The Concrete Rabbit of Skiatook   ∞   Concretus rabbitisma

Under the white oak tree at Crow's Cottage       •      3 August 2013
Photograph by Beau Bosko

By Ebenezer Baldwin Bowles

Posted on 7 August 2013

Never for want of leafy food, this bunny dines every night on blooms 'n blossoms in the flower bed 'round the old white oak tree.  The tree stands like a totem of fertility on the southern edge of Doghenge, our veranda.  Fearless, the bunny boldly stays put despite the pack of dogs and humans constantly moving past her hutch.  The dutiful Guardian of the Fairy Gate to the west of the flower bed told us the bunny's name but swore us to secrecy.

The blooms 'round about the night bunny are red impatiens and white begonias.  To the right are lime-and-rosewood leaves of the coleus.  The earthy brown object above bunny's ears is a small sandstone rock resting against the trunk of the white oak.  And there you have it!

Our Night Hare was born in Skiatook, Oklahoma, in the year twenty twelve.  I found her amongst a herd of similar rabbits in a warren along state highway 20 west of town.  She was for sale at a fair price, so I scooped her up, opened my wallet, and carried her home.  Her cousin the jackrabbit lives on the east side of the cottage in another flower bed — but that's entirely another story for another day.

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The Odd Notions....

I think my readers will be as much amused as I have been at the odd notions of gardening entertained by our ancestors, especially by the green-houses built in the shade, and the rabbit warren in the midst of the flower gardens.  What would the Horticultural Society say to such doings?

— Mary Russell Mitford
The Works of Mary Russell Mitford, Prose and Verse. (p.304)
James Crissy Publishers | Philadelphia 1841

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When the cows come home the milk is coming,
Honey's made while the bees are humming;
Duck and drake on the rushy lake,
And the deer live safe in the breezy brake;
And timid, funny, brisk little bunny.
Winks his nose and sits all sunny.

— Christina Georgina Rossetti
Sing-Song A Nursery Rhyme Book (p.92)
Macmillan and Co.  |  London 1893
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Bunny adapted from an illustration by Arthur Hughes
Sing-Song A Nursery Rhyme Book
Digitized by Google

The east face of Doghenge      ∞      2 August 2013

One of my favorite places at Crow's Cottage is the veranda, which we call Doghenge because of the many standing stones in the design and the three Australian shepherds who live here.  In this image you can see sweet potato vine, petunia, Rudbeckia, yellow daisy, sunflower, silver maple, shortleaf pine, maiden grass, lantana, tropical hibiscus, butter daisy, sugar bush, nuttall oak, overcup oak, tulip poplar, marigold, gladiola....  and maybe a few more.  But you'll have to trust me because many of the flora are just too small to discern in this format.  You can also see the back of my brown rocking chair peeking through the flora in the center.

Night Bunny was posted on Wednesday, August 7, 2013

 

Skiatook Statuary
Touting itself as "The King of the Concrete Jungle," Skiatook Statuary in central Oklahoma stands as a testament to the enduring power of a pop-art form that is solidly engrained in USA culture.  Chester Reyckert's statuary grounds provide temporary home to thousands of animals, mythical beings, archetypal symbols, landscape architecture icons, and other expressions of the volksgeist. It's an enchanting playground for those of us who enjoy the kitsch of concrete.