Les Bas Bleus, The Bluestocking...

[ErrolTheDragon]

En franglais, in English .... open to all women for company, fun and fabulous artworks. Leave unwanted reality in the porch and come along in.

I hope (one has to hope) festal quokkas signal an end to plumbing the depths of nameless horror. The courgette cocktails were bad, the spam one worse (and I quite like spam), but that catless tail was terrifying.

Winter is closing in, give me happy, give me peaceful, give me books with happy endings and mugs of tea made just right. Please.

Sorry, the gerbils got distracted by the thought of baby quokkas!

Breakfasts are coming now.

Speaking of bottomless depths of nameless horrror, if we have to have the Union Jack, can we have some other flags as well? I associate it with red white and blue kerbstones and open sectarian threat. Diluting it would help dissipate that.

Jokes about the 'situation' in Northern Ireland are normally to be avoided, but I do like the one about the visitor to Belfast who saw the red white and blue kerbstones in one area, and the green white and orange ones in another area, and asked a local
'Sorry, I'm confused - what exactly are your parking regulations in this city?'

One of those gerbils appears to be standing on the breakfast tray...

Waiter, there's a gerbil in my breakfast! Don't shout about it Madam, they'll all want one.

Just checking, these are hypoallergenic gerbils, aren't they?

You don't want to see what the gerbils do in the actual kitchen 😶. Luckily they get sanitised on their way in and sprayed with an anti shedding hypoallergenic mixture that rids them of anything and everything that may make people ill or sneezy.

Got to say though the one on the tray is very cute, he is however on a YGTS (youth gerbil training scheeme) so may need further training.

We do have a full range in the back, but they need moving to lower shelves so the gerbils Can reach them.

I don't see an Irish flag there - it would be useful to have one to signal that it contains Barry's tea, not some inferior liquid.

Speaking of which, the stars and stripes would, confusingly, be a red flag.

YGTS placement, gotcha. Dean, I think I saw an interesting Canadian/South Korean flag on one of those mugs. Not sure what that would signify but it's probably unique and would therefore be a good one to adopt to make sure you have confidence about what's in it?

YGTS

?you've got tea standards?

it would be useful to have one to signal that it contains Barry's tea, not some inferior liquid.
Oh now you've really done it, shame on you DeanElderberry, you've stirred up the deepest most difficult division in Irish history, like totes everrrrr....😂

We must explain that the two 'best' brands of tea in Ireland were Barry's tea [from Cork] and Bewley's tea [from Dublin] and the supporters of each were quite vehement in their loyalty😏
Unfortunately Bewley's sort-of went out of business [long story] so now the battle is Barry's tea vs Lyon's Tea which is a no-brainer. Even a Dub like me would choose Barry's.

Somebody might mention Campbells, in the lovely big yellow tin? But the tins are probably too big for their gerbils to get their little paws around..

Bewley's was fine, but my 'vote for CJH' in-and-out-of-St Brendan's aunt referred to elsethread drank Lyon's and my dear, the horror!

Sometimes we get Lyon's at craft group, but I put up with it for the sake of the company.

Though I'm bitter about the company just at the moment having bought gluten-free coconut cookies last week that I was looking forward to, only to be distracted just before tea time so that the scoundrels ate the whole packet before I turned up. Next time my biscuit offerings are staying in my bag until I arrive at the tea table.

YGTS is the Youth Gerbil Training Scheme that the one standing on the breakfast tray is enrolled in. Still a work in progress, that one, but cute.

Is it lunch time yet? I believe Boily is about to arrive on the gravy train from France.

The cutlery on the gravy train is worrying me. They seem to have optical illusion knives...

I've just been in the kitchen. My eldest sprog can in with a handful of maltesers so I could take a couple (I raised her right) then she went off upstairs. I followed her and noticed a solitary malteser on the living room table. After a brief quandary (why was it there? Had it been dropped on the floor?) I shrugged, picked it up and popped it in my mouth. I'm now wondering why there was an acorn on the living room table?

No2 son is home from the Land of Quokkas - he went out there in January, to teach for four years, and is nipping home for a few days for his friend’s wedding. He has just landed, but is the back of a plane with 799 other passengers, so I don’t think he will be through immigration and baggage reclaim any time soon.

He is here tonight, then off south tomorrow to see his brother, wife and niece, then back here on Tuesday and off north on Friday for the wedding. He flies back to Australia a week tomorrow!

I just have one sleeve to sew in, and then ds3’s sweater is done, and I can cast on sweater no5 - the yarn hasn’t arrived for the other projects yet, and I can’t be without a project on hand. It’s an illness.

Does the gravy bowser do chicken gravy, please? And if so, can you dispatch it northwards - roast chicken for dinner tonight, and the menfolk like their gravy. Thanks.

Cake, my money is on a cunning trap laid for you. But my children are smartarses who would totally do that and think it was funny. Yours may not!

I hadn't thougt a trap had been laid. But she did fall about laughing when I told her what I'd done, so now I'm wondering.

I'd put it down to a stray totoro.

Ah Woley that is lovely that you get to see your DS. Hope you have a fabulous gravy- laden dinner. 😁

I've spent the morning in the emergency Dr's after several interactions with nhs 111 over the past few days. They've been pretty good and have managed to help me swerve A&E. Hurrah! Can you send that nice Nurse Quokka for a bit of care please?

@FuzzyPuffling The best AI can manage at the moment. Hope you're OK.

D'you remember the fatball thread? Same vibe, though accidental.

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/mumsnet_classics/2017083-He-has-eaten-a-fat-ball

Still trying & failing, @FuzzyPuffling . I shudder to think what the narrative is with this set.

And some of the others were just creepy.

I don't think this is much better. Not quite sure which bit of anatomy that's supposed to be...