the big guy and i

here i am taking a stroll in the park with the big guy...

in case you wondered, the big guy is not brian (although i can see why you might have thought that!) but a statue in crystal palace park by david wynne of a(nother) gorilla inspired by one of the london zoo's most famous (but now long gone) inmates – guy...

kung hei fat choi

happy chinese new year!

it's the year of the rabbit!

pet peeve

i'm a bit miffed at the moment: firstly because brian is always so busy i never get a chance to get on the computer and do a bit of blogging; and, to make matters worse, he and david swanned off to oxford last friday and left me behind!

in an attempt to make up for the disappointment of missing out on my annual trip to the groves of academe, they bought me back a 'pet'...

his name's 'cheshire' (which is odd enough and even odder when you think he comes from oxford) and he's turned out to be very dull company since in the middle of a conversation he'll suddenly disappear – occasionally (and this is very disturbing) leaving just that cheesy grin behind.

last splurge

one last bit of venetian yumminess before going home, tomorrow!

buon anno

here i am enjoying new year in venice

the clock's struck twelve...

...so it is time to wish you all––

a
happy, healthy,
peaceful and prosperous
new year!

...trust you had a great celebration last night and that, come the morning, you aren't too much in need of a hair of the rabbit!

normal service resumed

hot chocolate in venice! It doesn't get much yummier than this!

14 karrit kristmas

my best-ever christmas present * (from the lovely hippolyta; my cousin, buttons hippo; mellors and the other hippos from the ascot hippodrome): a whole box of marzipan carrots!! yum!

only problem: how to keep brian from nicking them?

* after gill's lovely hand-knitted scarf of a few years back that still keeps me warm in winter!

hoppy christmas

hoping you all have
a fun-filled
holiday!

it's almost here...

...and i'm ready!

white rabbit!

snow's back!

So, watch out for snowballs!

boo!

have a horrid
halloween!

hare today

this week i went to the summer exhibition at the royal academy which, as usual, was full of stuff i didn't understand. maybe it's just because i'm a rabbit, although i'm not sure humans really understand it either. what i'd like to know is why are there never any paintings of carrots, these days. i bet the old masters did a few.

anyway, this year - for a change - there was something of interest for a member of the family leporidae: a trio of sculptures of my cousins the hares by barry flanagan.

obviously, i had to have my photo taken admiring them...

you'll find more of my photos on brian's flickr set, buttons

ascot mascot

the day we went racing the queen wasn't there, but I had this fantasy about what might have happened if she had been....

And being a guest of h.m. would, obviously, have enabled me to sneak into the royal enclosure!

racing rabbit

last friday, brian and david went racing with roger and sheila at ascot and i went along too thanks to a special admission badge made for me by roger which, happily, totally fooled the bowler-hatted ushers!

racehorses, it turns out, are big and this statue of a horse's head was bigger than most real horses: that's me just under its nose...

brian and david were very stingy and wouldn't give me any pocket money to bet so i came home with nothing. still, the horses they bet on didn't run as well as they expected and they came home with less than nothing!

greek geek

it's just like a scene out of mama mia! here i am sunning myself in sunny greece! hoppy holidays, folks!

bigger game

i tame lions, too!

big game

there has been some speculation of late about my relationships with hippos, but i've also been out elephant hunting...

spring outing

i had a very entertaining day last saturday (brian and david were hanging around but, fortunately spent most of their time talking with the friends sheila and roger) leaving my cousin, buttons hippo (who, you may remember, went to live with s & r) , to have a good time playing amongst some huge plants in the garden at a place called great dixter...

...and playing knights-in-armour (but without the armour, obviously) at bodiam castle...

It turns out, however, that climbing on the ruins (it was, by the way, in ruins before we got there) is not allowed...

photos by brian sibley and sheila shrigley

buttons' birthday bash

yesterday was my birthday - i arrived something-teen years ago with an easter egg - and i celebrated the event in ascot with my cousin, buttons hippo, and that divine diva, hippolyta hippo with whom i have corresponded, but never met. i have to say she's quite a gal...

of course, i had to take brian and david along but they nattered endlessly to hippolyta's people, sheila and roger and stuffed themselves with sunday roast and pretty much left us to our own devices...

buttons hippo played gooseberry a bit too much for h and my liking, but we had fun in the garden hunting for easter eggs and sent buttons h off to look behind the compost heap while we got to know one another better...

photos by david weeks