The Royal Pooch visits the lake | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Kathy Manos Penn is a native of the “Big Apple,” who settled in the “Peach City” – Atlanta. A former English teacher now happily retired from a corporate career in communications, she writes a weekly column for the Dunwoody Crier. Read her blogs and purchase her book, “The Ink Penn: Celebrating the Magic in the Everyday” on her website theinkpenn.com.

    What a difference a year makes. Last summer, Mum wrote a column about a lake adventure with a bunch of guys from Dad's ROMEO group (Retired Old Men Eating Out) plus a few wives. They all went to lunch on a pontoon boat only to encounter the perfect storm on the way back to the dock. They survived the thunder and lightning and soaking and lived to laugh about the trip. Hopefully, since names were changed to protect the innocent, they laughed again when the story appeared in Mum's collection of columns, "The Ink Penn: Celebrating the Magic in the Everyday."

    This year, instead of the larger group, it was the Royal Parents and I who boated to lunch with our friends and their dog Gunny. Gunny is a miniature Poodle mix, about the size of my sister Puddin' the cat, and he's a bundle of muscle and energy. Honestly, he can jump almost as high as she can. He looks like a spring-loaded Energizer bunny as he goes boing, boing, boing leaping up almost shoulder height repeatedly.

    I've never been on a boat, so this was a cool adventure for me. We meandered down the pathway to the shore and walked the gangplank onto the dock. I was a bit hesitant about the gap between the dock and the boat, but I took it in stride, so to speak, and boarded. I inspected the boat from stem to stern and anticipated a grand time.

    I wasn't disappointed. Our captain fired up the engine and off we went, slowly motoring out of the cove to the main body of the lake. Picture me, the breeze ruffling my beautiful black fur and my royal nose held high to sniff the breeze.

    When we arrived at the marina, I was delighted to find that we dogs were welcome in the open air restaurant. As is always the case when Lord Banjo makes an appearance, people oohed and aahed over me. Our waitress brought Gunny and me a big bowl of water, and our parents were impressed at how well we shared. It's no different than me sharing my water bowl with Puddin', so I'm not sure what the big deal was. I was hoping someone would need me to clean the floor of scraps, but no such luck. The restaurant floor was ship shape. Thankfully, our captain's wife brought some vegetarian doggie treats, which were delicious.

    Mum tied my leash to her chair, but while she was chatting, I untied that thing and set off to meet the folks at a nearby table. I was just about to score a handout when our captain realized where I was. No worries, though. They all rubbed my head and exclaimed over my size and wonderfully soft fur.

    Pretty soon, we headed back across the lake. I'm telling you, I could get used to a daily boat ride. I wonder what it would take to persuade Mum and Dad to purchase a Royal Yacht for Lord Banjo. I'm betting my Great Pyrenees ancestors accompanied the French kings up and down the Seine.

    As we left, there was talk of a return visit, something about the dads kayaking while the mums recline on the dock reading. The Royal Pooch will be mightily pleased as long as he's part of the reclining contingent and there's a boat ride before the day's out. I've already penciled in a date on the Royal Calendar and requested a royal purple beach towel for the occasion.

    Look for Kathy's new book "Lord Banjo the Royal Pooch" due out in late August and find her collection of columns, "The Ink Penn: Celebrating the Magic in the Everyday," on Amazon. Contact her at inkpenn119@gmail.com.