Who pissed off Mother Nature?

Oh wow .... who pissed off Mother Nature?

The Sacred Kingfisher on the beach on Sunday last week

Geonet tells us there have been 1300 earthquakes in the Cook Strait since Friday.  That’s a whole HEAP of seismic activity and no clear indicator of why it’s happening. Scary kind of stuff ... particularly for those living in the regions most affected by these current quakes.

Sam has a new Chiefs rugby ball ... only it's never HIS when he get to the beach.  It becomes the HOUND's

Makes me kinda glad to be living up here in Aux.

We just have unexplained fog that lasts for hours on end and makes photography impossible.  Even the hound was perturbed.  She likes to SEE where she’s swimming and that just wasn’t happening on Monday. 

Shadow joined us on the beach on Friday.

Today, that’s Wednesday, has been a funny old day. 

 It feels like the world ... well, my part of it anyway ... is holding it’s breath

.... as if it’s waiting for something to happen.

And no, I don’t mean an earthquake.  We fortunately don’t get many of those in Aux and certainly NOT big ones.

.... and Sam got RATHER dirty!

Maybe it’s just the weather.  It’s indecisive, unsure of itself 

and that  pretty much describes how I’m feeling at the moment. 

 I don’t like grey cloudy dismal days.  

There’s a heaviness to them that’s oppressive.  

She has the NEW ball ....

If it’s going to rain, I’d rather it just rain.  Rain I can handle!

.... and Sam has the OLD one.

Kea, waiting for a treat

Too many things on my mind and too much to do is the cause of my indecisiveness. There just aren’t enough hours in my day and yet, here I am ‘penning’ a blog when my time could best be spent editing photos and selecting ones to be mounted. I have journals to make, page clips to cut, cards to print and markets to apply to. 

 It’s all doing my head in ... and then I saw this on FB.  

Yes, I was wasting precious minutes on FB. 

Niko's girlfriend, who was having a sleepover at Niko's house

“Don’t take your thoughts too seriously ... they are just news flashes!” 

It made me smile.  

I am the Number One culprit of OVER-THINKING things.

Thank you Marlene Neumann.

Anything that makes you smile should NEVER be seen as a waste of time. 

Posts like that on FB make me smile and writing my blog makes me smile.

Sam found himself a shovel, to help dig all those trenches.

There are always SMILES aplenty when we’re on the beach in the morning, despite the earliness of the hour OR the greyness of the skies. Even the mist on Monday morning made me smile.  I could see NOTHING when I stood on the viewing platform looking towards Rangitoto, but I could HEAR the foghorns of vessels leaving the harbour.

She just found herself a log.

It’s an eerie sensation standing in the middle of nothingness ... alone, but for the hound

 ... with the melancholy wailing of a foghorn echoing out through the mist. 

 It’s an aloneness of a different kind.

In the midst of all the chaos that’s my life at the moment I chance upon the most pertinent of quotations. This one’s just SO relevant and once again, it’s from my favourite philosopher, Rumi.

2 of the 3 Kingfishers that were on the beach.

“Don’t worry that your life is turning upside down. 

How do you know that the side you are used to is better than the one to come.”

Yep ... Rumi definitely rocks!

WHO are we?

We never really FINISH getting to know ourselves .... getting to know WHO we really are. We’re continual “works-in-progress”, always evolving, always growing  and I think it’s good that we are.

Early morning mist!

 Imagine if who I am now is all I’m ever going to be ..... nope .... my family couldn’t live with that. They’re hoping that as I ‘discover’ more about ME I’ll become more “normal” ... more ‘sane’. I think they might have a long time to wait for that .... sanity doesn’t become me.

We only get one chance at this thing called life and I DON’T want to miss a moment.

Escaping with her log

Especially early mornings! So many people miss out on the best part of the day .... early morning!! I love the freshness of the air, the early morning light, the dew drops on the grass .... and yes, even the frost on the ground during winter and the smoke I exhale as I walk.

The city was shrouded in fog this morning. The soulful sound of the fog-horn could be heard in the distance as we headed down to the beach. Staying dry when the weather’s icy isn’t an option when you have a hound like mine. She believes EVERY day is a swimming in the waves day and she’s fast teaching Sam the same thing .... not that he’s quite got the hang of the ‘swimming’ lark yet.

Can't even see my city or the Harbour Bridge

He’s sure got the hang of the rugby ball though and dribbles it around the beach with his nose and then back through his legs with his front paws .... he’s so funny to watch! When my hound thinks he’s getting too much attention she charges over, grabs the ball off him and races along the beach with it .... until a log beckons .... then the attention Sam’s getting is forgotten!

Sam WAS a tad naughty today and gave Carol quite a fright. Something on the path must have distracted him and he ambled up there, quite ignoring Carol's calls to come back down to the waves. He ended up on the road but fortunately the cars were going slowly and stopped for him.  Carol hauled him back down to the beach and gave him a stern telling-off. It seemed to work as he didn't venture up to the path again.

I had to chuckle when I spoke to Carol on the phone yesterday. She'd mentioned how Sam had all his toys strewn all over the floor and that it was like having a child in the house. I know the feeling ... my hound does exactly the same thing and I know Indy does too.

 This morning’s ramble was one of those special ones when I feel at one with the world, at one with myself .... and definitely at one with the hound. I return home satisfied, my soul sated, ready to tackle whatever else the day might have in store .... like laundry!!