CoTT 2 House of Cards

[Albert1434]

Tourists abandon France's Mont Saint-Michel to the seagulls

[Headstall]

1 hour ago, Marty said:

I'm not sure if its the same in your province, but I read an autobiography (can't remember who by) many years ago of someone who lived in British Columbia. He said that in his part of that province he didn't experience spring. Apparently summer would eventually just appear.

It's a book I bought in a second hand bookshop sometime in my early to mid twenties (so sometime in the 1970's), and had been written in the early years of the twentieth century. I seem to remember the author's opening sentence being something along the lines of "The first time I saw the place that I now call home, all the land around me was burnt." He was unhappy with the exploitation of the land, and the clear-felling that had been done of the native forests. He realised that the beaver, which has been hunted to extinction locally, was an important factor in maintaining the balance of nature, and spent several years repairing old beaver dams to regulate the flow of water and prevent flash flooding and erosion of the soil. Eventually a wild life ranger became interested in what he was doing, and gave him a pair of beavers. Within several short years, as they bred and their numbers increased, the land returned to its more natural state. 

I have my copy in one of the many boxes of books that are awaiting bookshelves to be put up in my new place. I really must dig it out sometime and re-read it.

That actually sounds familiar. We definitely have spring in Ontario.  

[Marty]

2 minutes ago, Headstall said:

That actually sounds familiar. We definitely have spring in Ontario.  

When and if I manage to dig the book out, I'll give you the tile and author.  

[Headstall]

5 minutes ago, Headstall said:

That actually sounds familiar. We definitely have spring in Ontario.  

I might be thinking about a book I read by Grey Owl, a famous Canadian writer who said he was half native and Scottish, but turned out to be from England. He was really into beaver conservation. Pretty cool guy. 

[Headstall]

5 minutes ago, Marty said:

When and if I manage to dig the book out, I'll give you the tile and author.  

See above post.  

[Albert1434]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/tourists-abandon-frances-mont-saint-michel-to-the-seagulls/vi-BB12ZfYt?ocid=spartanntp

Check this out page

[Marty]

1 minute ago, Headstall said:

I might be thinking about a book I read by Grey Owl, a famous Canadian writer who said he was half native and Scottish, but turned out to be from England. He was really into beaver conservation. Pretty cool guy. 

I've a couple of books by Grey Owl somewhere, at least one of them supposedly signed by him (although I suspect the signature was done as part of the actual printing).

Definitely a cool guy, although he lost a lot of his credibility when it was discovered that he was lying about his real heritage. He was actually born and reared in the town of Hastings in the south of England (the Hastings made famous in 1066 with the Battle of Hastings, and the Norman conquest of England).

[Page Scrawler]

8 minutes ago, Headstall said:

I might be thinking about a book I read by Grey Owl, a famous Canadian writer who said he was half native and Scottish, but turned out to be from England. He was really into beaver conservation. Pretty cool guy. 

One of my favorite authors growing up was Gary Paulsen. I loved the book Hatchet.  Actually, I still do.

Edited April 21, 2020 by Page Scrawler

[Albert1434]

That I fear is our new world 

[Marty]

6 minutes ago, Albert1434 said:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/tourists-abandon-frances-mont-saint-michel-to-the-seagulls/vi-BB12ZfYt?ocid=spartanntp

Check this out page

I'd say that's happening to a lot of tourist spots around the world this year, Albert... 

[Marty]

Good night, gang!  

[Albert1434]

Beauty Sleep can only do so much

[Marty]

1 minute ago, Albert1434 said:

Beauty Sleep can only do so much

Voice of experience there, young Albert?

 

[Albert1434]

I have been studying you good Marty

Edited April 21, 2020 by Albert1434

[Valkyrie]

The weather here can't seem to make up its mind.  One minute it's sunny and beautiful, the next it's a full on blizzard.  And sometimes both at the same time!  It was 50 this morning and dropped into the 30s this afternoon.  Spring is slow-appearing this year.  I was able to complete my unemployment application yesterday, so I should be all set with that.  I'm just waiting for a confirmation letter in the mail, which should be here some time this week.  Hopefully the funds will follow soon after. 

[Page Scrawler]

14 minutes ago, Valkyrie said:

The weather here can't seem to make up its mind.  One minute it's sunny and beautiful, the next it's a full on blizzard.  And sometimes both at the same time!  It was 50 this morning and dropped into the 30s this afternoon.  Spring is slow-appearing this year.

Omigod, same! It was actually snowing AGAIN this morning! We got several inches of snow instead of rain because the temperature plunged for the umpteenth time. Sunset is about an hour away, and the sky is nice and bright, but there are still little pockets of white stuff in the shadows on the ground.   

[Page Scrawler]

I have my eye on a number of books on Amazon. Some books aren't publicly available yet, but will be published at a later date this year. These are the titles of which all physical copies are unavailable for pre-order. Oh, and they all have LGBT themes, too!

The Fell of Dark, by Caleb Roehrig

The Friend System, by Cale Dietrich

If We Were Us, by K. L. Walther

Conventionally Yours, by Annabeth Albert

The Boy in the Red Dress, by Kristin Lambert

When You Get the Chance, by Tom Ryan

Darius the Great Deserves Better, by Adib Khorram

The Shadow of Kyoshi, by F. C. Yee

The Ninth Life, by Taylor B. Barton

Here the Whole Time, by Vitor Martins

Edited April 22, 2020 by Page Scrawler

[Bucket1]

1 hour ago, Marty said:

Good night, gang!  

Sleep well Marty  

[Headstall]

1 hour ago, Marty said:

Good night, gang!  

Yeah, good luck with that, Marty.  Sweet dreams! 

[Headstall]

1 hour ago, Valkyrie said:

The weather here can't seem to make up its mind.  One minute it's sunny and beautiful, the next it's a full on blizzard.  And sometimes both at the same time!  It was 50 this morning and dropped into the 30s this afternoon.  Spring is slow-appearing this year.  I was able to complete my unemployment application yesterday, so I should be all set with that.  I'm just waiting for a confirmation letter in the mail, which should be here some time this week.  Hopefully the funds will follow soon after. 

I just had a blizzard here. I went out to bring my mare in but she ran up to the gate, snorted at me, and trotted away.   It's stopped now but the wind is wicked.

[Albert1434]

OMG US total coronavirus cases 823,257😭  That is more then any where else in the world  

Edited April 22, 2020 by Albert1434

[Albert1434]

I worry for us all young and old every one 

Edited April 22, 2020 by Albert1434

[Page Scrawler]

I'm enjoying some ruby chocolate. It tastes a bit like white chocolate and strawberries, but there's no artificial flavors or colors. It comes from a subspecies of cocoa beans.   

[Bucket1]

1 hour ago, Albert1434 said:

I worry for us all young and old every one 

[Timothy M.]

13 hours ago, Marty said:

Lucky that no-one was underneath when that thing came down!

Had to use Google Translate to understand the article, Tim. Not sure if it translated everything correctly. For example Google translated the following...

"Men nu har der været en del blæst, og det var åbenbart den sidste blæst, der skulle til i går, og så faldt den."

... to this, in English:

"But now there has been a lot of blows, and it was obviously the last blow to go yesterday, and then it fell."

I'm assuming that blaest probably means strong wind(s), or gust(s), or possibly gale(s)?

And am I correct in thinking the plant was a climbing euphorbia? (Google seemed completely confused there.) 

Hi Marty you're right about blæst being wind. But efeu means common ivy (Hedera helix), so the same plant as your garden wall. Most of the discussion in the article is about the owner of the wall having cut back the ivy at the top of the wall, because he was having the roof repaired, as the old cinema was being turned into apartments. So they're sort of blaming him for making the whole ivy plant collapsing. But he says he had suggested they share the cost of having the wall growth removed because it was too big, but they refused the idea, so then he only cut back the part on the top which was in the way. The funniest part is the old guy who owns the car, he says he doesn't care about a few scratches and bumps on the car, he's just happy he wasn't near the car when it happened.

Edited April 22, 2020 by Timothy M.