Wednesday 8 August 2012

An Ode to Oh Comely


I adore Oh Comely...the love affair began when I spied issue two in Grove Studio in Southbourne (where, incidentally, I hope to one day have some of my embroidered ditties on display); but the current issue eleven has to be my very favourite. So I wanted to express my fondness!




I've fallen hard for Leah Goren and everything she's about - her gossamer-thin scarves are beautiful, but her 'California Poems' one is my favourite. I can't help it. I love words, especially when used visually. Here is a better view of it from her Etsy store...


...and here is where you can find out utterly everything internetty about her. If this here cloud is my home in cyber space, Leah Goren's website is the hotel room where my paramour waits for me, for now :0)


And The J&B Shop - well, Katie and I have loved this place for a long while since we visited the shop last year. My embroidery has been hugely inspired by Jessie Chorley's charming, nostalgic and childlike stitching. 


But my most cherished part of this issue has got to be the article 'A Fear of Garden Fences' by Kate Fridkis. In a nutshell she discusses the inner struggle between being an innate dreamer and feeling the need to be 'successful', or society's notion of success which involves having a proper job and making a lot of money, being boxed inside an office cubicle, getting married and having a lot of children before the rest of your friends do rah rah rah...but thankfully she recognises the need to nurture the dreamer in her. She is a writer, and needs to write. I feel I can relate. I have been stressing a helluva lot lately because I worry about the future. Should I get a proper job that pays better? Or work in a book store doing hours that offers me the time to nurture my own dreams and to write. What if my dreams never come true/pay off/amount to anything?
However, I think if I did anything other than the latter I would die inside a little. A lot.


I was enchanted by the story she'd read as a child, about a battle between humans and demons, and how the human princess falls in love with a 'young, furry, short demon man.' I wish she knew the name of this book. I would love to read it. I too want to write the perfect book for my younger self; my teenage self. The person I was in my head but couldn't be out loud, because I was ashamed and scared. 


Thank you, Kate Fridkis and Oh Comely...I think you've helped preserve my mental health! And to show my appreciation, here are some virtual lilies from the back garden...




Nina x x x 

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