reason to believe

I would like to do those, but I don't think I have the kind of brain needed to do those rooms

sunnykerr

I'm not saying I'd be any good at them. It's just the sort of fun I like to have.

fluffybunny

Here are some of my Whitby photos. including one on the journey there.

I took the first couple through the car windscreen.



Approaching Whitby

Firecrest

Love all the Whitby pics!

sunnykerr

It looks lovely and quaint.

fluffybunny

Thanks. Whitby is beautiful and I love the Bram Stoker Dracula connection too.


Here are some more of my Whitby pics.

sunnykerr

What is the connection between Whitby and Dracula? My curiousity is piqued.

Those pictures are beautiful. I love bird photography. They've got such character.

fluffybunny

Thanks.

Here's an article I found today about Dracula from a Whitby website:

https://www.visitwhitby.com/blog/dracula-and-whitby/

sunnykerr

I never knew Dracula was set in/inspired by Whitby. Makes sense, of course.

Speaking of the fantastical world and Whitby, have you ever heard legends of mermaids in that part of Yorkshire? I ask because I just finished re-reading another Milly Johnson novel (what can I say, she brings me joy) and it is set in a small seaside village near Whitby and there's a mermaid connection.

Obviously, the author could have just decided to put mermaids there. What's the point of writing fiction if you can't make stuff up?

fluffybunny

I've been to Whitby several times over the years, but unfortunately I am unable to climb up to where the abbey ruins are - pictured in that article, due to all the steps. I'd have loved to have taken some photos up there.

I don't recall hearing about mermaids in North Yorkshire (which is where I also live - it's the UK's biggest county), so I'll have to look into that.

sunnykerr

There may be nothing to find there at all.

I wouldn't have brought it up at all if I hadn't made the connection between the Whitby they named in the book and the one you visited. For myself, I'm gonna file this one under "yet more evidence, as if any were needed, that I have no notions of geography whatsoever." I knew you live in the general area where Milly Johnson does and sets most of her novels. And yet you posted pitures of the trip to Whitby and all I could think of was "eh, sounds familiar, I wonder why."

Then, two days ago, I was finishing that novel and there was the name Whitby again. (The actual village the story is set in is obviously fictional.) Suffice to say, it took a very long time for the penny to drop.

fluffybunny

I'm hopeless at geography! I don't even know where some places are in my own tiny country. I'm going to print maps and study them. Where I live is only just in North Yorkshire, and Doncaster, for instance, is South Yorkshire, and is only 17 miles away.


Here are four wood pigeon pics I put together.

sunnykerr

Well, that's me somewhat comforted. So long as I'm not the only who who's ridiculously hopeless at geography. In Quebec, most of the place names are French because of the initial European settlers being French. (Obviously, there are also plenty of place names, including Quebec, that come from the First Peoples.)

I come from the part of the province where there were French settlers, but they got "swamped" by the Loyalists who fled to the nearest British territory after the American Revolution went the way of the Americans. So, where I'm from is the exception to the rule for Quebec. Most place names are English.

All of that to say, I did think perhaps I'd forgotten about a Whitby from my home region... But no.

Anyway, I love those wood pigeon pictures. You can see how they're always on the lookout for potential predators.

fluffybunny

Oh that's really interesting. I learn so much here! It's amazing how connected we all are.

Thanks about my photos! I see a cat in the garden sometimes, and if there's a bird nearby, I quickly shoo them away - obviously, I shoo the bird for its own good. I do like cats though, and had a friendly encounter with one a few months ago in the garden. Every time I stopped stroking him, he wanted more, and was rubbing his head against me and purring all the time.

sunnykerr

I follow this one-tooth chihuahua on Instagram and I've seen him chase bunnies, squirrels and birds in his yard. Obviously, if he ever reached them, there's precious little he could do to actual harm them. He'd probably get whalloped more than anything.

But it is in a dog's nature to chase bunnies, squirrels and birds. Just like it would be a cat's nature to chase a bird away. It doesn't make cats or dogs evil or less likeable. It's just nature works sometimes.

I just came back from an evening at my brother's house and watching my two toddler nephews was a demonstration in how sometimes you just have to let nature run its course. They're adorable and I would take a bullet for either one of them, and be glad to do so. But good lord they're so full of energy to an almost destructive level. And stubborn. But they're 4 and 2. That's what you're supposed to be like at that age.