Unpacking!

A couple weeks ago our shipping crate FINALLY arrived from Boston. Hallelujah! Here are some pictures of the great unpacking project so far.

There it is! This little yellow box contained all our worldly possessions. Craig and I were holding our breath when it arrived because, with the arrival pushed back more than two weeks due to the unpredictability of the ocean voyage, we were expecting to open the doors and find just dust and rubble.

The front room served as our way station. We dropped all the boxes into this room until we could divvy them up from room to room.

Furnishings! I think that we have been celebrating every little thing that comes out of the box. A coat rack and a bench! More than one jacket! Pete's dog bowl! Hurray!

Here's our way station reincarnated as our dining room. Our old table fits really well into the curved front window. It's really nice to wake up and have breakfast in this bright, sunlit room. 

This is the other side of our front room. We still have soooo many books to unpack. Even the igloo cooler in this picture is full of books. 

Pete was really glad to have his favorite chair back. He loves to sit on his chair and look out the sliding door at the birds and the squirrels in our back yard.

Pete's second favorite thing to come out of the shipping crate: toys! 

The shipment exceeded our wildest dreams. Every box was intact when it arrived in England. Not even one chip or scratch! I think I was most worried about my grandparent's china set, but here is proof that it is all safe and and sparkly as ever.

So, not every room has been completely unpacked. The "baby room" still has a thing or two to assemble, but, with the baby not due until late May, we still have plenty of time (I hope!). In the meantime, it makes for a good yoga studio/dog wresting area. 

More than one pair of shoes! Woo woo!

Around Town

Just a few pictures of places and things in the neighborhood:

Knighton Supermarket. Like every "supermarket" in town, this one is hardly super-sized. You should have to sell more than ice cream, candy bars, and alcohol to have an awning that says "groceries" on it. On the other hand, in a college town, maybe that's all you really need.

Zipcode-themed graffiti. Yeah baby, LE2 is the greatest!

Moss Van. Everyone knows that a rolling stone gathers no moss. Apparently the same is true for cars in England. If you have one parked for too long in your driveway it grows filmy green moss. You've been warned.

Utility Poles. Utility poles on both sides of the street are uncommon in my neighborhood. This means that wires fan out to either side of the street from a single pole like spider web rigging. It's really neat-looking actually. Let's hope none of them ever fall down though!

Snowfall! I think the only thing better than getting a little snowfall was watching the folks in our neighborhood transform it into funny little snow people. These are my two faves: grass hands and penny teeth vs. snow hipster with wine feet and a stick in the mouth.

Snow melt. When the sun comes out and starts to melt the snow, there's only one thing you can do: play!  Here's Craig running around with Pete at the park. Pete running at full speed is actually really hard to capture with a camera. You can tell he's having fun though.

Thatched roof. First off, I'm surprised that people actually use thatch still as roofing material. It's so cool though, isn't it. Look how they cut designs into the top of the thatch! To add to the whimsy, this pub has two wooden sculptures on it's ridge of a fox chasing a rabbit. I can't wait to see what the inside looks like! 

Spring flowers. It's still pretty cold here, but I'm encouraged every day when I see the little green daffodil leaves peeking out of the grass or little pops of color amidst the grey-brown-green backdrop that I have become accustomed to over the past month. Spring is on the way!

Last but not least, another sign! I won't deny that I'm looking forward to frog season. When it comes, you know where to find Pete and me. We will be down by the brook watching frogs hop across the street! Do you think they use a crossing guard?

Double-decker Buses

I'm very glad that double-decker buses are not just a London phenomenon. These teal wonders zip down almost every street in our city. 

The other day Craig and I took our first ride on the double-decker just to try it out. Here's the view of the top deck. It felt like we were flying through the city rooftops. Added bonus: you could peek right into everyone's top-floor apartments!

New Walk Museum

I suppose it was just a matter of time before I made my way to the local museum. After working in a museum, I have a new appreciation for places like this. Oh, and it doesn't hurt that it is free.

Favorite exhibit: the dinosaur room!

In this picture, I was trying to show that each vertebrae is suspended from the ceiling by its own wire, like a very elaborate marionette. It was a beautiful way to exhibit a fossils. The wires didn't come out that well, so I guess it's just a picture of a headless dinosaur.

During the Jurrassic Period, the Leicester area was covered by a shallow sea. The museum has a lot of fossils of sea creatures from the surrounding area. I think they look a lot like modern-day sea creatures, but then again, I'm no paleontologist.

They also had a lot of "specimens".

What museum isn't complete without a little loot as well?

The Hallaton Treasure is a horde of coins and other really old, mostly metal artifacts recently excavated in Leicestershire. After years of people coming to archaeological sites that I've been working at to ask me if I've found any doubloons or any gold coins, it would have been nice to have been at this excavation so that I could finally say "of course, loads!"

They also had a display of typical artifacts found in Leicester. Most surprising to Craig and me were the Chinese coins in the bottom right.

In the Hallaton exhibit, just about everything on display was a very good replica. My favorite replica was of two hunks of meat. I mean, it's really not necessary, but I'm glad they went there.

I didn't take many pictures in the Egyptian gallery because there were dead mummified bodies everywhere, but I thought it was interesting that they had a little display explaining the emergence of modern archaeological practices.

Look, it's our dog Pete. How did he get in the museum?

Finally, an art piece. We got busted for taking this picture because this exhibit was off limits for photography, so shhhhh, don't tell!

Knighton Park

Just a mile down the road from my apartment is Knighton Park. It has everything I could ask for in an English park: wide open spaces, horticultural symmetry, and a free-for all leash law. Green grass in January isn't that bad either.