Another MANIC Monday!

Oh boy ... another MANIC Monday!

... and let’s NOT forget about Sunday.  Or Saturday for that matter.

“Colours are the smiles of nature.” 

~ Leigh Hunt

Manic Monday started with a CRACKER of a rainbow and ended with a giggle.  

The hound got mail!

Yep, there was a present in the letterbox for the hound today

 ... and no, it’s NOT her birthday.

Her buddy Panda, he of the big brown spot over the eye, sent her a new rugby ball!

I wasn’t home when it was taken out of the letterbox but the youngest lemming was.  He loved the message on the ball and read it to the hound.  

“To Chocolat

Love from Panda”

She gets so excited when she gets a new ball.  The eyes light up.  She stands expectantly, waiting for it to be thrown.  We’ve let a little air out so she’s able to grip it and she’s been parading around the house with the new ball firmly grasped in her mouth.

Last time I looked, she was lying in the lounge with her head on the ball.

I think she likes it.

Thank you Panda ... and Lorraine .... you have no idea how HAPPY you’ve made her.

It will be interesting to see what happens when we go to the beach in the morning.  Her usual course of action when Sam arrives is to swop balls with him.  I wonder if she’ll swop her new ball with his now “OLD” Chiefs one tomorrow?

Watch this space.

It’s been a whirlwind of a weekend.  A market on Saturday, dinner out ... courtesy of the oldest lemming and the noise .... on Saturday night, another market on Sunday and lots and lots of tennis and rugby to watch in-between.  Thank goodness for My Sky.

Matakana Country Fair on Sunday

I did of course get text updates on the tennis from Carol ... fortunately WITHOUT the bad language that she probably expressed at home.  She would have been on the edge of her seat during the Djokovich/Wawrinka match.

The final tomorrow should be a GOOD one!

“Sometimes it is the quiet observer who sees the most.” 

~ Kathryn L. Nelson

Love the water being sprayed up by her tail!

A moment can seem like an eon ...

I was going to write tonight about how busy my week has been and how tired I am

 ... then I had a light bulb moment.  

How dare I complain.

Despite the heavy clouds and the rain, sun rise this morning was beautiful.

I have a part-time job that I thoroughly enjoy.  The rest of the time I get to indulge in beach rambles with the hound, and satisfy my passion for being a crocodile.  I earn an income from it too ..... albeit a small one .... at the moment. 

 It will grow though, of that I'm certain.

Viewing life through a lens is magical.  I get to capture moments in time that would otherwise be forgotten ... like this morning’s rainbow.  It was magnificent.  The most vibrantly coloured rainbow with another sneaking up behind.

There for a brief moment in time ... then gone.  

The "extra" left me a message in the sand.  One of those moments that was here one minute ....

That’s what life’s like too.  Moments in time slapped together in haphazard order with no logical rhyme or reason to their placement .... or so it seems.  A moment can seem like an eon but when viewed as part of the whole is actually quite insignificant.  

.... and gone the next.

Press PAUSE.  I want to REWIND.  I want to catch up.

Oh dam .... it's that Chiefs rugby ball.  Saturday night is the night of reckoning.

“Take ONE moment just to be here .... to be still

.... regardless of what is passing through you.” 

~ Gangaji

ONE moment.  That’s all I need.

The hound understands what I mean.  She would have her time on the beach over and over again if she could.  She would press rewind EVERY day, but especially on Tuesdays and Fridays..

They’re her catch-up days with Sam.

They chase rugby balls and unearth logs and dig trenches to China ... and drink coffee. Their energy and enthusiasm is boundless. 

 I nearly lost my coffee this morning to an ever-vigilant Sam.  Taking photos of rainbows took a back seat to save my caffeine fix. 

 It was my FIRST one of the day

 ... there was NO way NO hound was pinching it!

Sam and Bailey having Labrador playtime!

We’ve had King tides this week and there’s been an abundance of driftwood on the beach ...until yesterday.  The powers-that-be sent a tractor to clean up our bay and it removed a lot of the driftwood.  The hounds still found some though.

It looks aggressive .. but it's not.  It's all mouthing and noise.

I’m being very careful to avoid being stabbed again by a wayward log.  I am STILL having to visit A+E to have the wound dressed. Tonight was my 6th visit and I have to return again on Monday.

 I think I’ve learnt my lesson.

“It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.” 

~ Henry David Thoreau

Mother Nature must have known I was feeling sad ...

Mother Nature turns my skies beautiful!

Sometimes life isn’t fair

It attacks us with a suddenness and ferocity we don’t always expect. The feelings can be overwhelming and, for a brief period in time, unmanageable.

I’m glad it was raining this morning.  Raindrops and tears became one and, as each tear fell, a calmness enveloped me.  It’s good for the soul to cry.  It’s necessary.  

A release from the anguish and hurt felt inside.

Yesterday's sunrise

It doesn’t put my world to right but it helps me deal with it better. 

On the beach yesterday .... there was sunshine!

I am the eternal optimist.  I always have been.  I smile and laugh and bubble because that’s who I am. Even eternal optimists have their down-days though.

.... and HUGE logs!

One day I might feel compelled to write a book about the last few years ... more as catharsis for myself than anything else.  “I wake each morning and pinch myself, hoping it was only a dream ....” 

For now though, I’ll just focus on each day and try to make it a good one.

The sun rise this morning wasn’t visible from the view site.  Dark storm clouds were covering the sky as raindrop after raindrop trickled down my nose. By the time I hit the beach those dark storm clouds had turned the most amazing shades of yellow and orange.  Mother Nature must have known I was feeling sad this morning so she painted those skies in the most riotous of colours.

Today's sunrise .... awesome!

She even added a rainbow.

Rainbows and sun rises don’t do it for the hound though.  She wanted to chase logs in the waves. Espying the oldest lemming arriving on the beach, she barrelled on over and vociferously instructed him to tend to her needs.  He’s good like that though and well trained. Log after log after log was thrown into the waves for an enthusiastic hound to retrieve.

She’s had a bonus today. Not only did she get to ramble in the rain this morning but she ALSO got to ramble with her buddy Sam at Waiatarua this afternoon.  Guess what .... it was STILL raining.  

TWO rainy rambles in ONE day ... how LUCKY is that!

Waiatarua is water-logged in a way I’ve never seen it before.  Even the bridge that I photograph the ducks from was under water.  The pathways are under water.  The grass is under water.  It’s a WETLAND in EVERY sense of the word.  The hounds thought they’d died and gone to heaven.

We quite literally splish-splashed our way around the reserve throwing rugby balls in every direction.  Some of the puddles were as deep as the river.  

In some parts of the reserve the puddles WERE part of the river.  

The river on the right side of the wooden fence and the path on the other.

It was so much fun.  I’m not sure WHO enjoyed it more ... the hounds or us.

The bridge ... water-logged .... I'm standing on it, in the water!

“Life is not the way it’s supposed to be. It’s the way it is. 

The way you deal with it is what makes the difference.” 

~ Virginia Satir

The dogs are heading onto the path ... it looks like a river!

This is how deep the water on the paths was .... up to my ankles.

A wetter than wet hound!