Parting Shots... SATURDAY, JULY 24

   *Sigh* All good things must come to an end, at least in this world—although as my favorite C.S. Lewis book, The Great Divorce postulates, things are going to be different...  After a last big English breakfast this morning we packed and started our good-byes.  I made some new friends this week, and hope to keep those friendships up.  One of the pastors participating for the second time is actually the husband of an old friend who was on staff at my home church in California, so it is likely I will be able to connect with him on visits to my family back there.  The others will take more deliberate effort.
   Chris and Cynthia (the couple whose marriage I performed at the beginning of my sabbatical) came down from Cambridge this afternoon and were able to tour the Kilns, then we spent the afternoon walking around Oxford and rode the train into London together.  They headed back up to Cambridge, where Chris is in a summer program, and I headed to my spartan lodging in the dorms of the City University of London.  The rooms are basic and the shared bathrooms really basic, but they are clean and extremely inexpensive.  No internet, so my postings will be delayed even longer...
  Here are some last photos from the Kilns and Oxford that did not make it in...
  Above is one of the Narnia windows in Lewis' local parish church.  The first below is one of out pub meals; standing at the back in the white shirt is Chesterton scholar Aidan Mackey.  Clockwise from him is Kim Gilnett (CS Lewis Foundation's expert on Lewis and Oxford), one of the neighbors from Lewis Close,  Janice Thompson (puppeteer), Nancy Baker (retired schoolteacher), Rev. Eleanor Kraner, Dr. Den Conneen (emergency room doctor), Rev. Len Tang, and John Allums (lawyer working for ICE).
Next is of the building at Magdalen where Lewis' rooms were—on the 2nd floor in the middle of the picture, just above the ivy.  Below that is a doorway at Magdalen, with the shield of the college on the left and the red rose of the House of Lancaster on the right (the college was founded during the Wars of the Roses, when Lancaster was in power).  Next is more deer at Magdalen; then the statue of Aslan in the living room of the Kilns.  The plaque in my room at the Kilns, then Chris taking a picture of Cynthia in Oxford (note the street name).  Last is me writing at the roll-top desk in my room.  Lewis kept a roll-top at the same spot, although this is not the original...