Bruce had a big work out

I was pondering my coverage of Bruce, and realised I mostly show him sleeping or just hanging out, ie - not being a total maniac running and jumping and leaping for balls, birds, cats, and other dogs. 

So today, he had a massive run in the park with two dog friends.  He chased them, chased balls, got into the dirt and ran like a greyhound.  When he got home, he drank about 2 litres of water and flopped down on the back deck, completely destroyed.

So here he is after a big work out.  Still pretty cool.

What? I just ran 20 kms and drank half my water bowl

Yeah, Ok, it was fun

Zen Dog

Itsy Bitsy Spider

I was sitting on my back verandah in the sun and noticed this little shadow of a spider on one of our hanging pot plants (that's plants in a pot just to clarify).  The spider is very small but the shadow looks kind of menacing.

Tiny spider looks creepy in shadow form

The Stripey Street Cat and other Street Art

We had to vote for our local council election this morning.  Ho Hum.  At least on the walk up to the local church to vote we saw the Stripey Street Cat.  Yes, that is a link to a Facebook page, as the Stripey Street Cat has become a well-loved fixture of graffiti in my local area.  I believe it is actually stencil art, and it shows up all over the place.

There is another Stripey Street Cat on a street sign down the end of our road, I'll take a photo of it too some time, but here it is in our back lane, looks like it is on a mission:

Stripey Street Cat

Also in the back lane, we noticed this wall has been recently modified.  The dog on the corner was always there, but the girl is new.

The doggie is somewhat obscured by the shadow of the stop sign

Meanwhile, a friend of ours sent me a photo from a local butcher shop's window.  He thought it was representative of the slow-cooked lamb dinner we had a few weeks ago (before dinner that is):

Tastes good cooked slow

Later on this afternoon, some children from the Fijian Seventh Day Adventist Church up the road came around collecting canned food.  We gave them some tomatoes, baked beans and salmon.  I hope it helps a family who needs it.  Those kids are beautiful with big, big smiles, even though Bruce stole their ball in our front yard.  Bruce thinks all balls belong to him.  After much laughter from them, and me jamming my finger in the front door, I returned it.  Bruce loved it.

What a dork, he carries a tyre around.  Doesn't look guilty either

Wellington NZ - Vale, Dean Gifford

Early last month, I posted about my partner's cousin Dean and his battle with a brain tumor.  We knew Dean didn't have long to live then, and he died early morning on August 23rd.

I haven't been able to post for a while because we were very sad and we had to go to Wellington, New Zealand for Dean's funeral.  There was an obituary for Dean in the Dominion Post.  He was only 42 and sadly left his wife and two children, aged 7 & 5.

Dean's funeral was huge.  It was at St Mary of the Angels Catholic cathedral in Wellington city.  There were 1400 people there, standing room only in the church, and a huge crowd outside.  They even had speakers so those outside could hear the service.  The whole street was closed.  There were 500 uniformed police officers in attendance. Police officers were pall bearers bringing Dean's coffin into the church, they wore white gloves and some of them were crying.  He had the NZ flag draped on his coffin, and his cap.  An officer followed the pall bearers with a pillow bearing a police medal.

As Dean's coffin came down the aisle of the cathedral, the police Kapa Haka group performed traditional Maori funeral procedures.  It was very moving, you could have heard a pin drop.  At the end, there was a police honour guard.  The whole of the street was lined by uniformed police on both sides, including members of the dog squad, and there was a final haka of farewell to Dean.

We had a wake for Dean that evening.

The next day we went to Scorching Bay for lunch.  The weather was beautiful - normally in Wellington at this time of year it isn't.  So we were lucky.

Scorching Bay

Scorching Bay

The Cafe

Wellington Bays

Across the way

We didn't feel much like taking photos, so there aren't many to post.  However, the next morning we took a walk to the Weta Cave, part of Peter Jackson's immense studio complex in Miramar.  We were staying with relatives just up the road.  There were a few Lord of the Rings things:

Life-size Gandalf...King Kong is on the wall at the back

Gandalf

Gandalf

Lurtz - over 7 feet tall, and actually a real guy, except the feet

Lurtz is large and scary

On the walk home to our family's house in Miramar, we saw there was a regular Tea Dance at the church:

That guy has a bottle of champagne - no Tea to be seen