Book

Today I received an email from Waterstones, announcing the shortlist for their Children's Book Prize. I was close to deleting it when I noticed a book listed called 'Rabbityness' by Jo Empson... of course I couldn't resist looking to see what it was... couldn't find a 'look inside' on any retail site, but found this on a blog...

http://picturebooksinelt.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/a-certain-kind-of-rabbityness.html

This blog contains descriptions and images of many pages showing that it's a beautiful book with a deep message about loss and grief... but in particular, a message with which many of us bunny people are familiar: losing a bunny leaves a horribly empty grey hole, a stark contrast to the happiness and fullness their lives brought us, but then we begin to discover the gifts they left behind - the beautiful memories and special qualities they shared with us, as they tried to teach us the value of 'rabbityness'.

I challenge anyone who's lost a bunny to read the blog (or the book!) and keep a dry eye.

Woolly for you

I'm not sure whether it was a lapse in concentration or a lack of respect for the destructive ability of the bunny, but my husband left a long piece of wool on the carpet. Dijon noticed and was picking it up then putting it down, the way they do when nesting. He probably wouldn't have given it much more attention, but I thought I'd better move it to safety, and that's when he decided he really REALLY wanted it. That wool belonged to him.

It started with a tug-of-war, with me not daring to pull too hard in case I damaged his teeth, but then Mabel joined in and it became more of a fight. They were like 2 puppets on a string. There was aggressive tugging, tossing of heads, each trying to win it from one another and from me, then Dijon managed to run off with it, and the wool very much lost! Interesting how they can vary their bite from holding wool to severing wool to chewing wool.

Needless to say it had to be recovered quickly before more was consumed.

What Goes Up...

This evening the living room door was left ajar and Dijon was quick to open it and hop out into the hallway, clickety-clickety on the laminate floor with his slightly-in-need-of-a-trim claws. He was very pleased with himself, and showed us with a very expressive tail that he didn't intend to return to the living room before he'd finished exploring, so we left him for a while as we were in the kitchen. However, very soon the clickety-clickety changed to b-lump b-lump b-lump... Dijon was going up the stairs, and with 3 children asleep up there, this had to be stopped!

Poor Dijon was too scared to come down the stairs, and could only go further up. He had to be rescued and carried back to the living room, where Mabel had been enjoying a few moments of peace, without her man around!

Unfortunately I doubt he'll remember how scary those stairs were, next time the living room door is left open. His bunny desire for exploring new territory will overcome the memory.