Roll up, Ladies and Gentlecreatures, the Bluestocking has been redecorated

[DeanElderberry]

Here for your delight and delectation is the hostelry by, for, and about wise, intelligent, creative and kind women, their assorted avatars including (but not limited to) a remarkable beetle, an astute android, a wise cake, and an assembly of companion creatures and animal assistants.

Food and drink available in abundance, all with remarkable non-damaging qualities.

Males may congregate in the nearby Staunch Ally and sometimes visit the stableyard to view outdoor performances by the gerbil waitstaff (who need to be distracted after the moment after that terrible 'misunderstanding' about the meaning of safe sex).

last thread here if you need to know why the Quokkas need some extra cuddles, and why the Cabybaras are being particularly efficient just now

www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/5273255-the-bluestocking-all-gerbils-welcome-must-have-own-frou-frou-skirt?

Me too! never signed up for any FB/Insta/Twitter/X/WhatsApp, like you say Deano, at least make it hard for them to get my data!

I don't like the way a lot of groups/organisations have abandoned websites and only communicate on FB or X, thereby forcing people to either sign up or not engage with the groups. There are a few interesting groups like local history and music and language groups that I'd love to join but they are only on FB so I can't interact with them, and indeed can't donate a few bob to them, as I would if they were more inclusive of non FBers.

But it doesn't bother me a bit that some Stockingers have a WhatsApp group

I left X ( used to be needed for work) when EM took it over.
And junked Linked In after a huge data breach.

Thought you might want to see the book nook before assembly begins.

All this becomes the illustration.

I want an "Ooer missus, that looks complicated" emoji.

@MyrtleLion, I was amused to see some female baseball playing lions (of assorted sizes) from long long ago in today's Chronophoto - https://www.chronophoto.app/daily.html. Picture three. They look very fierce and stern of purpose.

I do use twitter/X in spite of EM - there are few people whose accounts I really enjoy reading. I very rarely post, though it has been known.

Wow! Brilliant pictures! And a new daily game to add to my routine!

(Honestly, I'm too busy to get a job 😂)

Me too!

That book nook looks gorgeous, @MyrtleLion - I hope the making goes smoothly.

I fear it may be the End of Times here in Scotland - there is a flaming ball of fire in the sky, and it isn't raining!! This can only mean armageddon. 😉😂

Time to get your t-shirts out.
In my experience of Scotland, one day of sun = 25% of the year's ration.

From Norkage to Beavers ... thank you for alerting me to the absolutely ridiculous thread on Beavers. Quite a few very loud laughing moments, at least two of them from our own Fuzzy Puffling.

That picture of the beaver is brilliant!

My DH was muttering about beaver overlords this morning after I read him some choice posts!

Not only do we have sunshine but we have the back door open.

I am going to have to issue the annual 'DH is switching to shorts for the summer' klaxon! I can imagine a walrus in long shorts by an open back door (at The Staunch Ally of course), but I don't have time for AI this afternoon.

Glorious in the northwest of England too - we've been up to the southern lakes today, which are gilded with wild daffodils. T-shirt weather by the afternoon (well, while we were walking anyway).

Grey and borderline drizzly here, but I cracked on with a bit of gardening, catching up on a year of neglect. For some reason this is the year of the Long-tailed Tits. Little feathery lollipops all over place making more noise that you'd expect from something so tiny.

I've just had a delivery of polyanthus primulas from Barnhaven, so I'll have to work out where to put them to show them to best advantage. At least three different purpley blues, a couple of deep pink, two oxlips, and I think some bright orangey reds.

Glorious weather here; perfect for beach walking.

It’s a bit out in the sticks, where I’ve come to. On top of that, they have closed the road to the next village while it’s being fixed (the diversion is ridiculously long and through rough, single track lanes). I brought supplies with me because I already knew this.

But… I was supposed to be going to the pub tonight. The pub is now unexpectedly shut due to staff walking out. I didn’t need wine for tonight because I was going to be in the pub, so supplies were depleted.

But…then they opened up the road (just for today and tomorrow). So I’ve just been to the next village and bought wine, kettle chips and dark chocolate.

Feels a bit like that game “Good news; bad news”. But it also feels like a bit of a win 😊.

Our telly has broken. We have had to get the spare portable out of the loft. It is like watching a postage stamp ( and the main tv was only 32"). Good job there's nowt on.

Ah, a zephyr of bumbarrels, how lovely.
(Having read once that 'zephyr' is the collective noun for this charming bird which is almost never seen singly, I use the phrase whenever the slightest opportunity arises ).

We spotted some marsh tits on our walk, and a few more frogs.

I bought my first rhubarb of the year, and it just occurred to me that although it will indeed be an excellent Sunday dessert, I don't have to wait. And that after years of using chervil wrong, I now know that the young stems, cut to the right length and cooked with the rhubarb, do indeed reduce the need for sugar.

I also remember that I learned last year that 'pie plant' is an American name for it.

I want rhubarb crumble and primulas now.

I love rhubarb, and I'd forgotten all about it until now.

I prefer custard on mine....

Sorry.

I got some lovely primulas a couple of weeks ago, they're making me very happy every time I go in and out the front door.

By the way - I'm currently suffering from a weird bug in the iPad MN app, in which currently I can post by doing a quote but I need to swap to the browser to do a standalone post. So please excuse me if I'm overdoing quoting at the moment.

I'm going to do my rhubarb with orange zest, Greek-style yogurt and whipped double cream this time. Crumble will certainly happen before the season is over. The chervil had quite sensibly decided that early March is not a time to put up flowering stems, so I'll be using all the sugar this time. I also paused to remove the sphagnum the primula pots had been topped with for transport, so I'll pause preparing my dessert until tomorrow and have fresh fruit today.

I have fixed a pasta that I can zap in the microwave when I get back from mass, so probably better not to eat all the refined carbs in one meal.

I used to grow it, but have no room.in this garden. DD1 grew it on her allotment and gave me loads. but crown rot did for it last year.

I'm.going to have to buy some, aren't I?

The greengrocers in town was grigging me for weeks with a box full of lovely red stems and green leaves that I kept seeing from across the road, only to find when I approached that it turned out to be beetroot every time until this week. But this week they had not only rhubarb but Cyprus new potatoes also, and the chives are up in the garden, so tomorrow's dinner will hold promise of Spring.

Beautiful weather here again too - I played hide-and-seek with the dogs in the woods this afternoon. I put them in a sit stay and bugger off into the depths of the trees/brambles/bracken and eventually holler 'OKAY!'

If I'm up a tree, which I am sometimes, I can see them hurtling along the paths and doing excellent handbrake turns when they've shot past a turning I've taken. They are thrilled when they find me, and we have a bit of a love-in.

And dare I say that I don't like rhubarb? I was fed far too much of the minging unsweetened stuff at school. I don't even like rhubarb gin, and I have been known to drink cheap gin neat (though that was a long time ago).

I need to go and find this beaver thread.

Edited to add, @Bannedontherun I too am small of nork. I had massive ones when breastfeeding (I looked Dolly Parton when I wore jeans and a shirt), so enjoyed that while it lasted.

Is it outing because it's sharing real phone numbers? Or do you not mind?