Day 157: Harriet's Return

Sunday night as we sat around the dinner table at our summer house, I began to tell the story of the visitor we had last summer. She (I like to think of her as a "she") showed up every morning around eight a.m. and every evening around five p.m. I guess she was a social eater, as it was usually when we were about to have breakfast and dinner. She would suddenly show up on the grassy knoll behind the house and nibble on the grass or wild flowers growing along the hillside while we kept her company from a distance. I am pretty sure she liked us, as she did not run away as long as we did not come too close. I tossed her a carrot one evening but it went untouched for days and I finally put it in the compost. I guess she preferred to eat in the wild and, even though it was an organic carrot, she may have smelled more than nature on it.

"She" was Harriet. A lovely, little hare who showed up one day at the summer house during our summer vacation. Seeing her there made me smile deep inside, almost all the way in to my liver. It warmed my heart to have this little, daily visitor. It felt as though she chose us and I like to think she felt safe with us there. I suppose it could have also partly been because I was missing my kitty who went to kitty heaven before we moved to Sweden and partly because she was just so darn cute.

So there we were at the dinner table, me telling my story of Harriet when I looked out the window and thought I saw the back end of a hare run across the grass. What it Harriet? Could she hear me? I quietly crept outside to see if I could spot a bunny. In the end I determined that it must have been a figment of my imagination, as there was no sign of a bunny. I mean, I was after all just talking about her and how strange that she would suddenly show up. Right?

This morning, two days later, one of our friends was standing at the window looking out toward the grassy knoll and suddenly said, "I see a bunny!" And it was a bunny. I don't think it was Harriet because this bunny seemed smaller but perhaps it was one of her babies. What a happy moment! I cheered, took photos and even went out, but not too close, to talk to her (or him). I hope our new Harriet will stay through the summer. It will be nice to have our daily visitor in the garden.

One of the photos I took this morning of our new Harriet...

A photo of Harriet from last summer...