Cottontails on the move

It's been a long time coming but we are now just two weeks away from moving home to Tree Farm, and as I work from home, this means Cottontails Baby is on the move too.

Sadly it will mean saying farewell the lovely garden office but there are plenty of outbuildings at Tree Farm and this one has been allocated to Cottontails:

Cottontails Baby - new HQ at Tree Farm

It looks pretty quaint from the outside (and indeed it is) but as you can see, there is more than a bit of work to do:

View from back of office

View from the door

The Cottontails creatures are going to love the indoor ivy

Mouse checks out the electrics...

New interior walls, a new floor, new felt on the roof and a new ceiling, lots of insulation, new windows, new door. So more than a weekend DIY project. But hopefully, with someone in to help, it might be ready in a month or so.

But there's definitely going to be a 'spare bedroom' stage in between.

So, the next month is going to be pretty full on, moving house and moving business, and I can't even picture where I'm going to be working in three weeks time... but it's all very exciting. And at least it's not October / November, when stock and sales explode for Christmas. (Oh, wait a minute. Who planned this?)

Humphrey in print!

A little while ago Humphrey entered a competition to star in a short story... and he won! 

That rabbit. Is there no end to his talent?

The competition was run by Juliet Wilson aka the Crafty Green Poet - writer, poet, author, recycling-crafter, environmental campaigner and lover of all things rabbit. You can read about the story competition here. And please do take a look around her blog - it is well worth following. She is someone I would like to be more like.

The short story 'A New Start for Humphrey' arrived in the post a few days ago, along with a 'congratulations kit' for the star and last night I settled down to read it. It is a fascinating, thought provoking story set in a future that is at once bleak and hopeful, and I can't tell you how lovely it is to see Humphrey captured in print...

"Sheena smiled as a plump grey-brown rabbit hopped towards her and sniffed her foot... 'Look at those sweet turfts of hair behind the ears!'"

"They sat side by side, thinking about the future and petting Humphrey, who was sitting quietly between them."

And Juliet has even included one of Humphrey's naughtiest habits:

"Humphrey settled down and started to chew, then suddenly picked up the water bowl, emptied the contents and bashed the bowl against the balcony railings" 

 - he does exactly this in the evenings, except against the radiator!

A congratulations kit for the literary star

Juliet also sent a copy of her poetry book "Unthinkable Skies" - I am looking forward to sitting down with it - and a nice cup of tea - this weekend. This one looks pretty timely...

And incidentally, she is next on the list to host Sylvain the Cottontails Traveling Rabbit, so fingers crossed we'll be hearing a bit more from Juliet very soon.

Juliet's book. And a Cottontails mouse.

Thank you so much Juliet!