Some say the world will end in fire, 
Some say in ice…
(ROBERT FROST)

I’m not expecting to be here and have no preference either way (though fire seems to me more likely) but November was wonderfully full of fire and ice and I’m hoping the year will end with both (and snow of course!)

November, here, is a month of bonfires, which are always spectacular but very difficult to photograph. This year, in a grand family effort, we managed to capture some very good firework displays on my son’s phone and I felt very confident that this would be my best Wandering Camera post ever. Alas they remain on my son’s phone. Christmas is racing towards us and I fear if I wait any longer for whatever he needs to do to get the videos off his phone and onto my computer I will have no post for the December link up at all :( Perhaps, one day I will get my firework post but in the meantime the first fire of the year in my makery (photo-bombed by Poppy) will have to do.

On the ice front, however, I did manage to get some pictures with my own camera, which I am very happy with – not because they are good photos but because it is the first time I’ve ever managed to capture on film a party on the pond. During the daytime we have odd ducks on the pond but just as it get dark there is a sudden whirring of wings a great cacophony of quaking and splashing  as literally dozens of ducks swoop over the tree tops and plunge into the pond. They are, off and on, surprisingly noisy and I could swear that sometimes they party all night long. Then, in the morning, just before it’s light enough to take a photograph, they rise as one and fly silently away and it’s as if they’ve never been.

Then, one night, they were having such a wonderful time, the first light came creeping up quietly and they didn’t notice.

The pond was completely frozen except for a round pool, which I think they had kept free of ice by swimming about in it all night.

And as the sun came up I could see that some of them were still dancing whilst others were taking a rest, standing on the ice and cheering on their companions.

And, every now and again, someone would say, “We really should be getting along…” and someone else would call back, “Just one more dance!” And half a dozen of them would plunge back into the pool.

And, in the end, of course, they did leave and I have never seen them all dancing since but I still hear them every night.

Lastly, I have a photo I took on my phone of a sign I came across in a nearby village.

It was raining when I took it and I just emailed it to myself, which looks to have done nothing for the quality of the picture but I’m including it because it made me smile. I think every road around here could do with one!

I’m linking this post with the lovely Soma at Whims and Fancies for the December edition of Wandering Camera.

Janine @ Rainbow Hare