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?

I have been taken hostage by some sort of buggy/cold thing. I have worked; soldiering bravely on in true pirating fashion, but with lots of nose blowing.

I had a visit from a heron about a month ago. I was taking the hound for his short walk at night, and saw it fly to the top of my path, where it waited until I came back. I hoped for some sort of spiritual type encounter when I got there. It just flew up, almost vertically like going up a lift shaft, and I felt the startling rush of feathers and chaos next to me in the dark. I came home and googled what it might mean (because I was probably trying to force some sort of connection with the beautiful bird) but I couldn’t find much.

‘Twas ever thus…. 🤣

I Agree! I love this image.

It's from Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll and has since been adopted by the dungeons and dragons crowd.

We had a heron.
We had fish.
The two were not compatible.

I used to know Jabberwocky off by heart, but I don't think I do any more. I love the bit about the vorpal blade going snicker-snack, though!

@MarieDeGournay You will always share your house with uninvited animals. Mice are nowhere near the worst. They start to move in around October and fuck off again in late March. Just accept that you will have to clear up some mouse droppings. They won't wee on your food unless you leave it out uncovered.

Rats on the other hand .....

I know we snigger at les francais for having a soft drink brand called Pschitt, but what must they think of us for washing our clothes with Persil?

Parsley.

Aah Jabberwocky ....

He left it dead
And with its head
He went galumphing back.

In my family, we used to say galumphing quite often, generally rudely describing how one or other of the children had been thundering about up and down the stairs or along the landing. It's a great word!

For two or three years I taught a Drama lesson based around Jabberwocky.
Ha, many decades ago now, though.

So pleased to read your post at 13:59, @MyrtleLion Here’s to many more such good days, for all of us.

The French also raise an amused eyebrow at shops having signs all over the place saying SALE - 'dirty' in French!

I countered with my horror at seeing signs in France advertising PAIN - shops dedicated entirely to hurting people?😆

As for NO PETS ALLOWED - 'pet' being 'fart' in French, you can imagine the immature giggling...🙄

Thank you for these words of consolation, Jane, I'm hoping that my little visitor will move out soon on schedule🙂

I've had little mice pass through my kitchen before, sometimes pausing on a worktop to fix me with a look of not-unfriendly interest, and I think they are cute - well, how could one be a Stockinger and not find little rodents cute?😁

The hygiene aspect bothers me though, I now have to start each day by wiping down all the kitchen surfaces, even the ones they haven't left a little reminder on, because I can't be sure...😕

And I have to go through everything in the cupboard they managed to access and throw lots of things out, but I have to wait until the trapped nerve in my back improves to be able to do that - not great timing, Mousie😠

Humane traps have been ordered, so I'll see if they work!

A trapped nerve in your back, @MarieDeGournay? I do sympathise. They can be terribly painful.

Thank you, it's starting to get better - what a lovely feeling when pain starts to fade, it's like clouds parting and the sun coming out.

So I'll share the sympathy with poor Swash, hope it's not scurvy due to lack of limes on your last voyage!

Your heron story is lovely. I have a regular heron visitor in my garden - pond+frogs=heron. When it takes off it looks like a pterodactyl.

You don't need to look for a meaning in your magical encounter with that heron in the dark, it obviously touched you deeply, and now it has touched us too. It's 'something understood' without a meaning having to be found:

The milkie way, the bird of Paradise,
Church-bels beyond the starres heard, the souls bloud,
The land of spices; something understood.

George Herbert, Prayer.

A trapped nerve in your back sounds awful, @MarieDeGournay - I'm glad the pain is lessening. And hugs to the poorly @Swashbuckled too.

I don't know if I have told this story in here (apologies if I have), but my mum once woke up and found dad hadn't come to bed, so went to find him, and he was in the front room, fast asleep in front of the boxing, with a mouse sitting on his foot, watching the TV and cleaning its whiskers. Mum didn't wake dad up - instead, she woke up the cat who was asleep on the sofa next to him. The cat saw the mouse, leapt with all her claws out onto dad's foot, whilst the mouse scarpered to safety and dad woke up with a bit of a start!

Thank you Woley!
What a pity there weren't smartphones around to capture the mouse incident!
But our imaginations can do quite a good job😄

I've forgotten who wanted to get back into cryptic crosswords, but I just bought Book 10 of 'The Times Quick Cryptic Crossword' (100 puzzles with answers) & there's a worked example crossword in the front, with explanations of how to solve each clue. £7.99 from all good booksellers, other crossword books are available, blah blah blah.

Right, where did that small swimming pool of hot chocolate go? I don't want to bring an unwelcome blast of reality with me, especially not of a political nature, so I'm going to go and paddle in hot chocolate until I have calmed down a bit.
For anyone curious, just remember that I'm in education, and this is the extended ramifications of a particularly dim bit of policy making.

Blasts of reality happen - but as soon as the door closes behind you the warmth of the Bluestocking and the yumminess of the hot choc should counteract it .
Hope it works for you this evening, Magpie

It's here!

Thanks @MyrtleLion and @MarieDeGournay. I can feel it doing me good already!

I love George Herbert's poems, even though I don't share his religious beliefs. He always comes across as such a friendly soul. And I like his unabashed admiration for the ladies. How many priests would write an ode to the nipples on Julia's breasts comparing them to strawberries drowned in cream?

I also love the poetry of Gerard Manley Hopkins, though I share his religious beliefs even less and I feel rather sorry for his general unhappiness, but who couldn't respond to his work?

Nothing is so beautiful as Spring –
When weeds, in wheels, shoot long and lovely and lush;
Thrush’s eggs look little low heavens, and thrush
Through the echoing timber does so rinse and wring
The ear, it strikes like lightnings to hear him sing;
The glassy peartree leaves and blooms, they brush
The descending blue; that blue is all in a rush
With richness; the racing lambs too have fair their fling.

(On edit - not sure why this formatted weirdly - should be all one stanza).

And even more weirdly, once I edited it to add that line, it formatted correctly. Huh.

Busy day!

I was on a panel from my previous field and it went really well. I still knew my stuff.

I had a call about a non executive role from a recruiter who told me I had been recommended! And she thought my LinkedIn profile showed I was a great fit.

I applied for an interim role and I prepped for tomorrow's interview.

I'm tired now. Not sure if I can cope with a full time job any more! 🤣

Well, @MarieDeGournay I don’t know whether to be grateful to you or curse you for pulling me out of my denial 🤣.

My blast of reality is that I have realised I have mice in the roof space above my bedroom. I’ve been vaguely aware of this possibility a couple of times since I’ve lived here, but had not paid it much heed and had let it leave my mind. Last night I heard scurries of their tiny feet above, and it dawned on me what they were. I had previously thought this occasional sound was “gusts” of rain. So when I heard it again last night I thought “Drat; just about to take the hound out!” so checked the forecast, which was dry. It all made sense as they scarpered in and out. My neighbour has a mouse issue every year, and it’s on his side.

I made a late night online purchase of some peppermint oil (mixed with Eucalyptus, Citronella, Lemon, Chilli, Lavender & Clove). I’m meant to dilute it with water and spray it in the loft. Apparently, the mice aren’t keen. It came today but I plan to do it after work tomorrow. I shall report back! I do like @JanesLittleGirl ’s belief that they will go in spring but wasn’t sure if they would and your situation helped me focus on it for what it was.

The area of the loft they’re in is a part I haven’t had boarded out, and is inaccessible as it’s over an extension and blocked off. But there’s a hole I can chuck oil soaked cotton balls into, and I can spray the rest of the loft that I can access.

Part of me wonders whether the neighbour has made them a tunnel to divert them into my roof space, because he is a very unpleasant lunatic 🤣.

Thanks also for the well-wishes; still poorly but hopefully not scurvy, and had a spot of salad just in case.

Thanks also @MarieDeGournay for your Heron Comfort; that was nice.

It seems to be all going very well @MyrtleLion; your going to be wet through with Prosecco!

It was me! Thank you!

I’ve thought I’d need to wait until I retire to have the time to mentally dally and contemplate, but maybe I could do it on the beach in the summer….

Best wishes to Swashy and Marie.
Being unwell or in pain is miserable.

Myrtle your job hunt seems to be steaming ahead.

And Brit, I have been a massive fan of Hopkins since my teens. It's skylark season here at the moment, so:
Left hand, off land, I hear the lark ascend,
His rash-fresh re-winded new-skeinèd score
In crisps of curl off wild winch whirl, and pour
And pelt music, till none’s to spill nor spend.