I have that post holiday euphoria that comes from feeding my wanderlust!  Travel and adventure is food for my soul.  In the pre-dawn quiet before the family awakes, my first cup of tea (after a week of drinking coffee) was delicious.  Just being home, waking up in my own bed after a full night’s sleep (as opposed to staying awake until 2am each night watching the skies), sitting on my sofa in my PJs, stepping out into the garden to sunshine, birdsong and green shoots hinting at spring, these simple pleasures have made me happy. 

But mostly, sorting through the photos from our trip, sharing them with friends and family (yes, via social media) and reliving the memories from our holiday made me happy to the core.  The day is not over yet and there are still a couple more simple pleasures to look forward to: collecting the small people from child care (I’ve missed them today after a week together); a supper of red meat and fresh vegetables (sorely lacking this past week) and then settling down on the sofa with hubby, a bottle of Marlborough Sauvignon and a movie.  Happy Happy Happy!

Mother Nature never fails to make me happy.  For as long as I can remember, Mother Nature has been a great leveler for me.  Nature's wonders are awe inspiring, energising, meditative, unpredictable but at the same time reliable.  Even when things aren’t so great, one thing is certain, Mother Nature is always there.

At 3.30am on our last day in Norway, driving through the night back to Tromso, the aurora lit up the sky in a beautiful display of waves, arches and dancing curtains.  I am almost beside myself with happiness.  It is the most incredible sight.  We've had an amazing week in Norway and this was just the cherry on top!

Then, as we flew from Tromso to Oslo we were treated to a beautiful cloud top sunrise.

After a long, often stressful, and not especially brilliant 2013 we are having our first family holiday in 16 months.  We have traveled to Nord Lenangen (via Oslo and Tromso) in Norway and are staying in a cosy fisherman's cabin at 70 degrees North (just 20 degrees south of the North Pole), overlooking the Lyngen Alps.  It took trains, planes, automobiles and a ferry to get here.  We have skated on frozen rivers, played in the snow, fished off the deck in the fjord, hot tubbed under the stars, beach combed and sky watched.  We have seen star fish, sea urchins, wolverines and a moose.  This precious family time, completely away from it all, soaking up the great outdoors and enjoying simple pleasures is absolute bliss!