Showing posts with label butterflies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label butterflies. Show all posts

Thursday, 31 January 2013

I'm confused ... and it's NOT just because I'm blonde!

Hounds in sync!

“A brilliant light is within me. My job is to let it SHINE!!
~ courtesy of FB page ‘An affirmation a day’
That there moon in my morning sky!
It had to happen. I jinxed the weather. I should have known better than to wax lyrical about the glorious summer we’ve been having.
Gorgeous reflections this morning.


My early morning’s aren’t QUITE as bright as they used to be. That there sun’s already started it’s long trek back to the Northern Hemisphere and each morning’s sun rise is a minute or two later than the day before. It’s funny how much more notice I take of the Sun and the Moon’s position in the sky since I started my early morning rambles with the hound.

Despite the early morning cloud coverage the rest of the day has been beautiful .... albeit windy.
The Oyster Catchers DON'T like being stalked!
Butterflies struggle to flutter by when it’s windy.  I’m watching them from my desk as I’m writing this and they’re getting whooshed every which way but the direction in which they were trying to fly.
 It’s rather amusing .... for me that is .... not the butterfly.
.... nor does the Heron.

The gulls did a good job with this.

Sam the Man was delighted to see the hound and I this morning and the two of them couldn’t wait to get to Waiatarua.  The level of the noise in the car rises the closer we get to the reserve.  Sam’s as vocal as Indy and his excitement is contagious. My hound can’t help but join in .... with her warble!  She’s hilarious .... she doesn’t bark like Indy, or whine like Sam .... she has a long burbling warble which rises in intensity the more excited she gets!

It’s like taking young children to a playground. The two of them are bubbling with enthusiasm and glee as they pick up EACH other’s rugby balls.  Yep, the hound INSISTS on having Sam’s Hurricanes rugby ball.  As we begin our ramble around the reserve they quite literally BOUNCE along the path in front of us.


I’m hoping the hound’s fascination with the Hurricanes rugby ball doesn’t translate into them winning the Super Rugby tournament this year. She had a penchant for the Chiefs rugby ball last year and look what happened to them ... they beat my Sharks in the Final.  I can’t possibly have her supporting the winning team AGAIN this year .... that just wouldn’t do!


This ISN'T Sam .... it's another Golden Lab that decided to help the hound retrieve her ball.
She was NOT impressed!
I know Carol would be happy.

Maybe I should try and get a Sharks rugby ball .... would be interesting to see which ball she’d choose to carry.

4 month old Guide Dog Puppy making friends at the dog pond.

Yay for Super Rugby!  This year’s tournament begins on 15th Feb and I can’t wait. Early morning rugby watching will be the order of the day .... or should that be night. With all 3 countries falling in different time zones it must be extremely difficult providing an accurate schedule of start times of all the matches.  Daylight saving only adds to the confusion. South Africa’s the only country of the 3 that DOESN’T have daylight saving and Queensland has a different daylight saving schedule to New South Wales. Add in to the mix that Perth is in a different time zone to Sydney and you have a recipe for disaster as far as the accuracy of the schedule is concerned!
Making friends 'doggy style'
I’m confused just talking about it .... and it’s not JUST because I’m blonde!
My stalking chased the Oyster Catchers away
A friend posted this quotation this evening .... my evening .... and, having chatted to her earlier and caught up on her news, it’s just so relevant to life and our approach to living it.
“Let every moment be what it’s going to be.  What’s meant to be will come your way.
What’s not will fall away.” 
~ Mandy Hale
Clouds and moon ... my kind of beautiful.

Another OLDER Golden Lab that joined us at the pond
Hmmmm ..... and she sneaks in everywhere!

Monday, 20 February 2012

Orange Marmalade ice-cream .....


There are two ways of spreading light .... to be the candle that lights the room .... or the mirror that reflects the light ....” - anon.


When summer pokes it’s head out the clouds, I’m in heaven!  Blue skies ... sunshine .... cotton-wool clouds and butterflies .... rainbows ..... summer sand and tranquil waves ... we’ve had it all this weekend and it’s been terrific!
The hounds are getting used to us being IN the waves with them rather than on the sand ... though Indy still gives us the “hairy-eyeball” look .... you can see the thought process going through his brain “What is it with these humans?”  
We get wet ... not quite as wet as Chocolat ..... but we get WET!

I met the spunkiest little hound on the beach this morning ... Ruby .... a little furry handbag type hound ... you know the kind I mean .... a snack for Chocolat if she was so inclined!  She’d been chasing a tennis ball along
the sand but decided to race my hound for her rugby ball ... it’s not often these little hounds take on the waves ... especially when they’re a bit rough like they were today.  The rougher the waves the more Chocolat loves them but other hounds are usually a bit more cautious .... not Ruby though ...she might have been small but she thought she was a lion-hearted Labrador!!
Indy and Chocolat on Saturday

Ruby also knows how to dig .... mega-deep holes .... holes she can get lost in! You’d have been forgiven for thinking there was only one hound standing on the beach with us ... the other had dug itself a hole and disappeared.

The gorgeous weather
A Shag, drying its wings in the sun
this weekend bought the sun-worshipers and more out in droves .... our beach has never seen so much activity on it!  All those bronzed bodies .... and NOT so bronzed bodies, the Coca Cola Dome on the Green with live music, free cokes and “jumping into summer” .... and then Project Jonah hosting
Whale Rescue Training Seminar on the beach ... with large blow-up whales .... dolphin size whales!  It was all go, Go GO!

The hound didn’t know what to make of all this “busyness” .... she’s not used to seeing so many bodies on the boardwalk or in “her” waves.

The rainbow in the cloud
Pete was doing a roaring trade in ice-creams at the coffee shop ... they make the most divine ice-cream .... my favourite has to be the Orange Marmalade  - it’s just TOO delicious!  

We’d already had a war of words with him on
Saturday morning about the outcome of Friday’s T20 match between NZ and SA ... he of course was gloating at NZ’s win.  The gloating will be short-lived .... SA won last night’s T20 match and I’m quite certain they’ll win the next one.  Funny .... Pete was conspicuous by his absence this morning ... I
wonder if the cricket had anything to do with it? 

Bring on the Limited Overs series and the Tests ... so much cricket to look forward to .... and then the Super 15 starts!  I can’t wait!!
Rainbows and butterflies filled my lens this morning .... as well as the beautiful sunrise which Julia missed  - she wasn’t feeling great but was determined not to miss our walk ... I love that she enjoys it so much!  It was the strangest of rainbows .... we don’t normally see rainbows unless there’s been a storm or one’s brewing. No
storm was brewing this morning though and the rainbow was only visible with the white cloud behind it .... you couldn’t see it below the cloud OR above it ..... only IN it ... more evidence that shows how completely crazy and unexpectedly beautiful my world can be!

The purpose of life is to LIVE it ... to TASTE experience to the utmost ... to reach out EAGERLY and without fear for newer and richer experiences. - Eleanor Roosevelt

Saturday night's sunset