Little Blue Bunny Update: Part 3 - A-sailing we will go.

Warning: Do NOT try this at home. It is disrespectful to musical instruments. Little Blue Bunnies don't know any better but YOU do!

Little Blue Bunny lay on the floor in front of the fireplace.

“OK.” Franklin said. “We’re downstairs. What’s your best idea yet?”

“I’m looking at it,” Little Blue Bunny stared at the guitar stand.

“Oh come on,” Franklin giggled. “We can’t play the guitar.”

“Not the guitar,” Little Blue Bunny hopped up. “The ukulele. And we’re not going to play it.”

He looked at Franklin and his ears bounced up and down on his head. “We. Are. Going Sailing!”

“NO!” Franklin gasped and then he coughed. “How? What? You can’t..That’s Insane!”

“I know!” Now all of Little Blue Bunny bounced up and down.  “Isn’t that the best idea yet? AND…”

He winked one shiny black eye.

“If we are careful, no one will know anything about it.”

Franklin’s eyes were as big as marbles and considering that Franklin is only 4 inches tale that is very big for his eyes to be.

Franklin drew himself up to his full height -four inches, that’s what I said, but with his ears, Franklin is closer to 4 and one half inches.

He looked at Little Blue Bunny who is not any taller. Then, Franklin said. “It cannot be done. Period. We are too little.”

Little Blue Bunny laughed out loud and then he called out, “Hey Lily! Could you help us.”

Lily the leopard is over two feet tall, very close to THREE feet tall. That is 9 times as tall as Franklin or Little Blue Bunny.  Lily sleeps on the bench in front of the living room window most of the time. That day, she was grooming herself on the sofa when Little Blue Bunny called.

Lily and Little Blue Bunny before they decided to be "just friends".

You might remember that there was a time when Little Blue Bunny and Lily were “an item”. It was not a good match but their friendship is still strong.

So on that day - a day when Nana and Gramps were coughing and sneezing at THEIR house and D was with Mommy in far away South America and Daddy was off at work - on that sunny day in February, Lily looked up and gave a bright toothy smile.

“What is it, my little bunbun?” she purred.

“I want to go sailing!” Little Blue Bunny explained his plan.

Soon, Lily was on the hearth of the fireplace right next to the guitar stand. Little Blue Bunny and Franklin sat on her head. They each pushed up on the ukulele until it lifted off the hooks on the stand.

“Help!” squeaked Little Blue Bunny as the ukulele teetered between his paws and Franklin’s paws.

“Here,” Lily said with a sigh. She opened her mouth and the ukulele fell right in.

“Don’t hurt it!” Franklin croaked. “Don’t bite down.”

Lily could not answer with a small wooden instrument in her mouth but she growled - just a bit - and rolled her golden glass eyes.

The next step was tedious.  Little Blue Bunny used some hair ribbons to make a harness for the ukulele.  He and Franklin were going to pull the ukulele up the stairs.

“Oh really.” Lily snorted. “Give that to me.”

“I don’t want the ukulele swinging from your mouth,” Little Blue Bunny said gently. He had climbed back on Lily’s head and he scratched behind her ears. “If you got excited or something, the ukulele might swing and hit something and..”

“Help!” Franklin covered his eyes with his paws.

“So.” Lily spoke slowly and carefully, “Tie it to my back.”

And that’s what Little Blue Bunny and Franklin did.

The three of them crawled up the stairs to the bathroom tub.  Well, Lily crawled up the stairs with a ukulele and two small bunnies on her back.

Little Blue Bunny slid up to Lily’s shoulder and using the back brush, he managed to push the stopper down AND to turn on the water - the cold water.

“Now what?” Franklin stared as the water slowly filled the tub.

“We wait until it’s deep enough.” Little Blue Bunny said. “Let’s get this boat ready to launch.”

“I have a bad feeling about this.” Franklin sighed.

He helped Little Blue Bunny move the ukulele from Lily’s back to the edge of the tub. Then holding the hair ribbons, the two bunnies gently lowered the small guitar into the tub.

“Lily, could you hold the mooring ropes for us?” Little Blue Bunny asked.

Lily took the hair ribbons in her mouth to keep the ukulele next to the tub’s side.


“Come on, First Mate Franklin,” Little Blue Bunny lowered himself on to the ukulele.

“Here goes nothing.” Franklin muttered and he joined his friend in the hole of the ukulele.

The strings plucked and plunked and Lily let go of the ribbons.  Water poured from the faucet as the bunnies floated in their pink “boat”.

“Isn’t this great?” Little Blue Bunny climbed out of the hole and stood on the deck.

“How do we steer?” Franklin asked.

Little Blue Bunny did not answer. He whistled a sailor song as he walked around the ukulele.

“Steer?” Franklin shouted.

While Little Blue Bunny pretended to be a ship’s captain, Franklin realized that their boat was twirling closer and closer to the roaring faucet.

“Help!” Franklin shouted.

Lily grabbed the back brush and slammed it down on the faucet. Hot water poured into the tub.

“Give me that,” Franklin yelled.

He grabbed the back brush and shoved it under the hot water faucet until that faucet closed and then he did the same with the cold water faucet.

The ukulele rocked back and forth and water sloshed into the hole.

“Grab on to this, please,” Franklin held the back brush out to Lily. She grabbed it in her mouth and pulled the ukulele to the side of the tub.

The water was so high that Franklin only had to give a little hop to reach the rim of the tub.

“Come on, Captain Little Blue Bunny,” Franklin pulled his best friend up off the ukulele. Little Blue Bunny grabbed the hair ribbons as he jumped to the rim.

“That was awesome.” Little Blue Bunny laughed. “Actually, Franklin, now that the faucet isn’t on, we could sail around the tub all day.”

Not a ukulele, but I bet Little Blue Bunny would LOVE this boat.

Franklin had already jumped to the floor and was tugging on a towel hanging from the door handle.

“Sorry,” Franklin grunted as he shoved and pulled and kicked the towel over to the tub. “I quit. I think I get sea sick.”

“But it worked, right?” Little Blue Bunny was still as happy as a seafaring bunny could be.

“Yes, it did, Little Blue Bunny.” Franklin looked up and he just had to smile at his friend. “The next time we go sailing, though, let’s turn the faucet off before we get in the boat.”

“Good idea!,” Little Blue Bunny grabbed on one end of the ribbons and he and Lilly lifted the ukulele out of the water and lowered it gently onto the waiting towel.


“And,” Little Blue Bunny continued. “We’ll bring paddles or something next time.”

Lily gave a deep laugh. “Maybe you could actually use a boat next time. If there IS a next time.”

Little Blue Bunny and Franklin dried that ukulele inside and out.  Then the two bunnies tied the ukulele around Lily’s neck again.

“Hold it against your tummy,” Little Blue Bunny suggested. “We’ll slide down the stairs.”

“What about the water in the tub?” Lily asked.

“Oh, that, “Little Blue Bunny pinched his nose and jumped into the tub. He swam to the plug and pulled it up.

He swam to the edge of the tub.

“Give me something to grab onto,” he gasped. He forgot that the draining water could pull him down. He felt the water tugging at his legs and tail.

“Thnss guns fff thi bruh,” Lily held the back brush in her mouth and Little Blue Bunny grabbed it.

Lilly flipped him onto the towel.

“What did you say?” Little Blue rolled around on the towel to dry off.

“I said, ‘Thank goodness for this brush.” Lily dropped the brush on the floor.

The bunnies tied the dried-off ukulele around Lily’s neck and she tucked it under her chin.  Then the bunnies sat between Lily’s ears as she slid down the stairs.

They managed to return the ukulele to its perch on the guitar stand.  Then, Lily went back to the bench by the window as the afternoon sun poured in.

Franklin and Little Blue Bunny lay on the rug by the fireplace.

“Um, Franklin,” Little Blue Bunny said lazily. “Should we go back upstairs to put the towel back on the doorknob?”

Franklin opened one eye and looked at Little Blue Bunny. “You have to be kidding.”

Then, he closed his eyes again and started to snore.

Little Blue Bunny wasn’t quite ready to go to sleep. He watched the late afternoon sunlight as it striped the floor and wondered what the next day would bring. Adventure, that was for sure!

WHAT HAPPENED??!!

(I started a Mucus Journal on Facebook around day #6 of my head cold. It is Day #10 and here are some of the highlights of my Mucus Journal.

        The mucus in my airways sounds like the creaking rig on a sailing ship.

        There is no commercial use for human mucus.  I checked.

         Some nasal sprays are miraculously effective - also addictive.

         Washing dishes by hand can loosen up your sinuses.  Also, eat hot sauce!

You. Are. Welcome.)


Even though both Gramps and I compete for the stuffiest nose prize, D came for a few hours last night. And you won't believe what happened.

The evening started with a few hands of poker. Little Blue Bunny won the first two hands and D got bored. So we threw all the red buttons in the pot and played one last hand. D won!! And there was NO CHEATING by anyone. Not even the dealer, who was Gramps.

(In the following true account, I will designate who came up with different plot points in this way: One asterisk means that D came up with the idea. Two asterisks are Nana ideas. Three asterisks are combination ideas.

A sad, sad day for the Acorn family.  More below.

Suddenly, we discovered that Little Blue Bunny had a terrible illness. Scarlet Fever*. I looked and he had a decidedly purplish cast to his skin - because scarlet and blue mixed together make...purple.

He had to go into quarantine which D did not know about yet - so another part of her medical education has been achieved. But before he even had a chance to get medication, he developed appendicitis***. (D wanted to operate. I suggested appendicitis.)

We had to operate, and quickly, so we both donned masks, (I wore one for most of the evening anyway.) And we operated and sent Little Blue Bunny to the Recovery Room.

Can you see his stitches?  I can't and I put them in.

He was quarantined there as well and his family could not come to see him.

Well, I had to tell the absolutely TRUE story about my little sister, Heidi.  When she was a toddler - no older than 2 and probably younger - she developed a dangerously high fever and went to the hospital. The doctors and nurses told my Mom and Dad that they could NOT visit Heidi in the hospital. So for that whole week and a half, my Mom drove to the parking lot outside the Children's Ward window, every day, and the nurse brought Heidi to the window. That was the only contact my Mom was allowed. One day, we all went. I remember standing in the parking lot and waving up at the windows on the third or fourth floor. (I was around 6.) I couldn't see that Heidi was there at all, just a curtain twitching and the nurse's hand. Heidi DID survive. She lives in Texas. I miss her.

"Well," D announced. "This is long ago times, like that."

Nutty Romomlia sneaked into the Recovery Room and got quarantined as well. Mr. and Mrs. Acorn could not see TWO of their children.

I needed a break so we did "Art Therapy" with some paint. Little Blue Bunny sneaked down to the art room to help.

During one of my bathroom and annoying cough breaks, D discovered something very distressing.

"Little Blue Bunny's Great Grandfather just died! We have to have a funeral*!"

Oh no! "How? Where? Who?" I stuttered. "I know. He was playing golf and the human golfers ran over him with a golf cart.**"

D laughed. Gramps came out to see what the noise was about and said, "I hate it when grandfathers die."

"GREAT grandfather!" D assured Gramps.

We found out that Great Grampsie's name was Squirilo (Squih -rill-oh) Acorn. He was born in 1927 so he was 91 when he died.  That was some impressive math, actually.

I don't have another squirrel toy to use as Squirilo but D assured me that we did not need one. On the side table, in the living room, she had already set a small black chest between two battery operated candles*. That's the photo at the top of this post and to the right.

Looks like a casket to me!

We found fake flowers and some pine cones and made an arrangement.  And she printed out a memorial stone.*** (Her words, my styrofoam tray.)

The family gathered with crying all around. Everyone had kind words to say about Great Grampsie. Each family member broke into tears while they extolled his gentleness, his funny ways, his golfing skills and his pranks.

At one point, D wanted us all to turn our backs to the casket and throw flowers over our shoulders*. I got confused. "So the one who gets their flower nearest the casket is the next person to have a funeral?"

D explained that it was a way to determine who got to kiss the casket first at the end of the funeral.*

Oh!  Okaaaayyy!

Then Big Grey Rabbit showed up. He told stories about his school days with Squirilo that made Squirilo sound awful. Lila, the teenage daughter, told Great Grampsie's version of these stories but Big Grey Rabbit (BGR) persisted. Nutsa Acorn was so upset that anyone would malign her grandfather-in-law at his own funeral.

D to the rescue. She pulled out her Orb of Truth*. She spun around, and there, on the orb, we could all see each event just as it happened.

Squirilo was not an angel.  HE DID play a mean prank on his best friend, Squirellarry.  Squirilo did a wintery version of the banana peel on the sidewalk prank.  Squirellary slipped and fell on the hard sidewalk - NOT into the snowbank.  Squirellary sprained his wrist.**

Squirilo was so upset.  He thought his friend would fall into the snow.  He did not think before he played this prank.  He offered to carry all of Squirellarry's books until the wrist healed and he shoveled the snow at the Squirellary household for the rest of the winter.  He did the lawn that summer, too.** The two squirrels remained fast friends their entire lives, even when Squirellary became the Mayor of the United States of Stuffies.*

BUT BGR said that Squirilo laughed and laughed and ran away. The Orb of Truth showed all. BGR laughed and laughed when Squirellarry came to school with a hurt wrist. Then, BGR played the same mean trick on Old Man Chipmunk - but Old Man Chipmunk caught BGR and never got hurt.  Thank goodness**.

(I could use an Orb of Truth. Just saying.)

Meanwhile, Stripe, the Green Rabbit, showed up. He went to school with Nutsa and he always wanted to date her. Stripe is magical* and has lived for almost 200 years*. He was born in the 1800s*. He also knew Squirilo. He said that Squirilo was the reason he, Stripe, became a Bad Guy**.  Not true. But Stripe hypnotized Lila into believing Stripe's stories. He also hypnotized Lila into thinking she wanted to marry Stripe.*

He's a bad one, that Stripe!

"NO!!! NO! No weddings! We have had illness, an operation, family separation, a death, a funeral and horrible lies.  NO WEDDINGS**!"  I dissolved into a coughing fit at this point.

OK. No weddings.  Lila was hypnotized into believing that she wanted to marry Stripe when she got old enough. Her father, Acornio Acorn had to unhypnotize her**. Stripe hypnotized her again*. Only D could help her.*

D explained that she, too, was magical and that SHE had been born in the 1700s so she knew a thing or two about Bad Guys*.  Also, I was magical and I had been born in the 1500s*.  (Thanks a lot!  I am not that old!)

There was a lot of to and fro-ing between Nutsa, Stripe, Acornio, D, and Lila and, quite frankly, I had story-creating-overload at this point. I actually forget what happened next but I know we decided that BGR - who ended up in the accordion case - could not be in the same prison as Stripe since they planned escapes together**.

Oh, I FORGOT about how we played music for the funeral. D played "Fur Elise" on the piano. (It sounds just like Fur Elise - although it's a simplified version her teacher found.) I played a song that Squirilo wrote on the accordion. He was a wonderful accordionist**. Also I played some songs that D knew so she could sing along.

My accordion, not Squirilo's.

I also forgot that Stripe hypnotized Lila into playing an awful prank on D and me. He had Lila put pepper in the cinnamon sugar jar so that D's cinnamon toast would be all peppery**. (I have to find pranks that are surprising but not actually dangerous, especially after falling down prank which could be very dangerous.) Don't worry. D smelled the pepper and only took a tiny bite. She had to drink a lot of water (Not really. Also, we did not really put pepper in the cinnamon sugar jar.)

It was almost time for Mommy to come and take D home to bed. We went up to the bedroom for a quick storybook reading. I think D did not know just how tired she was.

Mommy came and D went home to bed. And it took me less than 10 minutes to fall asleep after I went to bed.

May our adventures with the Stuffies continue for a long time, especially with the Bunny of Blue Persuasion as Gramps likes to call him. Love to D, to Little Blue Bunny, to Gramps, to Mommy and Daddy and to all of you. (Also to MY Mom and all my siblings, especially Heidi because part of her story was told last night.)

Back in the arms of his family.

Dactyl HIll Squad - ON Sale NOW!

The Dactyl Hill Squad by Daniel José Older is an odd mix of sci-fi - dinosaurs roam the world;  historical fiction - the setting is the Civil War; and coming-of-age.

The main character,  Magdalys Roca, lives at the Colored Children's Orphanage in New York City during the Civil War.  During a trip to the theater, Magdalys begins to suspect that she can communicate with the dinosaurs that New Yorkers use as messengers and transportation. This secret skill becomes more and more important as slavers attempt to kidnap the orphans and angry New Yorkers take out their frustrations about the Civil War on citizens of color.

It took awhile to build the background. Magdalys' missing siblings, her relationships with the other orphans, the network of adults and teens who work to reclaim kidnapped children, and the ways that dinosaurs helped and worked for humans - these are all pieces that must be fit together while the story moves along.

But once those pieces fall into place, this is a rollicking good tale with action, tween angst and obstinacy, twists and lots and lots of bad guys!

I mean - dinosaurs?  and kids? and flying? and good vs evil?  It's all in here, along with some awesome historical perspective on race and racism.

I read the ARC.  Older references real Civil War battles and racial strife.  I hope the book adds some references to explain the historical events in the book.

 

LBB Around the World

Summer vacation has started badly.  Someone human had bronchitis on the last day of school and was introduced to the world of inhalers.  Yuck!

Still, Little Blue Bunny, who continues to be well-behaved, is always there to help a friend.

On Tuesday, D announced that Snow, Little Blue's younger sister, was now old enough for adventures with her big brother.  They were explorers.  D wanted them to climb high places or travel around the globe!!!
 

So, they did!  We spent an hour traveling to places on the globe and gathering treasures.  Then there was a sale of the treasures - including a singing giraffe from Africa, and an entire llama family from Peru, a fairy penguin from New Zealand, a terra cotta soldier from China, a rock from the Grand Canyon, a never-melting icicle from the Arctic, an elephant statue from India.  The money went to help the Acorn family with their expenses.

We missed a whole bunch of excellent places.  We might need to do this again.

Meanwhile, Nutty Romomlia is back in Squirrel hospital with a missing ear.  Nana (me) replaced her ear a week or so ago but I don't have the needle felting thing down quite right - yet.

And that reminds me that I have to go to the yarn store.   I'll be back with more adventures soon!

Little Blue Bunny Climbs

(His name is Little Blue Bunny. D says he is six years old.)

Which, by the way, is TOO YOUNG to go mountain climbing alone!!  Does this bother Little Blue Bunny?  It does not!  He is a Free Range Bunny, running wild and free.

Ready to climb.

 Because he is being brought up by squirrels, Little Blue Bunny has NO FEAR of heights.  (He is afraid of carnivores - and dryers.)

He loves to climb - towers, bannisters, just about anything.

On Tuesday he decided to climb a mountain.  Not just any mountain - oh no! - LBB wanted to climb a volcano.

D sprang into action.  Volcanoes don't just burst through the floor around here.

"I need black paper, orange paper and a stapler!"  D ordered.

In short order, a volcano appeared.

Meanwhile, Nana made Little Blue Bunny a backpack, with a water bottle and a pair of binoculars.  (I know people say "pair of binoculars" but doesn't the "bi" indicate two already?)

Have backpack!  Will Climb!

With lava flow and everything!

Bunny!  You dropped your bottle and binoculars.

 He made it to the very top but he burned his paws.  A trip to the aloe vera plant restored his paws to normal.

WARNING:  Little Blue Bunny is NOT a role model. He is a toy.  (He doesn't like to admit it, but it's true.  Just a toy.) DO NOT CLIMB A VOLCANO!  DO NOT TURN FAIRY PRINCESSES INTO FLOWERS!  DO NOT SLIDE DOWN THE EIFFEL TOWER!

Thank you.

(Next adventure:  Little Blue Bunny and the ice cream truck.)

Busy, busy, busy

I started Kelly Corrigan's The Middle Place last Spring.  I didn't finish it because I was afraid it would be sad.  I do not want to imagine a world without my Dad.  I didn't want to read about Kelly's bout with cancer and her father's illness.  I wanted to pretend these things could never happen.  Now, I hope I can find the book, because, now, my Dad has cancer, too, and once upon a time, so did I.   It might be helpful to read about how someone else navigated different doctors and different schedules and long stretches in the chemo "infusion suite" and long distance calls with brothers and sisters.

My Dad's always told us that life is an adventure.  This is an new adventure, a new challenge, and God willing, we will all get to the other side, wave cheerily to those earnest oncologists and march, hand in hand in hand in hand...(it's a big family) off into the sunset.  We might be singing, too, Tell Me Why in harmony.  It's what we do.

My Mom and Dad, at least 10 years ago.

I have a stack of books to share with you!  HUGE! But this weekend is the Lehigh Valley Monthly Meeting (Quakers) Craft Fair, of which I am the coordinator-ish person AND my daughter-in-law's baby shower, of which I am the hostess.  So I am busy, busy, busy so so so so busy.  (Oh and my husband's birthday.  Poor guy doesn't get much of one this year.)

And Peter, your prize may have to wait a day or two because I have misplaced Darth Paper. If I had a name that told people what I did, it would be Loses Books.  Sigh.  It was promised.  It will be delivered.