New Year Zen

After a great christmas at home seeing so many friends, I needed to come back to Maine for a rest!

Christmas eve traditions were kept...

As were Christmas day ones...

Hiccup cures were needed...

as were dictionaries for adjudicating a fierce game of scrabble.

Kath knows about playing with mum!

Christmas dinner exceeded expectations and was complete with crackers, naff jokes and silly hats.

A trip back to the UK would not have been complete without getting well and truly soaked on a walk. High force still managed to look beautiful even in the gloom.

 



It was great to get to see the house in BC and go and explore the places I've heard so much about, including visiting the tip to see what bargains could be had. A pair of balti dishes as it happened and I still wonder about that chair...

Anyway, there was no time to rest. It was back to Northampton where I had a wonderful surprise. A tea party with people from Bliss. It was great to see so many people and catch up on all the news.

I loved my time at home and am glad I made the choice. Family, friends, muesli, a good old BBC period drama...but I was also happy to come back to Maine and I have fallen in love with the place all over again. Friends here welcomed me back with open arms and the weather is still holding back its worst. So much so that I went for a long walk along the beach from Pine Point to Old Orchard and back on Saturday. It was beautuful and I even paddled in the Atlantic...well, in wellies. I love the beach in winter and seeing the ghost towns that have been deserted by sun seakers. The only downside was there being no ice cream shops open.

It was great therapy!

To top off a great couple of weeks, last night I went to a pasta making class with Theresa and her daughter Lena. It was fab! We made our own dough, then were shown how we could incorporate chilli flakes, pepper, basil etc into the dough as we rolled it out or make spinach dough. Our teacher made some very yummy sauces and so once we were ready with our strings of pasta, we could throw them into some boiling water to cook, drain, top and devour. It was so good and lots of fun. I can't wait to try out some new ideas when I get home. Delish!