The Bluestocking - your local women's pub, warm, friendly, and not at all unusual in any way.

[MarieDeGournay]

Welcome to The Bluestocking, the welcome is warm, the conversation is wide-ranging, the food and drink are delicious but magically free from anything they need to be free from, and the bar staff are highly-trained, professional, efficient and very friendly gerbils.

I'm all fluffed up against the cold, aren't I?
Being a Bluey puffin, I'm not bothered about the "spending months at sea" business, but I do like a visit to my cliffs now and again.

@AuntieMsDamsonCrumble - your user name reminds me I have a big bag of damsons in the freezer - a neighbour dropped them off the day after I'd made damson jam, so i shoved them in the chest freezer and promptly forgot about them. Maybe I should make them into a crumble.

Ooh yes! or damson cobbler.. or damson tart.. or damson gin........

I'm not sure BSE has t-shirts.
If the design were to be left to Suffolk CC, they'd show the sugar factory...

The practicalities of realising you are disabled rather than just temporarily not mobile are tedious.
But the emotions involved in accepting that you are now, subtly or not-so-subtly, a different person can be very hard.
I wish you well with all of that

I'm still struggling with that, having always been the kind of person who other people looked to for help - someone to help paint their new flat, trim their hedges, drive them places, go for long walks, etc etc., and I am no longer that person.

A surprising number of my acquaintances haven't been able to make the transition with me - they either don't make contact, or if they do they continue to talk blithely about going on long walks etc and look puzzled when I decline.

Or they talk at great length about things they know I can no longer do, like how lovely it is wandering around art galleries or garden centres or that kind of thing - it never occurs to them that it's a bit tactless🙄

I'm afraid my opinion of Humanity has taken a bit of a nosedive as a result of how people reacted to the different, disabled me.

I like popping in to the Bluey and being Marie who has no issues or expectations and is surrounded by excellent company

If they've been stoned, defrost them, drain them and put them in a cake - provided you've drained them, you can use one of those batters that you put sliced apple on.

Top favourite in this house.

I’ve just joined this site, wow I love this ☺️

@PastaAllaNorma the practicalities of disability are easy to ignored if you're able-bodied. When I was much younger I hung out with a bloke who was a wheelchair user, and it really brought me up short. I have lived my life since very appreciative of a body that mostly works, and I hope that when it starts to disintegrate, I'll have the grace, guts and determination to deal with it the way he did.

And yes, adjustments can be massive - I know he had a terrible few years before he got himself back together, but he managed it. His evil sense of humour probably helped.

My physical limitations are mainly down to the ageing process and don't (at the moment) stop me from doing much - although I do tire more easily than I used to. I do have a near relative though, whose mobility became limited very quickly in his 60s due to a sudden, catastrophic illness which restricts day to day life for someone who was a keen cyclist and golfer. His determination to concentrate on what can still be achieved, with help, constantly amazes me and I would also hope to be able to deal with such an eventuality with such determination, (though I have my doubts).

I once had the privilege of knowing someone who was celebrating her centenary after a very difficult life. She said her 'secret' to happiness (she was always smiling) was in looking for the small pleasures in life - nature, good food and a nice chat with her friends - all the things we have in the Bluestocking, in fact

Hi @Priceyyy welcome to the Bluestocking. It's a bit quiet at the moment, but pull up a chair and get warm.

A bargerbil will be along in a moment for your order - please be aware that all food and drink eaten on the premises contain no calories, alcohol units or other pesky things, although they all taste as you would expect.

Lazy trout that I am, I just bunged them on the freezer as they came. Not looking forward to the stoning part. When I make damson jam I leave the stones in and scoop them out after.

My grandmother was lazier still - she left the stones in the jam and told us they were an extra treat, we were 'allowed' to suck the jam off them.

I've just had a nice half hour reading a cookbook to reward myself for chasing up a mobility referral and contacting orthotics.

The easiest wat to stone damsons is with an olive stoner as they are a similar size. Saves fishing out all the stones later.

Driving through the coutryside today, I saw a field of sheep (one black one) & swathes of snowdrops on a verge.The bare trees are still beautiful, & I want to do some artwork using them as inspiration: does anyone know of a website or a book with good images of various trees in their (whisper it) naked form?

And can anyone recommend what I call a handbag camera? I guess it's a compact digital, but a recommended one of those I saw was £1K! I'm looking at spending up to £250, because above that I wouldn't want to take it out & chuck it around. I bought one for about £100 years ago & have used it constantly since then but it's on its last legs.

Love to all suffering a loss of abilities. Won't go into details, but for me this week is marked by a loss of pain which I've had constantly for several years. It's like the sun came out, it's lovely.

If they've been stoned, defrost them, drain them and put them in a cake -
Is this a new Drug Diversion scheme?😁

You're very welcome Priceyyy - Damson has filled you in on the the refreshments on offer, and the speed and efficiency of the very professional gerbil bar staff has to be seen to be believed. Literally.

As you've probably noticed, we have images based on our usernames [ I end up wearing a fancy frock because of my username😡]

They are invented by the cleverer Bluestockingers, not by the likes of me, so I'm looking forward to seeing what they make of Priceyyy ... maybe a gold ingot with arms and legs

This is my favourite.

http://www.spiced-tea.com/premium-cardamom-tea

They're in Britain but price in euros for some reason. It's more expensive but more reliable on Amazon: https://amzn.eu/d/cmIbO9H

And this is the replacement, cheaper but comes with a string. I use a teapot so the string is annoying, but I bought enough to last me about 18 months.

https://uk.ahmadtea.com/products/cardamom-tea-teabags

What a lovely description of your drive
I can't recommend a camera, though I do actually have two because I don't use a smartphone.
I have two because I bought one, a Fuji, which was OK except that when it was sunny you couldn't see what you were photographing. So I then got what seemed to be the last remaining small not expensive digital camera that had a look-through viewfinder as well as a screen. It's a Canon.
But they are both very old now so hopefully someone has more up-to-date recommendations!

On the subject of bare trees - I don't have any images, but I do have words, written by Anne Morrow Lindbergh [yes, wife of that Lindbergh]

BARE TREE

Already I have shed the leaves of youth,
Stripped by the wind of time down to the truth
Of winter branches. Linear and alone
I stand, a lens for lives beyond my own,
A frame through which another’s fire may glow,
A harp on which another’s passion blow.

The pattern of my boughs, an open chart
Spread on the sky, to others may impart
Its leafless mysteries that once I prized.
Before bare roots and branches equalized;
Tendrils that tap the rain or twigs the sun
Are all the same; shadow and substance one.
Now that my vulnerable leaves are cast aside,
There’s nothing left to shield, nothing to hide.

Blow through me, Life, pared down at last to bone,
So fragile and so fearless have I grown!

Gerbils, please do not bring me any cardamom tea, EVER. I really dislike cardamom.

I don't like any herbal teas.

I pretty much stand with a friend who described peppermint tea as "a Polo mint and some floor sweepings".

I thank you.

Speaking of nature, I meant to share this with you all. In the churchyard, yesterday.

That's a beautiful photo, Edith.

I'm with Fuzzy on herbal teas -there have been times when somebody offered me 'a cup of tea' and it turned out to be a herbal, and I felt like beating them about the head with a rolled up copy of the Trade Descriptions Act😄

Orthotics appointment will be the day after my next orthopaedic appointment - DOH!

GP will refer me to ENT and a chest x-ray on the cancer pathway. I don't have cancer but it means I'll get a quicker referral. I also mentioned autism and ADHD and she said to research right to choose and select a company for each assessment and then let them know.

Landscaper came round to quote. The decking which is rotten was built on top of the old patio. So that will need to be taken up as well. But hopefully we'll have a new garden space by the end of February.

Just the physio call at 5.30pm to do. Though I also had to get in touch with the sofa company because the reclining mechanism has snapped, (see pictures) so the seat lurches back and to one side. It can't really be sat on. It's 4 and a half years old and should not have failed so badly. It should have lasted for 8-10 years.

Even when it's not reclined you can see that it's not upright against the rest of the sofa.

Lovely photo Edith!

Oh, I agree.

But this is proper black tea. With cardamom in it. So not rubbish infusions without any actual tea included.

Still a big fat NO thank you, from me. It's still got cardamom in it. 😀

Weirdly, my first job after leaving university in 1973 was in an advertising agency in London. This would explain why they shuffled me to junior account executive rather than copywriting. However, I only lasted a year there - the major account I was on was a cigarette company and it began to feel immoral.