Thanks a lot for your prompt assistance, Marga!
>>3. This place (=the South) is *crawling with critters* (said by a
northerner)
>>Animals or people or both?
>
>Depends on context, but it's usually bugs?
There is no more context than this: A northerner has moved to South
Carolina and is sitting by the sea with a woman, saying: I'm starting to
like it down here. It's like Lake Michigan, only wilder. This place is
*crawling with critters*. (And then the woman answers how much she loves
the place.)
Would it be bugs he is talking about?
Another question: A woman has left her husband despite the fact that they
love each other, because "being married to him was killing me". For the
daughter this is incomprehensible, and then the mother tries to explain:
Let me put it this way. *We carried love to its conclusion.* She has just
said that she still loves him, so what exatly does she mean?
Looking forward to your suggestions,
Madeleine