The Bluestocking - where women are women, and small furry animals are gerbils, quokkas, capybaras, or a red panda called Rosy

[MarieDeGournay]

Welcome all to the Bluestocking Pub, a haven safe from harsh reality [mostly] full of good company, and excellent food and drink served by the most efficient team of gerbils in the hospitality industry.

I love your pics @inkymoose ❤️. That second one is very much like my home; you are rather insightful 😊!

It’s good to be back, yes. Just took the hound out for his night sniffy-wee down the lane. The moon’s good tonight.

Lovely to read the latest news.

I saw this on twitter/X & it reminded me of the Bluestocking (takes out onion). We need some flying snowball cakes about the place.

That is the little face I see looking out at me from the lichen-ball nest in the garden. Always a bit anxious.

I envy you your bumbarrel nest, Dean!
The gasman cometh today so I’m up but constrained to be in waiting. Drinking tea in the kitchen watching a charm of goldfinches on the feeder and fat woodpigeons on the ground. Then took Merlin outside for a brief listen - blackbirds, blue tits, chaffinch, great tit, greenfinch, magpie, wren and robin so far. I can hear a pheasant too, one usually shows up at some point. Usually after the woodpigeons and blackbirds have polished off the ground seed, so he struts around disconsolately till I take out some more whereupon of course he flies off squawking. There’s a dunnock on the ground now, incoming great tits.

Having done shedloads of washing yesterday ( before the vost of water goes up!), we're going to have a day out to an NT property. With a picnic.
Happy April, everyone.

I’ve just spotted the rosy splash of the bullfinch in a bush. Haven’t seen a female yet.
The rspb website has a brilliant photo of a pair, whoever took it must have been delighted.

https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/bullfinch

Happy April to all, indeed
April Rise
If ever I saw blessing in the air
I see it now this still early day
Where lemon-green the vaporous morning drips
Wet sunlight on the powder of my eye.

Blown bubble-film of blue, the sky wraps round
Weeds of warm light whose every root and rod
Splutters with soapy green, and all the world
Sweats with the bead of summer in his its bud.

If ever I heard blessing it is there
Where birds in trees that shoals and shadows are
Splash with their hidden wings and drops of sound
Break on my ears their crests of throbbing air.

Pure in the haze the emerald sun dilates,
The lips of sparrows milk the mossy stones,
While white as water by the lake a girl
Swims her green hand among the gathered swans.

Now, as the almond burns its smoking wick,
Dropping small flames to light the candled grass;
Now, as my low blood scales its second chance,
If ever world was blessed, now it is.

-Laurie Lee
It's the only thing of his I've ever read, not being a fiction reader, but I don't need to know anything more than this wonderful poem

Drinking tea in the kitchen watching a charm of goldfinches on the feeder

I’ve never seen charm used as a collective noun before. Most appropriate. Is it one of your own invention, @ErrolTheDragon ?

The primroses are amazing today.

No, I think that’s a fairly well-known one.
fact-checking myself, turns out it’s even the name of a book about collective nouns!

I’ve mentioned before my other favourite, which isn’t widely used - a zephyr of long tailed tits, aka bumbarrels.
Cue more seasonal poetry, this from John Clare

Bumbarrel’s Nest

The oddling bush, close sheltered hedge new-plashed,
Of which spring’s early liking makes a guest
First with a shade of green though winter-dashed –
There, full as soon, bumbarrels make a nest
Of mosses grey with cobwebs closely tied
And warm and rich as feather-bed within,
With little hole on its contrary side
That pathway peepers may no knowledge win
Of what her little oval nest contains –
Ten eggs and often twelve, with dusts of red
Soft frittered – and full soon the little lanes
Screen the young crowd and hear the twitt’ring song
Of the old birds who call them to be fed
While down the hedge they hang and hide along.

I think yesterday and earlier this morning I read a thread in Feminism about a current employment tribunal. I can’t find it now.

Can anyone help me with this? Has it been disappeared?

Is it this one March?
UCU being taken to tribunal over discrimination for 'gc' views | Mumsnet

It is, thank you very much, @MarieDeGournay .

UCU was one of my search terms, as was Pale. I thought I’d then looked in both Feminism: Chat and Feminism: Sex and gender discussions. I don’t know what I was doing wrongly, but at least I’ve found it now. Thank you again.

Those are beautiful! Saw loads yesterday at a NT property: swathes of daffs, primroses & ?kingcups. Some patches of snake's head fritillaria were pretty special, too.

I saw kingcups/marsh marigolds today - wonderfully cheering intense yellow and shiny round leaves. Also the first stitchwort.

Anyone on Facebook may want to look at the National Trust for Scotland's update today.

This is the picture.

Those are very natty titfers @FuzzyPuffling's relatives are wearing!

I reckon puffins would look very smart in nice navy ganseys as well as those knitted hats.

I saw my first stitchwort a couple of days ago but can't remember where.

The most exciting birdlife I saw today was a very fat woodie on the lawn, but then, I was indoors almost all day Doing Shit - the stuff that has to be done even when the sun is shining.

They do!

Love the puffin pictures 😊❤️.

Not registered many flowers today. The bulbs are up on the lane edges, and I did notice some blossom was out when I walked the hound this afternoon. On the bird front, mostly rooks, geese, magpies and ducks.

Just been out with the hound in the dark. There’s a Cheshire (Cat) moon and the sky is clear so the stars are very visible and bright. Felt quite magical.

Night all 🥱

I love the pictures! It looks such a warm and wonderful place with beautiful clientele.
id very much like to book a room if that’s ok? It will,be the cozy one at the end with paneling and a crackling log fire with a kettle nestled in the logs, and a toasting fork laden with muffins and butter.
oh and lots of old books about adventures. And maybe a wardrobe with fur coats in it. And gerbils keen to explore. Sigh.

We’ve been out watching a one man show about Sir Walter Raleigh, sky walking back to the car was very clear with that thin moon.

Doing stuff indoors when the sun is shining is irksome - I was feeling it a bit today because this was supposed to be the first day of my retirement. Long story short, I was all set to hand in my notice at the end of February, had told my management I intended to - but then at the end of the previous week DH started with what was initially thought to be an eye infection but turned out to be uveitis which can be pretty serious. Full diagnosis of the cause and therefore ongoing treatment takes time and so scuppered our travel plans, makes insurance impossible and there’s a possibility of flare ups. So seemed more sensible to carry on working for now - it’s part time, from home and stops my brain rotting. Heigh ho.

Oh hello! Welcome!
be a bit careful about that wardrobe, I thought I saw some gerbils emerge playing snowballs.