{"id":8825,"date":"2014-12-31T15:33:31","date_gmt":"2014-12-31T20:33:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.melanierobertson-king.com\/wp02\/?p=8825"},"modified":"2014-12-31T15:33:31","modified_gmt":"2014-12-31T20:33:31","slug":"saying-goodbye-to-2014","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/melanierobertson-king.com\/wp02\/?p=8825","title":{"rendered":"Saying goodbye to 2014"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"fireworks\"<\/a><\/p>\n

And to all my Scottish friends and family…<\/p>\n

Happy Hogmanay!<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>I’d share the wordpress helper monkeys stats for my blog here for 2014 but since I went most of the unable to connect to Jetpack, it hardly seems worthwhile. Besides, I have some other things I’d rather share about this past year and not the cheesy thing that Facebook puts together.<\/p>\n

So, here we go! Fasten your seatbelts, we’re ready for takeoff!<\/p>\n

April, Easter to be exact, my husband and I spent 10 days in beautiful, romantic Paris.<\/p>\n

\"april<\/a>
Don and me at the Arc de Triomphe<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"at<\/a>
“Able” and me at the Trocad\u00e9ro<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Don<\/a>
Don at the Trocad\u00e9ro<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Then in September, another romantic destination was on the cards – Niagara Falls, Ontario. Okay, there are the tatty, touristy places but overall, it’s a lovely place.<\/p>\n

\"Niagara<\/a>
Horseshoe (Canadian) falls at night<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While we were here, we decided to take a horse-drawn carriage ride. We’d seem them on previous trips and have always wanted to do it…<\/p>\n

\"IMG_3076\"<\/a>
sitting in the carriage before our ride<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

… so we did.<\/p>\n

\"Our<\/a>
Our horse and carriage<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We even did a wine tour while we were in the region and came home with at least 4 bottles of wine – including a couple icewines!<\/p>\n

\"2014\"<\/a>
Don and me wearing our silly hats before our wine tour – photo by Grape and Wine tours<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Before the year was out, we spent a week in Quebec City. It was close enough to Christmas that the decorations were in the process of being put up. In hindsight, second week of December might be a better time to visit this beautiful city so that the baubles and lights and everything are in place.<\/p>\n

\"Quebec<\/a><\/p>\n

And again, we did a horse-drawn carriage ride. Our driver, Philippe, was amazing and made the ride extremely fun.<\/p>\n

\"Quebec<\/a>
in front of the Chateau Frontenac<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"2014\"<\/a>
Me at the tree with a cannon ball in its roots<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

No trip to Quebec City would be complete without a short drive further east to see my ‘haunted’ house which is between Quebec City and Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupr\u00e9.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_3433\"<\/a>
The “haunted” house<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sadly it’s more run down since the last time I was down in this part of Canada but it’s beautiful nonetheless. And doesn’t being in a state of disrepair add to the mystery and the possibility of it being home to ghosts?<\/p>\n

And when we weren’t gallivanting here, there and everywhere, I managed to write over 74,000 words in one of my works in progress (the first draft of the sequel to my debut novel)! While it was with my beta readers, I plotted and started another project and have some cracking ideas for even more writing projects.<\/p>\n

So before I get all sappy and sentimental, I’ll finish this post with a little Auld Lang Syne.<\/p>\n