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

Well - even staying sober didn’t help with the knitting. I have just cast it on for the fourth time. I am making different mistakes each time - so maybe I have now run out of possible cock ups. We can but hope.

I am stopping for the night - my arm is aching and i need a mini coffee Magnum.

That is quite funny in a Pythonesque sort of way

I've just popped in to make sure the Sleep and Gerbils are all ready for the night shift - Myrtle needs a good sleep after all those tasks for her DM, Woley needs to stop knitting - so no dreams about knitting, thank you Dream Gerbil!
G'night and restful dreams to all 🌛

That is an unbearably cute picture!

@MarieDeGournay
Is Batshit that little blob running through the mist towards the sun?
I don't think I replied to this. And yes, that's Batshit, being herself.

Spring has properly sprung. Primroses, daffs, and I heard the first woodpecker of the season nail-gunning away in the woods the other morning.

Thanks, Edith - see, I'd recognise my Totem Animal anywhere

Britinme That is an unbearably cute picture!
It is, isn't it? I think it's their little hands that make them so relatable, even though they are rodents - I think this is actually a rat.
And the addition of a tiny knitted teddy bear - I mean c'mon, could it be more cute?

Prion1 [that's how I remember her username] once de-lurked to point out that one of my cutesie sleeping gerbil photos was actually a Russian Hamster.
I immediately owned up - anything vaguely gerbil-like will do, as long as it is aaaaawwwwww enough!
edited to correct 'knitted teddy bear' - it isn't knitted, now i look at it properly...

Rats are ridiculously cute. They were my favourite of the kids' pets.

I read an article this morning that said rats actually laugh out loud and like being tickled. If I come across the article again, I'll post a link.

Referring to the 'relatable' little hands that rodents have reminded me of a Scene from My Teens -

I was sitting on a wall chatting to a girl I really fancied at the time and out of the corner of my eye I saw a rat on the nearby railway line going into a discarded crisp packet, coming out with a crisp, which it proceeded to hold in its cute little hands and nibble on as it watched us with great interest, as if we were a soap opera on Rat TV.
<OMG maybe that's what we are😧>

I know what you're thinking: did I kill the vibe by saying
'Oh look - what a cute little rat!'?
Obviously not, or I'd have a life-long aversion to rodents, wouldn't I, and wouldn't frequent a pub staffed by gerbils!

I love that - 'Be More Rat'😄

At the risk of repeating myself, my vote is for guinea pigs - the cutest, wriggliest, squeakiest, wobbliest little bodies ever -gorgeous. When I was a teen, used to sing to my piggy as I held her 😄😍😄

One word in response:
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!💗😄

Exciting news from Scotland's West coast: the sun has finally made an appearance.
I'll see if Mr Igneo wants to come for a cycle ride.

Glad you're having some decent weather at last @Igneococcus . The two days of Spring seem to have evaporated here and we're back to cold and drizzly. Probably just as well. I got almost half of the fence painted yesterday, but woke up this morning with a stiff shoulder and elbow. I think I'll do the rest in shorter spurts, when the weather improves again.

Commiserations to all those with stiff joints and fall injuries. I injured my knee just after Covid, tripping over something that had been left carelessly in a doorway and which I didn't see as I was carrying a large box. When I went to hospital for an X-ray, the male nurse said, "I understand you've had a fall?"
"Certainly not", I said indignantly, channelling my inner Margaret Rutherford, before explaining what had actually happened. I just about managed to avoid calling him "young man". There were no fractures, but some tendon damage which had shifted my kneecap a bit. It took several months to heal properly, with physio and a knee brace and I'm still wary of it when using step-ladders or going down stairs.

Loved the dawn photo @EdithStourton It was very atmospheric. I could just about make out Batshit's head. She was clearly saying Yoo-hoo, you can't see me. I'm HAVING FUN! And Brains no doubt standing there rolling her eyes.

Sash! If you shout about it too loudly it will disappear for another year...

Could I have a pot of tea and some naice biscuits, please bar gerbil? I'm going to settle down in a cosy corner to read the book I didn't get to after all the distractions the other day.

What!?

No Gillian that wasn't meant to be a dig at you. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to....

Well, I've set her off again. I'm surprised that slam didn't break the glass in the door.

I'll be in the corner😬

In today's edition of Magpie's Nature Notes, we have violets!

Lovely! I love the Bluestockingers' Nature Notes, thank you🌱

Well my watch says I slept 7.5 hours straight so many thanks to the Sleep Gerbil.

Unfortunately I had one of those jump scare dreams where I wake up and sit bolt upright full of urgency for a task I need to do. I never know what the task is, though sometimes I have a vague recollection of something...

I was fine and returned to a lovely sleep, but it woke the Walrus who was on the verge of dropping off and he barely slept at all. 😔

I think I had the other half of one of those dreams on Wednesday. I woke at about 5.00 very aware that I had been out for a walk in the cold pre-dawn darkness and had come upon two men whose overheard conversation made me aware that they were very bad and violent people. Since, luckily, I had taken two very sharp kitchen knives with me on the walk I was able to stab them both to death from behind - in between the ribs, donchaknow.

I spent the rest of the time until the teasmade stared and it was time to say my prayers trying to work out how long it would be before the bodies were found and how I would clean the knives.

I then gradually came to the realisation that it was all a dream and none of it actually happened.

I hope.

Most of my kitchen knives wouldn't actually have long enough blades.

Last night, I dreamt that I was an undercover policewoman infiltrating football related gangs. In said dream, I was young and slim.

I have no idea where that came from.

Gosh, you all have much more exciting dreams than me. I dreamt a few nights ago that I was peeling heaps of vegetables. Haven't a clue what they were for!

I think it was very fortunate that you had the foresight to take the knives with you. Goodness knows how you would have managed otherwise.

absolutely, a lesson for life.

@AuntieMsDamsonCrumble , you were probably hoping that the vegetable juices, potato starch etc would help to clean the nasty-men blood off the knives. Helped by the dishwasher of course.

I have quite odd dreams, and I often remember them. Only the other night, I was giving Douglas Bader an eye test. And this morning, I was about to get married, but a little girl had scribbled all over my satin slip with blue biro.