Emmett

We went back to that oh so far away place that we respect & appreciate so much...

 

The Toronto Humane Society...

to pick up our sweetie pie.

He was finally cleared to come home with us and to Jaks.

 

Everyone meet Emmett...

 

 

He came from another shelter in Quebec that was shut down, so he came to the THS very very sick.

He is considered a special needs adoption but we are aware of all that entails

(Frenwyck & Flynn were special need cases as well).

He went through a lot & the good people at the shelter went through a lot to get him well again.

He is a lionhead & 1.7 years old.  He's spent most of his life in the shelter system.

 

 

We loved the name Emmett, so we kept it as such.

He's a such a sweetie...abit squittish and nervous but that's okay,

he's come to the right place that understands that buns need time,

he's come to a gentle home full of patience & understanding & we're confident that he'll settle in.

 

He did really well on the drive home and was cuddled in my arms pretty much the whole time.

My arms felt like they were going to fall off

but apparently I was his comfort spot so I sure as heck wasn't going to let him go, ha ha.

Luckily the drive back home only took the usual 4 hours instead of 7 that it took for Henrie & Elsie.

 

This little guy is so soft and he smells sooo good...I can't stop smelling him, ha ha.

You know how babies have that sweet baby smell...he has that soft warm wonderful bunny smell.



 

I absolutely hate having him in a pen...but for now it's a necessity until the two boys are bonded.

 

 

They get turns on each side to help battle the whole territorial thing...

 

 

So far Jaks is VERY interested in Emmett and Emmett seems like a really laid back little dude.

 

 

The very first bonding session in the truck went so well and they were kissing each other abit

within half an hour...but we try not to get too excited and we'll be taking things really slow.

 

 

One thing is for sure...weather Jaks and Emmett take to one another,

we sure are glad this special long-eared love has come home to us...

he's now proudly part of our little sanctuary/warren.

 

Welcome home Emmett baby...welcome home our new love.

 



Alot Of Our Time & To Be Clear...

A lot of our evening and weekend time looks like this...

 

In our Jeep with Frenwyck, Teela and Yuuji trying to bond and forge a fuzzy trio!

They want to be friends, we can tell by certain behavior,

but Frenwyck just isn't 100% sure about how to go about it.  He's really trying though.

We've made progress and some kissing has been going on the last few times, which is a great sign.

 

 

We do so in the truck because it's a neutral space,

which is important because rabbits are very territorial.

And the movement of the truck usually takes their minds off attacking one another and instead

they will often seek comfort from one another, which allows them to get used to another bunny moving around them etc and eventually hopefully leads to the epiphany that 'hey I am not being hurt'.

 

You can't just take rabbits and throw them together and expect that they'll get along...no way!

As cute as rabbits are,

they can be very very vicious towards other rabbits...

so one has to be careful, know what they are doing & move slowly to ensure no one gets hurts.

It's time consuming & doesn't always work out.  You have to be prepared for that.

Some times years will go by and suddenly a rabbit will fall in love with a certain furry

when all others before them were refused.  Rabbits are strange & confounding that way.

 

 

We'll be doing this routine with Jaks and his new little buddy really soon,

hopefully it doesn't take long, hopefully it happens, we know Jaks is typically a friendly dude and it sounds like the new buddy we picked out for him is a nice little guy, but you just never know.

(So we indeed do have a back up plan incase the 2 boys don't bond)...ugh!!!

  

We're pretty confident in knowing when to keep trying and when to give things a break.

 

Teela and Yuuji took months of trying before they just suddenly decided they loved each other

and now they are thick as thieves and completely adorable...

and unless you've been around a bonded rabbit pair,

well, it's hard to describe just how heart tugging insanely sweet it is.

 

(And because Easter is around the corner and sadly parents will be buying rabbits as presents)

I must stress that rabbits NEED loads of company,

they are NOT solitary animals...

if you have a bunny who is alone a lot, they will be very unhappy little creatures.

If you don't gently interact with them on a daily basis like I do with mine,

you won't have snuggle buns like you see on this blog.

AND sometimes even with all the love offered up in the world,

they still may never be snuggle buns...some rabbits are just not friendly,

some are grumps, just like people!

We've had a few of those in our time thus far & though disappointing we just have to find

happiness and satisfaction in knowing that we are keeping them warm, safe, healthy and loved.

 

Also if you cage a bunny & don't allow them time out of the cage to stretch and play

at least 3 or 4 hours a day, you will likely NOT see their wonderful personalities.

Bunnies need to be bunnies...

they need to run & get lots of exercise for healthy gut motility & happy spirits.

 

The only reason Jonathan and myself are comfortable having so many in our home

is because we both work from home (most of the time), we don't mind mess & destruction!

and we're both real homebodies & just spent a lot of time at home with them.

 

Life with rabbits isn't for everyone...

I must point this out because I know my blog makes bunnies very tempting for some people.

 

So help me spread the word. 

Be kind....do NOT buy a real rabbit as an Easter present.

(Unless your completely aware of the big commitment they are)

Make sure your advocating Chocolate Easter bunnies & feel free to spread this post around.

Thanks XO

 

 

Wolowitcz

Meet

 

"Wolowitcz"

 

a new little 5 x 7" coloured pencil/mixed media character

 

 

Wolowitcz is a complicated little dude but he focuses his energies his 3 biggest loves.

 

1) being an advocate for birds and battling against the illegal capturing & caging of tropical birds.

(Though he dreams nightly of the universal freedom of all birds).

 

2) he teaches lock picking!

That's right...he tries to communicate with caged birds and secretly

shows them how to pick the locks on their cages so that they can be free.

(the whole 'teach a fisherman to fish & he eats for a lifetime' type of scenario)

He doesn't charge anything for this at all, his only rule is that the bird he teaches &

helps to be free must move on to teach some other bird the same skills.

(His great aunt left him a very hefty endowment, allowing him his life of  bird philanthropy).

 

3) he is quite addicted to making rice wine.

Now to be clear, he only drinks 3 or 4 glasses a week himself

but he just loves to bottle his special mixtures up, hand draw one of a kind unique labels

for each bottle and than give them away to his beloved friends and family...

and of course a bottle is uncorked every time one of his lock picking students

does indeed secure their own freedom.

 

Wouldn't he be an interesting little dude to meet and share a glass of rice wine with?  ha ha.

 

This Little Face

People wonder why I am always in a hurry to rush back to our house & home...

 

 

...it's because I have this little sweetheart waiting for me...no better reason in my books!

On My Desk

One of the many pictures on my desk this week!

 

 

Last time I counted there were 14 paintings in progress, it's going to be a busy week!

Elsie and Henrie

Last Saturday in the wee hours of the morning we were on the snowy roads.

Driving almost 1000km once again to adopt two new bunnies from the shelter.

 

Long before Jinny passed, we agreed that we'd bring home a new little friend for Jaks.

So when looking at the adoption pages, we noticed that two older buns were still there

from over a year ago when we went to get Frenwyck and they called to us big time.

So we decided to open up a previously 'bunny-free' room to these 2 big bunnies

(On top of the little guy we adopted to hopefully bond with our Jaks).

 

Jaks's buddy was really sick and not cleared to go home with us but we couldn't wait to get

Henrie & Elsie, especially not when they've been there well over a year already.

We wanted the new babes home asap.

2 separate trips, even though exhausting, expensive & long is actually ideal in our minds

because it allowed us to concentrate on settling in Henrie & Elsie first. 

 

We are completely confounded as to why this duo was at the shelter for SO long.
They were apparently surrendered when their owners condo board changed the rules to 'no pets'.

They are beautiful rabbits.

But sadly it's probably a mixture of their older age (almost 4), the red eyes and the bigger size.
 

On top of an excited and super happy heart, I am admittedly struggling with alot of guilt,

that they were there this WHOLE time...

I remember seeing them when we went to get Frenwyck.

But Jonathan keeps telling me that it just wasn't the right time...

to be happy that we acted on it and that they are here NOW!

It's always SO insanely satisfying to see the adoption sign up on their pens.

(as you can see Henrie's name was Perry but we changed it after my favorite Aunt & Uncle)

We snuggled and feel in love with abunch of the other bunnies,

oh my goodness...it's so hard and feels cruel to pick & choose, but you just have to don't you!
 

 

We've been SO impressed & proud of all the shelter buns, because despite the long long drive,

they all do super super well in the truck.  And it's a great time for me to bond whiles Jon drives.

 

 

Although 48 hours prior and the whole entire day I had a super bad splitting migraine,

so it was difficult for me...my sweetheart was massaging my head any chance he had...

But I was too happy to let the pain stop me from going to get them or from smiling...

and the whole time in the shelter I actually completely forgot about the pain, ha ha!

 

Henrie & Elsie & I patiently waited in the truck

whiles Jonathan got us pizza & sushi for the haul back home.

Once the sun went down, the two feel fast asleep.  They were pooped.

But you could tell that they knew they were in good hands.
 

 

Elsie was out of the travelling cage within 10 seconds, ha ha.

They usually take longer than that.

 

Henrie was popcorning & zooming within 10 minutes, ha ha.  It was so awesome to see.

They are a super sweet bonded pair...brother and sister...awww.

Always snuggling & kissing.

They are our biggest buns yet at almost 10 pounds each (heavier than our Roo even).
 

 

They seem to LOVE their room.  It's pretty big and perfect for these big bunnies.

Elsie loves the couch.

It just feels SO perfect to have them here... 



and SO FAR they are so well behaved.  We are super impressed.

 

 

They seem to have settled in super fast and they seem to love it here

which makes my heart grow a million times.

I know the shelter takes great care of them

but there's nothing like a loving forever home for these beautiful sweethearts. 



 

The shelter said they were super snuggly rabbits and holy smokes are they ever.

Especially Elsie, she'll cuddle for hours on end.  It's really very very awesome.

 

 

We've been taking turns sleeping in the room with them at night...just for the first little bit,

to make sure they feel safe and also to see what they get up to,

incase we've missed anything in our bunny-proofing.

Who wouldn't want to wake up to these two gentle giants smooshed up against your pillow, ha ha.

 

 

So that was our big wonderful news.

Elsie & Henrie have joined our family.

And we could be happier about it.

They are awesome and amazing. 



Welcome home new babies...welcome home.  XXOO.

 

(p.s.  We'll introduce you to the new little guy as soon as we bring him home & he's settled in).

 

 



Sweetness

We have some wonderful news...

but in the meantime, whiles I compose the post to tell you all about it...

here's a sweet new inkling.

 

 

I just wanted to say Thank you SO much for all the kind words about our Jinny,

be it here on the blog, by email, through Twitter or by snail mail (love ya sweet Aline).

and for all your enthusiasm about my upcoming magazine feature.

Your messages are always a hug for my heart.  XO.

Snow Play

Weekend time is here meaning a bit of time outside with the buns hopefully.

But it's been such a cold winter, we aren't out as much as usual nor for very long.

Not that they mind much I don't think, this new group of ours are definitely house bunnies, ha ha.

But they do get some snow play in now and then & Jonathan is still making his yearly rabbit forts...

 

They mostly stay to the shoveled pathways but once in awhile they'll go off into the deep snow.

Teela never fails to find something to eat that she shouldn't leading us all off on a chase!

If Yuuji doesn't quite like the snow fort he'll take it upon himself to make some architectural changes!

I think however, despite the chilly fun, we're all getting ready for summer & green!

 

Have a great cozy and warm weekend...see you next week.

Off To A Good Start

another new little inkling.

 

 

Hope your having a great day.

To Be Featured

I am insanely excited.

 

The lovely editor of Coloured Pencil magazine asked tiny little me

if I would like to be featured in their awesome publication.

 

 

and not only is it a feature about me & my coloured pencil work

but about the bunnies, our recent adoption from the shelter and how they inspire the work that I do.

 

It's suppose to be in the Spring edition.  Ahhhhh!!!

This is what I was preparing last week, getting the article & images ready.

I just had to tell you!

 

On My Desk

A sneak peek at what's on my desk this week...

 

 

I really hope she turns out!!!

Just Gotta

I always find it so difficult to keep moving forward normally after a long-eared love leaves us...

BUT my sweet honey and 5 sweet bunnies keep reminding me that it's okay to be happy & laugh...

 

Life is short...you gotta find beauty in every single day if possible.

 

I just gotta appreciate...

The Cute as pie bunnies that are still with us...

 

The giant white bunnies that jump on the couch to watch tv with us...

Yummies for the tummies like tea and scones hot from the oven in the middles of the afternoon...

Bunnies who wait for you at the front door...

 

Lovely beautiful exotic fruits that can be had even in the frozen North...

 

 

Bunnies who sit on your shoulder and keep you sweet sweet company...

Bunnies who wait to help you with the groceries...



 

So whiles we miss our Jin desperately & will be lost without her for a long time,

and I'll for some time cry at the drop of a hat....

there's still so much beauty and happiness to be had.

 

FINALLY I've learnt that it's okay to concentrate on all the good stuff to get through the bad stuff.

 

So Jinny is gone...but today I am back in my studio (keeping Jaks company) & having a good day...

cause if bunnies teach me anything...

it's the simple beauty of each and every day.