Hattie

The most beautiful golden in the world, Hattie, shares a special place in my heart. I helped raise her as a puppy, and we have spent countless hours in the woods of New Hampshire or along the rugged coast of Maine. She has a disposition that is to be admired and and a love of the outdoors that is to be celebrated. She runs with grace and jumps with ease. She scurries up mountain slopes and lunges into ocean waves. She is a true golden. On a breathtaking August morning, while the rest of the house was still deep in summer sleep, Hattie and I walked down to Mosquito Harbor, where she loves to swim in the ocean and play on the jagged rocks. The sky was a light blue, and the sun had just risen. The wind was light and the ocean was still. Birds coasted through the air, swooping and diving with each other. I crept up to a grassy section of the harbor, where the rocks ended and the flowers began. There, in the swaying sea grass, Hattie stood, like a proud and beautiful creature, full of life and love. I quickly grabbed my faithful Nikon and captured her in what seemed to be such a natural state. As the sun continued to rise in the summer sky and the 7 o'clock hour began, the world seemed to stand still. On a small stretch of ocean at the end of a pastoral peninsula, I sat with my favorite dog, and we both watched the ocean move back and forth, rising and falling like a gentle giant. I was at peace.