Wednesday, February 03, 2010
It is good to learn
Thank you Sue - you came up trumps!
I knew you would.
I can now confirm that leasing has very much to do with gleaning.
To lease = to glean, which is to pick up dropped ears of corn, not to cut them with a scythe or sickle. Leasings are the ears so collected. Info verified by Norman Rogers 'Wessex Dialect' book.
It is good to keep on learning.
This evening's learning has been about pirates. We were watching that excellent series of programmes, Coast, after our dinner this evening.
I learned that in 1631 the 100 or so residents of a fishing village on the south west coast of Ireland, named Baltimore, were captured by Barbary Pirates and taken to the north coast of Africa.In fact many more than this were forcibly taken as slaves - mostly Irish and some Catholics of Scotland and England too. I've just been reading up on the subject.
Yes, its good to keep learning. What a pity I didn't think so when I was in my teens and supposed to be proving how intelligent I am!
I have stayed home all day today. I have described and listed some things for EBay. Today it was crested china. Bill also has described and listed things. Which of us will get a bid first? Bet its Bill - he has the magic words Minic (toy manufacturer) and Hornby to hook the bidders.
It was wet and gloomy outdoors - and there was nothing to entice me out for. Bill picked up our medications from the pharmacy.
And this afternoon I made a pie - I just cannot suggest when I might have last done such a thing.
We had a tiny piece of beef on Sunday - it had been well reduced when it was at its sell by date and we put it in the freezer. Just over £2 it was. Today I used the remains with onions, carrot, mushrooms to make a pie.We have eaten half of it - so the tiny piece of beef will be on its third day tomorrow.
Today I joined Genes Reunited. You might wonder why I hadn't done it before. Well, I did. But I never really bothered to find my way around it properly. And I felt it wasn't going to be for me because it asked married women to use their maiden name - and since then I have been sent news of families of that name. Of course my family is extremely interesting - but its not the one I have researched.
The upshot of today's activity is that I have now contacted the same two people that Roger contacted a couple of weeks ago on my behalf. One is definitely related.
Right I am going to watch TV in a while, with a nice cup of tea. It is a Horizon programme about latest scientific research on the aging process.Good night.
