I will miss you, Ken Ken!

Once a year I leave for Japan for a month or so for holiday.

But this year, I will leave for almost 5 months.

I'm going back to prepare for the delivary of our first human-baby.

So, my rabbit baby Kenshiro will be taken care by my husband for all these months.

It's a long long time.

I will miss her very much.

I pray that she will be well and healthy till my return next year.

Her right-eye has been tearly for a month.

I should have taken her to the vet.

It may be infected. I pray that it will heal itself very quickly.

So coincidently, our baby will be a rabbit- boy/girl, since s/he is born in the year of rabbit 2011.

Then Kenshiro will be her/his elder sister:)

Taking refuge

It's been a hot summer, with the highest temp. rising to 33 or 34 degree everyday.

Since I'm home most of the time, I leave the air-con on.

When I go out for a few hours, sometimes I still leave it on for Kenshiro,

to save my worries while I'm out.

It's a discovery that when there are less people, air-con works better.

Even too much, I suppose.

Because I often find Kenshiro taking refuge in her cottage while she's home alone.

The wind from the air-con hits under the sofa directly after bouncing the wall.

It's a good thing about having your rabbit roaming around the house freely, because she/he can move to wherever suits her/him. If she's confined to her cage, she could have been frozen.

Now she's shedding her fur.

I wonder if she's becoming a winter rabbit due to the air-con, or becoming a late summer rabbit...

Peach- New LOVE

This summer, the wet market just across our block has beautiful peaches, 2 for $10!

So, we've been enjoying them and so has Kenshiro.

It's her first year for tasting it and she has no hesitation from the start.

Kenshiro: Yum Yum... my first peach...What a waste of last 4 years(!)

Cherry - LOVE

Kenshiro: OH? I know this one. Red and round, and juicy...

Can I have one? (or more?)

Okie...another easy

defeat to Kenshiro's "Give me Give me" pleadge.

Just like "The Mitten".

The other night, I was testing the level of Kenshiro's desire for the dry pellet.

Yes, she does what she otherwise wouldn't do.

Here, she got herself into the box of Kerogg's corn flakes.

Suddenly it reminded me of my child-hood favorite story, "The MITTEN"

It was about various animals of the forest wanting to get into the abandoned mitten in the snow.

So many animals got in squashed that the mitten's seem on the side was almost ripped apart.

The animal that was in the centre of all faces was a brown hare.

Sun bathing

I mentioned that Kenshiro seldom closes her eyes during her nap.

Well, this is the rare moment... still not completely closed, and her ears up in alert though...

At her safest haven

Kenshiro is generally a very nervous/timid rabbit.

She gets shocked by any little sound or sudden movement.

She often get panicked by ....nothing much.

So we seldome see her sleeping flat, or with her eyes completely closed.

I've seen some rabbits, (especially lop-ear bunnies) completely losing themselves in their deep sleep. I really hope one day she will know that there is nothing for her to afraid of at home.

Only one place where she's seen relaxed, streching very long is under the sofa.

It's her safest haven.

So, even if we move (We may move after our first human baby's arrival, if God provides for us),

I must secure this safest haven of hers.

mother to be bellybalm

What?: Mother to be Bellybalm (stretch marks prevention)

Brand: Bee beauty (Tasmania)

How much?: $AUS. 19.5 ~

I first knew this brand when one of our aunties bought a body balm for me.

I loved the scent of the balm, and it was animal testing free.

When I got pregnant and thought about buying a belly cream, I thought of the brand again.

Bellycream can be very costly. Ones advertised in the Japanese magazines would cost about 3000yen, and they are most like;y tested on animals. Those famous ones in HK, which are also animal test free, that I know would cost about HK$250 and more.

So I think it's worth the net-shopping for this one.

It's cruelty free, still cheaper than major brands after the shipping fee,and beautiful scent of lavender and tangerine with organic oils and rich bee wax.

I bought 3 large cans (aus. $35 each), and now after receiving it, I thought two might have been enough, but I can use them as a body balm as well, so that's ok.

Handmade wooden rabbit

Where: franc franc (Kowloon Tung, Hong Kong)

How much? : $HK89, what a bargain! (Jap. price tag says 1200yen)

This wooden rabbit caught my eyes right away in franc franc the other day.

Its face quite real, yet with kind of tiger paws and funny arms.

Almost as if those parts were originally made for making other animals;)

Anyway...I started to like rabbit goods that have "more real" expressions, rather than cute ones.

And this one is right in.

Peaceful Sunday afternoon

One of our habit for Sunday afternoon is taking a nap.

Husband lying on the floor and Kenshiro curiously sniffing around him is a typical scene.

Nothing special, but it's one of those peaceful moment I love to witness.

Digging in...

Kenshiro's recent favorite activity:

Going into the hay bag to enjoy the left-over soft bit.

However, it gets quite a panic/chaos when she's got surprised somehow while being in there..

e.g. Sudden noise, sudden movement of us etc.

So, I'd better not let her do that.

Cool Jelly cushion

What: Jelly cushion

How much: $26 each?

Where: Japan Home (日本城)

Japan Home has lots of useful stuff, and though it is Japan Home, I haven't seen many of the stuff they sell in Japan.

I'm impressed with "summer goods" they have, like straw mat, straw pillow etc, which in my observation, very common in hot steamy Hong Kong.

This pink Jelly cusion Kenshiro is sitting on is one of them.

I bought them last year for ourselves, but this year I gave the pink (it's her theme colour!}one to her.

At first, she wasn't very keen on hopping onto the soft surface, but once she knows it's cool, she's up to it.

She doesn't chew stuff much, so its safe for her, too.

Nice, right?

Good Friday

Today was a Good Friday, when we remember Jesus being crucified on the cross.

We'll celebrate Jesus's resurrection on Easter Sunday.

It's the celebration for new life, the promise of eternal life realized by Jesus defeating death.

Kenshiro has become a Christian, too today, by eating the palm leaf cross given out at church alst Sunday.

I would like to celebrate Kenshiro's life, too.

This little life that brought us so much joy and laughter.

Praise God!

OHAYO~!

It is my husband's role to give Kenshiro breakfast before leaving for work.

I would wake up after she left and I would say "Good morning" to Kenshiro.

When I come out from my room and call her, she would come out to greet me.

She never misses that.

And I feel great joy in my heart towards this beautiful little girl.

Her space alteration

Recently I found our family structure would change at the end of the year, in God's grace. Following that, the way to maximize the space in the living room needs to be urgently considered assuming we maybe still in this apartment next year. I am personally hoping to move out to the bigger splace at the end of the contract in November, but we do not know what would happen just yet, given our finance and the renting situation in the marlet. Having said that, affecting Kenshiro's territory is the least I want to do. I need to come up with a good solution so that she will be the least affected, and we can all live together happily. To start with, (since I need her to get used to the change and change made at one time should be minimal) I moved her outside eating/toilet area into her cage. Her cage has been used so little that it almost had lost its use. She goes there for just eating her breakfast/dinner and for drinking water. Other than that, she would spend all her time outside, including munching hay and pooing/peeing. Now, by moving her entire outside space for munching/pooing/peeing into her cage, her cage will be more utilized, and we could keep ourselves a little more space., and hopefully it would save us much effort for cleaning scatterd hay. So far, she seems to be fine, except that she sometimes pees outside where her toilet used to be located. Maybe going back to cage for everything is troublesome for her. But I hope she can adjust herself gradually.

Our conversation

Me: Kenshiro~.

Kenshiro: Yeah?

Me: Come to Mommy~.

Kenshiro: I'm deciding what to do.. Have you got a treat??

All the way for Apple.

Despite of my determination for Kenshiro's diet,

I am guilty of spoiling her.

Whenever I start eating an apple or a banana, she would hear (maybe smell??)it, stop whatever she's doing and ran to me for the very possible treat.

And I just can't resist her~~~. Agh~~~~~~~~~~~~~~!!

So... just then, she successfully obtained a piece of apple.

Well, apples are better than bananas...(; ;)

Hide and Seek

Mischevous Kenshiro loves hiding behind any new-arriving cardboard box.

This one arrived from my Mom a few weeks ago.

Thank you, Mom!

Soft-carry training

Kenshiro still does not allow us to hold her, unless she is locked up in her cage.
So when emergency happens allureing her into the cage and what I need to do.

But I also need her to get used to the soft carry.
So I resumed my training today.
Giving her a good memory about being in the soft carry is the key.

First time I successfully allured her into the carry and closed the zipper.
Then she showed resistance in a such violent manner, trying to push the mesh top with her nose in a desparate attempt to get out.
Once I opened the zipper, she jumped out and ran away.
I did giveher the treats while she was confined, but I think it was not a success.

Second time, I left some treats in her carry.
Now she is very cautious. She makes sure she does not entirely go into it.
Therefore this half butt-out.

Quite a smart girl!

Evacuation set for rabbits

Devastating earthquake and the followisng evacuation in Japan urged me to think about the evacuation set for Kenshiro.
Though we do not have earthquake in HK, it is still necessary for emergency like fire.

The rabbit magazine I bought last year in Japan, 「うさぎの時間　no.5 2010」lists the following goods;

• Medical --- medical records and contact for the vets, medicine if your rabbit is on medication, cyringe for possible forced feeding
• Food --- pellets & hay in airtight container/plastic bags, drinking water (a week's supply in pet bottles), water bottle, food bowl, favorite treats in case of decreased appetite.
• Housing --- soft carry bag (for evacuation/ transport), hard carry bag (to keep all the goods, once settled, your rabbit should move to the hard carry), metal fence/ wire net for excercise, fleece for keeping warm, cool mat for summer (one that does not need frozen mat, the metal ones etc), soft hay mat, harness/lead, toilet sheets, etiquet spray, plastic bags, towels, wet tissues, grooming kit, toys

We should be ready for them anytime.

Kenshiro throws her temper a lot!

I am not sure if it's because she gets less treatsnow,

(We are on "less snack" diet.)

but she's been throwing her temper a lot for the past week.

She literally throws her temper,

by throwing her toilet cover entirely to the other side!!

I'm trying very hard to prevent my solid determination of giving her less treats from tumbling down.

Sigh. "Spare the rod and spoil the child. (かわいい子には旅をさせよ。)"

Easy said, but hard to do!!

Let's start diet together...

Kenshiro's weight increase has made a record today. 1605g!! She was 1580g in Dec. but she's supposed to be in her 1400gs.. It's a result of my constant defeats to her "Give me Give me!!" with her shiny eyes. and demanding paws. She knows exactly what to do to get her favorite treat... OK, we are in this together, Kenshiro! I would also like to lose some of my tummy by April for Amanda's wedding. Let's aim 1580g for you first.

Actually her waist line isn't so bad...

Gifts for CNY visits

During CNY, we normally visit relative's home.

This year my husband even needs to visit his boss's house.

We used to just buy a box of sweets or cookies from the commercial brands, but this year we thought of making it more meaningful, since we need to buy them anyway.

This is what we ended up picking.

Candy wrap from the Fairtrade store, Fair Circle (公平点）.Approx. 20 sweets come in a colourful Napolese handwooven cloth.

For the sweets, we could choose either Oxfam Fairtrade Belgium bitter chocolate or Maya naugat or mixed.

$72/per wrap, $158/3 wrapps, good price.

The beautiful red rabbit tag was specially designed by students in Polytechnic University.

They were unique, meaningful, and at a great price. What more can you look for a edible gift?

Her favorite milk vetch

Sun Farm Milk vetch 30g

So far, it has been one of her favorite treats I broght back from Japan.

No additives, just simply sun-dried milk vetch, of the pea family.

This time the pack contains lots of pods.

It must have been harvested at such season.

Nevertheless, it does not affect Kenshiro's eagerness:)

Flowerly bunnies

Happy Chinese New Year!

First day of the CNY @ one of the shopping malls in Central.

Round ball

Kenshiro's normally very sleepy in the afternoon.
When she's really relaxed, this is what will happen;

1. Her eyes will be almost closed.
2. She will tuck in both of her paws.
3. She will sit on her paws, looking like a New Year rice cake.
4. She will be griding her teeth.

She is very round at the moment (Stage 2 at the top, Stage 3 at the bottom), time to weight to see if we've overfed her this winter:)

Sun-dried vegetables

Sun-dried vegetables have been popular for us human in 2010 as a new(?) way of preserving vegetables for longer term, as well as enjoying their special chewy texture.

And it can be the same for rabbits.

It's not new for them, and they sell them in the pet shops,

but it just occured to me a few days ago seeing full sun out there that I could do the same.

Why didn't I think of that long ago!?

I tried carrots, sliced them and put them at the bay window yesterday.

By today they have shrunk very nicely, half dried.

And of course Kenshiro loves them.

Special stamp sheet

I totally didn't expect to buy this set of rabbit stamp sheet from the Post Office.

I happened to discover them selling various kind of special set of rabbit stamps today when I went to pick up the magazine. In fact they sell these special one every year, but I've never took any attention.

This one is the most basic, the cheapest set,

each rabbit bears $1.4, $2.4, $3 and $5.

The sheet cost $11.8.

It's a beautiful sheet.

It's like a magic. The more you see, the more you want to buy.

So after buying one set for collection, I ended up buying another ten $3 (airmail) one, and ten $1.4(local) ones for practical use:)

I wonder what kind of stamp sheet they had in Japan this year...

AVARON ORGANICS

What: AVALON ORGANICS

Nourishing Lavender shampoo

Price: Retailed $54, but discounted to $49 @ Park and Shop

Content: 325ml

My first time to buy this one, because it's more pricy compared to Nature's Gate, but since discounted I wanted to try.

I love the lavender scent!

They also have Rosemary one in the same series, and I'm considering to buy the conditioner.

Most importantly, AVARON ORGANICS products bear Leaping Bunny, of course!!

La Dolce Vita

One of our good friends gave this adorable notebook yesterday to use as our prayer diary. Thank you!

It's so coincident that I was at City Super the other day looking at these notebooks!

Isn't she (I decided it's "her") just beautiful??

??

Kenshiro: MM? Who's this?

How come I can't smell her??

a White rabbit on a Red carpet 3

Tiny white rabbit charm found in a box of rice crackers sent from Mom.
It's tiny, but have all the details including the tail beautifully painted.

It came in a red paper bag.

By AKEBONO- 2011 BEe. (曙 2011餅)

a White Rabbit on a Red carpet 2

A happy looking white rabbit I came across and couldn't resist buying.

It's a New Year ornament.

Found in KINUGAWA (鬼怒川), Japan.

a White Rabbit on a Red carpet 1

I always thoght there was no better combination than the while rabbit and a red carpet.

It's no surprise that I can find such combination at home.

Sleepy Kenshiro on a red IKEA cushion.

Irresistable...

One of my favorite body parts of Kenshiro.

Her mouth!!

covered with fluffy little hair...

Simply irresistable!

Healthy droppings

Thanks to days of freezing weather, Kenshiro ahs become a winter beauty again.

(Except for the funny semi-circle line over her nose!)

And her droopings can't be any better!

(See the huge one right in front of her.)

She eats more hay during the cold winter.

I'm happy.:)

Panda-chan, LOVE.

It's her 3rd year with Panda-chan.
And yes, Kenshiro is going to be 3 years old!
How time flies...
Her royalty to Panda-chan still remains.
See how they are like an elderly-couple taking an afternoon nap together?? :)

First cherry of the year.

Kenshiro loves cherries...
She loves fruits in general, but cherries are one of her most favorites.
She is expensive!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2011!!

Wishing everyone all the best & another year of joy and peace:)