December was a strange and wonderful month - four weeks spent rushing about and at the same time, being extremely still. It was a month of opposites - full of the very new and different and also the very old and familiar. I did my first week-long meditation retreat at Dhanakosa, a beautiful Buddhist retreat centre in the Scottish Highlands and found it moving, magical, difficult and joyful all at once. I went to Bridlington for the first time and played on an empty beach in the freezing cold. I rushed around York at lunchtimes and after work, spending the week before Christmas trying to buy all of my presents and see all of my friends. I participated in a Winter Solstice puja with my Buddhist Sangha, sang carols around a friend’s lovely new piano and tried to squeeze in five minutes with my novel here and there. I had some poetry published for the first time! I went back to my parent’s house in Hampshire and spent time with my family, resting, visiting old haunts, drinking too much coffee, reading and walking. I came back to York very content and excited for the year ahead.

Sunset over Bridlington beach on a very cold Sunday afternoon!

Shakyakmuni Buddha, all dressed up for the season, presides over our Winter Solstice shrine.

Mountains beyond Loch Voil, near Dhanakosa Retreat Centre, Lochenheard, Scottish Highlands.

Dreamy reflections on the surface of the River Arle, Alresford, Hampshire.

Seagulls enjoying some sunshine, Bosham, West Sussex.