I'm like the proverbial "pig in shit"!

I’m sure I’ve said this before .... umpteen times probably .... but I just LOVE reflections ... all kind of reflections but especially visual ones! I can’t get enough of them and, once I start looking, I can’t help but see them EVERYWHERE!

Reflections can be more than just visual though .... echoes are reflections too - acoustic reflections. Seismic waves are acoustic reflections ....  very relevant for me living here in New Zealand and especially so with the latest volcanic activity at Mount Tongariro and White Island. 

As I’m writing this I’m sitting looking out at Rangitoto and wondering how I’d feel if I was to ever see smoke or steam rising from IT’S crater. Would I grab my camera and start clicking? 

Without a doubt, I would! I’m NOT a crocodile for nothing.

Even more reflections in this pic of the hound jumping.

I’m quite sure Julia and Carol must get fed up sometimes when they’re out rambling with me .... I know Gav does. I’m FOREVER stopping to take photographs and even more so when the sun’s casting awesome reflections over the water. The colours and the clarity of the reflections today were magnificent .... I HAD to stop .... OFTEN!

I can't remember this hound's name, it begins with a 'T' but she treads water watching everything going on around her.

I seldom see anyone else with a camera when I’m rambling and that surprises me. Doesn’t anyone else get excited by the magnificence they see around them when they ramble? 

I NEED to capture those images ... to freeze-frame the kaleidoscope of colours in my head. I want to enjoy them .... yes, REALLY enjoy  them .... for more than just a moment. When my world gets dark and gloomy, like everyone’s occasionally can, those images help re-ignite my spark. They remind me that no matter how dark life can get sometimes, it’s cyclical and the light will emerge again if I choose to look for it. 

This little black Labrador pup was trying to help Sam get the ball out of the pond.

Sam's novel way of getting in the pond

Even when it’s raining .... even when the skies are grey .... there is always something worthy of being photographed. Some of the most evocative photos I’ve taken have been during stormy weather.

But back to reflections, the visual ones. 

Indy and a friend .... don't know this one's name either. 

I’m like the proverbial ‘pig in shit’ when we go to Waiatarua and the sun’s shining. I just KNOW I’m going to capture some amazing moments.

The Pukeko are EVERYWHERE .... there are SO many of them around. August is the start of breeding season so we should start seeing their young ones anytime between September and December. I haven’t seen a baby Pukeko yet so I’m quite excited. The Pukeko amuse me ... they are so colourful and so full of character. They’re not really fearful of us but very wary of the hounds. I managed to capture the most gorgeous pic of them huddling together on a tiny island after the hound and Indy rather clumsily entered their territory. 

What’s more funny than 6 Pukeko on a tiny island? 7 Pukeko  -  all trying to clamber to the top to see where the hounds have got to!

First there were 6 ....

..... then there were 7!

Sam proved today that yesterday’s success at swimming wasn’t a fluke ... he EVEN swam in the river! He’s in his element in the water now and it won’t be long before he’s leaping into the water after the ball like my hound does. 

He’s joined the Labrador Gang!

Indy .... pinching the ball!

I still think he has an identity crisis though .... he definitely wants to be a chocolate hound. His obsession with mud and getting as much of it over him as possible hasn’t abated .... he’s one determined “wannabe” chocolate hound!