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!

There are TWO hounds living in this house ...

The Oyster Catchers LOVE the low tide

Mist causes madness and mayhem

I really live in an awesome spot in the world. No two mornings are the same despite similar weather conditions. Yesterday’s sunrise was spectacular and so was today’s but in a vastly different way. Yesterday the sky took on the hues of the rising sun but today the rays of the sun turned my world different shades of green and gold.

The mist over Rangitoto and my city added to the wonder of the early morning .... moody memories are made of moments like this. 

The melancholy cry of the fog-horn drifting through the mist only added to the atmosphere. 

For a change we couldn’t hear the ferries racing through the channel .... the mist put paid to any attempt by them to move speedily through the waves.

Sometimes when I look at my photos it’s hard to believe they’re all taken in the same spot. If I stand on the beach and take a photo looking towards Kohi I see green and gold and light and reflections .... a sparkling explosion of colour!

 If I stand in the same spot but turn 180 degrees towards Ladies Bay and the cliff, I see a dramatic contrast between light and dark, there are shadows and silhouettes and no definitive colour. It doesn’t feel real .... it’s FULL of unspoken emotions .... unfulfilled promises.

The flight of the Oyster Catchers over the waves only adds to the mystery.

What is it emerging from the depths .... 

What it is is MAGICAL and it’s all right here in my bay every morning. 

I love this little spot I live in .... I wish I could share it with all those I love and miss.

Two kayakers heading back into the bay

The hound and I had no time restraints on our ramble this morning so we wandered far and wide. The rugby ball got replaced with a log which ended up being carried half way home. I get these pleading eyes looking at me but I’m over carrying logs home for her .... if she wants it, she carries it. It was actually Bella’s log but my hound pinched it cause it was bigger than hers ...... she can be a bit of a bully at times.

Bella .... all of 14 weeks old.

It’s unusual to meet a large hound owned by an Asian family. They don’t generally like hounds and certainly not large ones but the Asian chap we met on the beach this morning had a gorgeous 14 week old German Shepherd pup. She was a confident little thing ... quite comfortable with coming up to the larger hounds then racing back and lying at his feet if she felt threatened. He told us he’d thought it was a good idea to own and train a pup before he tackled children .... I didn’t have the heart to tell him hounds are easier .... they DON’T answer back!

Maximus ... the Bernese Mountain Pup we've met on the beach before.

My hound obviously got fed up of me chatting though .... we’d stopped and passed the time of day with way too many people for her liking. She stood over her log, looked at me and barked.  Enough now, she was saying .... throw my log! The Asian chap was so amused. He thought she was really clever letting me know what she wanted. Hmmmm .... I’m not so sure, I think she was just being a typical beach bitch!

Nico, who's growing into himself beautifully.

In this house we have TWO hounds ..... one lives in a CAT’S body though. To all intents and purposes Tiger is a HOUND ... he’s just been given the wrong fur body, or so he thinks.  When I call the hound he comes running, if she has a bone, he wants one too. 

This morning, after the hound’s ramble, they both found the sun beams in the sitting room and lay down together to sleep .... little “wannabe” hound’s paws touching big hound paws. 

The 'look' I got when I came to take a photo says it all.

Go away Mom .... we're SLEEPING!

Reflections .... reflections .... reflections!

..... and still more!

I'm telling her that I can't see Rangitoto behind her because it's covered in mist
 ... she UNDERSTANDS exactly what I'm saying .... cause she's a GIRL hound!!

We get PETULANT ... we get SNAPPY ...

I walked into the Co-op this morning to order our addiction-fixing caffeine boost and both girls behind the counter yelled “Banned” at me and dissolved into laughter! Pete had put them up to it .... I should have guessed. Banning us from our caffeine fix is NOT a good idea ... we get PETULANT .... we get SNAPPY .... I’m Welsh, the DRAGON in me comes to the fore. Pete should know better than to come between us girls and our very necessary FIRST coffee of the day!

Even the hounds know better than that.  Even our husbands know better than that.

I was in a good mood though - the SUN was SHINING - so we forgave his error in judgement ... besides, he was being nice and holding open the car door for a customer. He does have SOME good qualities besides providing us with a MEAN cup of coffee.

It was an ALMOST cloudless sky when the sun poked it’s head over Browns  Island this morning. For the first time in days we actually got to see the sunrise and it was beautiful .... it wasn’t hidden behind a mantle of grey and white stuff. That’s arrived en-masse during the course of the day and has done it’s utmost to dump litres of the wet stuff on throngs of unsuspecting souls. Didn’t catch me though .... yay!

Double Trouble

I’ve had several cups of coffee today as I had a lengthy catch-up session with Rae, my elderly neighbour. Even the waitress at the coffee-shop was surprised and threatened not to serve us any more coffee after we’d ordered our third cup. She had a lovely sense of humour and asked to check our hands for trembling. Now I know what’s making me bounce today ... it’s ALL that coffee and NOT the ball that Gareth gave me. 

Gareth went and bought one of these sports balls that you sit on at your desk, instead of sitting on a chair ... he’s having a bit of back trouble and the Chiropractor suggested he try one. He needs a large one though so he gave the one he’d bought to me. I LOVE it .... I get to BOUNCE whilst I work ... it’s SO COOL .... but then he came and pinched it back because his back was sore. I don’t think that’s right ... how can you give someone something and then take it back ... it’s just not cricket!!  

Going to go and pinch it back again when he leaves his room!!

Bottoms UP!!

The reflections in the bay this morning were awesome ... it’s that sun you see, when it shines, it SHINES ... in more ways than one. I get to see double the number of seagulls ... not that CERTAIN people think that’s such a good thing. I also get to see double the number of oyster catchers and two herons instead of one. I LOVE reflections .... and I LOVE what they do to my world.

The hound was having such fun with her log on the beach that she didn’t want to come home. She lay on the sand with her log looking at me as if to say I could leave her there and just come back down again tomorrow ... yeah right .... like that’s going to happen. She very reluctantly bade farewell to the log and picked up her ball. I think she’d have preferred to bring the log home and leave the ball on the beach ...... the log was about 3 metres long though so we might have had a bit of a struggle getting it up the hill.

Time to go feed the kitty but I’ve just seen this quote on Positive Outlooks page ... yep, I got distracted ... but this quote’s so cute and I love the bit about kissing!

“I believe in pink. I believe that laughing is the best calorie burner. I believe in kissing, kissing a lot. I believe in being strong when everything seems to be going wrong. I believe that happy girls are the prettiest girls. I believe that tomorrow is another day and I believe in miracles.” ~ Audrey Hepburn

My Heron in flight

She just won't leave it be.

Just look at those reflections ...

.... and more reflections.