I am now back in the US and traveled a few days with my family stateside before heading home yesterday. I did have a bit more to post about Oxford so I am planning one or two posts to cover a few things I missed. To be completely honest, the last week or so in England was challenging. Whatever illness I had early on came back twice as strong, and fairly seriously so the final few days. Wrapping up and traveling back was a frightening ordeal. I even ended up in the ER the day after arriving back, but now I’m almost completely recovered. I am so thankful for kind and supportive friends in Oxford who made all of the scariness much less scary, and to my family for all their support on the US side.

This week I will embark on a new chapter of life, and will have some exciting news on the writing front to share. But before all that here’s a look back at one England adventure that has not yet been covered…

Blenheim Palace

One of my favorite day trips this year was a quick bus ride away. Four of us went to Blenheim Palace, famous for housing a long line of Dukes as well being the birthplace of Winston Churchill.

The palace and gardens were stunning and the weather that day was perfect.

This week has been quite full and eventful. My final paper, a 20-pager, was due last night, so this week I was working on that. First this happened:

Then this happened:

But now all is well and mended and turned in, and the bit I’m probably most excited about is that last Thursday (probably a product of me being forced to stay lay low for a few days) is that early Friday morning at 3 am, I finished the novel I’ve been working on. The project has been in development for the past two years, and the first words hit the page this November during National Novel Writing Month. This project represents a huge milestone and personal victory, but that is a story for its own post. All that to say, I have spent a lot of time with this cast of characters over the last year, and I’m excited to share them with whoever will take time to make their acquaintance one day. For now they are in hibernation, and I will probably start the editing process when a little time has passed. There is much work to be done, but in the meantime I have one more week at Oxford to celebrate and enjoy.

I can’t believe this summer is almost over. I’ll be going back to an autumn unlike any before it, with many new variables (also probably a post for the future), but in the meantime here is a sampling of Oxford in the light of the setting sun: