Rabbit Ears

Intimidated by news reports and talking heads, I am certain the worst will happen. I won’t go into that story I tell myself because it is an unknown 

future. Sitting in the bus shelter this afternoon, the sun shone through the plexiglass, warming me on a cold day. The sky, a fine baby blue, was 

decorated with thin cloud that mimicked the scarves that most of us wore. Of course there were those brave, or maybe just goofy, souls 

that walked, jackets open to the light wind. One young woman, toe touched 

the pristine snow twice to make rabbit 

ears with her boots. She smiled at 

the effect and moved off to sculpt 

another pair. It’s not easy to push 

intimation aside, until someone 

makes rabbit ears in the snow.

“Don’t be intimidated by what you don’t know. That can be your greatest 

strength and ensure that you do things differently from everyone else.

~ Sara Blakely

On an Afternoon Walk ~ Even the Rabbits

Should I wear a coat?

a question that hangs in the air

like the coats in my closet

or maybe the sweaters ~

if I leave them behind

and the wind is cold

I should be prepared but

if the sun is telling the truth

I’ll just get uncomfortably warm,

slinging it over my shoulder 

while spring makes up its mind

even the rabbits hesitate before

changing from white to brown

when we all know ~ it should be a picture perfect spring.

“What’s up Doc?”

~ Bugs Bunny

On an Afternoon Walk - Corner Conversation

I was on my way home with groceries. I’d actually been to my writers group at Penny University Bookstore. Oh, and I’d gone for lunch at the 13th Ave Coffee shop before getting the groceries. It was a rather grey day, but no wind so I was just strolling along, loving all the crunchy gold leaves under my feet. A tall slender woman, about my age, was coming towards me. As we met, we greeted each other with a smile and hello. It seemed normal to stop on the corner for a chat even though we had never met. We discussed the beautiful fall weather, no wind, cool day. She commented “The rabbits aren’t turning. Only their tails are white.” She pointed back down the street. “I’ve just seen another little rabbit about two blocks back.” I was excited - not everyone would find that exciting but I love hearing about nature’s little forecasters. The turning of the leaves, the cooling of the air, and rabbits that aren’t turning. We chatted a bit more then went our separate ways.

“Nature is the source of all true knowledge.”

~ Leonardo da Vinci

On an Afternoon Walk - Dining in the Snow

Winter white rabbits ignored me, intent as they were on their meagre fare in the park. They even ignored a third rabbit who could have been sending a silent request to join them. No predators about, only the well fed two legged variety, but all were busy with things more important than a few bunnies at an early dinner. 

“Dinner is not what you do in the evening 

before something else. Dinner is the evening.” 

~ Art Buchwald, American humourist, 1952 - 2007

 

Just Because ~ 1

To follow 

the walking path 

past the lake

To rest 

on the dedicated bench

to look out on the lake

or

To take a walk

through leafy shade

past rabbits and squirrels

To take a detour

from here to there

just because I felt like it……

“But the beauty is in the walking — we are betrayed by destinations.”

~ Gwyn Thomas

The Rabbits Told Me

Summer time fur faded

to winter white early last year.

A sign: 

2021’s coming winter would be cold and long!

Winter white is just now

darkening with patchy brown.

A sign:

2022’s warming spring will be

here before long!

“Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.”

~ Albert Einstein

On An Afternoon Walk - Signs of Spring?

I have seen rabbits running and chasing,

heard honking geese flying high over

ever melting piles of sand laden snow.

March flowers, left in Victoria, are

replaced by barely budding trees 

and softening ice on Regina’s lake.

A tiny flick and a spot of bright red 

from above, caught my eye.

A fluffy bit of Regina spring ~ 

a new red squirrel, alert and bright of eye!

“Spring was moving in the air and in the earth below and around him.”

~ Kenneth Grahame

(British author of The Wind in the Willows)

Party On!

Results of Spring Partying

Early morning blue sky, thinning drifts of cloud

a beautiful golden orb rose above the roof tops

shadows thrown onto banks of soft and greying snow……..

sudden movement….!

where none had been before………..!!

the rabbits are running!

the rabbits are running!

early morning sky was still azure blue,

clouds drifted away while I stopped and stared

shorter shadows had been tossed lightly on the snow.

“Spring is nature’s way of saying, ‘Let’s Party!’ “

~ Robin Williams

It's all in the Signs

When trees are dressed in gauzy green and birds are building nests,

spring will blossom before our eyes.

When grass is green and the weather warms, generous gardens offer food for our tables ~ summer sweeps us all away!

When rabbits turn from brown to white and red-gold leaves carpet the earth, 

autumn begins its long snooze.

When marshmallowed snowbanks change

from clean to dirty and ice floes slide to puddles

winter days recede with great sighs of relief!

“To be interested in the changing seasons is a happier 

state of mind than to be hopelessly in love with spring.”

~ George Santayana

Hunkering Down

Rabbits again!!

Furry boulders scattered about.

Today, on CBC Rick Mercer, 

interviewed by Rosemary Barton about Covid-19 

and the coming winter, said

“Canadians know how to hunker down.”

Well, these are Canadian rabbits ~

all over the lawns they hunker down 

in golding grasses that barely offer shelter.

It’s cold! And not even real cold yet!

“I’m gonna hunker down like a jack rabbit in a dust storm.”

~ Lyndon B. Johnson

(I couldn’t find a Canadian winter reference!)

Sure Signs

Into the breach we go

when autumn bites the air

Yet it’s not only leaves 

that crumble and fall,

the distant sun that lowers,

the mischievous wind that chills.

It’s the garb that rabbits wear

From brown drab fur 

slowly brightened to snow white.

Ears outlined in white, 

legs clean and bright

and tail a white powder puff ~

sure signs of winter in the offing.

“One goes to Nature only for hints and half-truths. 

Her facts are crude until 

you have absorbed them or translated them…..

It is not so much what we see as what the thing seen suggests.”

~ John Burroughs

One Year Ago Today

Thomas Wolfe wrote

‘You can’t go home again’

~ and yet here I am

This past year has been filled 

with masks and distancing

isolating myself and Zooming

Walking on new paths around 

a lake instead of by the ocean

Free reigning rabbits instead of deer, arrogant Canada geese instead of prideful peacocks

One year ago today

I turned over my apartment keys,

said good bye to friends new and old

to return to my prairie home to

renew, rebuild relationships with 

precious family and dear friends.

“There is a kind of magicness about going far away

 and then coming back all changed.”

~ Kate Douglas Wiggin, New Chronicles of Rebecca

On a Morning Walk ~ Mr. Rabbit

I startled Mr. Rabbit

nestled in still damp grass

before cool air was infused 

with the heat of the day.

“Hallo, Rabbit,” he said, “is that you?”

“Let’s pretend it isn’t” said Rabbit, “and see what happens.”

~ A.A.Milne

Spring Crush

Crumbling leftovers from autumn still sound the same to my boots ~ 

gold brown ground cover for loping, long-earred rabbits donning their spring hideaway colours

“The last dead leaves of fall crackled underfoot, winter-crisp”

~ Neil Gaiman, American Gods

A Change in Scenery

out my living room window 

from island west to prairie broad, a change in scenery arises 

from squirrels and deer 

to rabbits and geese

urbanized wildlife pokes and 

nibbles at grass and shrubs

only scampering away when 

threatened by my tap on the window

“Yet wild things have a far more rational fear of us than is ours of them……”

~ Angela Carter, the Bloody Chamber and Other Stories