So a couple of weeks ago we had a very fun day with some Americans who were passing through Oxford . . . whom we had never officially met but knew of through this blog. (Hi Kelly!) Anyway – we had a lovely time with them, and they sent some pictures our way after they got home. And here is the one which they kindly took of my favorite tree! I’m not entirely sure what kind it is, but it grows on those crazy twisty trunks just outside the University Church (St. Mary the Virgin) and when it blooms you can see it from up and down the High Street – a big pink exclamation mark in the middle of all that stone. The church, incidentally, (if you can say “incidentally” about something like this) is where Thomas Cranmer was tried for heresy and from which he was drug out to be burned at the stake. It’s also where C.S. Lewis preached his “Weight of Glory” sermon. And you see that left pom-pom of blooms? Right beneath it are the two gold fawns in the doorway which were in the picture Mom posted after their trip – the one with the lampost outside of Brasenose College.

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