eggsclusive

spot the hidden easter bunny...

hippopotanews

there was a knock at the door last week - well, more of an almighty great bang - and when i opened it, there, on the doorstep, was a hippopotamus who announced that he was my long lost cousin from africa...


personally, i thought this was unlikely as i didn't think rabbits and hippos were related, but he said his name was buttons hippo and, sure enough, he had his name written on the bottom of his feet which struck me as a very practical way of introducing yourself...


anyway, buttons hippo was soon going on and on about living beside the nile and about the beauty of the pyramids at sunrise and how surprising it was that a "world traveller like you hasn't ever been to egypt".

and, as if that wasn't bad enough, he was soon eating me out of house and home! it didn't take me long, therefore, to come to the conclusion that one of us had to go - and that it wasn't about to be me!

i decided to pack him off to live with brian and david's friends, sheila and roger, who have a kind of hippo sanctuary that is home to (among others) hippolyta hippo about whom i have written before.

so, happily, it looks like we've seen the back of him and apparently he's settling down ok in his new home in ascot.

ascot? you ask! well, yes, i know what you mean and I have to say if sheila and roger are thinking of trying to race him, they're probably in for a bit of a disappointment!

expressing myself

it's been ages since i blogged and i might not have got round to it this time but sheila sent me this cartoon by giles from the daily express on 24 july 1969 and asked if that was me on the right paw side of the picture?


me? 1969? just how old do you think i am, sheila?

in point of fact, it was my great-grandfather who used to moonlight as an artist's model.

i'm snow fool...

...but i like fooling around in the snow!




Images: Brian Sibley & David Weeks © 2009

bunny bravery

as my fans and followers well know --- i am fearless!



photos: © brian sibley 2009

snow where to go

first venice, now new york! here i am freezing my tail off in central park...


good job gill knitted me that scarf... a tail-warmer next time, please, gill!

photos: © brian sibley 2009

funny folk

it's almost time to go home, which is a pity because although i'll be pleased to see bodge, waterloo, fraser and the rest of the gang, there are things here that are not like anywhere else...

for example, i could have sworn these statues moved...


odd place, venice!

but nice odd, if you know what i mean...

by the way, i did - finally - get to sit in the sun while brian and david had one of the smallest and most expensive sandwiches in the history of snackdom...



photos: © david weeks & brian sibley 2008/9

ear-warmers

when you're a rabbit it gets a bit chilly round the ears - those being the longest and most vulnerable bits of bunny anatomy.

fortunately i can now borrow brian and david's mr funny and mr grumpy hand-warmers and defrost the extremities...

thanks men...!

photo: © brian sibley

misplaced hop-timism

when i chose a picture (from my extensive photo library) for my new year's day greeting i expected to be sitting in the sun...

...not in the
snow!

photo © brian sibley

pinch, punch, first of the month...

yes, it's january 1st and, after all last night's jollifications, it'll be time for a sit in the sunshine with a little light lunch - carrot and lettuce ciabatta, natch - and to wish all my readers...

a truly, really wonderful
new year!

photo © david weeks

stocking filla

wishing everyone a very
hoppy -- sorry, happy --
christmas

photo © brian sibley

xmas fan mail

it's always lovely to get fan mail - especially at christmas time and today i got a very sweet message from hippolyta hippo who i got to know through sheila and roger with whom she lives...

hippolyta wrote (i copied and pasted which is why there are big letters as well as small)...

Hi Buttons,

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from your No.1 Fan!

I thought you would like to see me getting ready to drink your health in Grappa:


Lucky you, having a holiday in Venice.

It's going to be Really Boring here. She is finishing an essay on the main factors in the development of the Anglo-Catholic revival in the 19th Century (whatever that means) and He always has his nose in a book, when he's not sneaking into the kitchen for another mince pie.

Have a good one & don't forget the Hippolyta motto:

PARTY - PARTY - PARTY!!

Love,

Hippolyta
xxx

i wonder if there could be some future in this relationship -- beyond the usual friendship existing between rabbits and hippos, I mean...?

'abbottonatura'

in case you wondered that's buttons --- in italian!

so, why am i writing in italian, you ask?

well, i'll come to that, but, first, i have to say that i never thought i'd get to blog again! brian has been so busy (he says) that he's monopolised the computer and I've not been able to get even near the keyboard...

anyway, right now, he's in the kitchen making himself a lemsip - like all humans he gets those strange sneezy-coughy-runny-nose cold things - so i'm grabbing the chance to send a quick missive just to tell you that in three days we'll be in venice which will be fun because i get to be photographed in neat places like here...


and here...


as you can tell the photos were taken in the days before gill kindly knitted me my nice red scarf which i will obviously taking with me.

just wondering whether, this year, i'll need a bunny-sized pair of wellies, too...

you can see more of my venice-ventures here.

photos © brian sibley & david weeks

size matters

this is me on my recent trip to the british museum...


i just want to make it perfectly clear that i'm not that small --- this thing is very big!

photo © david weeks

roman in the gloamin'

another day, another outing...

where am i?

italy?



er... no!

i'm at that place where england and scotland used to meet, marked by what's known as hadrian's wall and here i am sitting on top of it...


oh, all right...

i suppose the line down the middle is a bit of a give away! the truth is i was killing time outside the british museum, while brian and david went round the hadrian exhibition.


personally i wondered, once they'd gone in, whether someone as old as brian would ever be allowed out again! but guess what....?

photos © brian sibley

wet behind the ears

i like brighton. everybody does. it's fun ------ when it's nice! i mean, when you can laze about on the beach in the sun...


there can be the odd disappointment: such as when you don't quite measure up as being tall enough to go on one of the rides on the pier...


...but there's still the good old merry-go-round...


...the opportunity to have your photo taken with an odd-looking mermaid...


...or a chance to take a spin with noddy and tessie bear.


but this is my one souvenir snap from my trip to brighton last weekend - playing gooseberry on the boys' anniversary day out. they may have found it romantic, I just found it damp...


frankly, i'd have had more fun staying at home playing i-spy with bodge and the gang - which, by the way (being a bright - as opposed to a brighton - bunny) i always, win!

photos © brian sibley & david weeks

keeping my cool

i've been getting pretty steamed up over the fact that brian has been 'too busy' to help me blogs some of my holiday snaps, especially since - as you may have noticed - he finds time to blog his own silly photos of goats and donkeys...

anyway, i'm trying to keep my cool by reminding myself how i did just that in the afternoon heat of athens...

nice, if a little damp behind the ears!

video © brian sibley

fossil remains

this is me with a lot of very old shell fish.


brian said they are fossils and that they are probably the oldest thing i'll ever be photographed with...

i said i didn't think that was possible, because i'd already been photographed with brian!

photo © brian sibley

see you

before we went off to greece, i had my strangest encounter yet - with the invisible man...


funny chap. saw right through him...

photo © david weeks

greeced up

holiday time!

yes, this is where - once a year - the hard-working bunny goes to put his paws up, unwind and r - e - l - a - x !

photo © brian sibley

wedding jests

here i am at the wedding of brian and david's friends, mandy and rob...


in case you wondered, i'm the one front right held by the groom (in an anxious, vice-like grip) while mandy is holding their special pal (and my good chum), albert the bear.

in case the press gets hold of this, i want to make it clear that, whilst i like albert a lot, this wasn't a double ceremony...

there was lots of nosh - especially yummy stuff like cream meringues - which made a change from my usual boring carrot-diet.


and here's david with another bunny - though it's probably best not to ask what exactly was was going on! after all it was the magic circle...



photos © david weeks & brian sibley

i eye

brian made a lot of fuss the other day about going on the london eye and being brave enough to stand up!! ha ha ha!

i don't understand why it's such a big deal - i sat on the window sill and i looked down and, do you know, i realised that i was almost as big as big ben!



photo © david weeks

monstrous outing

brian took me to the park the other afternoon saying we were going to look at the wild life --- which is exactly what it was...

give me squirrels every time!



photo © brian sibley & david weeks

easter greekings

happy easter
(again!)

this time it's easter wishes to all my greek friends and friends in greece - like sue and andy who sent me this lovely card with a bunny who looks not unlike me before i went on the diet!

talking of diets, i'd like to hope that brian will remember to give me an easter egg (it doesn't have to be greek) but i bet he won't. in fact, i'll think myself lucky if i get so much as an extra carrot!



photo © brian sibley

where there's a will

happy birthday, bill...


i took his bardship a sprig of rosemary for remembrance, but he was dead to the world and i couldn't help but think, to quote his own words...

we have seen better days!

photo © brian sibley

just fooling!

as i expect you all guessed, that wasn't really me on yesterday's blog - but it was all fool's day and you forgot to say "white rabbits"!!

the buttons-impersonator was, in fact, my very good friend whizzo, who is a trainee magician's apprentice and accidentally made me disappear! fortunately, he's just remembered the magic words to make me appear again!



photo © brian sibley

unbuttoned

there've been some strange comments going back and forth on one of my blog postings which have led lisah to to suppose that something sinister has happened to me...

she wrote:

Perhaps Buttons fell down one of the cracks after all and Brian is not admitting it. David is aware of this and his conscience is bothering him.

The only way to set minds at ease is a personal appearance by Buttons which includes proof that he is safe and well.

so, to dispel lisah's anxieties, here i am making the requested personal appearance to prove, beyond doubt, that buttons is safe and well...

hope that's put your mind at ease, lisah...



photo © brian sibley

easter bunnies

hoppy easter!

i had to be pretty quick in getting this photo taken before brian and david gobbled up poor little bunny buddies!

photo © brian sibley

cracking day out

it started out so promising, when brian and david offered me the chance to feature in a photo essay about that crack in the floor of the tate modern art gallery...

i explored...


...straddled the gap, using my tail as a crampon...



...did a bit of balancing relying on the strength in my ears for essential support...



...had a closer look-see...



...tripped, lost my balance...



...and... ow!!



personally, i don't think the warning notices were adequate...



...i mean, falling, yes, but that stick man could never get stuck!

photos: © david weeks & brian sibley, 2008