We have lots of ticks in my neck of the woods and our public health offers identification for free if you send the ticks to them. We have a conservation area beside my old school so I would take my students there for walks and we would often come back and find ticks on the kiddos. Always dog ticks, thankfully. There are deer ticks in our area (which carry Lyme) but mostly in wilderness areas so I don’t stumble into them.

Lucky you guys! I haven't been and if I did go I would make a pilgrimage to the Place Vendôme. Napoleon's architecture is great. I'd like to see it The main reason I'd like to visit is because of the jewelers who immigrated here from other countries in the late 19th century. It was then and is still today home to many great house's retail spaces and workshops on the upper floors. Place Vendôme - Wikipedia https://share.google/ob1OjxHGN6lh7MlFN

So word is Harry is in trouble with the Feds because he told material lie(s) in his immigration paperwork. My source is LadyC (pen name obviously), who divorced a peer, The Duke of Argyll https://share.google/SJ0k4DAiCBaSkqnHg She's one of the most reliable sources I know. The only one I'd put in the same category is Tom Bower the investigative journalist. She shares what she knows within legal constraints; she's entertaining; and her analytical skill is a joy to witness. Harry, as I've long predicted he would be, is in a bad way.

He needed this too... Dumfries House - Dumfries House https://share.google/y1JUQgQyFMEXFR1qh 9th generation marquess sold his family's house with Chippendale furniture in situ. How could Charles resist? He and Camilla (hers really because I watched her say it) have a narrative that it was a dilapidated property (it wasn't) and it needed to be saved (it didn't), and finally, it was bought by a charity for charitable purposes (do I need to comment). He has scrubbed the place clean and it is an exquisite house.

@AndyD said: Good for them. But McDonald's sucks. Plasticky food in inadequate buns with salty fries. Vanilla milkshakes being the exception, slurp slurp. I had my first taste of their food(I use the word loosely) in my late 20's and it has always been my least liked takeaway. I usually try their 'special' burgers... so Thursday evening having been out, we roll into the drivethru, to be told the heatwave means their shake machine ain't working(?) so I get a Big Arch. Arrives looking a pale shadow of the photo and after a couple of bites turns to mushy cheesy bits ensuring my shirt, trousers and car all need a wash. I just wanted a cold vanilla milkshake. Thankfully MrsA usually prefers KFC. We get a boneless bucket, and I repeat my joke about the bucket coming in useful if the food makes us feel icky. We don't go often. So many better options on which to spend your £20. Burger King 100% agree about McDonald's. Correlation does not imply causation.

I no longer want to live in a large city, not even New York or Chicago. Neither could I afford it. Town and Country as a concept was strongly imprinted on us in the NY, Tri-State metropolis So someone with $$ would of course have a city apartment and a county estate. Well, the estate was as always a house, gardens, and land, of course. This, scaled down, is the kind of house I'd have in a perfect world. I like apartment buildings (and tower houses even better even though don't have them.) However, there are the age, aging, aging in place, and dying (excuse me) factors, as well resource to consider. Hawaii was remote. I couldn't live there again. Why? Access to modern (in a neutral sense) health care. At this age, for me, living in some rural paradise is is not an option. Yes, I like having everything I need close enough, and couldn't live any other way. It's fun to dream, though.

Happy Birthday!

@jon-nyc Beautiful!

@jon-nyc

The folly immediately reminded me of 15th century Peel Towers built along our Scottish border areas. The house, a behemoth.

"Influencers" has many meanings. What exactly does it mean in this case? I don't know. I don't get my health knowledge from "social media". "Social media" can be distracting, but no more than a "smart" phone. YMMV

I think we've been lead down a wrong path in a way. The '80's "Oprahfication" of confessional psychology won't leave us. Two of its great proponents, Harry and Meghan gave it a spin. Their project imploded. Now they want to come crawling home. Don't get me wrong. I agree about pandemic-induced trauma.

Tariffs are a tax. They say if you write it on a chalkboard 100x it gets easier to remember.

My first thought was: there's a market for cash? My next thought was: leave it alone.

@chas Thank you I'm also now finishing off a Mendelsohn Op67#2 which I'd almost learnt during covid. This: https://m. Link to video

@wtg said: The Bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 on Netflix https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/the-bombing-of-pan-am-103-cast-guide We watched it. It was really well done.

@Rontuner excellent discovery! I bet that is indeed what it's for! That would make it the correct length, and that would also explain why it's still there!

Bingo.

Tenacity.