  Miras are fascinating stars. A kappa-mechanism in their atmosphere drives
pulsations which produce changes in their photometric brightness, apparent
spectral type and effective temperature. These pulsations also drive the
formation of Balmer emission lines in the spectrum. This behaviour can be
observed and investigated with small telescopes. We report on a three-year
project combining spectroscopy and photometry to analyse the behaviour of Mira
stars SU Cam and RY Cep, and describe how their brightness, colour, spectral
type, effective temperature and Balmer emission vary over four pulsation
cycles.
