December is the time for remembering the past and reaching toward the future
Ralph Waldo Emerson
After a busy September, October and November (Paris / Chicago / Madagascar / Paris) it was rather pleasant to have a quieter month. Not that I’ve been doing nothing!
We had a friend staying with us right at the start of the month so had some meals out with her. We went to the cinema to see a preview of Priscilla (recommended!) with a Q&A with director Sofia Coppola. I had two Christmas meals: with my photography group, and with some Virtual Tourist friends (two of whom were visiting London from Chicago).
To add further to the Christmas spirit, we went to the Christmas at Kew light trail, the first year we’ve been able to secure tickets. And we invited our lovely next-door neighbours in for Christmas drinks.
And then there was Christmas itself, of course. We spent the day with my family (sister, brother-in-law, two nephews and a niece-in-law). A couple of days later we went up to Newcastle, where I am writing this. Just before the end of the month we got together with some of Chris’s family for a pub lunch. I say ‘some’ because there are a lot of them! On this occasion there were eighteen of us, spanning four generations.
On a less good note, the leg that got infected after banging it in Madagascar continued to play up. The pain had gone but the infection lingered on, so there were more antibiotics to take, in an attempt to finally resolve it. The jury is out on whether or not we’ve nailed it this time …
Technical notes
All these shots were taken with my phone or with my compact point and shoot Lumix, and were edited with Photoshop Elements and/or Nik Color Efex.
As always I am linking my selection to Ju-Lyn’s and Brian’s Changing Seasons challenge. I’ve tweaked my slideshow setting so you’ll need to use the arrows to navigate if you want to see them all!
39 Comments
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Ju-Lyn
It looks & sounds like it was an eventful month; and to think it was quieter compared to the months before! So sorry to hear about your recurring leg pain – cheering you on as you continue to rehabilitate and try new therapies.
May you travel & explore as you wish in the year ahead, rest & recuperate as much as you need, and immerse in beauty & delight that our world offerd.
Sarah Wilkie
Thanks so much Ju-Lyn for those wonderful wishes for the year ahead 🙂 The leg isn’t really painful, just a bit itchy and annoying in its refusal to get to 100% better!
Rose
Pretty colorful December photos! Love the Christmas decor.
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Rose 🙂 I’ve just taken our Christmas decorations down and the house looks rather bare!
Amy
Enjoy these colorful December selections, Sarah!
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Amy 😀
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Wind Kisses
Pretty. And ah yes. I feel you. It was nice to be home…but always something else to do. A life well lived, both of us. Happy New Year.
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you, and Happy New Year to you too, Donna
Roentare
Wonderful images and colour celebration
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you 🙂
Suzanne
Happy New Year, Sarah, and it’s been fun following your adventures and viewing your photography. All the best with fighting that infection.
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Suzanne, and Happy New Year to you too!
restlessjo
Lovely! Sorry about the leg, Sarah. Like the many I’ve spent the last few days doing battle with the ‘germ from hell’, as Tish so aptly puts it. Hopefully I’m almost out of the mire.
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Jo, and I’m sorry to hear about the nasty germ 🤗 Yes, I hope you’re past the worst of it now.
Anabel @ The Glasgow Gallivanter
Sorry to hear the leg is still bothering you. Lovely gallery though, sounds like a thoroughly good christmas.
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Anabel, it WAS a good Christmas and we’ve had a great start to the year up in Newcastle 🙂
Marie
Happy New Year Sarah – that leg is really acting up isn’t it – Hope it clears soon and doesn’t hold you back in 2024! XXXMarie
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Marie, and Happy New Year to you too. The leg isn’t holding me up really, just proving hard to clear that last bits of infection.
Image Earth Travel
I love the bauble shots, but I’m a softie for Christmas decorations. You sound like you’ve had a few action-packed months and then Christmas itself.
I owned a Lumix Panasonic point-and-shoot I picked up in Bolivia in 2011. It was an amazing little camera, especially taking on treks where my DSLR or film cameras were too bulky. It only dies on me this year, so it’s not a bad run.
Happy New Year!
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you 😀 I’ve worked my way through several Lumix point-and-shoots. They do give out eventually but I find they’re the best option for when I don’t want to carry a larger camera as unlike most compacts they have a viewfinder.
grandmisadventures
Beautiful pictures from December. I really love the close up of the decorated trees. I am a confirmed Christmas tree nerd and I have multiple trees up in my house and I always love seeing how other trees are decorated 🙂
Sarah Wilkie
How lovely! I wish we had room for more than one (small) tree 🎄 But like you I always like to see how others are decorated 🙂
thehungrytravellers.blog
That silhouetted tree photo even makes the results of coppicing look good! A pretty impressive set of shots and destinations for a non-travel month. Hope the leg recovers soon – though I’m guessing that antibiotics meant raising a glass of something innocuous on NYE…?
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Phil 🙂 Ealing do tend to cut back the street trees periodically although I think I would call this pollarding rather than coppicing – a bit less drastic than the latter? Luckily my antibiotics don’t stop me drinking alcohol, so that’s one less downside of the leg to worry about, and to be honest it isn’t hurting now either, I can just tell that there’s some infection still lingering.
thehungrytravellers.blog
Oh my God I don’t know my pollard from my coppice even when I have two tree surgeon nephews. How unforgivably embarrassing 😂.
Sarah Wilkie
🤣🤣
kzmcb
Oh my gosh, you HAVE been on the move. It makes me realise how restful I should feel.
Sarah Wilkie
And I thought I’d had a quiet month! We do like to keep busy 🙂
Tanja
lovely photos!
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Tanja 🙂
margaret21
A splendid winter gallery. Good luck with that wretched leg …
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Margaret – it’s a persistent little infection, I just want rid of it now, but it’s not causing me any major problems. However, back to the GP next week I think …
margaret21
🙁
Alli Templeton
Happy New Year, Sarah! I’ve thoroughly enjoyed your great December selection – that closeup of the Brentford pub Christmas tree is wonderfully festive. What a good idea to zoom in on one part of the tree. It’d make a beautiful Christmas card. You really have been busy, haven’t you? Even when you’ve had a break! Glad you made it up to Newcastle – but EIGHTEEN for lunch – wow! That sounds an expensive meal out! Sounds as though – the leg notwithstanding – you’ve had a great Christmas. I very much hope the infection has been thwarted fully now. It sounds positive.
Anyway, lovely photos, as always, and I wish you all the very best for 2024. 🙂
Sarah Wilkie
Thanks so much Alli 😊 You’re right about the Christmas card, I’ll bear that in mind for next year! Our lunch get-together wasn’t expensive – everyone pays their own way and Gateshead pubs are pretty reasonable compared with what we’re used to in London, or even central Newcastle!
Happy New Year to you and yours, all the best for 2024 🥂💐
bushboy
A lovely photo wrap Sarah 👍😀
Having an ongoing injury is not good Sarah. Hope you will be able to get around in 2024.
Happy New Year if possible
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Brian 🙂 Thankfully the leg infection isn’t impeding me in any way but I do need to get it sorted! Happy New Year to you too 🥂