Surprise gifts & disappearances..

Before the recent Solitaire family who visited, I briefly played host to another Solitaire family.  I mailed them off to their new home in December & was hoping that they would have arrived by now but the owner still hasn't received them & fears they've been lost in the mail.  I've been holding out, hoping they were just taking a long time to arrive.

I included some gifts in the package for the ladies of the family (2 of my crocheted dresses in pink) & took some photos of the lades in their dresses before mailing them off, but sadly only took quick photos of the whole family to show to their owner when they first arrived.

I don't know if having the photos will make their loss worse or at least give their owner something to remember them by, but here they are..

The other Solitaire family I played host to more recently also left with a couple of gifts (dresses I crocheted in white & light blue). Thankfully they made it safely to their new home.  I didn't post the photos before as I wanted the dresses to be a surprise, but now they've been received I can share them. 

Only looking back at these photos did I notice that both the Solitaire daughters had droopy whiskers.  ♥

I'm still hoping that the first Solitaire family turns up.

The 13th is Magic!

There haven't been any new arrivals at Hawthorn Bay for a while now (the last family to arrive were the Whiskers cats in December last year) however a couple of families (funnily enough, both Solitaire cat families) have visited, passing through on their way to their new homes in far away places. 

The latter of the two arrived last Wednesday (the 13th) & they haven't left for their new home yet, & I wanted to check their condition out & take some photos to share with their new owner. 

I was especially taken with the sister Solitaire from this family, she has such a sweet expression, but they're all lovely & make a very handsome family. 

It seems that brother Solitaire is quite the character & a bit of a comedian.

Ahhh, that face! ♥

The book in the background is The 13th is Magic! by Joan Howard.  It's a children's fantasy book from 1950 about a brother & sister named Jill & Ronnie & their adventures after a magical cat named Merlin moves in with them.

Sister Solitaire is quite the adventurer & wanted to go outside to explore.

& while we were outside we ran into some of the locals (2 of our neighbours cats) - Lily (grey female) & Jet (black male).  Lily stopped to pose for some photos.

Sister Solitaire survived her encounter with the giant cat with all 9 lives intact & a fun story to tell once she makes it to her new home.

A Fisher in Winter.

I thought I'd take some quick photographs of Isabel Fisher before she moves on to a new home.. 

Isabel came to me with another purchase & I've decided to give her to a friend as a little Christmas present, along with a pink dress I've specially crocheted for her.

I'm not a big fan of Sylvanians with markings (an exception being the Appleblossom grey squirrel family, who I adore), but I must say that Ms Fisher has grown on me while I took photographs of her.   She's very endearing & I hope that my friend will like her too.

A curious dream..

I've had my Woodland Wedding set for a few months now & I deliberately held off sharing photos of it because I wanted to wait & share it on this blog once I started posting here. 

The set was made by Tomy & came out (I believe) in 1996.  It includes 4 Solitaire family grey cats - groom Humphrey Solitaire, bride Prunella Solitaire, page boy Zack Solitaire & bridesmaid Zara Solitaire, along with a white piano with a stool & music sheets, a wedding arch, a bouquet, a camera & photographs, a tiered wedding cake, a bottle & glasses, a large table with benches & tablecloth, wedding gifts & confetti boxes.

The Solitaire cat family were high up on my wishlist of families to get, I love cats & would love to have more Sylvanian cat families, but I'll admit that I am a little weird about Sylvanians with markings (& sadly most of the cat familys have strong markings on their heads).  Out of the families I have so far, only 1 (the Appleblossom grey squirrels) have markings on their heads or faces, & I love them, but most of the figures with markings on the head or face just aren't my cup of tea.

I tend to prefer the single coloured & plainer figures & the Solitaires are one of the few cat families with more subtle markings & so they were a must have for me, but overall it's such a pretty & well designed set.  I haven't got around to photographing all the small accessories yet, as I plan on scanning the card parts before I cut them out & fold them, but hopefully I'll get around to taking photos of those too eventually.

Another part of this sets appeal for me was because the name of the set reminds me of the magical Sunshine Through the Rain segment in Akira Kurosawa's film Dreams (1990) which is based on the tale of Kitsune no Yomeiri (The Fox Wedding).

On a day when the sun shines bright and the rain falls, wise parents advise their children to play indoors. It isn’t that they are worried about them catching a cold. No, it is something more mysterious. For on such days the kitsune, the magical foxes of Japan, hold their wedding processions.  

I saw Dreams at the cinema when it was originally released here in the UK & the Sunshine Through the Rain segment gave me chills then, & still does.  I love Japanese folklore & kaidan (ghost storys).

I'd love to see a Sylvanian recreation of this tale in a diorama, wouldn't that be lovely!?