this shining night.

 

Sure on this shining night

Of star-made shadows round

Kindness must watch for me

This side the ground

The late year lies down the north,

All is healed, all is health

High summer holds the earth,

Hearts all whole

Sure on this shining night

I weep for wonder

Wandr’ing far alone

Of shadows on the stars. 

--James Agee

listen

Oh, bokeh.

If I'm obsessed with taking bokeh shots, I'm living in denial of it. But isn't it amusing that this:

Can turn into this: 

Or even this?

Abstract images with a magical quality, all wrapped up in fun and easy production; I understand the bokeh craze now, after messing around with the abundant lights and my focus ring to achieve these shots (plus the other twenty still on the hard drive!).

----

Life as of late has involved Christmas parties, outings to the mall, playing on goodreads.com, actually reading the books I've collected online, and eating lots of cookies. I'm enjoying winter + winter break to the max.

Love,
Mia

autumn recap

1. October in the backyard : 2. Arriving home : 3. Halloween candy : 4. Midmorning light in the kitchen : 5. Exploring dad's new workplace. {We are so, so thankful for this job!} : 6. Grandma's house : 7. Hanging out with sweet Blackberry : 8. Flying south

---

It's already the 12th of December, our Christmas trees are up, and I have only two finals to go until winter break. Winter is certainly here, but before autumn becomes too distant a memory, I wanted to share these last bits and pieces from the season. It's been the quite the season in so many ways, marked with growth, change and hope.

November 24

Some photos make me exhale pent up stress and lapse back to the moment I took them. These are prime examples : Thanksgiving Day afternoon, S and I spent some more time out in the alfalfa field with the dogs, doing absolutely nothing except running around, looking for small adventures.

Second Snow

The second snow of the season fell exactly two weeks ago. Since then, fifty-degree temps came and melted it, we scrambled to finish picking up the leaves, and the weather has varied between mild and biting. Today, it's more biting than mild and significant snowfall #3 is coming down outside right now. 

Winter's here and I am glad.  Have a cozy afternoon, wherever you happen to be!

sunday morning in chicago

From a quick jaunt to Illinois with my parents and sister back at the end of September. We didn't have the luxury of time to spend time doing so real-deal sightseeing, so I took these from the backseat.

Chicago is definitely on my list of places to revisit. It's big and beautiful and seems very full of stories.

September 4

This photo is one of my favorites of this year.

From a late summer evening spent in Grandma N's alfalfa field. It was a sweet weekend respite from the new semester that I was working to acclimate to - and now it's a very pleasant memory. 

--

I plan on posting photos from the past few months over the next week or so; autumn's a lovely season and I've had such a good time using my new camera to record some of its loveliness. 

Have a happy Monday afternoon! 

Mia

Hello Again

After a hiatus and relocation, I am back in the blogging saddle. This time, I have new ideas for what I'll post and why I'm here.

One, I simply love photography. It's sort of like a habit; if the light is good or the situation an interesting one, I reach for my camera. This happens often (life is beautiful!), so I have these photos that I want to share. Blogging is an efficient way do to that.

The other reason I'm back: I love writing. Here is a practical way to practice it. 

My desire to document life and grow in those areas come together and perfectly compliment the fact that I have something to say; a story to tell about life. In this era, getting heard by even a few people is as simple as clicking 'publish post'. That's a gift I'll try not to abuse. 

Then there's one last overarching fact about this blog: God's presence in my life. His perfect love and saving grace are things I want every reader of this blog to know about.

It's good to be back,

Mia