Following Atticus: Forty-Eight High Peaks, One Little Dog, and an Extraordinary Friendship by Tom Ryan is published by William Morrow. It tells the story of my adventures with Atticus M. Finch, a little dog of some distinction. You can also find our column in the NorthCountry News.

Tuesday, April 08, 2008

A Magnificent Brown Dog

I need to get my legs under me again. Literally. I haven’t hiked for a while and need to get back into the rhythm of hiking again. Just down the road and across the street is Mt. Pemigewasset (also known as Indian Head). It only takes an hour to get to the top on a slow day but it’s a good hike to get back into things.

Pemigewasset is not a very high peak. But it offers up spectacular views and it has a summit that seduces me to linger. Since it is so close and the hike is relatively short, Atticus and I will be back in time to catch the start of the Sox home opener.

I spent much of yesterday putting together greeting card orders and catching up on correspondence before settling in for some writing. I need to get my writing legs under me, too. I closed the day with dog and book in bed. I was given Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat, Pray, Love by a newly-dear friend and I find myself returning to the same paragraph even as I move deeper into the book. It goes like this:

In the end, what I have come to believe about God is simple. It’s like this---I used to have this really great dog. She came from the pound. She was a mixture of about ten different breeds, but seemed to have inherited the finest features of them all. She was brown. When people asked me, “What kind of dog is that?” I would always give the same answer: “She’s a brown dog.” Similarly, when the question is raised, “What kind of God do you believe in?” my answer is easy: “I believe in a magnificent God.”

Well said. We're off to climb a mountain with great views and who knows, maybe we'll have a talk with that 'magnificent God'.

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