easter hoppiness

easter ggs with feet?! must make them 'runny eggs', i guess!

back in the burrow

we've finally moved back into our old home - thank goodness! 

as you can see we have yet to unpack my library: br'er rabbit stories, the tale of peter rabbit, watership down, the velveteen rabbit, little grey rabbit, the tale of the flopsy bunnies, harvey, the best of bugs bunny, who killed roger rabbit, the tale of benjamin bunny, oswald the lucky rabbit annual, rabbit run, rabbit rich and rabbit redux...

the flames of love

though memories may grow hazy with the passage of time, the flicker of true love always burns bright...

  

love on valentine's day

posh nosh

i went with brian and david to a dinner in oxford last friday – not to enjoy the yummy-looking food (no chance of getting so much of a mouthful when brian's around) but for my annual reunion with lafayette, who sounds french but who comes from sweden, where he lives with a famous swedish writer...

laf, as i call him, is a sweetie but he does tend to go on at some length about the bedrock of swedish culture which, if i understand him correctly, is made up of three things called lutherism, trade unionism and self-reliance. 

i told him that english culture was made up of fish 'n' chips, football and beer which pretty much brought our cultural exchange to an end...

i'm dreaming...

...of a white easter!

snow fun!

it's a bit parky but with gill's scarf i was warm enough to make a few snowballs to lob at brian!

 

twelfth night...

...and time to finally put those christmas decorations away, and i can certainly 'put these away' all right!

yummy!!

tree hugging

must have had too much whiskey... no idea how i got up here...

almost midnight...

...and time to say regardless of whether you are celebrating or drowning your sorrows...

happy new year!

on reflection...

as the year turns towards its close, my thoughts inevitably turn to the emotional highs and lows of the past year – spurred on by hippolyta's christmas gift...

don't sit under the christmas tree...

...with anyone else but me!

it's today!

a very merry

christmas!

it's beginning to feel a lot like...

i asked this chum over for the holiday but he's finding it a tad warm...

buttons at bag end

getting the hobbit habit...

there's still two films to go and radagast the wizard may need a replacement rabbit for his bunny-sledge.

dying for a pint

sheila sent me this joke: it is a bit sad but (a bit) funny.... 

A rabbit walks into a pub and says to the barman, 'Can I have a pint of beer, and a Ham and Cheese Toastie?'

The barman is amazed, but gives the rabbit a pint of beer and a ham and cheese toastie.

The rabbit drinks the beer and eats the toastie. He then leaves. The following night the rabbit returns and again asks for a pint of beer, and a Ham and Cheese Toastie.

The barman, now intrigued by the rabbit and the extra drinkers in the pub, (because word gets round), gives the rabbit the pint and the Toastie. The rabbit consumes them and leaves.

The next night, the pub is packed. In walks the rabbit and says, 'A pint of beer and a Ham and Cheese Toastie, please barman.'

The crowd is hushed as the barman gives the rabbit his pint and toastie, and then burst into applause as the rabbit wolfs them down.

The next night there is standing room only in the pub. Coaches have been laid on for the crowds of patrons attending. The barman is making more money in one week than he did all last year. In walks the rabbit and says, 'A pint of beer and a Ham and Cheese Toastie, please barman.'

The barman says, 'I'm sorry rabbit, old mate, old mucker, but we are right out of them Ham and Cheese Toasties...'

The rabbit looks aghast. The crowd has quietened to almost a whisper, when the barman clears his throat nervously and says, 'We do have a very nice Cheese and Onion Toastie.'

The rabbit looks him in the eye and says, 'Are you sure I will like it.'

The masses' bated breath is ear shatteringly silent. The barman, with a roguish smile says,'Do you think that I would let down one of my best friends. I know you'll love it.'

'Ok', says the rabbit, 'I'll have a pint of beer and a Cheese and Onion Toastie.'

The pub erupts with glee as the rabbit quaffs the beer and guzzles the toastie. He then waves to the crowd and leaves....

...NEVER TO RETURN!!!!!!

One year later, in the now impoverished public house, the barman, (who has only served four drinks tonight, three of which were his), calls time. When he is cleaning down the now empty bar, he sees a small white form, floating above the bar.

The barman says, 'Who are you?' To which he is answered, 'I am the ghost of the rabbit that used to frequent your public house.'

The barman says, 'I remember you. You made me famous. You would come in every night and have a pint of beer and a Ham and Cheese Toastie. Masses came to see you and this place was famous.'

The rabbit says, 'Yes I know.'

The barman says, 'I remember, on your last night we didn't have any Ham and Cheese Toasties. You had a Cheese and Onion one instead.'

The rabbit said, 'Yes, you promised me that I would love it.

The barman said, 'You never came back, what happened?'

 'I DIED,' said the rabbit.

'NO!' said the barman. 'What from?'

After a short pause, the rabbit said...

..............................................
..............................................

'Mixin'-me-toasties.'

happy halloween

from me

and the mistress of all evil

i met this spooky lady in disneyland one year – we did not exchange telephone numbers...

a rabbit's reflections

sadly my holiday in the sun ia now well and truly over and I have had to say goodbye not just to the fair isle of kalymnos in greece, but to old, new (and very particular) friends.

what a scrapbook of memories i have brought back to london with me: while brian was busy working on his various creative endeavours (which were, naturally, always accomplished with his eyes closed for the purposes of better concentration) i took long walks on the hills above emborios with roger, sheila and david...

with my cousin, buttons hippo, we visited some old ruins (which prompted bh to make an unnecessarily disparaging comment about hippolyta that led to my having to give him a good talking to about showing courtesy to the fairer sex)...

happily, we were always able to resolve our differences over a a glass or two of ouzo in a shady taverna –– you can't see the ouzo in the photo because (a) like the queen, i avoid being photographed with a drink in my paw and (b) we'd already drunk it...

but, of course, chiefest among my memories will be of the very happy times i spent in the company of one whom i think i may now truthfully describe as my own, dear, hippolyta...

ah, happy days –– and nights!

crowning moment

the perfect end to our holiday: h and i are granted a royal audience prior to our departure...

parting is such sweet sorrow...

...so wrote the bard and one knows just how he felt having spent a last evening with h before she departs for home...

i found her a tad overwrought by the sullen heat and being dutifully fanned by my cousin buttons hippo whilst recalling (at length) a catalogue of the hottest places of the world that he had either visited or heard of...

...but, as soon as i arrived, h quickly sent him off to entertain the local goats with his travel stories so we could share some last quality time together...

...this morning, over coffee, we had a full and frank discussion about the future--- our future...

i explained that i couldn't ever leave brian, after so many years because he'd simply go to pieces; and h said, for her part, that she really has to put her blossoming career as a diva extraordinaire above all hopes of personal happiness...

painful though it was, we have agreed to view the very special time we have shared during the last two weeks as simply a holiday romance of the kind that happens in musicals based on abba hits.

however, we will try to honour our affection for one another and hope that the future may possibly provide us with some further – less fleeting – opportunity to renew the bonds of true love...

* sniff *

stirred but not shaken

hippolyta relaxed last night and showed herself a hippo of great sophistication by ordering a piña colada. fortunately, i think it went onto sheila's bill.  

unfortunately, it came without a cherry, a wedge of pineapple and one of those little paper parasols: buttons hippo thought h would send for the head barman to complain, but – maybe due to the softening influence of what the greeks call agape – h's decorum never slipped, as can be seen from this delightful photo...

she is one sassy hippo, that girl!