Christmas in Maine

When we left Maine over a month ago for Texas it was still Fall, now that we or rather (I) have returned it’s instantly Winter.  How did that happen?  Guess I have been gone a month!

 Flying in from south Texas with temps well over 78F, I greeted the cold like a long lost friend.  How can you really get into the Christmas spirit without Jack Frost nipping at your nose?  I do admit though, no matter how mild it is in Texas, it’s where our family is and being without them on Christmas is pretty tough, but such is the life of two “rolling stones” as my parents would say.

So to liven up the mood and celebrate the fact we lived through the 21st to see another Christmas we headed out to some of our favorite Foodie spots.

The Chef and I lunched with fellow blogger Lisa McRee from THE SKINNY at Cafe Miranda.

cafe miranda rockland

Lisa and I met by way of a delayed “near death” flight from Boston to Rockland last Tuesday.  That’s another story all together.

Cape Air

It’s peaceful above the clouds…not so much when coming down.

In the evening we met our Coastie friends for drinks and a post Domesday dinner at the newly opened urban resto/bar FOG.  We all sampled from the small plates menu, had an overabundance of the evening’s drink special…delightfully called a Winter Solstice and laughed the night away.

coastie friends

rocklanddowntowncheers

apple salad

FOG Bar

candleglasses

Strand

FOG BAR

tomato tartare

drinks

light

Maine Street Rockland

Now that I’ve completely finished off the tin of cookies the Chef’s Mom sent, I must get up and do a little Zumba-ing.

Have a joyous Christmas mes amis….

Oh..btw…notice any change in the photos?  These were the very first shots taken with my new Canon 7D.   Amazing camera…I’ve got much to learn!

well hello winter…you stayin’ long?

Arriving like an anticipated guest, the first snow was every bit as exciting as we had hoped it to be.  Blowing in with a forceful stinging bite–winter wasn’t the least bit shy at saying hello.

Giddy as two children on Christmas Eve, we paced by the windows and flung open the door with disbelief.   The street beyond our steps disappeared under a pillow of white, our driveway and little car no longer visible.  As the night blanketed the day, our thoughts turned to morning and what fun lay ahead.

Two Texans in awe of the glistening white powder that now erased the color of our golden autumn world.

texas snow

horses in snow

Even the horses were prepared to meet winter.

She didn’t have a name, but we knew she was a she…

coldfingers

snow girl

Oh, hello sweets..Momma loves you too !

snow woman

Maple leaf locks…magnifique!

snow woman

An adorable smile and cute little freckles…what’s not to love?

Has winter greeted you?

où êtes-vous

Où êtes-vous? I ask, where are you? On a warm tranquil beach, azure waves lapping at your feet?   Possibly you’re lost in a gaze, entranced by a glittering iron beauty they lovingly call Tour Eiffel?  Maybe you’re winding your way through a castle’s labyrinth of corridors searching for that one hidden door–a door surrounded in myth–that leads to a Queen’s jeweled chamber.  While you’re there, we’re here wondering how autumn turned so quickly to winter.

Snow, snow…they are calling for snow tomorrow.  Où êtes-vous?

paris postcard

219 Years Ago: A Queen Remembered

Remembering Antoinette today…Marie Antoinette tombContinue on to the blog that follows…it’s more cheerful than what this post would have been.

Remembering Marie Antoinette

When the Queen departed France…219 years ago today  She descended from a loved Dauphine to a despised Queen….

I like to remember her when she was loved…hence the reblog of her entrance into in France.

Marie Antoinette birthday cake

thetravelingpear's avatar

Something for my dearest Antoinette— a little late in posting, but I’ve been preoccupied with agonizing over another era–20th century WWI.

“Covering her eyes, sometimes with her handkerchief and sometimes with her hands, now and then putting her head out of the carriage to take another look at the palace of her ancestors which she was never more to enter—Vienna receded in the far distance.  Antoinette was on her way into a new life.”

Today marks an event which changed the course of history for not only one helpless individual but an entire nation, the world—and if I may–*my history*.    May 7, 1770 was the official “handing over” day or remise for Archduchess Marie Antoinette.  Never could she have imagined that when her silken slippers touched French soil, and left the neutral ground which lay in the middle of the Rhine, the divider between the two realms, that her life would…

View original post 167 more words