Katie & Kimberly I had the privilege of attending the Skoll World Forum in Oxford again this year.  Since Lee was away at a photography class for a few days, I left a couple of days early and paid a visit to the Mueller family.  Kim and her family moved to England (just outside of London) at the end of last summer and the forum provided an excellent opportunity to see her.  They were great hosts and took me to see a few of the surrounding sites.  One day we visited beautiful gardens in Cliveden and the second day we visited Windsor Castle.  Much of the castle was closed due to an upcoming political visit, but the grounds were open and gorgeous.   It was a treat to be able to see Kim, her family and her home.  Hopefully I'll get the chance to do it again next year.

  Views from University Church Tower After last year's Forum I decided that if I was lucky enough to return, that Lee would need to join me and experience a day of it for himself.   So, this year he did.  He arrived on Wednesday afternoon just in time to attend the opening plenary (which was fabulous) and then attended the full day of events on Thursday. I'm so glad he got to experience the award ceremony and feel the buzz and energy that comes with the forum.  Being surrounded by 1,000 people who are dedicated to making the world a better place is a phenomenal experience. Magdelen College

 Friday Lee was able to do a little sight seeing. I sent him out along the Thames where I like to run in the mornings.  Later that day I took him to University Church where we climbed the tower and got views of Oxford (and believe it or not it was actually sunny)! We wandered The View as Scene from the Punting Boat through Magdelen college, the Fellow's Garden and hired a boat to experience punting through the meadows at Christ church.  The Fellow's Garden in the spring is breathtaking with meadows of flowers, both rare and common.  Christ Church Friday night after the closing plenary, we visited Christ Church college and meadow and even attended Even Song - which is the sung religious service at 6pm each night.  It was a neat experience.

Before Lee arrived I attended a Foundation dinner on Tuesday at a college that I hadn't been to before - Worcester.  I was taken by the gardens and when I found out you could visit them for free, Lee and I went before the Award Ceremony on Thursday.  Absolutely gorgeous!

Worcester College Gardens It was so fun to have Lee be with me at the forum and to take him to my favorite places and restaurants.  Then, on Saturday morning we started our day of traveling -- destination Paris!

As expected, we (Lee) took a few thousand pictures during the time we were away.  One day we will get them posted....