One thing I’ve noticed since being in the U.K. is the incredible number of traffic cones. There are many spots were a veritable wall of orange cones indicate road works or other traffic warnings. I’ve never seen anywhere near this density of cones anywhere else in the world.
I’ve been meaning to photograph this [...]
We left early last Saturday to join a walking tour of Canterbury with some Sacketts convened for the annual reunion organized by the Sackett Family Association. Many of Molly’s distant cousins had been meeting all week, exploring the area around where the Sackett family originated in the Isle of Thanet, Kent.
It was interesting to learn [...]
I always enjoy learning new vocabulary. According to wikipedia, exeat means “a period of absence from a centre of learning… [used] in Britain to describe weekend leave from a boarding school”.
The kids both had special activities at school on Friday to kick off the long weekend. Sage and her classmates sold cakes for [...]
It’s been raining quite a bite here recently. As the kids are fond of saying, it’s been chucking it down! The River Trent has overflowed its banks and the fields, as well the road we normally take to get to the school, are covered in water.
This reminds me of another interesting linguistic tidbit. Sage brought [...]
Lyme Regis is a beautiful town on the coast of Dorset in southern England. Featuring prominently in the the works of Jane Austen and John Fowles, Lyme Regis is perhaps best known for its paleontological association.
We’ve read several books about the British fossil collector, Mary Anning, whose work in the early 19th century contributed [...]
We visited the city of Bath last Saturday. It is a very interesting place. Long an important city, much of it was rebuilt in Georgian times and the architecture reflects that period. One of the things we most enjoyed while wandering the city, though, were the pig sculptures that appeared in various unlikely places.
The Bath [...]
Sage and I went to the park on Saturday afternoon while River went to a netball birthday party for one of her friends. The Mundy Play Centre at Markeaton Park offers a variety of activities for kids. We played 18 holes of Crazy Golf, climbed on the spider web thing, and did some [...]
We had planned a longer hike in the moors, but somehow we ended up hiking along the coast north from Ravenscar. It turned out to be a very interesting place with some incredible views.
The trail led past an old alum mine and processing facility. Alum, among other things, was an important mordant for fixing the [...]
Yorkshire is famous for its moorlands, carpeting the glacially-sculpted landscape with a warm purple blanket. Walking through the beautiful environs, we couldn’t help being infused with a sense of wonder and happiness. It is like walking through a field of sunflowers.
Up close, heather flowers look very different than seen as part of the grand vista [...]
We spent last weekend in Yorkshire. The city of York was really amazing. There are loads of great museums, shops, and markets set among some amazing architectural gems. York combines modernity and antiquity in a very intriguing way.
The kids loved this merry-go-round right next to Clifford’s Tower, a 13th century fortification.
After revolving [...]
