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Bren Kübler

@brenkubler.bsky.social

800 followers 430 following 6.3K posts

Lining up words for 40+ years (editor, translator, writer). Swiss/UK citizen originally from Yorkshire. Semi-retired, living in rural SE France since 2007. Language(s), books, cats, food, gardening, France, bees in my bonnet. Food bank volunteer

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Bren Kübler @brenkubler.bsky.social · 2h

We actually named her Melly (for the mélange of colours) but within days she'd become Duchess. And yes, you are so right. How old is she? Duchess age? She's gorgeous anyway.

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Bren Kübler @brenkubler.bsky.social · 2h

Oh wow. She looks so much like the elderly and fragile 'Duchess' who rolled up here a few years ago. Was only with us for a year, sadly, but - like all the others - she had love (and food and comfort, all of which she so desperately needed).

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Bren Kübler @brenkubler.bsky.social · 7h

I knew cheetahs purr but when I stroked one (in Botswana), it was absolutely stunning. And wonderful. And I cried like a drain.

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Bren Kübler @brenkubler.bsky.social · 7h

Is that in Botswana? I visited a cheetah orphanage there, years ago. Stroked one. It purred.
I cried.
Also sat in a jeep for several hours (Kenya) because mum and baby cheetahs had a rest in the shade under it, and played around it. Driver: shall I call for another jeep?
5 people in first jeep: NOO!

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Bren Kübler @brenkubler.bsky.social · 1d

Butcher's daughter here. We ate offal because it was cheap (and we could sell the 'better' parts).
Stunned that sweetbreads (which I love and which were then a 'poor person's meal' are now a delicacy and $$$ - at least in France).
Oh, and braised ox kidney? YES please!

Bren Kübler @brenkubler.bsky.social · 7d

Otherwise known as 'whisky berbère'.
If you are in Morocco, I am jealous. Very jealous.

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Bren Kübler @brenkubler.bsky.social · 7d

Could well be how I found it! Sorry. I keep recommending it to people and forgot how I heard about it.

Bren Kübler @brenkubler.bsky.social · 7d

I'm eating all the *wrong* things. What tempts me is not the usual sort of thing I eat at all. Pass the pizza, the chocolate, the anything-with-pastry-and cheese.
I need to get back to 'proper' food involving vegetables and salads.

Bren Kübler @brenkubler.bsky.social · 7d

I've found that swearing in French doesn't seem as... effective as swearing in English, and I don't know why.
And why yes, I *can* swear extremely competently in French.
Maybe because I was brought up not to swear so the French seems like getting around the ban and thus not as satisfactory?

Bren Kübler @brenkubler.bsky.social · 7d

We'll be just the 2 of us, too. Wish I could beam you (and the new floofs) over.
I still have to get over the usual birthday/anniversary/Christmas triad of gloom somehow. Ugh.

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Bren Kübler @brenkubler.bsky.social · 7d

Have you read this? On of my major discoveries in recent years. It's extremely readable.
www.amazon.com/Talk-Wild-Si...

Talk on the Wild Side: The Untameable Nature of Language

Talk on the Wild Side: The Untameable Nature of Language [Lane Greene] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Talk on the Wild Side: The Untameable Nature of Language

www.amazon.com

Bren Kübler @brenkubler.bsky.social · 7d

The major issues that have been plaguing me started *after* the pandemic, strangely enough.
I'm surviving. Not much more than that, tbh.
Please eat. If I was around I'd cook for you - feeding people seems to be my 'thing'.

Bren Kübler @brenkubler.bsky.social · 7d

Oh ffs. Sounds like a nightmare. I'm so sorry.

Bren Kübler @brenkubler.bsky.social · 9d

Oooh, I thought. That sounds like something I'd love.
So I looked it up for download on my Kindle and I bought it in 2012. Have just had it redelivered as it was on my previous device. Also, I am now old and forget things.
Thanks - time for a reread, obviously!

Bren Kübler @brenkubler.bsky.social · 9d

I'd go for broke and go back about 4 years, please. Possibly more, but that would already help.
Hope the day is improving now?

Bren Kübler @brenkubler.bsky.social · 9d

They are two lucky kittens!
As you probably know, Christmas and me don't mix but having that pair around would cheer *anything* up.
(But no - three cats quite enough... unless another abandoned one ends up on the doorstep, of course).

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Bren Kübler @brenkubler.bsky.social · 9d

They are just... just...
(all the words, y'know).
And fabulous if they'll be there for Christmas.

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Bren Kübler @brenkubler.bsky.social · 9d

Such a shame. All sorted now?

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Bren Kübler @brenkubler.bsky.social · 9d

Accepted since I don't know how to do otherwise. Lecturing me or being dismissive isn't helping. I'm not good at IT and you are. Fine.

Bren Kübler @brenkubler.bsky.social · 9d

Oh, I'm sure they do. But afraid I am not capable of such things. I'm old, and an IT dimwit these days. Once upon a time, I was not.
Fortunately the young geeks at the shop were great and I'm not the only befuddled old biddy they've had to deal with, it seems.

Bren Kübler @brenkubler.bsky.social · 9d

Oh, it was backed up. My issue is transferring it. And the passwords and the codes and stuff.
As for wine, Chenet's stuff isn't bad but it's a bit too commercial (although hey... right now, it'll do just fine).

Bren Kübler @brenkubler.bsky.social · 9d

Had to change my phone - swollen lithium batteries are rather dangerous.
Got new one. Linked it to wifi (already a miracle). The young geeks at the shop transferred data/contacts, etc. but I am still in password hell.
I now need wine. And soothing words/hand-holding.
I am... too old for IT stuff.

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Bren Kübler @brenkubler.bsky.social · 10d

Oh oh oh. A mini-Tyke!
We'd never had a tabby until he rolled up, tiny and wet and abandoned. And now, he's just my golden boy (along with Salto the ginger terror and little chubby black-and-white Missy, who are just as lovable).

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Bren Kübler @brenkubler.bsky.social · 10d

This is why we ended up with Salto after Felix died. SO many kittens needing homes here - also rural France - but so very many notices about local cats disappearing right now.
Tyke goes out for pee and poo in a morning for an hour max and the other two? Not even interested (which is weird).

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Bren Kübler @brenkubler.bsky.social · 11d

Sounds OK to me! You can check to see if it's done/needs a bit longer anyway.
I still have my round Ninja Foodi and use it for just about everything. I often put it on bake/roast instead or 'air crisp' but tbh can't tell the difference in how things cook.
@rolypeck.bsky.social was my go-to expert?

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