ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, March 29, 1997 TAG: 9703310042
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SARAH HAMMERSCHLAG SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES
You might think that Easter would be this Roanoke woman's favorite time of year, but her bunnies adapt to any season.
``How did it all begin?'' Connie Vermillion murmured, trying to recall the origin of her rabbit habit.
``I guess it's like any addiction,'' she said with a shrug. ``You can never remember the first one.''
After considering the array of cast-iron bunnies, ceramic bunnies, glass bunnies, stuffed bunnies, bunny paintings and bunny prints in her living room, Vermillion said, ``I think my husband, Bob, bought me the first one.''
Bob Vermillion, 54, a Roanoke-area obstetrician-gynecologist, said he had no idea it would come to this when he bought the first bunny 15 years ago.
At last count, more than 700 rabbits decorated the Vermillions' Hunting Hills home.
Connie Vermillion, a 46-year-old with a cap of red hair, also adorns herself daily with rabbit jewelry, both precious and costume.
You might think that Easter would be Vermillion's favorite time of year, but her bunnies simply shift with the seasons.
At Christmas, the Vermillions decorate their tree entirely with rabbit ornaments and carrot sticks. Their dining table's centerpiece, a giant ceramic rabbit clutching a vase, holds Easter eggs at this time of year, but next month he'll probably be filled with flowers. Recently, after a friend's bridal shower, he wore a veil.
``Oh, we do bring out a few special Easter bunnies,'' Connie Vermillion said, pointing out a few pastel Beanie Baby bunnies she recently purchased. ``And this guy over here,'' she said, picking up a brown soft-sculpture bunny dressed in frills and carrying a white basket, ``he's wearing his Easter dress.'' The rabbit usually wears the black tuxedo bow Vermillion bought him in, but each spring he cross-dresses.
``My family thinks I'm crazy,'' Vermillion said. Yet they feed her habit. Her two children, both in college, have brought her rabbit paraphernalia from such far-flung points as Greece and Mexico.
``You always know what to get Mom,'' Connie's daughter, Jennifer, said.
Bob Vermillion, who collects kaleidoscopes and chess sets, forged an intersection in their hobbies when he bought a chess set in which all the pawns were finely dressed rabbits.
He insists that his wife is the true collector in the house. His total number of chess sets: seven.
Though she's been collecting for only 15 years, the roots of Vermillion's rabbit affection go back much further. Because her father was in the armed services, Connie Vermillion's family moved around, often to places as exotic as Hawaii, Honduras and the Panama Canal Zone. Traveling so much in such tropical regions, the family could not keep a dog, so Connie had a long series of pet rabbits.
The family also kept monkeys and birds, but it is the bunny habit that Vermillion has continued in her adult life. The Vermillions have a white- and gray-spotted lop-eared rabbit named Peter. Before him they had Prissy, Sugar, Pepper and Hopper.
Vermillion grew up bilingual, and happily noted that the Spanish word for rabbit is conejo. She knows no word for bunny.
Although she uses bunny and rabbit interchangeably in conversation, Vermillion does see a marked distinction between the two: ``Rabbits are much more sophisticated, while bunnies are cuter.''
She has hundreds of both - rabbit plates and rabbit books, bunny candles and bunny sculptures, rabbit vases and bunny flags.
Despite the abundance, some visitors appear not to notice at first, Vermillion said. But once spotted, the long-eared creatures seem to hop from every corner.
Among Connie Vermillion's more unusual rabbit paraphernalia are a set of rabbit wind chimes, a rabbit garden sprinkler, a bonsai rabbit, and a cast-iron carrot-based kitchen table with rabbit chairs.
The table and chair set was made by Twists & Turns, a store that has played a major part in Vermillion's bunny mania. She's bought so many rabbit items from the store that the owners, Joe and Cynthia Cassell, call her when they receive new rabbit merchandise.
The kitchen set was Connie's idea. The Cassells custom-designed it at her request. Since then, Twists & Turns has sold several others.
Vermillion claims that rabbits have grown in popularity recently. Though she doesn't take any credit for starting the trend, she has profited from it. ``They're much more widely available now,'' she said.
On average, Vermillion purchases one bunny item a month, but space has begun to be a problem. While sitting amid plush bunnies that decorate the hearth and stroking a recently purchased stuffed bunny whose ears zip up to become a carrot stick, Connie Vermillion sighed and said, ``I really just have to become more selective.''
LENGTH: Long : 103 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: STEPHANIE KLEIN-DAVIS/THE ROANOKE TIMES. 1. Bunnies canby CNBserve as an amazing number of items, including the wine cooler
(above) by Arthur Court and the 2. Italian ceramic centerpiece
holding a vase full of Easter eggs (right) on Connie Vermillion's
dining table in her Hunting Hills home. The two are just part of her
collection of 700 rabbits. 3. Royal Doulton and Royal Albert rabbits
sit on a lighted, mirrored shelf in the Vermillions' living room.
color.4. Bunnies love company, as a basketful (above) demonstrates.
5. Connie Vermillion asked Joe and Cynthia Cassell, owners of Twists
& Turns on the City Market, to design a cast-iron carrot-based
kitchen table with rabbit chairs (left) for her. She's bought so
many rabbit items from the store that the Cassells call her when
they receive new rabbit merchandise. 6. A family of Herend
Collection rabbits (below) lives on a table in the living room.