The Bluestocking Inn, cocktails and cocoa and all

[DeanElderberry]

Opening soon in a salubrious location.

And thanks to the miraculous qualities, although we will indeed have

One-steps and two-steps and the divil knows what new steps
We know that we never would be dull again, bedad
We'll have wine, porter and lemonade.
We'll have cocktails and cocoa and all
We'll have champagnes tonight
But NO real pains next morning
Tonight when we dance at the Bluestocking Ball

slight apologies to Frank Harte

Oooh it's been a while since I have been involved in a good shunning. I think more people deserve to be shunned.

I got a post deleted yesterday. Does that count as "shunning"?

Coooorrr! Nice tractor!

@Britinme has been known to appear as a chickadee, iirc. UTIs are absolutely awful.

I thought I was stuck inside today, tidying the kitchen for a workman tomorrow, but as I was typing my previous post he texted and cancelled. So I was able to join my family who were literally on the way out the door to go for ice cream. Which is why I didn't proof read and notice autocorrupt had changed snakeshead to Shakespeare! Thank you everyone for being too polite to say anything.

Brit is a chickadee, if I remember correctly. Which is a lovely word for a lovely bird!
ETA cross post!

I remembered that in previous threads, Brit appeared as a chickadee. I am not confident that the AI is quite on the mark here, but it's a start.

@MoontreeMarmot I wish I knew who you used to be. I'm rubbish at this guessing game!

Chickadees are members of the tit family, so that might help AI prompts?

I'm having a rough time with an escalation in joint pain. I feel so ropey I didn't even make my St David's Day bara brith.

It must be cocktail hour somewhere. Cheers!

tch, I went and googled 'Shakespeare fritillaries' and decided they must be those splendid Crown Imperials that I'm too cheapskate to buy.

V fond of the snakesheads, mine haven't opened yet.

I've never had any success with Crown Imperials. Some of the chequerboard snakesheads have survived in the side return, where I also have snowdrops and daffs, but they haven't spread as much as I would like. I wonder whether the grey squirrels are partially to blame: it turns out that a neighbour is feeding them in his house, hence the large number scampering around our street.

@MarieDeGournay even today women are supposed to be kind and pretty. I just imagine back in the day a woman standing out, not fitting the mould, would have been a source of gossip if only because she was a novelty, and it passed the time. It's also generally easier to join in the pile on because you don't want to be lumped in with her.

I hope you feel better soon @PastaAllaNorma
I found some chickadee photos. I think the first one must be in Winter plumage.

I've always thought Jenny Diski was a piece of work.

Damaged by environment and upbringing and the timing of her life, but she really worked at sharing the damage.

That's true! Also it still happens today. People are judged all the time for their appearance especially when they are older women.
It is shocking. However, we are not like that here because we are

a ma zing !

As spring advances I've been noticing I have Great Tits.

How gorgeous!

Had to tell fella that, round where we live, if someone hears you talking about the long tails in your garden they're as likely to think rats as tits.

I'm sorry Fuzzy, I didn't intend to make it into a guessing game – I just wanted to explain why I was so familiar with all the goings-on in the bluestocking.
I did think up some really awful usernames before settling on this one. Now they are forever stored in my profile 😳

We had them in the woods behind our house when I lived in Canada. Gorgeous wee birds named after their call "chickadee-dee-dee"

My snakehead fritillaries haven't sprouted at all yet but at least the tete a tetes are in bloom in time for Dewi Sant.

As for feeling better - I just need to get old enough for the NHS to agree to my knee replacement. It's been bone on bone for over 10 years.

That's appalling. If you need a knee replacement they should not be looking at your age! It should be based on clinical need 😬

I've been lucky enough to have joint surgeries in the NHS and bone-on-bone pain is excruciating.
Do you have decent painkillers available to you?

@MoontreeMarmot officially? No. I have Naproxen but I don't take them because they don't do a damned thing

Unofficially? I have some Tramadol from my Dad that I can take once or twice a week when it's particularly rough.

Incidentally, I have never used AI but I asked it to make an image for me and I think Chat gpt and I have VERY different ideas what "woman in her mind 50s" looks like!

I haven't been in lately and I need a long line of drinks, please, bar-gerbil.

The black dress is getting yet another outing. DH's uncle has died, there are all sorts of complications, we're wearing a groove in the 2.5 hours' worth of road between our house and his. It's only a year since the death of DH's father and not much more since his stepmother's. His uncle had no partner or children and DH is the only nephew or niece still living in the UK, so is shouldering all the responsibility of trying to sort everything out, and as I say there are major complications.

Fuck, is all I can say.

Will this do, Cher? Sounds like you need it
And a sympathy camel and dromedary too 🐪🐫

But of course, Dean.
One might even say, welcome to the club!

My sister's knee joints have been shot for years, she's now virtually housebound although she's got other health problems. She was told she was too young, that was decades ago. Something about the lifespan of the replacement joint. Seemed very dubious to me. She's still waiting.

My knees can be painful, they sound like a distant forest fire. I've freaked the odd person out by letting them feel the crackle when I flex my knee, but I'm lucky I can cope and don't need a stick...yet.