Riley and the Koru

Sometimes I know my mum thinks too much. You see when she heard that The Portuguese Water Blog was having a bandana challenge she decided that she would like to have my picture included, but mum wanted me to have a bandana that represented where I live. Now if I was in Scotland, where my Golden Retriever ancestors came from, that would be easy… it would have to be tartan, but I was born in New Zealand.

I’ve never had a bandana before, so mum started thinking about what sort of bandana I could wear. Mum thought about our country, Kiwiana and the Maori culture here, and different symbols of our country. She decided if I was going to wear a red bandana it should have a Koru on it.

So what exactly is a Koru? Well the Koru is a symbol that represents new life, and it can also represent the form of a wave as it approaches land. This symbol has been used for a long time by Maori, and can be found in the curved form of the fern frond.

This Koru symbol appears in jewellery,
 

 
 
in fabric, in logos like for our national airline (on their uniforms and planes),
 

 
it is used by Maori artists, and stylised (like this painting by Gordon Walters),
 

 
 
it appears on the Maori (Tino Rangatiratanga) flag below (which is sometimes flown with our New Zealand flag),
 
 

inside and outside on Maori buildings,
 

on the shirts of some of our sports teams, for tattoos and many other places.


When Korus are used together and they form what is called a "Kowhaiwhai" pattern, and the way the koru (or pit au) are placed also represents things.

So mum looked at various fabrics and the way that the pattern is repeated and used.

Most of your mums and dads would have just picked something red (which was already in your house) and had your photos taken and sent in by now, but mum eventually found a piece of fabric she liked (the background even matches the colour of my nose) and it was time for my photo shoot…

Dog logic = I think this is a bib because...I

drool whenever I see food and mum is waving

food around to get me to look at her...

so I’m starting to drool... so it must be a bib!

I've don't usually get dressed up for

anything, so this is all a bit of a laugh.

I finally have my very own bandana. BOL

If I close my eyes and stick out my

tongue will you stop taking so many photos!

Oh - so this is what you were after!

 
So now, when you see my photo displayed on The Portuguese Water Blog, you will know why I have all those squiggly red lines on my chest and what a Koru is. 
 
If you haven’t already entered your photo there is still time to be part of this fun event. Check out their website The Portuguese Water Blog The instructions are easy, and I'm predicting you'll be much faster at doing this than my mum was!
 
We are both looking forward to seeing your pictures on the 10th of June, and if you have read this far leave me a bark hello, as it would be great to hear from you!
 
Have a great weekend,
Woofs,
Riley

Climbing a volcano - my Sunday walk

Yesterday afternoon I got to stand on the top of my world.  My world was all around me - for as far as I could see there were places that I've visited, and places that I want to visit! Well in the photo I'm actually sitting on top of a volcano (and you guessed right that it isn't an active volcano or I wouldn't be sitting there) but for a medium sized dog like me I was up pretty high in the world.

Mum told me Auckland has many volcanoes – but luckily for me it has been over six hundred years since the last one erupted. However all 48 of these small volcanoes have erupted in the last 150,000 years! This means that I live in a city with many volcanic cones to explore, although many of these volcanoes have gotten smaller (or even disappeared) as they have been mined for the scoria and basalt rock which has been used to make some of our buildings and roads.

Mum, dad and I went to One Tree Hill (also known by the Maori name of Maungakiekie) which  is a ten minute car drive away. One Tree Hill is part of CORNWALL PARK, Auckland, New Zealand. This is what One Tree Hill looked like yesterday. You will see that our trees are now preparing for winter.

I think that the autumn leaves in the park match my colourings very well!!! 

First we walked around the base of the volcano, and then climbed up through the fields. One Tree Hill is only 183m high so this wasn’t a big summit for me to climb, but this volcano is in a huge park with farm animals, and lots of things for me to explore, so I spent about an hour and a half walking around with my family and saying hello to some of the other dogs I met there.

Half way up - this is the view looking back.

I know I saw far more trees than just one on “One Tree Hill” but mum explained that it got its name because there used to be a huge a single pine tree beside the obelisk at the top. The old picture below (off the Internet) shows how big the tree was.

You could see this pine tree from all around Auckland, but this was attacked by a protester with a chainsaw in 1994. Then another attack in 1999 ended the life of this tree. Mum thinks this was such a senseless thing to do, as the tree died and was removed by the city council in October 2000. Our council and local iwi are still trying to decide what the best type of replacement tree will be – so for now there is no “one tree” on our “One Tree Hill.”

One of Auckland’s founding fathers was John Logan Campbell bought the land in the 19th century and gifted this park to Auckland City. He is buried here and the monument is dedicated to him. The red patch in front of the obelisk is scoria. This is were the tree used to be.

Now I can show you what my city is like so click on the photos below if you want to view them larger.

This is looking North, and on the left side of the picture is where our central business district is. The water you see is the Waitemata Harbour, and the island on the right of this photo is Rangitoto Island, which is another volcano.

This is the view out towards the east.

To the south.

And this is to the west. The water you see behind me is Manukau Harbour.

Auckland is build on a narrow isthmus between the two harbours.

Many years ago this hill was a pa where Maori battles were fought. You will see that there are lots of terraces carved out of the hillside. Maori built gardens, houses and food storage pits here in the 18th century– but, as you can see from the photo below, I looked and looked and found that they hadn't left any food for me!

 

I also got to check out some cows.

I've been going to this park ever since I was a puppy, and there is always something interesting for me to find, smell or stand in.

Had you heard of One Tree Hill before? The band U2 wrote a song about in back in the late 1980’s; which appeared on their album “The Joshua Tree” and was dedicated to a New Zealand friend of theirs. I tried to put this video in, but only half the image showed (I'm still new to blogging and don't understand this embedding stuff!) so here is a link to the YouTube page if you are interested. U2 One Tree Hill

Bye for now,
Riley

HELP - the Paparazzi are after me!

If you think you haven’t heard from me for a while, you are right. I’ve been in hiding as I discovered I’m being hounded by my very own paparazzi. Yes the cameras are out to get me - I’ve heard the shutters click and seen the flashes.

It all started recently when Mum got herself a new camera and spent the first day with that camera following my every move “experimenting.”

Dad said something about over a hundred photos of me being taken in one day! You can see some of her first photos in this post.

Mum did photograph other things, but it seems I am going to be her main subject. Did you like how she was feeding me my kibble one piece at a time in all the photos above?

She even started making movies of me so I tried to lie very still so her movies looked just like her photos!

I don’t have to be doing much – just sleeping, running around the yard, playing, going to the beach, going on walks with friends and other dogs, barking at the cats next door, getting pats from small people, etc. which is pretty much my day to day life – but both mum and dad appear with small boxes and try to “capture” me.

Does this mean I’m special or am I actually being stalked?

So far being captured hasn’t hurt, but I’m not sure about the flash thing they do and occasionally and if my paparazzi are taking too long, I give them a bark to hurry them up, but ever since I was a puppy I’ve been pretty laid back about having my picture taken.

So I wanted to ask my readers if you have any tips for a young dog like me as I can see, now that I have my own blog, that this photo thing is going to gain momentum.

Mum will be following me around, creeping up on me when I am asleep or eating, and taking her camera thing with her when we go out. Like she did with this photo of one of the many lamposts I checked on the first day she had a camera.

Even closing my eyes on our walk didn't make her stop!

She was still taking photos while I tried to sleep.

So how do all you dogs and cats out there handle your own paparazzi? Do you find yourself being stalked by a human, and do you have any activities that are just too private for a camera or does anything go for this doggie blog land?

What should I do?

                                                      Riley

Golden Days

Every so often my family take me to a wonderful park where I meet up with some of my goldie friends.

Here are a few photos of my visits there - so in some I’m a puppy and in others I’m big!  Of course some people say us dogs all look alike, but my mum always knows where I am even when there are more than thirty of us there at the same time. I am in every picture below - can you find me?

Who is that I see in the long grass? I remember you..

Shall we go down this path or explore the ditch at the side?

Perhaps a quick dip...

a bit of doggie paddle...

and we are off again.

Lets follow this scent. I think that p-mail might be from

Honey the Great Dane - we know she used to enjoy

coming here when she lived in Auckland.

 A chat with one of my half brothers

(we have the same dad!)

So do you want to play? Have we met yet?

Yes this pond is deep,

but it's so much fun. 

Now where shall we go next... this one looks good.

Oh yes.. I've just remembered that we are all meant to be

retreivers. Where is that duck? Have you seen it? I haven't either. 

Do you think we should all stay here until we find one? 

I couldn't find the duck, but I'm definietly a water dog

because even running around in the rain

in this park makes me happy.

So you see Golden Days really are lots of fun.

 Love and woofs

Riley

What will my legacy be?

I’m now 3 ½. Like everyone I have no precise date to tell me how long I’ll be here for – it could be until the end of today or if I’m really lucky it could be until I’m seventeen or more in human years. I have no way of knowing exactly how long and neither do my people. There are averages for my breed but I’m not your average dog!

I’ve often thought it would be useful if people and animals had a “best before” or “use by” date stamped on their forehead (like they put on milk and dog food) so those around them could see it and didn’t waste time with silly things and arguments but just enjoyed every moment while they could. I sometimes look at humans with the weird things they argue, worry and fret about and wonder if its really worth the time they waste like when families and friends don’t speak for ages, and people stay in jobs for all the wrong reasons, or doing things that don’t matter and put off doing the good things until they retire only to find they miss out because they weren’t left with enough time.

But I digress - I am a dog and I live in the moment. Moments are all us dogs have so I don’t dwell about things in my past (like when my foot was sore) and I don’t think about the future (like if it’ll bring me pleasure or pain) because I live in the moment like the moment when I see the neighbouring cat, the moment when my food bowl appears or I’m going on a walk or I playing with my people or other dogs, the moment I see something interesting like an animal program on TV, or I’m going for a car ride, or I find an interesting smell in our back yard, or there is a ball to chase or I’m running along the beach towards the waves - but sometimes in the moment (like when I’m lying on my back four paws up to the warm sun with my mum beside me on the lawn (also on her back staring up at the fluffy white clouds and blue sky) while she rubs my tummy) I close my eyes and wonder what my legacy will be…

Humans like to leave legacies. Something to make them feel that their time, however long or short, actually meant something and that they will not be forgotten too soon.

Often what they choose to leave behind is money and possessions, and some people spend so much time getting things to add to thier pile that they miss out on other experiences with the ones they are wanting to leave their possesions to. There is a saying “he who has the most toys wins” but I know I came into this world without toys and you can’t take toys with you (since I got many of my toys from the last dog that lived here), and although they are fun at the time toys I don’t want my toy collection to be my legacy.

So what about another generation of me… well unfortunately, due to one of those visits to the vet (and yes the vet is still my friend and I still want t to go back to visit him!), being a father isn’t to be, but I live in the knowledge that I’m an uncle and also my daddy was a very busy boy so there are lots of his puppies around the world and lots of half-siblings in New Zealand (I’ve met some of them) with my good looks.

Then there is fame. There are those who seek it and those who just become famous for the things that they do. I’m not a show dog with titles, but I do dabble in obedience classes and agility classes for fun. Yes you read right “obedience for fun” as I get to socialise with other dogs, and my mum looks so happy as I do better with each challenge like dumbbells and scent cloths, but my mum is not so serious that she wants to win proper competitions with me as she’d get too stressed “she” wasn’t doing the right thing or “she” wasn’t walking the right way! So she takes me to classes to be social with others, and instead I have certificates for something called “Canine Good Citizen” from the NZ Kennel Club (they do a similar thing overseas in places like America and the UK) and every so often we do a ribbon parade thing, but I doubt I’ll be remebered for my efforts in those!

There is also being of service to others (like the animals that visit old people) and that is something to explore in the future (mum thinks I might be good at it), but for now I try to make people around me smile by eagerly going up to humans for pats, by being friendly to all the other dogs I meet (even the growly ones!), by wanting to play with everyone and every dog, by getting my humans attention and making them smile when they’re having a bad day, and by enjoying each and every moment I have.

Yes I think for now the thing that I will work on, and what my legacy might be, is to make others smile at the things that I do.

Luv

Riley