Tigger lost her bounce.

The lop-sided smiling lemming with his sister.

The skies look and feel oppressive today ... courtesy of that tropical cyclone working it’s way up the country I guess.  Why is it though that I sometimes wake on mornings like this feeling overwhelmed by the worries of the world.

One of my favourite cars parked in a disabled bay and the owner was definitely NOT disabled.

The greyness of the day matches my mood.

A road trip to the Waitakere Ranges and then a ramble

Even the brilliance of the weekend that WAS doesn’t change how I feel today.  

It’s not the words falling out of my mouth thingy this morning,

 it’s the tears wanting to fall from my eyes.

These two were also heading out for a ramble

For a brief moment in time, Tigger’s lost her bounce.

I just don’t get it.  I love rambling in the rain. 

I love the moodiness and the melancholy of mornings like this

 .... the starkness of the landscape, the monochromatic colour.

There’s so much to see, even though it appears hidden.

Sunday was gorgeous!

So WHY am I feeling so gloomy?

It’s mornings like this that remind me of how many shades of grey there are in the kaleidoscope of colour that fills our world.

Today there’s been NO sunshine, just a mixed up muddled world of grey.

There IS relevance to the way I view my world.  

It IS mixed up and muddled at the moment but, even when I think of it as being grey,

 it’s still FULL of colour and vibrancy and beauty.

I just forgot that for a moment.

Editing photos from the weekend helps put things in perspective.

Beauty is all around and so accessible to us.  We headed out to the Waitakere Ranges this weekend to ramble the Karamatura Falls track.  It’s only a couple of kms long but it’s steep .... mountain goat steep.  It’s made for the likes of my mate Carol and Kangaroo Sam.

Not that the hound had a problem.

She even managed to find replacement logs/sticks at the waterfalls every time we persuaded her to leave one behind. 

What would a forest be without logs!

At last I've managed to photograph a Kereru (a NZ Wood Pigeon) ... common resident of forests.

On a more serious note, I hadn’t realised the severity of the disease that’s killing Kauri trees.   I’ve seen a bit about it on social media sites and in the news recently but the significance of it had eluded me.  Kauri trees, for those of my friends in other parts of the world, are one of the largest rainforest trees on earth.  They’re to New Zealand what the pyramids are to Egypt, and Stonehenge and cathedrals are to England.  

Commercial use of Kauri decimated it.  Today the patches that remain are being carefully protected, not just against commercial use but also against the disease that’s threatening to wipe them out.

“It can be heard in the song of the bird

It can be felt in the breath of each new day

It lives in the spirit of Mother Earth ...” 

~ unknown

I thought the hound had dislocated her jaw!!

Bandit was on the beach again.

It was FREEZING at the view site this morning!! Waiting for the sun to rise is not something I recommend you do when the skies are clear .... AND when you’re wearing shorts! It was a crisp cold night and my frozen legs were testimony to the drop in temp overnight. I wasn’t the only one feeling the cold ... Gareth and Julia were too .... we need ear muffs and beanies this early in the morning!

The sun’s early morning rays bathe my city and my favourite bit of real estate in a pink and purple glow ... who would have thought that the light emanating from that great big orb in the sky so early in the morning would create such a kaleidoscope of colour in my world. 

 Sun rise done and dusted, we headed off down to the village for a warming caffeine jolt. It wasn’t only us that were smoking as we raced down the hill ... the hounds were too! For once my hound was still dry ... we hadn’t done the usual plunge into the waves at Ladies Bay. It’s a bit too slippery and dark to brave the stairs at the moment. 

More reflections!

The hound is loving the variety of  humungous logs that are being washed up on our beach but sometimes even she bites of a bit more than she can chew! Bandit had joined us in the waves and was doing his utmost to herd her in and out the water. I’d thrown a huge log for her and she’d dragged it back to the shore but then dropped it. Dave, Bandit’s human, thought she might have dislocated her jaw. I called her over to check ... it all felt fine but she was definitely feeling a bit of discomfort and was frothing at the mouth. 

Not wanting to aggravate it further we bade an early farewell to the waves and headed up to the vet. He’s of the opinion that she’s probably cut the back of her jaw or her throat with the log and it’s left an abrasion which is uncomfortable. He gave her an antibiotic as often wounds like that, if left, can form an

abscess and poison the system. If she’s still feeling discomfort in 24 hours he’ll x-ray to ensure nothing’s stuck in her throat. Given the manner in which she’s tackling her bone at the moment though, my opinion for what it’s worth, is that she’s fine .... she just wanted some of the attention Shimmer’s been getting! I think she LIKES Martin!

The log that I think caused the problem with her jaw

This is when I realised something was wrong.

Yay, my mate Carol is back from her trek to Everest Base Camp .... and the hunt for a new hound is on. Coming home to NO Sebastian has left her feeling sad so the internet is being trawled, breeders are being phoned and no stone will be left unturned as a new companion for her is sought. The fact that it has to be a Golden Labrador and male .... and large .... does make the hunt slightly more complex but I know the right hound will turn up.

The hound and I have just walked back down to the village again to buy some bread and it’s an awesome afternoon, albeit chilly. Gareth joined us in the village and we sat on the sand and had coffee whilst the hound buried a log .... a large one .... nothing wrong with that jaw at all! Would that we could spend ALL afternoon sitting in the sun on the sand.

Work beckons though. I’m on a roll at the moment designing the new Hounds of St. Heliers range ... it’s so much fun using hounds other than my own as the focus. There are so many ideas trickling through my mind .... would that there were more hours in the day to satisfy all these creative urges. It’s not just work that beckons though .... “the kitty that lived” beckons too .... it’s feeding time .... again!

I’m feeling content at the moment ... there’s still so much upheaval happening in my world but I feel a tremendous sense of calm and that can only be good. This quote is for my friends, all of you. I am who I am because of the friends I have in my life. 

“The world is so much brighter, so much better, because you are in it. If only you knew all the gifts that you bring to others, you would never feel sad again but  rejoice in how wonderfully you have been made.” ..... an awesome quote from Neale Donald Walsch.

My bay this afternoon ... tide out and the sun shining.