Will the real Slydale please stand up?

When I saw the Slydales at the store, I just had to have them. I thought they were uncommonly good-looking:

I wish it had been the Flair (UK) version of the family, because that would contain each figure’s biography, which I always find amusing and interesting. There weren’t any fox families in Flair boxes at that store, nor at all the other toy stores that I visited. In fact, there weren’t many Epoch sets of these foxes either, just 3 to be precise. To me, that was another sign I should get them.

Naturally, I wanted to find out more about the Slydales. The Sylvanian Families site, my first stop when it comes to all things Sylvanian, only had a scanty item description: ‘Father Slick, mother Velvette, brother Buster and sister Scarlett Slydale.’ So I went to Beverly’s fantastic site to see if I could get more information about them. I found biographies which matched the ones that I found later on the Calico Critters site:

• Mother, Velvette adores her family. She loves to take long strolls with Slick and her
  children Buster and Scarlett. Velvette looks forward to the times when she can sit
  back and relax in her favorite chair. She enjoys reading, writing and cooking. If that
  is not enough, she loves to ride horses too.
• Father, Slick works as an electrician. His talents are so valuable to Cloverleaf
  Corners. Slick loves Velvette’s cooking and baking. Sometimes he waits around the
  kitchen for the next batch of scrumptious cookies to come out of the oven.
• Brother, Buster is very proud of his father and hopes to be just like him some day.
  He often invites the other Cloverleaf critters, Branson Whiskers, Brother Gromwell,
  Linus Fisher and Spot Dalmatian to his house to play miniature golf in the backyard.
• Sister, Scarlett is witty and charms many new friends in Cloverleaf Corners.
  Her favorite times are spent sipping tea like a grown up and baking cookies with
  her mother. She enjoys practicing the violin and often plays for her mother and
  father when they are having a special dinner together.
• Girl twin, Linda crawls about the kitchen as her mother cooks. She likes to go
  into the kitchen cupboards for fun and pull out all of the pots and pans she can
  find. Velvette decided to set aside a special cupboard for Linda with lots of
  kitchen play toys.
• Boy twin, Skitter looks in awe at his twin baby sister. It will not be long before he
  joins in the kitchen play fun.

I was convinced that I had read authentic biographies, and since I felt that I had a lot in common with Velvette, I adopted her as my avatar.

Then I stumbled across alternative biographies of the family on another site:

• Slick Slydale is a mine of information and very clever. He’ll know the answer to any question you ask him.
• Velvette Slydale is always on the lookout for a bargain. She has been known to travel for miles and miles and queue for hours and hours just for the spring sales.
• Skitter Slydale is always on the go, but like his older brother, he is a bit naughty. His favourite trick is to run off with his baby sister’s toys.
• Scarlet Slydale spends hours brushing her tail and is very proud of its glossy, healthy condition.

This got me confused. I know there was an earlier version of the Slydale family by Tomy, but they were brown foxes which looked very different from the Slydales that I have. But the ones on this site are identical to mine. Since the biographies that I saw first were from the Calico Critters site, my only guess was that the alternative biographies were Sylvanian Families (UK) versions. I have since learned that I was wrong. I started a post regarding the Slydales on the Sylvanian Families Message Board and was informed that the second set of biographies are also from a Tomy release.

So the Slydales have 2 different biographies, and since I am Velvette I have to choose which Velvette I’m going to be. I still want to be Velvette the loving mother, ardent reader, aspiring writer and good cook. Because I’m really not much of a bargain hunter.

How to Make a Cosy Retreat

So I went house-hunting recently.

I wanted something bigger than the Riverside Lodge, but I was limited by space. The new house had to fit into my bookcase. It couldn’t be taller than 34 cm and must have a footprint no bigger than 34 cm x 38 cm. After doing my research, I realized that the only thing that would fit into that space other than the Lodge would be the Willow Hall Conservatory Extension, a.k.a. Terrace House. Which, of course, is a smaller house.

Where’s the fun, decorating a tiny house? I asked myself. But an idea came to me. I could turn the Terrace House into a nice little holiday cottage. It wouldn’t take much effort or require a lot of furniture. In terms of story-writing, I felt that I could get ‘good mileage’  out of such a house. As a holiday cottage, it could be occupied by any Sylvanian, so I could in theory generate lots of stories with it as the setting. I was sold on the idea.

Having assembled the house and played around with different configurations, I decided to have a rooftop terrace rather than a front porch. Then I had to decide on furniture. I wanted the house to have everything that a lone occupant would need, namely:

• a bed
• a refrigerator
• a television set, and
• a cooking appliance, e.g. stove, microwave oven, grill

How difficult could it be, moving around 4 pieces of furniture? It took me 2 hours. This was the result:

The microwave oven came with a dresser which, after some frustrated attempts, I had to concede I didn’t have space for. I only needed the oven anyway, so I just had to figure out where to place it. It didn’t look right when I placed it on a coffee table. Finally, I settled for it sitting on top of the fridge, which is the set-up my mother-in-law has in her kitchen.

I went to bed, somewhat satisfied.

The next morning I discovered a problem:

There is no way the fridge door can open with the bed being so close.

So I swapped the armchair and the bedroom and turned the TV at an angle:

Not bad. My Sylvanian could now watch TV from the armchair or if he or she felt a bit lazy, in bed:

The problem was still with the fridge:

It’s great to be able to reach out and get a drink while staying seated in the armchair, but I think it’s stupid to have to jump over the armrest to get other things from the other compartments. So I left the space in the front of the fridge empty, as standing space:

I felt like a genius for having solved my interior decorating problems, and thought my experience worthy of sharing with the inspiring community of collectors at the Sylvanian Families Message Board. I received encouraging feedback, which made me happy, and then Courtney of Sylvania Haven humbled me with a brilliant suggestion: “Maybe you could move the fridge/microwave combo to the wall where the bed was originaly [sic]?”

I almost dismissed the idea, but when I gave it more thought I saw what she meant.

Using Velvette Slydale as a tester, I found out that it is possible to open the fridge door fully if the fridge is where the bed originally was, and the bed is on the opposite wall. An adult Sylvanian would just need to scoot a little to the left to open the fridge. Yay!

The best part about this arrangement is that I now have space, where the fridge used to be, for a table and stool:

Now my Sylvanian has a dining area, which can double up as a workspace for say, an aspiring writer. The stool is absolutely necessary for getting food in and out of the microwave oven.

Another plus, the window is unblocked by furniture:

I even threw in a wastepaper basket for good measure:

As for the armchair that I chucked out, it goes up to the rooftop terrace, along with another identical armchair and a coffee table:

My little retreat is complete! What a fun project this has been.

Esme Goes to Bed: a very short story

It was a beautiful summer night. Esme lay in her sleeping bag, gazing up at the bright, round moon in the starry sky.

Her tent was pitched just outside her family’s cosy little cottage, which was tucked in a small clearing in the forest. Back at the Riverside Lodge, the Chantilly residence, her father was throwing yet another one of his barbecue parties. Maurice’s parties were popular with everyone in Sylvania , for Maurice was a charming host and a master at the grill, serving generous amounts of beautifully marinated and seasoned tender meats, seafood and vegetables to his eager guests. Esme enjoyed her dear papa’s parties. They were gay affairs that filled the house with laughter and pleasant chatter, and the merrymaking tended to go on well into the night.

But Esme wanted a quiet evening to herself.

Maurice and Myriam did not find their daughter odd in the least. She was a bright, cheerful girl who made friends easily and genuinely enjoyed the company of others. But they also knew that she had a great love of the outdoors, and would often spend days at a time camping in the woods or by the river, alone or with her friends. The only thing they asked of her was that she did not wander too far away from home, if she was alone. They made her promise to set up camp near the family cottage, so that she had someplace comfortable to stay should the weather turn bad.

Esme had planned to do a bit of star-gazing, and maybe some reading – the moonlight was bright enough that she could read without a lamp! – before dozing off. Suddenly, she felt an incredible craving for … ice-cream.

‘It’s funny, thinking about ice-cream in the middle of the forest,’ Esme said to herself, smiling. Then she got out of her sleeping bag , stood up, turned around and walked the ten steps up to the cottage.

Esme was pleased to find two tubs of ice-cream in the refrigerator.

‘Strawberry or chocolate?’ she asked herself. She considered her options for three seconds before deciding on chocolate. (Anyone who knows Esme will tell you that she almost always chooses chocolate over all other ice-cream flavors. )

While eating her ice-cream, Esme noticed the bed. It looked so … comfortable. Esme yawned. Perhaps it would not be such a bad idea to spend the night indoors. She slipped under the covers and closed her eyes.

Thirty minutes later, she was wide awake.

‘What’s wrong?’ Esme wondered. The bedlinen was soft and sweet-smelling, and the mattress was firm but not too hard, yet she could not fall asleep. She tried changing her sleeping position.

Still she could not sleep. So she tried watching a bit of television. There was nothing terribly interesting on, so she settled for a repeat episode of a gardening show on the Green Channel, hoping that all the talk about seeds, soil, weather and fertilizers would send her to dreamland. She ended up bored to tears, but not to sleep.

‘Something is missing,’ Esme thought. And then, suddenly, she knew.

Moonlight.

Esme fell asleep the moment she crawled into her sleeping bag.

The Chantillys

Esme started it.

That sweet little face, and the delightful camping set that came with her figure … who could resist? Before long, I acquired father Maurice, mother Myriam and baby Jacques, and finally Christian. Each family member comes with a different play set (Maurice appears in two, Myriam and Jacques are together in one), and because of themes of the play sets (leisure/home), the Chantillys give the impression of wealth. (It’s a plus for me that they don’t have detailed biographies, so I’m free to fill in the blanks.) Myriam should have her hands full with newborn Jacques, so it looks like she’s going to be a stay-at-home mom for a while. Maurice probably comes from old money, and has never really had to earn a living. I think he volunteers as a lollipop man, by way of getting involved in the community. His passion, we are told, is hosting parties. For this reason, the Riverside Lodge is an ideal home for the Chantillys. A house along the river means Esme gets to indulge in her favorite pastimes, fishing and camping, and it’s the perfect venue for barbecue parties. I have nothing much to say about Christian. From the accessories in his bedroom set, it appears that he is Esme’s younger brother; the teddy bear and toy train suggest he’s of preschool age. Esme could be anything between 12 and late teens.

This was my set-up for the Chantillys, on my Ikea Expedit bookcase:

Here’s a very very short story about the Chantillys:

It’s Sunday, and the Chantillys are having a barbecue brunch. Maurice and Myriam were having hotdogs with lemonade. Just then, Esme returns from her fishing trip with some fat trouts. Maurice promptly guts the fish and and skillfully seasons them, before slapping them onto the grill:

Upstairs, Christian is sleeping in:

but the smell of grilled sausages and fresh fish makes his tummy growl, and he jumps out of bed, ready for a hearty breakfast:

Jacques is already at breakfast:

A contented baby means that the rest of the family is free to sit together and chat over hotdogs and fish.

Postscript: I wish I had owned the Epoch version of the Riverside Lodge, because it has a French name, Riverside Pension. That would have made it absolutely perfect for les Chantilly.

Summer Vacation at Riverside Lodge : a very short story

Note: This is the first picture story I ever wrote about Sylvanians, and was written for my niece, who was 7 at the time.

The days are long, the skies are clear and the air is warm; summer is here! But for the Brambles, the evening is still their favourite time of day, nocturnal creatures that they are.

‘Don’t you just love summertime, Morty?’ says Eleanor. ‘There’s nothing I enjoy more than sitting out here on the porch with you, enjoying good food –’

‘And good company!’ Mortimer finishes her sentence, smiling.

Yes, the Brambles have visitors: none other than their good friends, Maurice and Myriam Chantilly and their baby, Jacques. And when the Chantillys are around …

it’s barbecue time!

Maurice is famous for his barbecue parties, so the Brambles let him take charge of the grill. He makes sure that everything not only looks mouth-watering, but also tastes divine.

‘This corn on the cob is sweet and delicious!’ exclaims Max. ‘Thanks, Uncle Maurice!’

‘I’m going to have that after I finish my veggie burger,’ Abby declares.

Ellie and Mort have had many helpings of vegetable and seafood kebabs, and are now having a drink while enjoying the light breeze. Ellie is drinking a glass of iced chocolate, and Mort is sipping a cup of milk tea.

‘You are making me fat, Maurice!’ Ellie complained good-naturedly.

‘Well, if we are going to be fat,’ says Mort, ‘it might as well be from eating good food.’

‘You are all making me hungry,’ says Myriam from the upstairs balcony. ‘Save a fish for me, Maurice. Little Jacques is almost asleep.’

‘I just grilled one especially for you, Mims,’ says Maurice, referring to his wife by her nickname.

‘Good night, my little boy,’ says Myriam softly to the sleeping baby as she kisses his forehead. ‘Dinner is waiting for Mummy.’

‘If only Esme could join us,’ says Myriam. ‘I miss her already.’

‘Don’t worry about her, Mims,’ replies Maurice. ‘That girl is having the time of her life, I’m sure.’

Esme is the Chantillys’ daughter, their first child. Although she usually joins her parents on their vacation, this time she decided to spend the summer with a classmate, Storm De Burg. The De Burgs, who are penguins, have a summer house by the lake, where they can swim all day to keep themselves cool. ‘Storm and I are going camping!’ was the last thing Esme wrote to them on a postcard.

It looks like a happy summer for everyone.