Winter Lights and Salad

I goofed.

This post was supposed to go up last week, but I lost track of my days. I'm chalking it up to the 10 hour drive home from Maine on Sunday. I felt like I lost a day.

So, anyway....

I spent Thanksgiving in Maine. Honestly, we weren't sure how to spend our first Thanksgiving without my husband. Our daughters felt strongly about being together, but my Maine daughter's schedule didn't allow for her to fly home.
So daughter number one, her cat, and my dog, made the trek north.

Someone was excited.

The last time I spent Thanksgiving in Maine, we nearly died in a snowstorm, but woke to a winter wonderland.

These wild turkeys came out to play once the holiday was safely over!

This time, the snow fell the day before, but I awoke to this on Thanksgiving morning.

It's a little hard to see, but I loved the scarecrows steering the boat.

As Ruthy and Jan can attest (and Kav too!), it gets cold up north in the winter.

Portland, Maine has a tradition to combat the dreariness. They light the city up.

I love the idea. I'm a little less enthralled by the colors. Call me a traditionalist. The brightness is supposed to dispel the darkness of winter.

I'm a fan of white lights so this was a little over the top for me, but if it keeps people happy, then I'm all for it.

This is the work of a local artist.

We got to see the tree-lighting ceremony. Everyone sang along to the carols despite the cold.

It wasn't a traditional Thanksgiving, but it was just what we needed this year.

On to food - I've been eating tons of this salad. The blanched kale has a hearty winter feel. It's honey mustard chicken, toasted sunflower seeds, sliced beets, pomegranate arils, croutons on a base of kale. It's my go-to meal at the end of a long work day.

Hope you have something good to eat too.