Introducing Merlin & Maverick!

 

Meet Merlin & Maverick my beautiful baby bunnies. They've been living with us for almost a month now and I'm in love. They are Dutch crossed with Netherland Dwarf bunnies so will stay pretty small. 

On the way home

In a surprise to absolutely nobody I've given them aviation themed names, Maverick is of course named for my favourite films Top Gun and Top Gun:Maverick and Merlin is named after the Rolls Royce Merlin engine that powers Spitfires, Hurricanes, Mustangs etc etc. 

Merlin

Maverick

Thankfully Merlin is also a pretty unisex name as when we brought them home we were under the impression that they were both boys but after their first vet visit for their jabs it turns out that Merlin actually prefers to identify as er female ..... Thank god we found out now! When they're fully grown Maverick will have to have the snip to make sure there are no unplanned 'Wingmen'. 

Yep that's a Halloween food bowl from my first Halloween blog of last year  

Like Estelle & Esme before them my 'Top Buns' (sorry not sorry) are living in the garden in a hutch and run built by Dad that they can access 24/7. Attached to this is a huge enclosure that they can go in during the day with room for me to sit with them. 

They also love carrot cottages like Esme did and go through them in under a week 😆

They also love hay wheels from Auntie Helen

Synchronised washing is also a hobby  

As is sunbathing ....

Personality wise Merlin is definitely the mischief maker, if one of them has their nose where it shouldn't be it's Merlin, if one is attempting to escape 'for a laugh' it's Merlin 😆 Maverick is a little more chill but is the absolute king of the binkies. He lives up to his name by being constantly supersonic. 

They've got some toys from Auntie Tiffany's Napoleon Bunnyparte store but being typical kids were more interested in the box .

I'd forgotten how fast and energetic baby bunnies are, doing any kind of moving around the hutch or run involves a constant head count to make sure everyone is where they're supposed to be and not sneaking out. 

Climbing along the tube is always an option apparently

They are adorable and I'm absolutely smitten with them. I'll never stop loving or forget my beautiful Estelle & Esme and I tell Maverick & Merlin about their sisters' antics every day. Eos is getting used to the new arrivals too, they keep making each other jump as they're small and zippy and she's big. They've briefly touched noses through the wire a couple of times so we're getting there bless them. 

Eos in the daisies at the park

More bunny and Eos spam will of course follow.

Love Jen

XxxX

My Tattoos - A Spotter's Guide Part 2

 

Hi guys as promised I'm treating you to the sequel to my 2013 My Tattoos - A Spotter's Guide blog. The original blog covered my first set of tattoos so I won't go into them here but here's a quick recap. 

In 2007 I declared that I was freezable for up to 3 months

In 2012 I got my Sugar Skull and 30 Seconds To Mars Triad (The skull turns 10 at the end of the month hence the recap blog).

I still love this despite the world and his wife now all having Sugar Skull tattoos, and yes those are the 30 Seconds To Mars glyphs.

Le Triad

In 2013 I got my birds and then bunny tattoos -

A Kingfisher for my Grandma

Some Rockabilly vibes with my Swallow and Cherries

The Bunny is a combination of my girls Estelle & Esme and the symbol is my Chinese Zodiac sign Rabbit.

All together

My next set of tattoos were done in 2015 also on my upper left arm. They were a Butterfly, White Feather and Ladybird.  

A better view of the feather

The Ladybird and Feather represent two very special ladies. Ladybird is the nickname of my best friend Helen which was given to her by Kay many years ago. The white feather is for Kay as she always believed that if you saw a white feather then someone was watching over you. Since Kay passed away in 2016 I've seen so many white feathers so I know she's still with me 💖

The Butterfly has no deep meaning as such but I just think they're such beautiful creatures and remind me of summer.

Not the clearest picture but you can see how they all fit together, the rabbit symbol can just be seen between the swallow and the butterfly

In 2016 Kay made the incredibly brave decision to cease her palliative cancer treatment so that the time she had left was of better quality. One consequence of her ending her treatment was that she was allowed to have tattoos done again so we ended up with matching ones. Kay always used to tell me "I love you to the moon and back" so a rabbit perched on the moon seemed like the perfect design. Kay was as bunny mad as I am and we actually met because she followed Estelle & Esme on Twitter.

                                                      I miss you

For my 30th birthday the next year I went into Alice In Wonderland overdrive with an Alice In Wonderland Themed Party and got a big Alice tattoo on my leg just above the bunny. It's based on the 1865 illustrations by John Tenniel which I love. I think it was a pretty good birthday present to myself in my humble opinion.....

In the same session I got a couple of small tattoos, one is a music note behind my ear (the least painful one I've had) so that I always have music near my ears. 

I also got an arrow inspired by a quote that my Dad once sent me "An arrow can only be shot by pulling it backward. So when life is dragging you back with difficulties, it means that it’s going to launch you into something great. So just focus, and keep aiming." to remind me when times are tough. 

I got another music related tattoo in 2018 inspired by Lady GaGa's song Born This Way which is all about loving yourself and being proud of who you are. It's under the arrow to reinforce the message of staying strong. 

Last year I finally took the plunge and got a tattoo related to my plane geeking. The moment that the Red Arrows shoot over the crowd at Eastbourne's Airbourne airshow is always the highlight of my year. I plan to add other aircraft to the sleeve hopefully based on some photos I've taken, watch this space ......

First sitting

Second sitting

Finished!

At Bournemouth airshow showing the design off during the Red Arrows display

I got a couple of other tattoos in 2021.

I don't normally do 'spur of the moment' tattoos but for Fri 13th Aug the studio did a special range of 13 inspired tattoos and since 13 is our family's lucky number I indulged. 


The Greek symbol for Eos

This Eye Of Horus tattoo was for Helen's 50th birthday as she loves Ancient Egypt

My final tattoo in of the year was this Halloween Bunny tattoo, you can read about it in my blog here

I hope you guys have enjoyed my blog. I have some ideas for new tattoos; I want something navy related for both my Grandads as they served on aircraft carriers during World War 2. I'd also like something to represent my friends and also some witchy symbols.

I'll keep you posted!

Love Jen

XxxX

My Favourite Photos Of 2021

Hi guys happy new year once again! I hope you're all doing well? I thought it might be fun to post some of my favourite photos from last year 😀 some of them are attached to other blogs which I'll link with them. 

First up let's have some photos of the furry ones, obviously the most important aspect of any year!

Esme turned 13 this year  which is absolutely crazy, she's still doing well and frowns at me every morning when I'm trying to clean her eyes .... 😒

Taken from Esme's birthday blog

Inspecting the garden after February's snow

Dandelions are still her favourite treat

This is the expression I get when I sit in the run with her ... 

BOING!

Playing with her Christmas present

Kisses with Auntie Helen

She and Eos get on so well which is mildly insulting as she prefers the dog to me. They even kiss each other.

Eos absolutely loved the snow that we had. She got so excited and did some epic zoomies. 

The Lesser Spotted Tree Collie 

Getting into the Christmas spirit

Eos and Esme gained a cousin this year when Chris and Vana adopted Norman the Daschund. Norman is 3 and hasn't had the best start but is now living his best life. Eos was a bit unsure about him at first but they're now firm friends and spend their time running round the house play-fighting. 

Norman is a very dapper fellow with his bow ties and bandanas

Cuddles back in the summer


Their first meeting in April


One dog is easier to lift for photos than the other ...

Causing mischief on Christmas Day

At the start of the year we were still in lockdown so Helen and I had to meet outside which lead to a lot of time under an umbrella. 

And in shelters on the seafront

Thankfully as we went into spring the restrictions lifted a bit which meant cafes re-opened and we could socialise indoors again. 

My birthday

A lifesaver during the 'outdoor socialisation only' restrictions was the bar that Dad built in the garden. 

At the end of the year it was so good to be able to celebrate Christmas with my friends and family as normal. 

 

Gin(and beer)stitue Christmas Party

Helen and me

Christmas Dinner

Chris, Vana & Norman

Chris finally got to show off his jumper 😂 

Another re-opening were tattoo studios so I was finally able to get some more artwork done. First off I got a Red Arrows tattoo. 

Showing off my tattoo at Bournemouth Airshow - my blog about it is here

I also got an adorable Halloween bunny tattoo to combine two of my loves of rabbits and Halloween, I covered it as part of my series of Halloween blogs - 'Tattoo Time!'

Speaking of Halloween I was able to have a party this year which was so good! I turned the hallway into a graveyard (check out this blog for the rest of the decorations) and dyed my hair green and orange and dressed as a gothic Alice In Wonderland - for photos of the party here's the blog.

It was absolutely fantastic to be able to see my friends more this year for birthdays, woodland walks, pumpkin picking and  even New Year's Eve. 

Using Dad's bar for my birthday party.


Amanda's Birthday

Lydia & Hilary's Birthday

Luke's Birthday


Helen's Birthday

We went pumpkin picking which was so much fun - for more pumpkin content my blog has you covered!

Lydia & I went to Wakehurst Place's 'Glow Wild'

New Year's Eve

One of the great things about 2021 was the return of events, I managed to squeeze in plenty of plane geek action. I also went to Goodwood Festival Of Speed for the first time with Chris and Vana and we had the best time. 

The Red Arrows were there and debuted their 'NHS Pass'

Chris got a sneaky photo of my photographing the subject of my tattoo 😂

I have loads more photos and videos of the day on my Goodwood Blog. I also put together a year of plane geeking in my 2021 In Plane Geeking blog but here are a couple of favourite photos. 

P51 Mustang 'Miss Helen' and 2 F15s at the 19 Squadron Flying Day at Duxford in August

  

The Battle Of Britain Memorial Flight overhead and the Typhoon kicking up loads of vapour at Duxford's Best Of 2021 Flying Day

Thank you all for reading my blog, the next one I have planned is an update to my 2013 'My Tattoos - A Spotter's Guide' blog as my little sugar skull turns 10 at the end of the month!

Love Jen

XxxX