What a lovely time you must've had. You have to show us the souvenir yarn...

Lovely! We've been talking about squeezing in a stop in London during a trip to Europe we're taking in two weeks, and I think you've just made up my mind! Welcome home, enjoy while you can (both the comforts of home and the sweet daughter).

Pretty sock, by the way....

Everything is so gorgeous, but look at those clouds. Hope you are having a blast relaxing. :-)

You are correct--time with children trumps blogging. but, I do appreciate your entries. England has a special place in my heart--I lived there several years as a child and have a strong desire to have a lengthy visit.

Thanks for the election day good wishes. I got gas and got to vote for Obama all in the same day!!! Good times!

Just like being there! Thanks for this; it'll hold me for another 20 years till I get there myself.

And don't try to tell me (in the obligatory 'thousand words') that a sock cuff is all you got done, because I simply don't believe it.

you must try veganomicon - best veggie cookbook ever. http://www.amazon.com/Veganomicon-The-Ultimate-Vegan-Cookbook/dp/156924264X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1352236753&sr=8-1&keywords=veganomicon

Lovely pictures! Makes you want to pack your bags and fly on a big jet plane doesn't it?

Lovely photos! Always good to be reminded just how very long Britain has been around. Those cobblestones, for instance, are nearly as old as the US. Hope you get to surface for real family time sometime soon.

Fabulous pictures. Can't wait to see you on Friday (and still can't believe my "friend" talked me into learning how to spin).

I lived in the UK for 3 years, 13 years ago.
The whole rest of my life I have lived in Ontario.
Yet something about those pictures makes me homesick.
Thanks for them. I think I needed that today.

Yay! London and Oxford, my favourite places. So very gorgeous. Glad you had a lovely time here.

Beautiful pictures! I hope that I get to the UK someday! I'd love to sketch the old arcitecture

"Mothering" must be in the air---missing my teenager terribly as she is @ uni in UK which makes it a bit tricky to visit on a regular basis. Think she planned it that way!

And yet I know if we spend more than 48 hours together we will be ready to declare war, so holding on to the feelings of missing her...that way when she is home for hols I will remember how much I missed her while she was away.....yeah, that should keep her from being throttled ;)

Cheers, Barbie O.

what a beautiful bride and groom!

Enjoy your family time today :)
Great pictures.

What an epic month(+?) of travel and teaching and how are you keeping it all together!?? You are AMAZING. Hope you're taking good care of our precious Harlot.
Thanks for the good wishes for our election - I think we will need them.

My dad started traveling a lot when we were young, and he became enamored of cloud pictures from the airplane window. Your picture brings back such wonderful memories of slide shows with the family, the noisy projector, and the fireplace warming our backs in the big living room. Thank you so much!

Awesome. 'Specially like the 'looking' directions.

Oh well, (loud sigh), pictures of clouds and aeroplanes never get old, do they?
Love the "look this way and that"-signs. I remember them very fondly and always tried to translate them into my language. They only work in English!

Glad to hear that you have a bit of down time. We love those Mu shu vegetables. Actually, my family is pretty keen on anything that is wrapped in dough.

Staying away from words today is probably wise for many of us. Depending on the outcome of today I may take a vow of silence (and then explode all over the ceiling, but it's the thought.) Good call, anyway -- great pictures. (For the record, when poppies are available here, it's November 11. Time will tell.)

I would dearly love to trapse through the gorgeous churches in Europe that no one uses any more. Do you think they would trade our ugly ones for their beautiful ones? Where I go to Mass is less than esthetically pleasing.

You went to Oxford wasn't it beautiful. I was always impressed with sheer age of the buildings. Many are older than either of our homelands.

Don't know how many times the look markings saved my neck while I was over there.

Glad you've got a litle time to catch your breath and eat some veggies with your family.

Have a good rest of your travels!

Lovely photos. Looks like a great time, I'd like to really see what you got to knit and I agree, would love to see your yarny momentos! Enjoy Sam, great moments with teenagers are far and few.. ask me how I know...

You must be tired of travel pretty much. I am sure you miss your home, get cozy and knitting. Hope you had fun time with your family. Happy knitting! I got voted for Romney!

I voted for Romney so that I won't have to pay $4.00 a gallon for gas, and stand on long gas lines and call that good times. Good times?!? Oh, and thanks for the vicarious trip!

Awesome trip! I feel as though I have been away, if just for a few minutes. Thanks for the break and enjoy your time at home!

I was just thinking about Port Ludlow and wondering would it would be again.. I attended the silk retreat.. been MIA with divorce, etc....I have not sat at my wheel in months, my looms for about a year, knitting is fleeting...KNITTER DOWN..i need some good karma my way and hope to see ya'll in Port Ludlow next time.. I so need it!!

If that's a wedding, what a beautiful place to have it in.

Gorgeous pictures, looks like you guys had a great time. I'm kind of jealous though, London is on my bucket list.

Thanks for the photos. I can see a fabulous time was had by all. Best wishes for Port Ludlow. It's a beautiful place and I hope you have a great time!

You are SO LUCKY to get away with taking knitting needles in your hand luggage. Most carriers I've flown with don't allow it!!

So glad you enjoyed your trip & you are having fun with the teen.
The road signs are hysterical yes? There are so many instructions here in the UK. Mind the gap, look right, left, etc It is overwhelming at times!! I am contemplating ear plugs but not sure what to do with my eyes. Blindfold just does not work but I am often seen in dark glasses!!

Glad you're back and safe and that you had a good trip. Who is the woman in front of the window, with the wedding couple in the background? She looks like my sister-in-law. (Now THAT would be a small world.)

To Christina, just above me in the comments, I've taken knitting through Heathrow Airport's security multiple times without any problems (several trips with BA and Gulf Air). The only place recently I've seen a "no knitting needles" sign was at the BMI desk at Schippol (Amsterdam's airport). I even knitted at the London Olympics and Paralympics and security never even raised an eyebrow.

Thanks for the photos! I have London on my bucket list. Someday. Have safe travels to Port Ludlow!

Looks like we were in London at the same time. I took pix of the warning signs on the road, too - being good with a map but (oddly) not so good with left & right, it was a good reminder!

Fabulous photos! I want to take another trip to England badly now.

Cool pictures, Steph. And I heartily approve of snuggling, resting, knitting time. Not that you need my approval, but you know what I mean.
Here, we are getting a Nor'easter tonight, but I'm not complaining because we are north of the worst of it, and already well recovered from Sandy. My thoughts and prayers are with those directly in its path.
Keep warm and dry!

It's amazing how much we miss them when we're not yelling at them every day to pick up their shoes and coats and for pete's sake, stop leaving the cereal and milk to turn to rock in the bowl!!!! ;)

I'm lucky enough to experience this a few times a year, and I love it!

Indeed, a gorgeous couple...a wonderful photograph of them too! And of the clouds.
I daresay if you were in Paris you would not be knitting a sock cuff but stuffing your little face with cafe au lait and eclairs!

Thank you for the great pictures. The couple are adorable. My favorite picture is the one with the bicycles in it. Thanks again for sharing. :)

It looks like you had a fantabulous time!

Thank you for the election well wishes. While the results mostly made me happy, there are still quite a number of unhappy people south of the border.

Very happy you were at such a beautiful wedding (bizarrely, in the same city, at very nearly the same time as I was at a wedding!) on a beautiful day :)

Now pond-hopping, pootling around London and a trip to Oxford would ordinarily be completely believeable but are you trying to tell me you managed all of the above without it pouring with rain on you at all times?

I'm glad you liked Oxford, I loved my time there - and to those curious about the age of the buildings, my college was founded in 1249 and many of the current buildings followed not long after - the cobbles by the Rad Cam pre-date the US declaration of independance by some years!

Thanks for the Election Day wishes. Unfortunately, the outcome was disappointing and fearful. The moral fiber of the US has taken another heavy blow.

My favorite vegan cookbook right now is The Sexy Vegan. I read it like a book--it's so funny! (I was vegetarian but became vegan when dairy started to make me sick. Seemed a good indication that I should let it go.) http://www.amazon.com/Sexy-Vegan-Cookbook-Extraordinary-Ordinary/dp/1608680452/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1352329127&sr=1-1&keywords=the+sexy+vegan+cookbook

Thank you for the lovely pictures. Children grow up far too quickly. Enjoy your trip and time with family.
Our election had a very disappointing result. It is a sad time for America. Why anyone would want to continue this downward spiral of debt and dependence is beyond me.

Beautiful all around

Thanks for sharing, I just love your website and learn so much...oh and the color of those socks is yummy.

Ah, Oxford ... lovely dreaming spires (except of course that beautiful one in the pic is a library rather than a church) ... but for next time, I have to tell you that CAMBRIDGE is twice as beautiful! (Rivalry? what rivalry?) To those of you who managed to get on a plane at Heathrow or anywhere in the UK with knitting needles -- HOW DO YOU DO IT? -- every time I ask or check it is still strictly forbidden. I've never dared to try and smuggle some project on in hand luggage for fear of having it confiscated. I now have a rather horrible purple eyelash-yarn scarf that I knit on two pencils on flights -- I would go mad without something to knit for all that time. Can't think who is going to want it when it's finished, though .... anyone interested???

Good Times!

The look Left, Right and Both ways signs cracked me up! Heaven forbid you waste your time looking both ways when you don't have to!

London my favorite city and more of England to look at with longing. I think there may be a return trip in the not too distant future.
I am more than happy with the way the election turned out. I think we may have a chance to rebuild this nation if both sides give up their political posturing and actually work together for the common good. It has been awful beyond words to see our congress accomplish nothing and our congressmen and women work for political gain at the people's expense. Putting womens rights and the rights of people to be represented by unions as well as the rights of the poor and immigrants back 50 years didn't happen, but they could have and that is frightening.

I love how you have taken photos of something I don't even notice, having lived in the UK all my life, and now all I can see are the look left and look right signs written on the road!
Thankyou for opening my eyes.

I loved my short time in England. And Oxford, so lovely.... Did you get to lunch in the Rabbit Room? A highlight of my trip.

For Tracy at 6 pm on the 6th, those gorgeous old churches are actually still used, which makes them even more special in my book. I got to attend Evensong at St George's at Windsor while I was there. It was beautiful.

Love the photo essay, thanks. Understand about hanging with the kids, and loving it even if they're faking it. Because really, they aren't, they just feel like they can't let on. Missing my own kids right now, and looking forward to the (U.S.) Thanksgiving holiday, when I'll get to sit with my kids, if only for a few days.