One Sunday in late May, my lovely pack mate and I packed up and ducked out from under the drab canopy of a San Francisco marine layer to bask in the bright and breezy sunlight of north Sonoma County.
Beneath a graceful mimosa tree in some friends’ backyard, we enjoyed a lunch of grilled onions, squash, and tomatoes, plus corn on the cob, homemade veggie tamales, a young manchego and olive bread, all washed down with a refreshing Lake County sauvignon blanc.
Our adult companions were in high spirits as they spoke of their impending vacation to London town. As for three-year old Julian, he was far too jovial to focus on food, preferring the delights of some judicious tickling. His canine cohort, a small black dog named Cricket (of a breed Megan calls “Healdsburg Pound Puppy”), was racing to and fro, much more interested in various good-smelling garden corners than in the rabbit food we were enjoying.
Gesticulating with a hummus-smeared carrot stalk, Julian’s dad told us a pretty good pit bull joke – the punch line being that the difference between the breed in question and a man’s mother is that the pit bull will eventually let go.
Fast forward a few hours to “my pet” and I strolling the antique fair in Healdsburg square, admiring – among other things – miniature locomotives, tiny tot tea sets, and model boats. And the plethora of the petite didn’t stop there. Near the fountain, I spotted a toddler feeding her brand new bran muffin to a toy Doberman who happened by. It was then I noticed that all of the dogs in the square were under two feet tall. Did I miss the booth selling miniature dogs? It made me feel especially oversized after all that lunch.
Upon returning to our friends’ abode, Julian showed me his current favorite “reading” material, a picture book written and illustrated by Patrick McDonnell, the cartoonist who creates some of my favorite reading material, a daily strip called Mutts. His book, The Gift of Nothing, features the irrepressible stars of Mutts, Ernie the dog and Mooch the cat.
Ernie is your typical dog (aside from being composed of deftly placed squiggles and splotches of ink). He’s obsessed with belly rubs and his favorite food is “What’cha got?”
The Gift of Nothing is about Mooch’s quest to buy Ernie the perfect present. But Mooch knows that Ernie’s already got a bed, a dish, and a chew toy – so what do you give the dog who has it all? Why, nothing, Mooch realizes.
And here’s where the tale slips into a Zen rabbit hole. Various koans arise, like who sells nothing, and what’s better: A small box of nothing or a big box? Always the generous heart, Mooch chooses the big box.
As expected, the story ends well, with our heroes sitting paw-in-paw enjoying nothing together.
It may be somewhat specious to sell a book about the virtues of not buying anything. Who sells nothing? Certainly not Patrick McDonnell. His website, www.muttscomics.com, is a veritable canine-copia of product line.
Now here comes my green tie-in: The Mutts merchandise is 100% organic. Plus McDonnell is on the board of The Humane Society and donates a portion of his profits to animal-friendly causes. And (dogs will especially like this) he plants a tree for every poster he publishes.
So kudos to McDonnell, who’s committed to getting Ernie’s carbon pawprint as close to nothing as possible – and that takes more than simply choosing ink over charcoal when drawing him.
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