Household Happiness: Prairie Bunnies

One of the charms of the time I spent in Nebraska was my discovery of the surprising talents and abilities that were hidden out there on the wide-open prairie. One of those treasures was hand-carved wooden bunnies that were made by the wife of a fellow faculty member at the school where I taught. Her carvings were incredibly popular and the opportunity to buy one of these lovelies was always welcomed.

Whenever a box of Betty carvings came around, I would snap some up. My little collection of wooden bunnies is among my most favorite things. I have less than a dozen of these carvings but when I set them out in the Spring, they always make me smile. The careful details of the carvings are just perfect. I'm reminded of a very happy time in my life when I look at them.

This bunny with his basket of patriotic eggs is the very first carving I bought:
I chose the two tiny bunnies in the middle of the row the year that my baby was born:
And this proud Mama bunny with her baby was given to me that same year:
It was the gift a fellow faculty member who sometimes seemed gruff but had an incredibly good heart; he was perhaps the kindest person I met out on that prairie. Like me, he was an outsider who had come to love our little space under the big sky.

When JT was a busy two year old, I let him carry this bunny in his pocket during the day:
At the end of each day, he would gently return her to me for safekeeping in the night.

JT and I set out the bunnies in the month before Easter. They mean the world to me and are a lovely reminder of a small town that was a place I once loved a great deal.