2016

Looking at these photos is a tiny journey through the past year; a year that's spanned continents and seasons but that has eventually come full circle.



We moved to a different flat shortly after Christmas.  We'd hardly settled in before Roan and I were flying back to the States to apply for my immigration.  I picked up my crocheting again in those first months, but as time went on and we were still waiting on documents and signatures, I started to fret.  I went on a writing binge in July, completing 50,000 words for Camp NaNoWriMo.  Roan and I spent the summer-into-autumn days bumbling about a little "farm" where we rented a furnished ground-floor apartment.  Our hosts were gracious and welcoming.  I started a new medication that is a multitude of answered prayers!  My body can break down and use energy.  I cried in the doctor's office.  I felt I was at last being heard.  We finally got word that my visa was processed, and flew home the day after Halloween.

Being all together is an adjustment of titanic proportions.  Some days are all puffy clouds and sunshine.  Others feel like clinging to the face of a merciless mountain.  My two goals for this year were to read Kristin Lavransdatter and something by A.S. Byatt and to publish one piece.  I read both Sigrid Undset and The Children's Book, so am pleased with that.  As for publication, I did get a photo on Two Blooms blog, but no writing.

It's interesting to note how environment affect the style and evolution of my photography.  Starting out here in Wales last winter, my photos looked more film-y, and landscapes dominated.  When I came back to Florida, I got into more of a modern pop portraiture style, with clear, fresh colors and smooth complexions.  Back home in Wales, I'm putting out vintage vibes and de-saturation.  Photography goals for the new year: experiment more, take more action photos, and always, always, work toward a unified aesthetic.

I'd really like to make more art again in 2017, but I don't know how possible that will be with the rowdy boys two.  There's a Saturday morning writer's group here in Colwyn Bay which would cover my word-y aspirations in a practical way.  I want to learn Welsh once and for all.  I want to think about God more than once a day.  I want to (continue to) learn how to pray.  I want to devour more Undset and Muriel Spark (look at me, reading women authors! college-age me wouldn't have believed it!).  I want to stay in the house less and visit more.  I want to go to the gym and build my muscles and become stronger.  I want to clean and be cheerful about it and not despair when everything I just did is undone.  I want to live motherhood as the sacred thing it is and not fall into the delusion that just because it is sacred it is ever romantic.  I do not want to cook.  :P

2016 was a stretchy year.  It tested my resilience, and like the little boy in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, I haven't just sprung back to my pre-2016 shape and stature.  But maybe that just means there's more room in here for love.