Be back soon

I'm writing a final post for this leg of the trip from Heathrow Airport, waiting for my flight back home to NJ. Well we ended our first 2 weeks with a bang, going to yet another High Table (old hat at this point) last night. And it was a fun weekend all around! On Saturday, our friends Steve Cowley (who invited Greg to London 12 years ago, and is now director of the plasma physics lab just outside of Oxford) and his wife Margaret came for a whirlwind trip of visiting and fun. We threw a party at "our house" Saturday night, with about 15 people coming over for dessert and sherry. A couple of the young women made fabulous desserts, Alex the Russian brought offerings from his wine cellar, and I provided fruit and cheeses. Great fun! The last guests left around 1am.

But Sunday was the High Table, and after a really fun afternoon of dress-shopping for Margaret (the men, as you might imagine, occupied themselves otherwise), we all gussied ourselves up for a pretty large gathering. Greg and Steve stood in front of a Youtube video teaching you how to tie a bowtie, and both of them looked smashing! I'm not sure just how many people you can ultimately fit at this large U-shaped table, but I think we came close to the limit last night. There were at least two Sir-something's and their Ladies in attendance, and the young Italian physicist to my left had recently been at a lunch with the Queen.

Here are two photos, taken in Alex's rooms at Merton (incredible views!) of how we all cleaned up (we all looked so good, I made the pictures extra large). And Alex did eventually put on shoes.

I cannot wait to get home and see my Lilybear, but I have a feeling I'll be really excited to come right back in early June. Stay tuned! I'll send out an e-mail when I start Round Two.

There is a big tree of lilacs outside our living room window on Merton Street, and I just missed them blooming. I told Greg to keep track of them, and enjoy their fragrance for me . . .