Outdoor Advent – Page 2 – Kizzia Mildmay

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

A leaf covered path leads towards the horizon, with trees marking both edges. It can clearly be seen that many of the trees are making archways that frame the path, like open doorways leading you on.

Outdoor Advent Day 11

December 11, 2020

I find that I have, for the moment, run out of words. So I offer instead a poem that captures my mood perfectly: Today by Mary Oliver Today I’m flying low and I’mnot saying a word.I’m letting all the voodoos of ambition sleep. The world goes on as it must,the bees in the garden rumbling … More Outdoor Advent Day 11

Bare tree branches against a baby blue sky. The branches appear black except for the very tips, which have been turned silver white by the sunlight. The spaces in the centre, where the branches don't quite meet, clearly show "crown shyness".

Outdoor Advent Day 10

December 10, 2020

To remember love after a long sleep; to turn again to poetry after a year in the market place, or to youth after resignation to drowsy and stiffening old age; to remember what once you thought life could hold, after telling over with muddied and calculating fingers what it has offered; this is music, made … More Outdoor Advent Day 10

In the bottom of the picture, in sharp focus, is a covering of yellow green fronded moss. The minute individual fronds gleam and glisten although no drops of water are visible. To the right of the frame several blades of grass, one shader greener than the moss, draw the eye. In the background, all of which is out of focus, is a muddy path that is edged in several darker shades of green, leading to a thicket of trees and a hint of blue sky at the top left of the picture.

Outdoor Advent Day 9

December 9, 2020

The edges of language are sharp, and pervert our meanings sideways. What the edges tell us, if we listen to them, is that there are experiences we can have that we cannot talk about using normal mean, or at least not satisfactorily. These are experiences not just of our single personhood but also of relation. … More Outdoor Advent Day 9

A tangle of pale brown and green tree trunks sprout from a leaf covered slope, all reaching up to the bright blue sky above. There are a myriad of shapes outlined by the trunks and branches, so many that it feels as though, if you look hard enough, a picture will emerge from the lines.

Outdoor Advent Day 8

December 8, 2020

Such illusions, depending on how the eye is placed and used, drive home the truth that our habitual vision of things is not necessarily right: it is only one of an infinite number, and to glimpse an unfamiliar one, even for a moment, unmakes us, but steadies us again. It’s queer but invigorating. – page … More Outdoor Advent Day 8

In the foreground a broken branch, with a fork in it, is covered in moss which is a vivid spring green. Out of focus in the background are more broken branches, fallen leaves, patches of green, trees and a bright horizon.

Outdoor Advent Day 7

December 7, 2020

It’s a question of how we regard our situations […] how we look and see where we are, and how we choose, if we can, when we are seeing undeceivedly, not to despair and, at the same time, how best to act. Hope is exactly that, that’s all it is, a matter of how we … More Outdoor Advent Day 7

A view of some autumn woodland, a thicket of trees in the back ground reach, branches bare, to the blue sky above. In the leaf covered foreground a pair of tree trunks block the way ahead.

Outdoor Advent Day 6

December 6, 2020

In the Ramtops village where they dance the real Morris dance, for example, they believe that no-one is finally dead until the ripples they cause in the world die away – until the clock he wound up winds down, until the wine she made has finished its ferment, until the crop they planted is harvested. … More Outdoor Advent Day 6

A large tree stump that looks remarkable like a cottage complete with chimneys and a twinkling window (where the light is coming through a gap from the other side) is covered in ivy and lichen. The ground around is strewn with fallen leaves and there are other trees and a blue sky in the back ground.

Outdoor Advent Day 5

December 5, 2020

It was the middle of winter. The sun had just set anti was very, very cold. An icy wind was blowing from the Last and the wind promised snow. Deep in the dark roots of Brambly Hedge tiny lights appeared as lamps were lit in the windows. – page 1, Winter Story (Brambly Hedge #4) … More Outdoor Advent Day 5

Kizzia Mildmay

Word Herder and Yarn Wrangler

Category: Outdoor Advent