Creature Comforts

The bulk of my Breyer 2019 Collectors' Club Appreciation (CCA) Days order arrived a little while ago.  Since I didn't order very many horse-shaped objects I didn't think I'd end up blogging about it, but now I think perhaps I have a few observations about this year's swag that might be worth sharing.

The real focus of my order was on the creature comforts -- now that we're well into winter I'm constantly looking for feel-good comfy and cozy items to help me cheer up and make it through the season.  It's somewhat ironic that my model horse stable name is Winterplace Stables since I really hate winter.  However, the name partly reflects my acknowledgement that, although I hate winter, I live in a place where the winters can last as long as seven months.

So I was quite pleased to see this year that Breyer had added a toque and a scarf to their line-up of themed apparel.  When it came time to place my CCA order, though, I opted against ordering them, reflecting that I already have a closet full of scarves and toques and don't really need any more of them.

I opted instead to purchase the 70th Anniversary coffee mug and the 70th Anniversary fleece throw.  And I am more than pleased with both of them.

The coffee mug appealed to me because I have a small collection of horse-themed coffee mugs, including mugs from Spruce Meadows and the Kentucky Horse Park.  This one is a very nice size -- slightly larger than most but consequently easier to use since the handles are larger and longer.  It's nicely finished both inside and out, and while I wouldn't trust it in a dishwasher for fear that the logo might wear away, I'll certainly be using it for many coffees and teas henceforward.

The throw looked snuggly from the website pictures, but it's unbelievably soft in hand.  I was surprised when I opened it up to find that it was only printed on one side -- all of my previous fleeces have been two-sided -- but looking back now I see that Breyer's other fleeces have mostly been one-sided as well.

I also chose the fleece because I was eager to add something to my collection that featured the multi-coloured "tiles" being used as a motif for much of Breyer's 70th anniversary swag.  I briefly considered, therefore, both the notebook and the beach towel before settling on the throw.  I didn't really have any use for either a blank notebook or a beach towel, and it looked to me that while the patterns are slightly different on each of the objects, the throw had the largest pattern and therefore the greatest variety of pictures.

I don't know it that's true or not -- what I do know is that my throw features the silhouettes of 48 different horses.*  The dates in the boxes behind them are difficult to read -- I've heard that they're supposed to represent the molds' original issue dates, but that some of the dates are wrong.  If so, that's too bad, because the throw-as-archive is a neat idea.  If you don't have a good book to curl up with as you snuggle up and sip your tea, you can always read your throw -- it's a covering and a chronicle all in one.

*For the record, although the throw features 8 rows of 7 horses each, the first and last rows are identical and one space in the second-to-last row is taken up with the 70th anniversary logo.  Of the horses featured, horses released since the turn of the century are vastly over-represented as compared to horses from prior decades.