Itsmotherswork

@itsmotherswork

Old Woman who lives in a Shoe. Cheese. Books. Music. Politics. Children’s Services. Cocktails. Random ❤️❤️❤️

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Itsmotherswork@itsmotherswork· 2d

Life in the shoe: #nowreading Black Bag by Like Kennard #nowdrinking Nome 🍸🧚🏼‍♂️

Image is a view from above looking down on a coupe glass on the left, containing a pale yellow cocktail decorated with a mint leaf, and on the right a hardback book entitled Black Bag by Luke Kennard. Title is black lettering on orange, rest of the cover is mostly shocking pink and has a man? standing inside a black bag big enough to cover most of his? body(with a square on the bottom right in snooker table green with a blurb praising the book as a masterpiece).

Itsmotherswork@itsmotherswork· 3d

Life in the shoe: Navigator. 🍸🧚🏼‍♂️

Bottles of London Dry Gin and Limoncello are sandwiched between a steel citrus squeezer and cocktail shaker. In front of the bottles is half a pink grapefruit (cut side visible) and in front of the cocktail shaker is a frosted coupe glass containing a pale lemon coloured cocktail. A Navigator.

Itsmotherswork@itsmotherswork· 3d

Since the longlist was published, I’ve been hungrily reading as many books on it as I can lay hands on. I suppose I’m sort of building a shortlist of my own. I’m nine books in and have three I would find it hard to displace from a six book shortlist. Still searching for my other three.

Image is a modification of a photo entitled:
The Booker Prize 2026 longlist
Photo credit for the original is
© Yuki Sugiura for Booker Prize Foundation

In the original, the thirteen books on the 2026 Booker Prize longlist are set out, front covers visible, on a wooden bench.

In my modification have added a small yellow dot to the covers of the nine I have read so far.

Left to right the books are:
Luke Kennard, Black Bag
Gwendoline Riley, The Palm House (yellow dot)
Missouri Williams, The Vivisectors (yellow dot)
Emma Cline, Switzy
Djamel White, All Them Dogs (yellow dot)
Rebecca Perry, May We Feed The King (yellow dot)
Kenan Orhan, The Renovation (yellow dot)
Elizabeth Strout, The Things We Never Say (yellow dot)
Marlon James, The Disappearers
Chloe Aridjis, The Shadow of the Object (yellow dot)
M John Harrison, The End of Everything (yellow dot)
Douglas Stuart, John of John
Makenna Goodman, Helen of Nowhere (yellow dot)

Itsmotherswork@itsmotherswork· 4d

Life in the shoe: Final MumTaxi run done. Let the weekend begin! Naranja Daiquiri 🍸🧚🏼‍♂️

A coupe glass standing on a star-shaped coaster, containing an orange coloured cocktail garnished with an orange slice.

Itsmotherswork@itsmotherswork· 10d

Life in the shoe: Waters of Chaos (apparently). 🍸🧚🏼‍♂️

A closely cropped image of a rocks glass on a picnic table. It holds ice, a lime peel coin and a cocktail that's the colour of very dilute lemon squash.
This is a "Waters of Chaos".

Itsmotherswork@itsmotherswork· 10d

Life in the shoe: Haven't baked for ages (it's been too hot), but temps have cooled a little this pm, so I'm cosplaying Mama Proust. 👩🏻‍🍳

A white china round-ended rectangle plate holding 14 home made Madeleines, lightly dusted with icing sugar.

Itsmotherswork@itsmotherswork· 17d

Life in the shoe: I don't get through Midori very quickly, but in iced tea season it's great in this LA Iced Tea. 🍸🧚🏼‍♂️

A sling glass containing a bright green cocktail stands on a rock in front of a sage bush. There's a glass straw sticking out of the glass, and you can see ice and (maybe) a lime wedge bobbing in the cocktail.

Itsmotherswork@itsmotherswork· 18d

Life in the shoe: Weekend at last! Rebennack No 1. 🍸🧚🏼‍♂️ Proper knockout drops.

Bottles of Peychaud's Bitters, rye whiskey, Averna amaro, and Créole Shrubb stand behind a rocks glass holding a dark brown cocktail over a big lump of ice.
Somewhere in the glass is an orange zest twist (probably) as there's also an orange with some zest peeled away standing to the left of the glass.

Itsmotherswork@itsmotherswork· 22d

*sigh* Reminding anyone who cares that the purpose of social care is not to prevent the NHS from collapse, it’s to support people to enjoy fully rounded lives with pleasure, wellbeing and dignity. (Preventing the NHS from collapse would be a positive side effect.)

Guardian Politics Headline says:
Andy Burnham vows to use his
'political capital' to fix social care system
Subheading says:
PM says that without rapid action the
NHS could effectively collapse, in first full interview since entering No 10

Itsmotherswork@itsmotherswork· 23d

Life in the shoe: On the one hand, I can't imagine ever not having the wherewithal to rustle up a Dark 'n Stormy. On the other, it's always a good idea to have your Business Continuity Plan sorted. This is a Cablegram. A decent substitute. 🍸🧚🏼‍♂️ Rye, ginger syrup, lime juice, soda, over ice.

A Collins glass holding a gingery coloured cocktail which is over I've and garnished with crystallised ginger on a cocktail pick and a glass straw. Next to it, a cocktail shaker gleams.

Itsmotherswork@itsmotherswork· 23d

Nobody ‘gets used to’ their house burning down and their community fleeing. People cope with trauma in different ways, but fearing/actually losing everything is traumatising. News focuses on tourists who’ve had holidays spoiled, but they can go home. Residents’ whole lives have been upturned!

Tourist quoted about the fires raging near Bordeaux. "It rained last night but we are hearing that electricity may be cut out over the peninsula, especially as the ash clouds go towards Bordeaux... I've heard about houses burning in just an hour, it's scary but sadly people here are getting used to it."

Itsmotherswork@itsmotherswork· 24d

Life in the shoe: Tenner Martini 🍸🧚🏼‍♂️

Grapefruit bitters, London Dry Gin, English Dry Vermouth. And a Nick and Nora glass containing a pale yellow "Tenner Martini". You can see a bit of a mixing spoon in the foreground bottom left, and a mixing glass in the background behind the cocktail.

Itsmotherswork@itsmotherswork· 25d

Life in the shoe: Jabberwock. 🍸🧚🏼‍♂️ Get ready for weekend gyring and gimbling!

Bottles of orange bitters (small), kina aromatised wine, fino sherry, gin and lillet blanc stand in a row (L-R) on a table. In front of them is a coupe glass containing a Jabberwock cocktail (yellowish, garnished with lemon zest twist) and a lemon with a strip of zest peeled away.

Itsmotherswork@itsmotherswork· Jul 17

Life in the shoe: After dinner Jabroni FTW. 🍸🧚🏼‍♂️

A rocks glass containing one huge ice cube, a banana chip, and a deep ruby cocktail, seen from above.

Itsmotherswork@itsmotherswork· Jul 17

Life in the shoe: This boozy lemonade is a Gin Punch (variant). 🍸🧚🏼‍♂️ Today is the 185th anniversary of the first edition of Punch magazine. Refreshing!

Bottles of gomme syrup, blood orange gin and angostura bitters stand in a row behind a Collins glass containing a pale yellow cocktail (a Gin Punch) which is garnished with a lemon wheel. To the right of the picture you can glimpse a little measuring jug of freshly squeezed lemon juice.

Itsmotherswork@itsmotherswork· Jul 12

Life in the shoe: 2 shots of rye whiskey, half a shot of Earl Grey syrup, a dash each of aromatic and orange bitters and an orange zest twist. 🍸🧚🏼‍♂️ (I think this probably needed just 10ml of the syrup and a minute longer in the mixing glass, but even as it is, it's gooooood!)

A coupe glass containing an amber coloured cocktail, standing on a picnic table. Some sunlight just touches the parched garden behind.

Itsmotherswork@itsmotherswork· Jul 11

Life in the shoe: Elderflower Mojito, as the heat starts to fade out of the day. 🍸🧚🏼‍♂️🧊 Fresh!

A square-shaped Collins glass stands on a wooden bench, in front of a parched 'lawn'. It contains a very pale yellow cocktail (an Elderflower Mojito) in which there is crushed ice almost filling the glass. At the bottom of the glass there is greenery, which is muddled mint leaves. There's a glass straw and some mint sprigs poking out of the top.

Itsmotherswork@itsmotherswork· Jul 10

Life in the shoe: Been away for most of this week, so glad to be home and in this heat having a slightly lighter cocktail. This is a Margaret Duffy (why? no idea 🤷🏻‍♀️). It is mainly Swedish Punsch and only slightly cognac. 🍸🧚🏼‍♂️

A half drunk Margaret Duffy (forgot to snap before I sip!) which is an amber coloured cocktail in a coupe glass garnished with a lemon zest twist.
The glass stands on a wooden picnic table. You can't tell from the image but it's past 9pm and still 28c, so a balmy evening to be out in the garden.

Itsmotherswork@itsmotherswork· Jul 10

This is the data I needed when I tweeted the thread below. It shows that my recollection about the heat of summers past in the UK (or London, at least, which is a reasonable proxy for my lifetime in the SE) was correct.

A set of bar charts showing how the number of days per year with a daily max temp of over 30c has increased in various European cities over time. Too much detail to cover in text, but basically though southern European cities had more hot days, Northern European cities had very few until relatively recently. And everywhere it’s getting hotter more often.

A set of bar charts showing how the number of days per year with a daily max temp of over 35c has increased in various European cities over time. It’s a lot like the previous dataset, but because it’s looking at a temp higher by 5 degrees, the picture is even starker. Again too much detail to cover in text, but basically though southern European cities had more hot days, Northern European cities had NONE until relatively recently. And still have hardly any.
(It still shows that everywhere it’s getting hotter more often.)

Itsmotherswork@itsmotherswork· Jun 28

Life in the shoe: Everything is cooler now, but this is still a warm summer evening, so here is a Californian Margarita. 🍸🧚🏼‍♂️

Rocks glass containing a pale lemon coloured drink (A Californian Margarita) garnished with a line wedge.

Itsmotherswork@itsmotherswork· Jun 27

Read a preview of this book and have added it to my ‘to buy’ list. I think it sounds right up my street. Anyone read it? #booksky

A woman’s hand holding a book. The cover is sand coloured with a ripple design on it. The title is ‘Proto’ with the subtitle ‘How One Ancient Language Went Global’ and the author’s name, at the foot of the cover, is Laura Spinney.

Itsmotherswork@itsmotherswork· Jun 26

Life in the shoe: Obituario! 🍸🧚🏼‍♂️

A martini glass containing a translucent cocktail decorated with a green olive on a pick, stands on a picnic table.

Itsmotherswork@itsmotherswork· Jun 21

Life in the shoe: Well, that's the end of the Pisco! As it's a hot night I'm serving this Fair Harvard on the rocks rather than straight in a coupe. 🍸🧚🏼‍♂️

A used mixing glass still with ice in, a bar spoon and a jigger stand beside bottles of Pisco, Bianco Vermouth and orange bitters. In front of a rocks glass full of ice and a lemon twist and a pale lemon-coloured cocktail, which is a Fair Harvard on the rocks.

Itsmotherswork@itsmotherswork· Jun 19

Life in the shoe: New bottle of Becherovka, so welcoming the weekend with a pretty sturdy Beauchamp No 2. Damn that's good!! 🍸🧚🏼‍♂️🇨🇿

Bottles of Becherovka, old tom and London Dry gins, triple sec and dry Vermouth stand in a row on a kitchen table along with a little dropper bottle of cardamom bitters. The Becherovka and Vermouth bottles are caught in sunlight and casting green and yellow glows onto the table.
At the front is a coupe glass containing a pale yellow translucent cocktail with a lemon zest twist floating in it.

Itsmotherswork@itsmotherswork· Jun 17

My first thought about this was “aren’t sausages usually made from pork?” But - fill your fridge with Dad Sausages. Why not?

Image of a silver-haired old fellow in a delicatessen-type place next to a Globe and Mail headline:
Learning how to make
sausages from my dad fills my fridge - and my heart

Itsmotherswork@itsmotherswork· Jun 14

Life in the shoe: The sun shone today, and the jasmine is blooming so the garden smells heavenly. Perfect conditions for a long drink to slip into the evening. This is a Hairy Navel. 🍸🧚🏼‍♂️

A hi-ball glass of freshly squeezed orange juice, (with hidden depths of vodka and peach schnapps). This vibrant orange drink is a Hairy Navel. It is decorated with an orange slice and cocktail cherry on a pick, like a sail. There's a glass straw in the glass and the whole caboodle is standing on a picnic table by a shabby lawn.

Itsmotherswork@itsmotherswork· Jun 13

Life in the shoe: X.Y.Z. 🍸🧚🏼‍♂️

A pale yellow cocktail in a frosted coupe glass decorated with an orange zest twist stands on a picnic bench. The blurred background shows a lawn and maybe some flowers in pots.

Itsmotherswork@itsmotherswork· May 31

Life in the shoe: Naked in the Rain*. 🍸🧚🏼‍♂️ (*or rather, the warm evening sunshine).

Bottles of April, mezcal and elderflower liqueur, standing in a row on a sunlit tabletop, with a coupe glass in front of them containing a bright orange cocktail garnished with a lime wedge.

Itsmotherswork@itsmotherswork· May 30

Is it because he’s the world’s all-time, most-indulged mobster?

Photo of various=Trump connected individuals by a car. Illustrating an article under the label: Revealed

Why $1bn in Balkans energy contracts are going to an obscure company connected to Donald Trump
6h ago

Itsmotherswork@itsmotherswork· May 30

Life in the shoe: Cooking dinner in this heat means something cooling and refreshing is needed in the kitchen. Army and Navy. 🍸🧚🏼‍♂️