Happy New Year!

I hope you have a happy, healthy & Sylvanian Family filled 2019!

Merry Christmas from Hawthorn Bay.

Harvey Hawthorn wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas on behalf of myself & all of Hawthorn Bay.  Some of his baby friends joined him & I was hoping they might be up for a bit of caroling, but so far they've been as quiet as a mouse.

Harvey & some of the Christmas cards I received. 💖

 

 

I bought some Christmas presents for my 3 cats - some toys pictured here, + a new litter tray, a brush, a radiator bed, & a ceramic bowl (Roux & Nemo already had a ceramic bowl for treats, but I got another for Lily so they all have their own).  Nemo seemed more interested in a delivery I received on Christmas Eve though. 

My Maple Cat family arrived from Japan, along with some other small sets.  Every time I tried to touch them Nemo batted my hand away as if she was saying "hey!! these are mine!" ha!!

My Christmas will be quiet, it's just me & the cats again this year.  I'm hoping I can get through the days alone over the holiday period without feeling too low, or struggling too much with my illness (ME/CFS).  I'm going to try & take it easy & keep myself entertained with lots of musicals & animation on TV, & hopefully do a bit of crochet if I feel up to it.

I hope wherever you are you're having a wonderful Christmas, & sending extra love to those who are spending Christmas alone.

Baby shower

I've been taking stock of my families recently, & yesterday gathered up all of my Sylvanian babies for a quick photo.  I found I had 18, which was more than I realised I had.  Eight of them  (Hawthorn mouse, Maple cat, 2 Outback koalas & the 4 Secret Fairy Tree babies) are relatively new arrivals & all arrived earlier this year which I guess is why I lost track of how many I have.

My babys are: 2 Silk cats, 1 Maple cat, 1 Thistlethorn mouse, 1 Hawthorn mouse, 1 Fielding mouse, 2 Snow-Warren rabbits, 1 Wildwood rabbit, 1 Chocolate rabbit, 2 Outback koalas, 1 Dale sheep, 1 Neptune sea otter, 1 Buckley deer, 1 Trunk elephant, 1 Cakebread toy poodle, & 1 Waddlington duck. 

As with the rest of my figures collection, the cats, mice & rabbits make up just over half of them.  The Silk cats, Fielding mouse, Chocolate rabbit & Waddlington duck don't have families & I'm not planning to add those families to my collection/Hawthorn Bay so I'll have to see what families I can fit them into as adopted kids, wards, etc.

Secret Fairy Tree babies (from left to right): Fielding mouse (mushroom), Buckley deer (strawberry), Chocolate Rabbit (ladybird), & Silk cat (butterfly).  Ugh, the cute!

I don't think I'd had any new family arrivals since the Bramble hedgehogs & Cakebread toy poodles in 2016 (not counting the babies & any other small sets with figures), but this April I added the Outback koalas to my famlies.

I've been thinking about getting the Outback koalas for a while now & it was so nice to have a new family + they bought the Maple cat baby with them from Japan & planted the seed for me to get the rest of that family.

I've been trying to think of names for the Outbacks this weekend, & need to take some photos & make a proper introduction soon.  I've had them for months & not even deboxed them yet!

The Hawthorns of Hawthorn Bay.

Hello! It has been quite a long time since my last post.  I can't quite believe it's just over 2 years!

Even though I haven't been posting I've still been thinking of Hawthorn Bay & Sylvanian Families, I just haven't had much time or energy to take photographs & update here.  My health hasn't been so great, I have ME/CFS (myalgic encephalomyelitis) & my ME/CFS symptoms have been a lot worse, especially in the last year + we have a new family member (Lily, the grey cat in this post ) who moved in almost a year ago, so now I share a home with 3 cats (as well as lots of small toy ones).

I wanted to update here as I had a very special arrival yesterday.  The Hawthorn/White Mouse family finally came to Hawthorn Bay along with the Ride Along Tram set & I'm so thrilled.  The tram set was a must have because it reminded me of the trams in San Francisco & the Hawthorn mice were always in my head as the original settlers of Hawthorn Bay, so it would make sense that they still have descendants living there.  I haven't opened the tram set yet, but I'm excited to later this weekend.

I already had a Hawthorn mouse baby before the rest of the family arrived.  Someone bought the Hawthorn baby for me from a small toy shop in Brecon in Wales while I was visiting there at the start of this year, & I'm glad the baby has a family to join now.

If you're wondering why there's a Maple cat in the photo too - the Maple cat family is on the way to me, & the baby is eagerly awaiting the rest of their family.

My Hawthorn mice are going to be keeping their original surname, & are named:
Ambrose, father, after author Ambrose Bierce
Isadora, mother, after dancer Isodora Duncan
Dorothea, daughter, after photographer Dorothea Lange
Ansel, son, after photographer Ansel Adams
& Harvey, baby, after politician & gay rights activist Harvey Milk

All are named after people I find interesting who have a connection with San Francisco & either were born, lived or died there.

I haven't had many new families arrive in the last 2 years, but there have been some additions, so I'll try & take some photographs & update more soon.

Though autumn winds blow it is still green..

My Bramble hedgehog kids arrived from Japan today.  They're so sweet & it was nice to put the whole Keikyoku family together finally.

In my family Kuri (originally Mr Mortimer Bramble) & Kiri (originally Mrs Eleanor Bramble) are twin brother & sister, & the new arrivals are Kiri's children (unfortunately papa has passed away).

The children (also twins, it must run in the Keikyoku family) are named Kaki (originally Abigail Bramble) after the Japanese name for persimmon, & Kari (originally Maxwell Bramble) after the Japanese name for wild geese.  Just yesterday a flock of wild geese flew over my neighbourhood & it was a lovely (if noisy) sight.

Uncle Kuri, Kari, Kaki & Mother Kiri Keikyoku.

I'm looking forward to getting to know them more & seeing how they fit in to Hawthorn Bay.

Sweet chestnut..

My other hedgehog (Mr Bramble) finally arrived today so I thought i'd add a few photos.

I definitely want them to be siblings rather than Mr & Mrs.  As planned I'm naming Mr Bramble Kuri Keikyoku (kuri means chestnut, keikyoku means bramble) & his sister is named Kiri (meaning fog or mist). 

I ♥ them.

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.