Sylvanian Pride and Prejudice - Part Four

Here is the latest instalment of my long-term project, to cast and photograph Jane Austen's novel, Pride and Prejudice, using Sylvanian Families.  A bit more story this time!

If you missed the earlier parts, I recommend reading Part One first.  (I also highly recommend seeking out Austen's original book and reading it - it is great fun!).

Obviously, the words that follow are not my own, although I have heavily abridged the original text.  I do hope you enjoy it.

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The village of Longbourn was only one mile from Meryton;  a most convenient distance for the young ladies, who were usually tempted thither three or four times a week, to pay their duty to their aunt, who had married a Mr Philips, and also to a milliner’s shop just over the way.

The two youngest of the family, Catherine and Lydia, were particularly frequent in these attentions;  their minds were more vacant than their sisters’, and a walk to Meryton was necessary to amuse their morning hours and furnish conversation for the evening.  At present, they were well supplied with news and happiness by the recent arrival of a militia regiment in the neighbourhood;  it was to remain the whole winter, and Meryton was the headquarters.

Their visits to Mrs Philips were now productive of the most interesting intelligence.  Every day added something to their knowledge of the officers’ names and connections.  At length they began to know the officers themselves, and they could talk of nothing else.

After listening one morning to their effusions on this subject, Mr Bennet coolly observed,

“From all that I can collect by your manner of talking, you must be two of the silliest girls in the country.  I have suspected it some time, but I am now convinced.”

Catherine was disconcerted, and made no answer;  but Lydia, with perfect indifference, continued to express her admiration of Captain Carter.

“I am astonished, my dear,” said Mrs Bennet, “that you should be so ready to think your own children silly.  They are all of them very clever.  I remember the time when I liked a red coat myself very well – and indeed so I do still at my heart;  and if a smart young colonel, with five or six thousand a year, should want one of my girls, I shall not say nay to him.”

Mr Bennet was prevented replying by the entrance of the footman with a note for Miss Bennet;  it came from Netherfield, and the servant waited for an answer.  

Mrs Bennet’s eyes sparkled with pleasure and she was eagerly calling out, while her daughter read, “Well Jane, who is it from?  What does he say?  Make haste and tell us.”

“It is from Miss Bingley,” said Jane.  “She asks me to dine with her and her sister.  The gentlemen are to dine with the officers.”

“Dining out,” said Mrs Bennet, “that is very unlucky.”

“Can I have the carriage?” said Jane.

“No, my dear, you had better go on horseback, because it seems likely to rain;  and then you must stay all night.”

Jane was therefore obliged to go on horseback, and her mother’s hopes were answered;  Jane had not been gone long before it rained hard.  

Her sisters were uneasy for her, but her mother was delighted.  The rain continued all evening without intermission;  Jane certainly could not come back.

“This was a lucky idea of mine, indeed!” said Mrs Bennet, more than once.  

The next morning, however, breakfast was scarcely over when a servant from Netherfield brought the following note for Elizabeth:

‘My dearest Lizzy,

I find myself very unwell this morning, which I suppose is to be imputed to my getting wet through yesterday.  My kind friends will not hear of my returning home till I am better.  They insist also on my seeing Mr Jones – but do not be alarmed – excepting a sore throat and head-ache there is not much the matter with me.

Yours, &c.’

“Well, my dear,” said Mr Bennet, “if your daughter should have a dangerous fit of illness, if she should die, it would be a comfort to know that it was all in pursuit of Mr Bingley, and under your orders.”

“Oh!  People do not die of little trifling colds.  She will be taken good care of.  As long as she stays there, it is all very well.”

Elizabeth, feeling really anxious, was determined to go to her sister, and declared her resolution to walk there.

She set off, crossing field after field at a quick pace, jumping over stiles and springing over puddles, finding herself at last within view of the house, with weary ancles, dirty stockings, and a face glowing with the warmth of exercise.

She was shewn into the breakfast-parlour, where her appearance created but a great deal of surprise.  

That she should have walked three miles so early in the day, in such dirty weather, and by herself, was almost incredible to Mrs Hurst and Miss Bingley, and Elizabeth was convinced that they held her in contempt for it.

Her enquiries after her sister were not very favourably answered.  Miss Bennet had slept ill, and was very feverish and not well enough to leave her room.  

Elizabeth was glad to be taken to her immediately, and Jane was delighted at her entrance.   She was not equal however to much conversation, and could attempt little beside expressions of gratitude for the kindness she was treated with Elizabeth silently attended her.   

The apothecary came, and having examined his patient, said that she had caught a violent cold, and that they must endeavour to get the better of it, advised her to return to bed, and promised her some draughts.

The advice was followed readily, for the feverish symptoms increased, and her head ached acutely.  Elizabeth did not quit her room for a moment.

When the clock struck three, Elizabeth felt that she must go, and very unwillingly said so.  Jane testified such concern in parting with her, that Miss Bingley was obliged into an invitation for her to remain at Netherfield for the present.  Elizabeth most thankfully consented.

~~~ o ~~~

Mr Oakwood's Pizza Shop

Hello there!  Today we are venturing into Town, as Mr Oliver Oakwood would like to show you around his Pizza Shop.

The Pizza Shop is a very popular spot for Town critters to buy a quick yet tasty meal.  Mr Oakwood prides himself on making the best pizza in Town.

Each morning, his first job is to make sure everything is ready for the day.

He restocks the takeaway menus, wipes down the benches,

makes sure he has all the ingredients he needs for the day,

and makes the dough for the pizza bases.

While it is proving, he heads upstairs to ensure the dining area is neat and tidy.

When everything is ready, he lights the big pizza ovens...

... and then he is ready to open for business!

His first order of today was made over the telephone, so he got started on it straight away:  a Tuna Special, and an Oakwood Supreme!  Into the oven they went, using the long-handled peel...

Pizzas do not take long to cook in the hot ovens, so Mr Oakwood likes to get the boxes out ready for them.  When the second one - the Oakwood Supreme - was ready, he slid the peel in under it...

... and lifted it out, sliding it directly into the box.  That way it would stay nice and hot for as long as possible.

Right on time, the front door opened, and Mr Aaron Purr came in to collect his order.

"Hello Oliver," he said.  "That smells wonderful!"  His whiskers twitched appreciatively.  While his wife Theodosia was a good cook, he knew she appreciated a weekly takeaway meal.  Sometimes it was dinner, but this week they had decided on lunch, as Aaron had the day off work.  Theodosia hoped that their baby triplets might nap while she and her husband ate together.

The next customer of the day was Alice Marshmallow, who was on her lunch break.  She worked three days a week as a receptionist at the hospital, and liked to treat herself to a slice of pizza now and then.

Luckily, Mr Oakwood sells his pizzas by the slice as well.  He finds that these sell very well at lunch time, especially during school holidays when teenagers are out and about with their friends.

Alice enjoyed her pizza very much - she took it away, deciding to walk off a few of the calories as she ate!

"Have a nice day!" called Mr Oakwood as she left.

He then turned to start working on his next order.  It was shaping up to be a busy day - Mr Oakwood's favourite kind!

Toward the end of the lunch rush, Mr Harry Spotter and his son James dropped in for lunch.  They were on their way home from a Sylvanian Scouts meeting, and had decided that it was the perfect opportunity to indulge in a delicious pizza without Mrs Spotter, who disapproved of casual eateries, much preferring to dine out at fancier restaurants.

"We shall have a men's lunch out," said Harry, and James, who was fifteen, felt very pleased and grown up.  

As he ate his last slice of pizza, James' eyes drifted toward the arcade machine in the corner.  

Mr Oakwood had had it installed as a way for children and teenagers to entertain themselves whilst waiting for their meals to arrive, and indeed it had proved very popular.  

James wondered whether he was too grown up to play with the game (at least whilst attending a "men's lunch out").  Little did he know that Harry was fully planning to have a go at it himself!

So next time you are in Town, do take a stroll down to the corner of Cedar Avenue, where you will find the Pizza Shop.  Mr Oakwood will be ready and waiting for your order!

"What can I get for you today?"

Chocolat Fine Chocolates

This is Mr Frasier Chocolat.

Mr Chocolat owns a chocolate shop in Macadamia Grove.  He makes the chocolates himself, and his loyal customers think it is the best chocolate in all Sylvania.

"Welcome to Chocolat Fine Chocolates," he says.  "What can I help you with today?"

Every weekday afternoon, at three o'clock sharp, the hometime bell rang at Macadamia Grove Primary School, and inevitably several students would walk to Chocolat on their way home - even if they had to walk quite a bit out of their way!

One day, Wash Wildwood and Angel Woolly were the first to arrive, and knew exactly what they wanted to spend their pocket money on.  

"I would like two of those big truffles, please!" said Wash.

"And I'd like a bag of chocolate coated lemon peel," added Angel.  Wash looked quite impressed at this - the lemon peel bags were quite large, and cost more than the boys usually spent.

"I'm sharing with my sister," Angel explained.  "We pooled our money before school - it's her turn to help Mum with the twins this afternoon."

Meanwhile, Faraday Periwinkle and Merida Fletcher were having more trouble making up their minds.

"We could get some fudge..." said Merida thoughtfully.  "Or...."

"Or shall we go halves in a block of Caramel?" suggested Faraday.  

Eventually, all the schoolchildren had emptied their pockets of coins, and were busy filling their mouths with delicious treats!  Mr Chocolat had just a few minutes to recover from the onslaught before Mrs Corrie Dale and her daughter Peren arrived.

Corrie was shopping for a gift for her husband's birthday.  Mr Dale had quite the sweet tooth, and chocolate from Chocolat's Fine Chocolates was his favourite treat.

"I think I would like to select several individual chocolates from the cabinet," she said.  "May I have them in a nice box, please?"

"Of course" Mr Chocolat answered.  "I know Ewan likes fudge, too - shall I include a piece of that, as well?"

While they were talking, Corrie's daughter Peren wandered about the shop, looking at all the different items for sale.  There were large blocks of chocolate in several different flavours.  There were boxes filled with truffles, and others filled with a selection of chocolates.  She gazed at them, trying to guess what tasty centres were hiding in each one.  There was even a large chocolate sculpture of a mouse.

Everything looked so delicious, and the whole shop smelled so good!

She wondered if her mum might buy her a truffle to eat on the way home...

Finally, Corrie was happy with her selections, and went to the counter to pay.

As it turned out, Peren had made a selection of her own.

"Mum, can I have a chocolate ladybug?  Please?"

"Oh alright then," Corrie smiled.  "But I don't want your dad to know we were here - it might spoil the surprise - so be sure to eat it all before we get home."

Peren felt that this would not be a problem at all.

Applewood's Christmas Window

On a night out in Town to see friends for Christmas, the Honeycrackle family passed by Applewood Department Store.  The children couldn't help stopping to look at the exciting window display!

Maisie wanted to look at the dolls in the window, but then her eye was caught by a very fine elephant in a top hat, further back on one of the shelves...

Meanwhile, little Jason was feeling quite overwhelmed - there were so many wonderful toys, he just wasn't sure what he liked best!

After dinner at the Delicious Restaurant, the Honeycrackles passed Applewood's again on their way home.  The children ran straight back to the window to gaze once more at the brightly lit display.

Their mother laughed, and called "Come on children, time to go home to bed.  Who knows what the Northern Mouse will bring you on Christmas morning?"

New Year, New Beginnings

Well, this is rather late, isn't it?  I had planned to write this post in January, as my response to the Sylvanian Families Forum's Creative Challenge theme, but with one thing and another, I never got around to it then.  So, whilst I realise the year isn't exactly brand spanking new anymore, I figure better late than never, right?

It's quite an appropriate theme for us, really.  There have been a lot of changes over the last few months in our corner of Sylvania.  Caitlyn Hazelnut (my daughter and fellow collector) has taken a bit of a step back from her Sylvanians.  She still likes them, and has kept most of her figures (in fact there are a few new families she has her eye on as well), but she has decided to sell most of her buildings, furniture etc.  So some buildings (and a couple of families) have moved away to new owners, and I must admit that I decided to buy the larger part of her buildings etc from her myself.  

Obviously this has had an impact on Macadamia Grove, Starlight Cape, and Town.  The figures Caitlyn owns are now displayed on shelves in her bedroom.  She says some of them still "live in" Macadamia Grove, while others have "moved away to other villages".  Therefore, they may still appear in photos from time to time, but obviously we can't have them running physical buildings in our permanent setup if they aren't really there.  The Courtyard Restaurant for example is no longer owned by the Trunk family (Caitlyn tells me that they still live in Macadamia Grove, but have opened a second-hand clothing and haberdashery shop, almost certainly so that Savannah can reroute any hats that come along into her own collection!)  :)

Anyway, this very long introduction (well done if you're still with me), explains why Caitlyn's Walnut Squirrel family no longer owns the Supermarket.  The Walnuts have moved away from Macadamia Grove (although Caitlyn still has them).  This little story introduces the new owners. Thanks for reading!  

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The Supermarket in Macadamia Grove was a popular place to shop.  Indeed it was the only place to shop for some items.  So it was quite an inconvenience when it closed.  The Walnut family, who ran the Supermarket, had decided to move away from Macadamia Grove to be closer to Katerica's parents.  The children were sad to leave their friends behind, but they were excited by the prospect of spending more time with their grandparents.   The Walnuts were a popular family, and would be missed by all of the villagers.  But there it was - and what to do about the Supermarket?

Luckily, one of the newer families to the village was able to step in to the breach!  

The Cottontail family had moved to Macadamia Grove a few weeks prior to the Walnuts announcing their departure, and when the Supermarket was put up for sale, Mr Rupert Cottontail immediately suggested to his wife  that they buy it.  She agreed, and so it was all settled.  The Town council was thrilled, as it meant only one short week of inconvenience to the village, whilst the new owners familiarised themselves.

Some items needed restocking, so Rupert spent much of that week placing orders, and restocking the shelves.  

Meanwhile, his wife Sorrel made sure everything was priced correctly, and generally familiarised herself with the day-to-day process of running the shop.  She had never worked in a shop before, and was a little nervous!

Even the children tried to be... er, helpful...

"Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"

Finally, it was opening day.  The Cottontails opened up bright and early, wondering nervously how the villagers would react to the new ownership.  Would people miss the Walnuts too much to even visit straight away?  They needn't have worried - the villagers were a curious lot, and many were quite eager to visit the shop, especially as not everyone had met the Cottontails yet.

The very first customer was Mrs Kristy Honeycrackle, who had brought her little boy, Toby, along.  She picked a few things from the shelves, then hurried to the counter.

"Good morning, I don't believe we've met.  I'm Kristy Honeycrackle, how are you?"

"Very well, thank you!  Lovely to meet you, I am Sorrel Cottontail.  Thank you for shopping with us - you are our very first customer!"

"Oh, you won't have any shortage of those," Kristy laughed.  "Everyone is dying to come in and see what you've done with the place!  I only needed a few little things today, but I simply had to pick up this delicious looking cheese!"

Sorrel smiled.  "That is my husband's favourite cheese, so we decided we really must stock it.  I'm glad someone else likes it too!"

"Mama!" cried Toby Honeycrackle suddenly.  "Mama!  Cookies!"

"Oh dear," sighed Kristy.  "He really does have such a dreadful sweet tooth.  I mean honestly, the child lives in a donut shop.  Not today, Toby honey, we don't need any cookies.  You can have a nice apple when we get home, how about that?"

Toby did not seem convinced that this was a good substitute.

"I'd better go," Kristy grinned at Sorrel.  "But you must stop by Donut when you have some time off, and have a cup of tea and a chat!"

Outside, Rupert Cottontail was greeting customers, when he heard someone calling, "Hello there, neighbour!"  He turned around to see Christopher Appleblossom approaching from the bakery next door.

He had met Christopher briefly before, when organising to sell a few of his more basic baked goods in the Supermarket (this was a good arrangement all around, as it allowed Christopher to take a day off each week).  They hadn't had a chance to spend much time chatting though, as Rupert had had rather a busy week!

"How's it going?" Christopher asked.  "Looks like you have a few customers already.  I must stop by later, I need some tea, and some jam."

"Yes, it seems to be going well so far.  I guess you'll be missing the previous owners, won't you?  I hear you and Mr Walnut were friends," said Rupert.

"Still are," said Christopher with an easy smile.  "I'll definitely miss having him next door, but we'll keep in touch.  And now I have a chance to meet you and your family as well.  Listen, a few of us are going for a drink this evening at the Courtyard Restaurant - around six - why don't you and the wife join us, and get to know a few people?  You can bring your kids along - there's a grassy area they can play."  

"Right then, that sounds good.  I'll have to check with Sorrel of course, but I think she'll be keen."

"Great - see you there then.  Better get back - I've got customers, and I guess you have too!"

The two men shook hands, and turned back to their own shops.

As he walked, and saw another group of customers entering the Supermarket, Rupert felt a glow of happiness.  This was going to work.  It was a new beginning indeed for his family, and it looked like the beginning of some new friendships as well.