COLD DARK ROOM

Yvonne G

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Greetings all. Truck is unpacked, kayak off, drying things out.

Here’s one pix from yesterday morning from the Great Dismal Swamp. Just wonderful cypress trees....

View attachment 269830
I had to look it up because I was curious about the name. Seems like "dismal" was a common term for swamps in those days:

More than 280 years ago, what is now the Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge was part of a much larger, waterlogged natural area known in land records as the Great Dismal.

While today's protected refuge stretches over more than 110,000 acres in parts of Suffolk, Chesapeake and northeastern North Carolina, the Great Dismal was more than 1 million acres and included land areas as far east as Back Bay in present-day Virginia Beach, according to Deloras Freeman, the refuge's visitor services specialist.

Called "great," possibly because of its size, it was called "dismal" because that was a common term at the time for a swamp or morass.

Author Hubert Davis took the root meaning a bit further in his 1962 book, "The Great Dismal Swamp," noting that "the French translate this into marais maudit meaning cursed swamp. Dismal also meant evil association with Satan."
 

CarolM

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It's made me wonder why on earth I've kept all the stuff I have for so long!!
I have so many books that need to go too - I could start my own library.
I'll finish going through the files and papers first though.
Good idea. Hopefully the books can be donated to a shelter or library or somewhere else.
 

CarolM

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Good mornooning all. The sun is out, but it’s a chilly 3C/37F. We stayed the night just outside Cambridge and will head over to the in-laws after breakfast.

My leg swelled up something awful yesterday... I guess I walked too much... fortunately it has mostly subsided overnight. I am going to have to be careful today. The problem with Mother in Law is that we cannot let on about my leg to her. She looks for things to worry about... and this is going to be hard to hide [emoji849]
Oh no Linda. I hope you managed. How is your leg doing now?
 

CarolM

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You are right, but we have to manage her heavily. A couple of years ago, she decided JoesDad had some serious illness he was dying from when all we had mentioned was him skipping going to the gym because he had a cold [emoji849] That took about a week of phone calls to resolve.

And I may have been with JoesDad for 35 years now, but I usually fail to come up to standard (apart from a brief respite when I produced their only grandson). I get 100% backup from JoesDad when they’re being awful thank goodness... he is not afraid to tell them they are being badly behaved... otherwise his parents would have seen me off years ago.

They ripped my sister in law to shreds and had her in tears at a family meal round our house once. And that was in front of their teenaged grandchildren. My son said afterwards “there’s a reason that Grandma (my Mum) is my favourite”. It’s so sad. They alienate even those who should think they’re wonderful.
That is very sad. Grandparents should be special to their grand children.
 

CarolM

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I already sorted out one lot of school resources last year, so this is stuff I decided to keep because 'it may be useful.'
I should have been completely ruthless and got rid of it all then - it just seemed such a waste of all my hard work at the time.:rolleyes:
I am just like that too. Now my hubby does it. That it all goes. [emoji23] [emoji23]
 

CarolM

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Good evening all! I can’t say I have ever had pigs ears - Mum used the snout when she made brawn.

The in-laws mostly behaved themselves, as did my leg, and we are safely home having dropped Son at his flat in north London on the way. Daughter had to drive back her flat from our house, but she should be home soon :)

She told us that the Brown Long Eared bat I showed the photo of weighed only 6 grams... less than ¼ ounce!

Mrs B will weigh nearer 11g/ ½ ounce. She has introduced more feathers to the box in our absence, so she is definitely starting to think fluffy nest-lining thoughts before she lays eggs :)
Sjoe, disaster averted. And Yayy Mrs B, we are waiting for the babies.
 
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