We're steadily coming across a new generation of people and their new generation of dogs rambling through the forested acres of the ravine to which we have been devoted for over two decades.  Those old ramblers with whom we were familiar have steadily dropped off and none now remain but a scant few whose dogs' ages match that of our remaining little poodle.

Increasingly we see dogs still in puppyhood, infused with amazing enthusiasm for life, springy and spontaneous, curious and abundantly willing to share their newfound love of life with anyone in their path who might feel equally enthralled with existence.  Some of these creatures - both large and small look equal to conquering Mount Everest in their zeal for discovery, their boundless energy and their frolicsome moods.

Bringing back to us memory of our own little miniature poodle who shared so many adventures with us in her younger days, clambering up mountainsides to reach summits from which we could look out vast distances to other countless summits marching across that lofty landscape, and where the sky looked boundless, creatively crowded with clouds resembling what we had left down below us in the landscape of trees and giant boulders, and waterfalls and oak scrub clinging to the inhospitable sides of barely-soiled granite.

Our little dogs in their too-brief youth saw vast vistas in their zeal to match our efforts to mount the sternest mountain peaks we could manage before time took from us the energy and the motivation to persevere against the pull of relentless gravity.

And now we see that new generation comprised of the tiny black bouncing happiness of a Maltese terrier-poodle mix, to a great Pyrenees, or an Irish Wolfhound-German Shepherd mix discovering the beauty and mystique of nature in our very own backyards.  Through their boundless enthusiasm we re-visit our own experiences and the fruitful discoveries, along with the satisfying pleasure we shared with our own little companions.

Back, as the saying goes ... in the day.