How a rabbit changed my life

Just over a year ago we rescued a rabbit. He had been dumped or had escaped but he stayed in the same place for three days. Three days, because the everlovin' had seen him one morning on the way home from work. I, riding my bike, trying to look like I wouldn't fall off didn't see anything of the kind. That evening the rabbit was still there, a fluffy black flop eared rabbit like him stands out in the Australian landscape - even the urban landscape. We unsuccessfully tried to catch him, rang the ranger and felt like we hadn't really done enough. The next night, the everlovin' and I chased the poor rabbit around until we caught him in a strangers backyard (yes, that did take some explaining when the occupant arrived home). 

We had him vet checked and even though I had told myself not to get attached before the 14 day myxy wait was over I was a ball of nerves. Then it was another vet visit to have him vaccinated and de sexed. His previous family didn't want him anymore, but we were determined to give him as good a home as we could provide.

I've never known a rabbit before, and as ever, most of my preconceptions were beyond inaccurate and the more I learned about rabbits, the more intrigued I became. His personality, agility and binkies captivated me. Our cat, for whom seeing another cat is upsetting, binkied with the bunny, tried to bully him and he bulldozed her. A truce was quickly reached.  He is smart, clean (I was ecstatic when I realised he was litter trained) and stubborn as hell. 

He gained a name. Captain Zero, soon becoming 'the Captain'. Realising his hutch was woefully inadequate he moved into a rabbit palace. When we bought our house early in 2012 I took him to a local rescue place and he chose a friend. His friend had a sister and I'm a soft touch and the everlovin' was probably pleased that there was not more than three rabbit when he got home. The girls - Dodo and Curie - were 6 months old, had been kept in a tiny hutch and fed only carrots. Their antics entrance me, infuriate and frustrate me. They are badly behaved, outgoing, and adorable and I had no idea how much that that fateful day in November would enrich my life.

A changing mindset

I've never been particularly house proud, or interested in acquiring stuff for the home. That has always been the everlovin's department. Buying utilitarian items like bed sheets and bathroom towels was tiresome, a waste of money and not interesting enough to warrant much thought. Sure, nice stuff is nice, but if you spend a lot of money on it or get emotionally attached, then the worry creeps in that it will get damaged - or worse the anger when it does.

That still makes sense to me, but I am questioning it. Lately I've been shopping. For towels. For bed linen. For homewares. It may be because we are so terribly uncomfortable in this rental property, or it may be that I am weary of threadbare bath towels that don't really dry the skin, that never dry themselves and involves a lot of laundry and wondering where all the towels be at. It's probably that last one.

I'm trying to purchase quality products responsibly, and reminding myself that the 'perfect not be the enemy of the good' and have so far been happy with the results of this spending out. It is the simple things in life that can make you happy - crawling into a soft, clean, warm bed. Drying your skin with a fluffy towel and standing on an effective bath matt while you do it. It is in keeping with a minimalist journey to have simple, good quality items that you need fewer of and will last longer.

It's one of the lessons that I acknowledge but have difficulty puting into practice.

What was.

It's been a while since I blogged. Not because I haven't had anything to ponder, but rather because I have had too much, and it all became a little overwhelming.

Where to start now? How about a recap of the year. At the end of every year, I look back and ask myself the same thing. What the hell happened? How did I get here? And how did it happen so fast?

The everlovin' and I went to the USA. Twice. For a month each time. That is pretty cool. I saw some wonders over there, that's for sure. The everlovin' bought his dream car - it took 17 years for him to fulfill that dream. We rescued a rabbit, who has filled my mind with wonder and the overwhelming urge to continually 'Awwwwww' whenever he does... well, anything. My job has pushed, twisted, confused, befuddled and stressed me. It's been pretty fantastic mostly. I became a vegan and have endeavoured to purchase consciously. I continued my quest to ride a bike. I have spent a lot of time with my loved ones - which has not nearly been enough. On Friday we made an offer to buy a house. We'll find out if we've been successful this week. I accidently gave up eating chocolate, but continue to be caffeine fueled. I've met new people, made new friends, and failed to practice meditation. I spend a lot of time wondering what I do with my time and continue to be stunned by the amazing people that surround me.

New year resolutions aren't really my thing, my inability to follow through hampers those ideas, but as I reflect on the year that has been, I am wondering... where do we go from here?

Arriving in Natchitoches, LA

Another day of driving.. it's a long way from the west to the south. We are starting to wonder if we'll see anything at all on this trip. I wanted to stop at a Whole Foods market to pick up some yummy vegan food, but we missed the exit and it didn't happen. There was no clue for where the exit was for us to get off the I-30 to get to the I-20 somewhere past Dallas, and we spent quite some time heading in the not quite most efficient direction.

Still, we stopped at a Starbucks for a delicious, super sweet and salty beverage which I managed to spill all over myself when I missed my mouth because I was too entranced in Soundgarden's stunning song 'Fell on black days' to drink properly.

A short while later the everlovin' couldn't resist the tempting billboards advertising ribs and pies, and we pulled in for a taste test. Deep fried pies were the order of the day and I ate the delicious sweet potato and pumpkin version, while the everlovin' ate two kinds of meat (pork and beef) with potato salad and coleslaw - salad which seemed once again to not have a trace of a vegetable.

With full belly's we drove on, hunting for the elusive I-20, driving through North eastern Texas backwaters, until we eventually found it, close to the Louisiana border. The weather is warmer, the air heavier and more humid, and of course, the landscape more verdant. Stopping at a visitor's centre we haul a cache of travel brochures and hot Louisiana coffee to our car. There is no shortage of things to see and do in this state and the journey is starting to feel full of promise once again.

Bypassing Shreveport, we drive south to the unpronouncable Natchitoches (which I've coined Nachocheese), the oldest town in Louisiana. We missed the exit for that town too, so turned off another exit to see if we could find a place to stay in Flora (not actually a town), Provencal (an actual town, but no accom) and Hogard, (where we waited for an hour for a car crash victim to be airlifted off the road) before arriving full circle in Natchitoches. Which was lucky because it is a gorgeous town.

This town has large, beautiful houses, a French chic feel and a lazy looking river moseying through town. Many of these stately homes (one of which starred in Steel Magnolias) are Bed & Breakfast operations, but we couldn't find one with an available room - and none of them probably would have fit our budget anyway. We ended up in a $45 motel room so white trash that even we looked too posh to be staying there.

Dinner was in the historical district at a pub, I had cajun potatoes and a zucchini dip with deep fried pasta. Deep fried pasta is actually not that great, and I will soon learn that even I can get sick of deep fried food.

Brownfield to Fort Worth TX

A long drive today through the Texan desert from Brownfield to Fort Worth. Much like Western Australia, there were long miles between dusty, barely there towns, many of which still had storefronts from their wild west frontier days. It rained lightly all day and my favourite thing was hearing an old Texan saying 'You can put your boots in the oven but that doesn't make them biscuits'. Brilliant!

My one plan was to visit the Spiral Diner in Fort Worth, and ohhhhhh it did not disappoint. The cowboy burger was delicious beyond measure, I haven't had a burger that tasted so good since I went vegetarian - never mind vegan. A small portion by American standards, a small burger with a little portion of pasta on the side, it was the perfect amount. I tried, and failed, to follow it with a lemon cupcake.

Ahh.. food that is good for the soul as well as the belly will leave you satisfied like no other. It is amazing how good food makes you feel so, good and so happy - you couldn't have wiped the smile off my face!

Socorro, NM - Brownfield, TX

Near Corrizizo the everlovin' saw a tarantula crossing the road! I missed it, but by the time I had dithered about whether we should turn around or not, we had driven several miles. So I left him with strict instructions to stop if he saw another. I really didn't think we would see another, and still wasn't really sure if I wanted to see one or not.

The time came though, when another monster arachnid leisurely crosssed our path. We stopped and watched this fear inducing creature as it .... relaxed? Watched us? Who knows what goes through a tarantula brin. It was fascinating, far different to any of the large Australian spiders we are used to. (LOL, 'used to' is not a phrase that is accurate for a person who is in turn fascinated and terrified of large spiders).

Three more tarantulas crossed the road in front of us within about 10 miles. It's a strange thing to see a spider so large you can see it crossing the road when you're doing 120 km/h down the highway. Other game watching activities included seeing two foxes playing in the middle of the road and 2 dead skunks.

A cashier at the service station when we fueled up in Capitan wasn't as excited about the tarantula migration as I was, but did tell me that they did come out onto the road on warm days and that she catches them to put into her garden. I forgot to ask her if she caught them by lassoo or if a group of cowboys had to herd them to the garden.

I thought there was a cowboy festival in Lincoln, but Lincoln is a tiny town living in it's violent past. Once considered to be the most violent place in America, this is where Billy the Kid and the Regulators raised havoc. Now it's a sleepy town with the orginal adobe buildings that house about 7 museums. We wondered around, mostly excited because we got to pat a random cat, and the everlovin' embarressed us terribly when he accidently knocked a giant bull skull off a gift shop wall while trying on giant western hats.

We were in Roswell, for only one purpose - the New Mexico state fair. Of course that wasn't why we were there, we were huntin' aliens. Hint: There weren't any at the International UFO centre. It was an interesting diversion, but it didn't have anything new or particularly interesting. Surely there have been some developments in UFO sightings/conspiracies in the last 50 years?

Crossing into Texas, we finally stopped in Brownfield. A quiet Saturday night was evident as most places looked closed at 8pm. Our choices outside franchised fast looked to be Hong Kong Buffet or Savannah Mexican. We chose Mexican, and as we walked to our table the everlovin' whispered 'Do you ever get that stared at feeling?' Clearly there aren't a lot of tourists in Brownfield. The young waitress looked confused and frightened when I said I didn't eat meat, and what could she recommend. When I suggested putting beans in an enchilada she said nervously 'I don't think we've ever done that'. Eventually, I got a big plate of an enchilada with beans, a taco with beans, with beans on the side. Go Beans!

Standing on a corner...Winslow AZ - Soccoro, NM

A few things on the menu today, including the Petrified Forest National Park in the painted desert. The everlovin' was less than impressed at looking at a few random logs in the desert, but I found the area fascinating and strangely beautiful (I've always had a soft spot for deserts). The colours were truly stunning in the petrified wood, and although it was an overcast day and the desert canvas wasn't at it's most brilliant, there were moments of true beauty.

The Navajo National Fair was winding up in Window Rock and we could have made it for the last days, but had to face reality - it was just too far out of the way. With some regret we continued east. Stopping in chilly Socorro, the everlovin' garnered many comments regarding his uniform of shorts and thongs despite the cold weather - the woman at the hotel told him to put on something warmer every time she saw him. She told us that Socorro grows red and green chilis, so when we headed out to dinner (Mexican) I ordered my enchilada with extra green chili's. It wasn't too hot at all, but totally delicious.

Contemplations from the jet lagged

I'm on the other side of the world from my home, in Kingsman, AZ to be precise. Travelling half way around the world isn't what it used to be - taking years or months of difficult and probably dangerous travel. Advances in technology have made the journey quicker and less dangerous, but despite participating in the magic of flight, there is something slightly damaging about air travel that wasn't present in most journeys of old. I can't put my finger on it, but it's something to do with the isolation from each other, from nature, from our natural rhythms.

I'm not really complaining, I often cannot believe that I live in a time where crossing the globe is possible in only 36 hours of travel, that I am wealthy enough to indulge my curiosity about foreign landscapes, exotic cultures, and the stories of people who are a lot different to me, or maybe only a little different to me, or - more likely - a combination of both. No, I'm definitely not complaining. I just can't help thinking, that like so much about our world, we've gotten very close to something wonderful, but have somehow still missed an important point.