"I wonder what that cart was used for last. "

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! Races!

I agree that there seems to be a lack of the proper use of grammar in America. However, this site is not limited only to America. For some, English is not a first language. I don't think that is the case here, but it is something to consider. Also, when picking apart someone else's grammar be very certain that your own is beyond reproach. I would love to see better use of the English language, but it is not worth starting a war over.

Babies do get put into institutions. It happens less now because of other options and the lack of facilities that care for babies. Babies aren't usually put into an institution because of lack of love. They are put there out of love. I am going to tell you in as few words as possible what I mean. A little over eighteen years ago I was a very young single mother with a newborn baby girl. Ultrasounds during my pregnancy revealed that her brain had developed differently than most. She had what is know as agenesis of the corpus callosum and it is rare without much known about it. Probably the most famous person with this condition is Kim Peek (or the real life Rain Man). I was young, single and with my whole life ahead of me when they handed me this baby and told me they didn't even know if she would know who I was. They recommended immediate placement in an institution. I looked at my baby and decided to take her home and do whatever I could for as long as I could. That was my decision. However, I had parents that where there for me. Maybe without them I couldn't have done it. She has many problems but is far more independent than they predicted. There will come a day when I can't take care of her any more. And in that day I will be thankful that there are people who chose to take care of those that can't take care of themselves. I took her home because I had a family that could help me. If I had been all alone I may not have been able to do it. Thank God there are people who will give of themselves to the babies who need more than their birth mothers can give. A mother's love doesn't always come from just one heart. Sometimes it comes from a combination of many hearts working together.

Remember when you were young, you shone like the sun.
Shine on you crazy diamond.
Now there's a look in your eyes, like black holes in the sky.
Shine on you crazy diamond.

I have one like that in my bedroom.

My daughter had to use something very similar to this when she was smaller. Surgeries (many) have helped. And Lynne is right, it is a real work out just to get out of bed.

Perhaps they just didn't do autopsies there. If most people died of what they were expected to die from all they would need is a small morgue to hold the bodies until other arrangements were made. I was recently in a small hospital with a very similar morgue.

I'd have hired Motts. We didn't get married in anything that was currently abandoned. However, it once was. We got married in a restored mansion that was operating as a restaurant. We had our first date there. The restaurant displayed a photo album of the place when it was abandoned as well as pictures of the process of restoring it. A few years after we got married the owner/chef passed away and it was sold. It is now reopened under the new ownership.

My mother wore a metal leg brace because of polio. I believe somewhere there are pictures of her wearing it.

Woooo! Hoooooo! A new gallery posted on my birthday! It doesn't get any better than that! Thanks for the birthday present, Motts! Looks like it is going to be a beauty too!

I mostly have vertical outlets in my house but I do have a few that are horizontal.

There still exist smoking areas in at least some psychiatric facilities.

I am in complete agreement with Dr Sketch.

It is not a suction aspirator used for abortions. It is a Jefferson Ventilator designed in 1955. See Lynne's post above. She even has a link where you can see a picture of one.

Motts, I have often thought the names of different places in England were creepy. Since my husband is English it has been the topic of some of our conversations. There is a prison in Manchester called Strangeways. It had an execution shed and a permanent gallows. I do agree with you that the names of the asylums sound great with them being abandoned. By the way, I am loving the pictures from your trip abroad!

For some reason this chair looks to me like it belongs in Invader Zim. What's on the walls off to the sides of the peeling paint? Looks like sconces to me.

The only people that were put in iron lungs were those whose paralysis caused them not to be able to breathe on thier own. The polio would affect the nerves in the spinal column. The parts of the body that were paralized were determined by which vertebrae were affected by the polio. My mother's polio paralyzed her from the waist down. One more vertebrae and she would have required an iron lung. I am sure there were problems with bed sores. I imagine they did everything they could to make the polio patients more comfortable. And yes, some people did get well enough to leave the iron lung. Although there are still a few people still using them today.

I am certainly grateful that there was a seclusion room for that guy. I was more or less on a ward for people with depression and bi-polar. They moved that guy to a ward for people with more difficult situations. Seclusion is definately not a bad thing. If it were not for the seclusion room a lot more people might have been hurt. The good part was they brought everyone ice cream when things settled down.

My mother had polio. She got it the year before Dr. Salk invented the polio vaccine. Polio was highly contagious. Those who had it had to be quarantined until the threat of passing on it on had passed. My mother still to this day walks on crutches. She never did require an iron lung. Her paralysis was one vertebrae below the one that would have caused her to use the iron lung.

It's not a barge.

Not all behaviour problems can be "scared straight".

I was hospitalized for depression. During the time I was there they brought in someone that was obviously very disturbed. He busted out a window and stabbed the guard in the eye with a shard of glass. He also used a large shard to cut the throat of the guard. I am more than glad there was a seclusion room to put that guy in. I was never so afraid in my life! The guard required many hours of surgery but he pulled through.

The something horrible that went wrong during birth was probably cerebral palsy. My daughter has it. She sometimes uses a walker although hers is much nicer than that. I think if I ever heard someone say something like that I would seriously have to restrian myself from hurting them.

Lynne is a professional. We aren't sure a professional what though! LOL

It reminds me of the couch in the Lizzie Borden house.