In my neighborhood, we have squirrels, chipmunks, fox and deer. We have owls and hawks, too. But rabbits have always been scarce. I imagine that the fox, owls and hawks have something to do with that.

Yesterday, while ambling the Lake Anne trail, I spied this bunny, which hopped right in front of me and posed (froze in fear) in hopes I didn’t see her. I had time to snap this shot before the critter reversed course and vanished into the underbrush. Was she off to feed her young? Was her zigzag path an attempt to throw me off the scent?

I just read about cottontail nests, which are hidden in plain sight, in tall grasses or piles of leaves. I wonder how close I was to this bunny’s nest.

When I was 9 or 10, my father disturbed a rabbit nest when he was mowing. Thinking the mother had abandoned it (which she most likely had not) we took two babies inside to care for them.

I thought I’d died and gone to heaven. I fed the wee creatures with an eye dropper, cuddled and nurtured them. One of them escaped from its box, leading us on a merry chase throughout the house, jumping out from under the skirt of an arm chair and scaring my mother half to death.

It was an adventure that became part of family lore. And thanks to the bunny that hopped in front of me yesterday, it was top of mind again.