Help protect children from gaming harms.

Take our survey

Please or to access all these features

Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

The Bluestocking Women's Pub: Where the Bluebird Sings to the Lemonade Springs

1000 replies

AngleofRepose · 12/07/2026 21:31

Croeso/Welcome to the Bluestocking Women's Pub, with our lovely gerbil staff, the icy Mojito foot-bath for those of you fed up with the heat, a Quilting/Craft Nook, lots of yummy food and drink with zero calories, gluten, or allergens, the Gerbil World Cup, and a brand new magic pool that becomes a babbling brook whenever you want it to!

Come on in! All women welcome! (Men welcome at The Staunch Ally pub down the road aways)

(security provided by the capybaras, lovely folk, but try not to get in their way)

(oh, and don't mention triangles, please. Gubbins gets very overexcited)

(did we mention the Gerbil World Cup?)

OP posts:
Thread gallery
137
NotAtMyAge · 18/07/2026 13:59

DeanElderberry · 18/07/2026 07:46

It's this, held in a tiny village that was the site of a significant monastic scriptorium and later Friaries.

https://www.nenaghguardian.ie/2026/04/14/medieval-conference-lineup-announced/

the place where this was found

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stowe_Missal

and this

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faddan_More_Psalter

I was going to car share with someone but she's finding the heat too much, so I'll have to get up at some stage to leave time to buy petrol. Not a day to get stranded on the road miles from anywhere.

Your mediaeval history day sounds fascinating. I would love it. I've always been interested in mediaeval illuminated manuscripts and have a couple of lovely illustrated books on them.

FuzzyPuffling · 18/07/2026 15:23

I'm wifi-less at home due to a broken hub. New one supposed to be here on Monday. In the meantime I'm trying to conserve my data.
See you soon! X

Bergamotte · 18/07/2026 15:34

I love chickens, so the image of Pasta's Jurassic Park moment made me smile. They are such wonderful dinosaurs. My gran built a chickenproof fence around her veg patch because the hens reckoned that beds with newly planted seeds, or tiny fragile seedings, were the best place for dust bathing.

Thank you MarieDeGournay for the hens' account of their day out in the garden.

RumNotRun's deer excavation sounds fascinating!

DauntlessDamson · 18/07/2026 16:19

A large iced coffee please, gerbils. In between bouts of gardening I've been watching Josh Kerr break the world record for the mile. It brought back the days of Seb Coe, Steve Ovett and Steve Cram dominating the sport in the 1980s.

My favourite event today though was the pole vault. I know the mechanics of the sport involve converting kinetic energy into momentum through the pole, but it's still amazing watching someone launch themselves upside down at the end of a pole to get over another pole nearly 7 metres off the ground!

Thank heavens the gerbils are still involved with the football 😬

DauntlessDamson · 18/07/2026 16:20

MarieDeGournay · 18/07/2026 13:55

That's amazing about your guests, Chickadeeinme - what a generous offer from you, and how lovely for them to have such a welcoming and convenient place to stay on the far side of the world - with somebody who knows their home town!
A lovely story.
I hope the poetry meeting goes well. Have sales of your book been good? It deserves to be widely read, I'm just going to put on record again that I'm quite fussy about poetry and I loved discovering yoursSmile

I hope the promised cooler weather arrives ASAP, it can't come soon enough for some of us, and some of our feet - FlowersWoley🙁
I'm sure the hens will be talking about today for weeks to come, Pasta -

It was a grand day out, wasn't it? Lovely to be out after lockdown. I don't see why we had to stay indoors, I think it was a government plot to control our movements, why are they so afraid of poultry in motion? Anyhoo...We visited these gardens that were open to the public, very nice it was too. And they had a pick your own and all you can eat buffet too, it was lovely. It was a bit hot, Henrietta ruffled some feathers by saying that it was 'roasting' - honestly, what a birdbrain!, and spent the rest of the afternoon apologising for her use of triggering language...
Best of all, we had the cleaners in, so came home to a lovely clean house..'

Loved the hens' "A Grand Day Out" Marie

PastaAllaNorma · 18/07/2026 16:26

The hens are AndPeggy, Frida, Beryl, Artemisia and Yolko Ono.

I did film them but it's too big a file for MN so I can't share it.

AndPeggy is frequently out and about; the resident escape artist. She's usually eating dandelions and radish tops , which is fine, but gets told off if she goes for the herbs or tomatoes. In spring she can decimate the wild garlic patch. Chickens really, really like wild garlic.

I grow extra brassica crops in the veg beds to provide them with fresh greens through winter. They are fond of spaghetti and grapes, which special treats on celebration days. They also get marmite porridge once a week in winter to keep them in fine fettle.

Today, to get them home from the neighbours' garden I was forced to distribute copious quantities of sunflower hearts, so when they eventually wandered back into their run they were absolutely pogged, the greedy things.

Their habitat is netted off to keep the wild birds away, but they do have a 3m x1m entirely secure Eglu that they are shut in at night for safety. The wider Chook area is 1m out in front of the Eglu, 1m running the length to the side and 3m at the back as their wider playground, ending in a 2m x 3x poly tunnel that is their wet weather playground aka The Chook Wendy House.
All in all it's 2m x 10m, with hay bales, shrubs, dust bath, perching bars and other Fun Stuff For Hens.

It's been 21 years since I got my first hens. We only have 5 just now, but they are rather addictive pets - especially when they could roam the garden and I'd train them. Margo would sit on your knee, Dogger could knock on the door when she wanted to go to bed. Hebrides would hop the fence, walk to the currant bushes and strip them of fruit and hop back again. Viking took exception to blackbirds and would charge at them like a tank.

When her best friend Rockall was killed by a fox, Malin spent 3 weeks looking for her and calling sadly every day, poor love.

ShinyBlueTractor · 18/07/2026 16:28

@PastaAllaNorma aww to your mini dinos! So cute!

@RumNotRun decomposed deer eh, well, rather you than me! I'm sure it was informative though..

I did a fair few digs in a previous life. I quite liked the slightly chaotic vibe of living and working on site at the time but am much keener on a comfy bed and a working shower now.(Actually even a consistently working toilet was not guaranteed ime, honestly don't ask 🤢)

I've got a friend living her best life by volunteering on a bronze age excavation right now, and she's been sending me pictures of cool pot sherds. I'm 50% very jealous and about to run to get a trowel, and the other 50% super aware of what physical work in 33 degree heat would actually be like (i.e. frikking awful).

I'm probably, on balance, happy to give that a swerve... But maybe I'll let myself be lured back one day, who knows.

Meanwhile the little Blue Tractors have recently been making noises about wanting to learn more about (variously) history, classics, or archaeology, and I'm super delighted! But trying not to put them off by being too excitable...

@DeanElderberry your event sounds very interesting, enjoy!

Thehorticulturalhussie · 18/07/2026 16:37

I’m impressed with everything that’s going on in your lives, and wondered briefly whether I should seek a worthwhile hobby but I still don’t actually want to. I volunteered almost all of my adult life alongside working and now I’m content with my friends, walking with my dog and with working in my garden. I have spent quite a long time today following a hornet hoverfly around the native perennials to see if I’m growing the right stuff for all of them, time well spent. So you all have a great time and I’ll be with the beetles and bees.

ErrolTheDragon · 18/07/2026 16:39

That is a worthwhile hobby!

ErrolTheDragon · 18/07/2026 16:43

We went to Clitheroe for the first time in years - pleasant walk around the sculpture park/nature reserve/riverside and then in the town. Until when we were nearly back at the car poor DH tripped and fell headlong, minor abrasions but a badly sprained ankle. That’s going to limit what we can do.Sad

EmpressaurusKitty · 18/07/2026 16:55

After a lovely afternoon with a friend visiting a local stately home & having coffee & cake in its cafe, I’m on the bus home with a pink-flowering catmint plant for my not-at-all-spoiled cat.

Chersfrozenface · 18/07/2026 17:14

Poor Mr Dragon! Sprained ankles can be the very devil. Have the frozen peas been deployed?

SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius · 18/07/2026 17:17

My cat - the aptly nicknamed CatBastard - is currently sulking, because I keep trying to comb all the mats out of his fur. He is somewhere between a short hair and a long hair, and as he is now 18+ and getting stiff, he can’t groom himself well enough. He keeps himself clean, but can’t stop his fur from matting up, and I’m worried that, if I leave it, they could make his skin sore - but brushing/combing him is distressing for him too, so I can only do a bit before he swears at me and strops off.

I think your mediaeval history day sounds fascinating, @DeanElderberry - it’s a period that I am gradually learning more about - I started with an interest in the Tudors, which then stretched back into the Plantagenets and the Wars of the Roses, and then further back into mediaeval history. I listen to history audiobooks at bedtime, and have a massive tbr pile of actual books I’ve bought - buying books and reading them are two entirely separate hobbies, imo. 😂

NotAtMyAge · 18/07/2026 17:36

and have a massive tbr pile of actual books I’ve bought - buying books and reading them are two entirely separate hobbies, imo.

Woley, you're a woman after my own heart. 😂 I'll tyr to remember that line the next time DH asks when I'm going to get my to-read piles actually read.

EmpressaurusKitty · 18/07/2026 17:42

I’ve gone back as far as John of Gaunt & Katherine Swynford, & was really interested to find out about the roots of the Wars of the Roses.

Bergamotte · 18/07/2026 18:10

ErrolTheDragon · 18/07/2026 16:39

That is a worthwhile hobby!

Exactly what I was going to say in response to Thehorticulturalhussie!

Thehorticulturalhussie · 18/07/2026 18:22

Bergamotte · 18/07/2026 18:10

Exactly what I was going to say in response to Thehorticulturalhussie!

Thank you.

PastaAllaNorma · 18/07/2026 18:22

NotAtMyAge · 18/07/2026 17:36

and have a massive tbr pile of actual books I’ve bought - buying books and reading them are two entirely separate hobbies, imo.

Woley, you're a woman after my own heart. 😂 I'll tyr to remember that line the next time DH asks when I'm going to get my to-read piles actually read.

I'm the reverse - I read every novel the second I get my sticky mitts on it. I can't get enough of them

Although I do have a rather large stack of nonfiction that is definitely DNF. I start out all enthusiastic about wanting to learn new stuff, and devour the first three of four chapters. I take notes sometimes, and everything.

But then my inner frivolousness asserts itself and I'm back to fiction again. I'm a sucker for a story.

My towers of unfinished nonfiction reproach me and condemn me as an intellectual lightweight.

EmpressaurusKitty · 18/07/2026 18:24

Does the Bluestocking have a library? Or a book exchange, even?

MyrtleLion · 18/07/2026 18:32

Amazing that the mile record was broken! 3 minutes 42.66 seconds. And they said breaking four minutes was beyond men’s endurance…

Sadly Sara Morrison lost her tribunal against the Belfast Film Festival.

And a warning. Never believe your electric car. We charged to 80%* and 221 mile range to drive 157 miles. We were down to 11% and 32 miles when we were 27 miles from home. Fortunately a super fast charging station has opened up on the Big Main Road to Everywhere and in five minutes we were charged to 25% and 57 miles.

Today’s Learning: always charge to 100% if you’re travelling more than 100 miles.

Lunch for DN’s 16th birthday was lovely except it was too much for her to come. She has autism and anxiety but I still have my opinions about why things get too much. So the Walrus’s sister and her son and his girlfriend came. They have She has saved enough for a deposit and will be buying a house together soon. During the goodbye hug I made sure to tell her to ring fence her deposit. DNephew is a lovely young man, but a woman needs to secure her financial future.

*It is usual to only charge to 80% to support battery care.

ShinyBlueTractor · 18/07/2026 18:46

EmpressaurusKitty · 18/07/2026 18:24

Does the Bluestocking have a library? Or a book exchange, even?

That's a fine idea. Would it be possible to request a book nook please, along with a very soft blanket to curl up with? I think a lovely view out of the window would be nice at this time of year, for those serious thinking vague gazing with no thoughts moments, but in the winter it should be shifted next to the open fire, of course.

ErrolTheDragon · 18/07/2026 18:46

Chersfrozenface · 18/07/2026 17:14

Poor Mr Dragon! Sprained ankles can be the very devil. Have the frozen peas been deployed?

We dropped into Sainsbury’s in Clitheroe specifically for me to get him some! Still at least it wasn’t last weekend on a boat.

ErrolTheDragon · 18/07/2026 18:52

ShinyBlueTractor · 18/07/2026 18:46

That's a fine idea. Would it be possible to request a book nook please, along with a very soft blanket to curl up with? I think a lovely view out of the window would be nice at this time of year, for those serious thinking vague gazing with no thoughts moments, but in the winter it should be shifted next to the open fire, of course.

Do you two seriously think we don’t already have these?Grin

The BS is like a Room of Requirement except more rooms, plus gardens, paddocks, streams and Peak Woo. Oh, and a dock for Swashy’s ship and other boats.

EmpressaurusKitty · 18/07/2026 18:56

Found it, @ErrolTheDragon!

The Bluestocking Women's Pub:  Where the Bluebird Sings to the Lemonade Springs
ShinyBlueTractor · 18/07/2026 18:59

ErrolTheDragon · 18/07/2026 18:52

Do you two seriously think we don’t already have these?Grin

The BS is like a Room of Requirement except more rooms, plus gardens, paddocks, streams and Peak Woo. Oh, and a dock for Swashy’s ship and other boats.

Haha of course, silly me, I should have had a proper look around before commenting!

In my defence, it does seem to be very BIG here...or at least it does sometimes...

Please create an account

To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.

This thread is not accepting new messages.