ANNE would normally be soaking up the Florida sunshine, but she’s giving it a miss this year. enjoying her new HALIFAX home instead. “If you have to be isolated, I’m in a great spot”, the ultimate Haligonian told CP24 News. “I’m right on the water … you really are in touch with nature. Lots of birds, changing of the trees and boats. I feel like I’ve won the lottery.”  Having sold her place in Markham, Ontario, the 75-year-old decided to get back to her friends and family Down East. “I thought about it for a long time … and it felt like the right thing to do. Now that I’ve been here for a year and a half, I know it was.” Anne grew up in the mining town of Springhill, not far from Halifax. These were her roots, but her music career pulled in other directions – despite the urge to return back home. “There seems to be a huge magnet down here,” she said.Achievements <PHOTO – from the Anne Murray Museum> – first Canadian female solo singer to top the U.S. charts; first to earn a gold record for her song “Snowbird.”; four Grammy Awards and 24 Junos (a record).Her latest recording, “The Ultimate Christmas Collection,” released earlier this month, repackages 22 songs that made her part of the Christmas spirit and concerts. “They were such happy times,” she said. “People would sing at the top of their lungs and it was just fabulous, like a great big sing-along.” My only connections with Anne – we both grew up 16 miles from each other; the Cumberland Coal Mines in Springhill employed my father; and my mother thought visiting the Anne Murray Museum was the greatest idea. Which it was. Mom worked in an Amherst hardware store, and Anne’s mother would drop by occasionally. The two women chatted a bit, and my mother once remarked “You must be very proud of your daughter.”. . . . “Yes,” came a one-word reply.