Rabbit, Rabbit

or, good luck for the month ahead. Personal experience would suggest that in northern New York, no one says “bunny, bunny” or “rabbit, rabbit” or “white rabbit” (x’s 3) at the beginning of the month to wish themselves and/or others good luck. (I first heard this expression in my twenties…) By the way, if you missed out saying this first thing at the onset of the new year, do not despair but do be sure to say “tibbar, tibbar” as you drift off to sleep tonight (“rabbit, rabbit” backwards…). [If your curiosity is piqued, you can learn many useful tidbits about all of this by going to dendritics.com/scales/white-rabbits.asp ]

On the local front: one of the pleasant plusses of life in Waikikamukau is the ease of available, attractive exercise. The steep ups and downs of our locale turn an innocent twenty minute walk into a handy, mini-workout. Normally we go left out the door, down steep stairs to a dead-end road that goes steeply up to the left. The small villas along the next bit of sidewalk look as if entry would be simple for goats only. People living there must have their groceries delivered by Sherpa guides. We then go down another set of stairs and continue down Queen Street to the Woodaugh Gardens. This is apparently the same street that disappears at the crest of the previous hill and transmogrifies into a walkway…? Now it gets interesting. We next stroll alongside a creek. The creek is referred to as the Leith (pronounced like Lethe, the Greek word for oblivion). I checked the map to find out how to refer to the Leith ‘creek’ properly to find “Waters of Leith” indicated.

[As you know, the Lethe is a river in Hades whose waters caused forgetfulness. It was on the banks of another Underworld river called the Styx that the shades, or ghostly remains, of the dead congregated to seek passage to the Afterlife. Unless they bribed Charon to ferry them across the stream, they wandered aimlessly on the near bank forever. But those who made it across the Styx did not have much more to anticipate. Once they had drunk from the waters of Lethe, they were left with nothing to reminisce about for eternity.]

Were you to approach the Woodaugh from the direction George Street, you would walk past a sign announcing 'Welcome to Leith House Rest Home'. Indeed! Waters of Leith meander on through the Botanical Gardens and through the grounds of the University—hopefully the students avoid imbibing these waters…

Eschewing the Leith/Lethe, we bid farewell to 2006 with many fond memories and greet you in 2007 with “Rabbit, Rabbit”: good health, good luck and best wishes to all for the New Year!