It was 96 sweltering degrees when we left Boston on Tuesday, and 66 cool and lovely degrees in London when we arrived six hours later. Those 30 degrees of separation:  heaven!

It’s been eleven months since I was here in England and was writing the English part of The Year of Living Englishly, and I’m delighted to be back.

Besides the obvious, here’s how I know I’m back in England:

Tiny cars:

A typical English car

A typical English car

Flowers absolutely everywhere in the smallest–:Flowers in Newnham, Cambridge

and biggest–of places:

In Cambridge's Botanical Garden

In Cambridge’s Botanical Garden

Apple-cheeked babies:

My young cousin Charlotte, the newest addition to the family.

My young cousin Charlotte, the newest addition to the family.

And speaking of apples, history around every corner:

Speaking of apples, here's the offshoot of the source of Sir Isaac Newton's. . . .

A sign in front of the offshoot of the tree bearing Sir Isaac Newton’s apple.

Buttercups in the pasturelands of the Cambridge fens:

Buttercups

Buttercups

Dons in the rain at Cambridge’s graduation:

Dons walking in the rain at Cambridge graduation.

Dons on King’s Parade.

The fellow playing his guitar in a trash bin:IMG_2115

Another fellow in the street:

Why is this man sitting on a bed in the street?

Why is this man sitting on a bed in the street?

And some of the best–and the worst–spelling:

How's that again?

How’s that again?

Stay tuned as I continue the Year of Living Englishly in England!