Christmas away from home

Yessir, it's been a year since moving from South Africa to London, and with that comes the first Christmas away from the family, over-indulgent Polish meals, warm December holidays by the coast, and quiet Gauteng streets. Instead I got the madness that is Oxford Street during the festive season, GIANT-ass baubles in Covent Garden, Winter Wonderland carnival rides in Hyde Park (which is a seasoned highlight for the capital every year apparently), vomiting elf lights (as part of this year's Marmite Christmas lights in central), an excursion to see Harrod's window display, a Christmas tree made out of whiskey barrels, but no snow. Sigh. Still a much colder Christmas than I am accustomed to...

Górki Wielkie

As I have some time on my hands in the New Year, I can post some more pics from my Poland trip from last year. I got to meet up with the mama, where she reunited with friends she had not seen in 30 years. They live in Górki Wielkie, in the province of Silesia, Poland, where I was born, and staying there in their home filled with trinkets from their Indian travels and beyond, I came across beautiful painterly portraits done by their one daughter, saw quiet photos of the pope, met a boy who loves to walk with his owner every morning through the woods to get fresh milk from the diary nearby, stumbled upon tucked away tree alters, picked blueberries fresh off an obliging hill,and ate wonderful home-cooked meals including first, second and third śniadanko (breakfast) every day, cycled through quiets forests and towns, visited a snow slope waiting for winter, and watched the seasons slowly change. As Thoreau always eloquently puts it, we can never have enough of nature.