Hello! It's really quite lovely here. :-) Want to see some pictures? They're in my picasa album.
Today I presented the last of three presentations I had to give at this conference. It went really well, and the feedback I received was overwhelmingly positive. It's always such a feeling of relief to give the talk I came to give and then just be able to enjoy the place. This brings me around to the dinner I just had. I went to eat with William and Jon from my university, Peter from DePaul University, and Matthew who works with Rosetta Stone (the language learning software company). We were quite a diverse group indeed, and we found a lovely little outdoor bistro and had a nice dinner. It was the strangest feeling, there -- I had just eaten some delicious food and sipped a glass of wine, and we were having fun conversation, and a live musician was playing across the street. It was a lovely temperature, the sun was going down, I was leaning back in my chair, and it occurred to me that I was utterly, completely relaxed. For about a minute I sat there and thought that every mother should have some occasional times like that -- surrounded by interesting things, to-do list completely finished for now, and completely un-worried about what was going into her toddler's mouth. :-) Of course, that feeling only lasted for a moment until I actually let myself think of Rowan, and then I think I would have walked all the way to London to catch the soonest plane if I could have! But I'll be home Saturday, so it's not too long now.
Anyway, it's late here, so off to bed, I think.