Working from home...

I was working in my office and heard nothing. I walked by the bedroom and nothing was moving. But this is what I saw. Titled, "I do not know how this stuffing came out of the pillow" on fb, I know my friends will love seeing Lucy, like this.

Some of the most rewarding properties of working from home is the availability to capture moments like these. Well, that and rising gas prices...

Been so long...

Ok, confession time. I haven't blogged since late in 2010. I came across the blog while looking through one of my favorite blogs, CakesDuSoliel.blogspot.com. Wow! I don't know if anyone will see this post. Hmmm. La de da.. Is there a good reason to blog? Could the daily musings of a small publisher be of interest? Could I even keep up with it? Who am I asking?

Random thoughts, throwing it out there!

Kim

Looking for Faeries - The Victorian Tradition

The Bendigo Art Gallery in Australia is kicking off a new exhibit.

They write, "In Victorian England, the possibility of a parallel realm alive with fairies, elves and other ethereal creatures preoccupied the minds of the general public. Today's fairies are often portrayed as twee childhood daydreams, but during the later part of the 19th century faerieland was a very adult preoccupation and, at times, verged on the sinister. Far from benign, nature sprites were often used as explanation for the unexplained, wreaked havoc on households and conducted themselves according to their own particular non-human logic. Looking for faeries brings together more than 160 extraordinary works that reflect upon the imagination and extraordinary legacy of the Victorian fairy tradition."

I thought that was a very nicely stated short description of Victorian fairy traditions.

Mail Call

I received a beautiful piece of correspondence in the mail today. The envelope is soft cotton with the most perfect soft wrinkles and folds. It has a waxed seal with the initial "F" and hand glued rhinestones that create two lovely flowers. How refreshing to receive something so beautiful! It made me take pause - what is it that makes beautiful mail so special? First and foremost, I appreciate the thoughts and efforts made especially for Faerie Magazine. And I know it was initally and thoroughly created specifically for Faerie Magazine because it had our name on the other side! The contents were already sealed when the envelope was decorated! I want to send beautiful letters in beautiful envelopes too! I began to think - how could we begin a 'beautiful things' pen pal club? How many people would be interested? How old fashioned, and fun!

Studio Ghibli Borrows The Borrowers

I’ve recently been re-reading the classic children’s book The Borrowers, by Mary Norton. It’s about a family of tiny people who live in a hole beneath a large clock in a bedridden old woman’s house. They make their living by taking things from human beings, an activity that they call “borrowing”. Our matchboxes serve as dressers for them, a tureen is a bathtub, and coins are their plates. Of course, they also steal bits of food, but even tiny bread crumbs are quite substantial for them. The author suggests that Borrowers are a more contemporary version of the magical race traditionally referred to as “little people”. However, when the daughter of the tiny family, who is named Arrietty, is asked if she is a fairy, she flatly denies it and even claims that she doesn’t believe in them!
Arrietty forms a secret friendship with a human boy who was sent to the house to recuperate from rheumatic fever. Being “seen” by people often leads to Borrowers being chased out of their homes by cats and unsympathetic adults, so Arrietty’s parents are naturally very upset by this turn of events. Unfortunately, the humans in this novel do not prove themselves to be an exception to this rule. Several sequels to The Borrowers involve the tiny family having to relocate to less hospitable habitats, including a tea kettle located precariously near a river!
By coincidence, I found out that an upcoming Studio Ghibli movie happens to be based on The Borrowers. For those of you not familiar with Ghibli, it is a wonderful animation studio headed by Hiyao Miyazaki. It is the Japanese equivalent of Disney and is responsible for such brilliant children’s films as My Neighbor Totoro and Kiki’s Delivery Service. The new movie will be called Karigurashi no Arrietty and is scheduled for summer, 2010. I’ve included an image of a promotional poster for the upcoming film. If you go to see it, don’t forget to share your popcorn with the Borrowers that are surely under the seats of your local movie theater!
--Joelle Mellon

Christmas Spirit

This past Sunday, I was driving home through a nearby neighborhood with very large, well groomed houses built in the 1920's, many of them newly decorated for the Christmas holiday. Christmas music was playing on my radio but I was resistant to the spirit of Christmas, saddened because my brother is no longer with us. When I rounded a particular corner in said neighborhood, there was a very large tree, four stories tall that a local tree service decorates with lights and the neighbors were gathering for the 'lighting of the tree'. It was charming. When I arrived home, I had an email from Sue Miller, artist of the image attached to this post. You see, Sue also lost her brother this year. I was encouraged that although Sue is feeling the same feelings, she painted a Santa! And I love this Santa! And I love Christmas! Thank you Sue, for helping to bring back the Christmas spirit!

See more of Sue's art at www.suemillerart.com

A FaerieCon Review

FaerieCon is a gathering of many people who love myth, folklore, fairy tale, costuming, music, artisans & craftsmen/women, world renowned authors and artists, and very importantly - those who enjoy being around like minded folk.
The Marriot's Hunt Valley Inn was host to the event and their staff was impressive. The set up process was very organized. Special thanks to Kal from the MD Faerie Festival, you and the team were extremely helpful AND enthusiastic!
Daytime from Friday at 1pm until Sunday at 5pm, the hallways and rooms were filled with streams of happy people, some bustling about to and from informative panels and some leisurely looking about at the creative displays filled with magical faerie finery. Many new friends were made on those days. Ideas were shared, opportunities discussed and those who sought inspiration were most certainly inspired.
Many thanks to the producers of FaerieCon, Kelly and Emilio Miller Lopez and Robert Gould, to Kimmy and the many familiar faces in the faerie community who help bring us all together.
Kim


Matt 'Lycan' Hunt, Faerie Magazine graphic designer/photographer and Mark Lewis, MC extraordinaire!