Hoping Santa has been good to you!

Hello!

Well as you can tell by the pictures below, I finally found my camera again, and just in time to take it to Germany with me on 12th for my visit to my Great Aunt in Bruehl (near Cologne)! It's been a very full few weeks since I last wrote, mainly taken up with studies (first essay writing, and now revision for exams on 7th-9th Jan), but also with lots of caroling, which will surprise no-one! Mum and I also managed to pull off a very successful neighbourhood mulled wine and mince pie party on 16th, helped enormously by Sylvia and Julian whose services we engaged for the afternoon to help us keep the kitchen from imploding and generally look after the huge number of people who somehow squeezed into our humble home for the occasion! I think it was the first time in our long history of these Christmas 'block parties' that Mum actually managed just to sit back and chat with people - wonderful! :)

In other news, faced by the overwhelming amount of catch-up I need to achieve in order to pass even the first level of Biochemistry required for this degree, I made an executive decision not to turn in the assignment for this module, but to focus on my other subjects, as well as revision for the Biochemistry exam. The upshot of this is that I will not be able to pass the Biochemistry 1 module until August/September at the earliest, and since this module is a prerequisite for many other modules in the degree, I have no choice but to go part-time with my studies from February 2008. I very much intend to make use of this 'twist of fate' as an opportunity to teach more yoga. Look out world! ;)

Anyway, I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, without too much stress and I wish you all a Happy & Healthy 2008! M xx


Christmas tree at 36YR (and yes the candles ARE real! :)


A tiny tot enjoying some impromptu caroling at the Bruehler Weihnachtsmarkt


We arrived at Wellhead on Christmas Day to be greeted by this fabulous sunset..

in fact, for the whole journey West we had been under the most extraordinary 'highway' of cloud, which ended only very close to the horizon, so that as the sun began to set, the rays of light formed a sort of halo around the curvature of the earth. It was quite stunning!

Then, on Boxing Day morning, as I got up to get an hour of revision in before breakfast...

Sunrise at Wellhead, Boxing Day morning