifted earlier. I’m surprised at the apathy of my fellow humans with hounds .... Julia and I have been quite vocal about the need for us all to get involved in shaping the new laws and access times. Without photographic evidence of empty beaches the submission is doomed.
I’m on a mission!!