Farewell Waldorf

Waldorf's time on earth was limited but he used it to his utmost.

Our bunny of less than a year, Waldorf, was last seen at 3 am last Sunday. After several short- lived attempts to join the feral rabbits over the road he succeeded in leaving his genetic legacy there about 2 weeks ago (we saw him in congress with the little brown one). Then, presumably on a return visit, he must have succumbed to a dog or fox or even an owl. There is not hide nor hare (sorry) of him to be found...

Here is his farewell song (to the tune of '*Raggle Taggle Gypsies' - with apologies to 'Trad' - oh, and he had an Irish accent)

Three bunnies stood at our front gate. They jumped so high, they jumped so low

Waldorf sat in his hutch quite late. His heart it melted away like snow

They smelt so sweet, they bounced so cute that fast his tail began to twitch

As he lay on his lucerne bed, he started to feel a ceaseless itch.

He slipped the latch of his high class hutch all made of treated wood-o

He hopped to the street all stealthy like & went out in the weather & the mud-o

Avert yer eyes, leave open the gate, to roister and frolic is my intent

I’ll ne’r return to my hoi class hutch – till I secure moi heart’s content..

So oi’m off with the raggle taggle bunnies-o! (so I am)

He hopped high and he hopped low, he scampered the length of Bellbird Street

Until he came to a neighbour’s lawn and there spied a-laydee bunny-o

She nuzzled his head, she looked in his eye, and this is what she said-o:

"What makes you leave your hutch and lucerne & your golden bunny muesli-o?

What makes you leave your human slaves to join us raggle taggle bunnies-o?"

"What care I for my hutch and lucerne? What care I for my humans-o?

What care I for my buckwheat treats? I'm off with the raggle taggle bunnies-o! (So I am)"

"Last night you slept on a fluffy towel, with a layer of lucerne spread o’er – o

Tonight you sleep in a grotty ditch along with some raggle taggle bunnies-o!"

"What care I for a fluffy towel, with a layer of lucerne spread o’er-o?

When I can sleep with a laydee bunny - the best of those raggle taggle bunnies-o!"

Farewell, Waldorf - I would never have thought a bunny could be so delightful, mischievous, clever, infuriating and loveable!

* Click here for The Chieftains version.

The Oestro Weekend

The ultimate depiction of the crucifixion as sheer human suffering - Matthias Grünewald's Isenheim Altarpiece

Well, of course, Easter is a weird conglomeration of Christian martyrdom/sacrifice mythology cobbled together with pagan fertility rites and CHOCOLATE! So basically something for everyone! Chocolate will never be irrelevant but reproduction (at a personal level) is for me now. The Christian story still has the power to move me amazingly. Last night I listened to something sublime called Gesualdo's Responsoria Feria Sexta and today I heard music by 7 different composers interspersed with texts by 7 different poets read by Sir Peter Peers all based on the 7 purported last statements uttered by Christ on the cross (known as the "seven last words"). Donne and Sitwell were standouts but I loved it all. I found myself in (very rare) agreement with Peter Jensen that creeping (I think he used a different word) secularism means it is somehow these days not quite proper to be familiar with biblical stories or to absorb the dignity and beauty of such images and messages. I am a card carrying atheist but I would never deny the poignancy and nobility of the Christian myth and the rich emotions of betrayal, sacrifice, suffering and transcendence the Easter story embodies. It has also inspired some pretty good tunes and pomes!

Our rabbit Waldorf appears to have been doing quite a bit of freelance modelling behind our backs. He is in Natalie Ambruglia's arms on page 16 of this weekend's Good Weekend magazine and was in DJ's Easter Treats feature in last weekend's edition of the same magazine! It is quite nice owning a cute bunny at Easter - feels like it gives you some inside running! We have enjoyed our fair share of chocolate already as my sister gave my husband a box of Adora's handmade choccies for his birthday last weekend and we have been steadily nibbling our way through them.

I have just read that the ever irreverent and politically flamboyant John Saffran had himself nailed to a cross in the Philippines yesterday for an upcoming ABC TV series. It is his prerogative as a Jew, a satirist and a curious human being to do so. I am keen to see how he uses the experience in his program.

Bunny, bunny, bunny

Postscript: the Trading Post is the place for bargain bunnies.
This is 'Waldorf'. S/he is a cross dwarf/floppy. Cute, eh?