Kizzia Mildmay

The mill pond on an extremely overcast and grey day with the wood rising behind it in the background. The water is coloured green by the reflections of the trees. On the opposite shore there is a boat platform and steps leading into the woods.

Outdoor Advent Day 21

December 21, 2020

This afternoon feels as if it sits outside the flow of time, needing to be filled with solitude and small quiet thoughts rather than flurries of words. So I offer up one of the most achingly beautiful poems I’ve read recently, instead of any words of my own: Hymn to Time Time says “Let there … More Outdoor Advent Day 21

A view of the stream from a bank set on a sharp bend, so it looks as if the photographer is standing in the water to take the shot. The water is dark and muddied, the reflections of the woods surrounding it partial and shaken with the ripples in the water. The banks are a tangle of greenery, the trees bear moss and ivy rather than leaves. In the distance is just possible to pick out the bridge crossing the stream.

Outdoor Advent Day 20

December 20, 2020

The things we want are transformative, and we don’t know or only think we know what is on the other side of that transformation. Love, wisdom, grace, inspiration – how do you go about finding these things that are in some ways about extending the boundaries of the self into unknown territory, about becoming someone … More Outdoor Advent Day 20

A very autumnal corner of the wood, with a leaf strewn path leading away through the trees to the right. The ground to the sides of the path is green as well as as russet orange thanks to the ivy and ground plants mixed with the leaves. Most of the trees are bare but a few have yellow gold leaves clinging on.

Outdoor Advent Day 19

December 19, 2020

I believe that the great stretches of forest in northern Europe, with their constant seasonal changes, their restricted views, their astonishing biological diversity, their secret gifts and perils and the knowledge that you have to go through them to get to anywhere else, created the themes and ethics of the fairytales we know best. There … More Outdoor Advent Day 19

A close up of vivid green fluffy moss growing on a rotten branch. Behind, out of focus, are orange brown fallen leaves and a dark green growth of what might be ivy.

Outdoor Advent Day 18

December 18, 2020

Look to your soul, for that is where you originate. You write the story of you every day with your thoughts, words and deeds. You create yourself. You get to decide your story. No one else. You. – The Twisted Tree by Rachel Burge I’ve said before that change is the human condition. What I … More Outdoor Advent Day 18

A dead tree trunk lies on the floor of the wood surrounded by brambles and fallen leaves in various shades of greens and browns. Growing on the trunk is a fungus (type unknown) with beige/white colouring that make each section of it look like flattened, browned marshmallows.

Outdoor Advent Day 17

December 17, 2020

A good one, if you’re starving, could saveyour life. A bad one would kill youafter only one bite. Step on its poison head,it billows black fumes. – a stanza from Fungi by Tamar Yoseloff I found this poem by accident when I was wandering down a few internet rabbit holes after trying to attribute the … More Outdoor Advent Day 17

This picture is mostly shades of woods and forest green. It is dominated by two huge trees looming above the camera, leaning towards each other to make a pointed arch. They look to be covered with so much ivy and other evergreen climbing plants that you cannot tell they've lost their leaves for autumn. it is almost impossible to see a path through them.

Outdoor Advent Day 16

December 16, 2020

This I choose to do. If there is a price, this I choose to pay. If it is my death, then I choose to die. Where this takes me, there I choose to go. I choose. This I choose to do. – page 10, Wintersmith by Terry Pratchett How I think about choice has made … More Outdoor Advent Day 16

A leaf strewn path meanders away through the trees. The trees that border the path have mostly bare trunks but those further into the wood (and the one closest to the photographer) have ivy climbing all over them and hints of moss too. The sky, seen through the tree branches, is mottled grey and white.

Outdoor Advent Day 15

December 15, 2020

‘There’s no greys, only white that’s got grubby. I’m surprised you don’t know that. And sin, young man, is when you treat people as things. Including yourself. That’s what sin is.’ ‘It’s a lot more complicated than that-‘ ‘No it ain’t. When people say things are a lot more complicated than that, they means they’re … More Outdoor Advent Day 15

A broken and rusted metal gate with a Road Closed sign on it gapes open over a ground littered with leaves, fallen trees and grass and, most crucially, absolutely no roadway at all. Not even a path is visible, just undergrowth and trees.

Outdoor Advent Day 14

December 14, 2020

This photo has such 2020 vibes I’m not sure if there’s really much more to say. Other than that I have been reading Margaret Atwood’s new poetry book Dearly and fallen in love with this particular poem which elicits, from me, the same feeling as this photo and this year: Sad Utensils The pen reft … More Outdoor Advent Day 14

Branches covered with golden leaves are outlined against a brilliant blue sky. The leaves seem to glitter in the sunlight.

Outdoor Advent Day 13

December 13, 2020

All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost. From the ashes a fire shall be woken, A light from the shadows shall spring; Renewed shall be blade that was broken, The crownless again … More Outdoor Advent Day 13

A thicket of trees in an autumnal wood, the trunks part gilded by the late morning light. There are still some green leaves left and together with the shape of the trunks it looks like a fairy glade. The sky above is brilliant blue.

Outdoor Advent Day 12

December 12, 2020

Once you said a thing, it could never be taken back and would be taken up and repeated and altered and told again, no matter how misshapen and out of true. Better to say nothing. page 39, Bellman and Black by Diane Setterfield This picture captures some of the feyness of the woods tin that … More Outdoor Advent Day 12

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