Have the lambs stopped screaming???

So I'm flipping out just a bit. Why, you ask? Because I just came back from a neighborhood party and got an email from my sister and Outlander mentor, Tracey. Last week, Tracey made a video of herself reading the first few pages of The Fiery Cross... and uploaded it to youtube for us. She later got shy and made me take it off my site, where it sat for maybe 5 minutes. She then agreed to leave it on youtube temporarily. Fast forward to today, where she finds out 45 people have viewed it. And why?

BECAUSE DIANA GABALDON HAS IT LISTED AS ONE OF HER FAVORITES ON HER OWN YOUTUBE PAGE. Thus, the wine folks. This is a stellar day. So without further ado, I give you, my sister and Outlander mentor Tracey... and her "reaction video" for The Fiery Cross.

Voyager Montage

SPOILER ALERT: Please dinna read unless you have read VOYAGER.

I have pieced together a montage I'd like to see in a Voyager film, to the sound of "I Dreamed a Dream", sung by a female - but not sounding too dramatic and Broadwayesque.

Click here to open the playlist - and scroll down and click "I Dreamed a Dream" so you can hear it while you read. And let it continue to play the next song if it ends while you're still reading. 
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We see Claire, sitting on her bed, getting dressed to go to the hospital after we've just seen the huge fight she had with Frank - about Jamie. (Remember, it's the first time they've truly spoken about Jamie - and Frank's infidelities - in 20 years.) She is sad... and contemplative... and thinking about the Frank she married all those years ago...

Instrumental intro...

Claire is now sitting at the hospital, thinking back to her time with Jamie - and we see a flashback sequence of happy scenes from Outlander and Dragonfly in Amber.

I dreamed a dream in time gone by
When hope was high
And life worth living
I dreamed that love would never die
I prayed that God would be forgiving
Then I was young and unafraid
And dreams were made and used and wasted
There was no ransom to be paid
No song unsung, no wine untasted

Cut to Jamie in jail, lying on the floor, waking up from a nightmare, feeling ashamed.

But the tigers come at night
With their voices soft as thunder
As they tear your hope apart
And they turn your dream to shame

Cut back to the hospital, the doors fly open and Claire sees EMTs, wheeling someone in. A nurse walks toward her, looking grave.

And still I dreamed he'd come to me
That we would live the years together
But there are dreams that cannot be
And there are storms we cannot weather

Claire is sitting by Frank's side, holding his hand, softly crying, and accepting the fact that her husband is dead.

I had a dream my life would be
So different from this hell I'm living
So different now from what it seemed
Now life has killed the dream I dreamed.

The music immediately flows into Amazing Grace. We see Claire and Brianna, standing at the cemetery, watching the priest saying the final prayers over Frank's coffin.

Cut to Jamie, holding his meager possessions while being walked toward Helwater...

Christ Sassenachs... I'm crying just typing this.

The Proclaimers

I have to link to a cool little "Where Are They Now?" blurb  I just came across about The Proclaimers on TMZ.

Tracey and I have debated whether their song "500 Miles" should be added to the Playlist since a) they are BEYOND Scottish and b) the song is about a guy who would go to any lengths for his girl, which reminded us of yon Jamie Fraser of the House of Lovat.

I have resisted adding them until now... thinking their sound might be a little too modern day... but I canna help it, Sassenachs; I just love the song. And hey - I added Travis, didn't I??

Just because...

My husband left this in the kitchen... and before I told him to "put that hat away!" I had to snap a picture... just because. How many times have I hung at the Scots in Kearny and thought nothing of it? My how Jamie Fraser can change one's life!

Ladies of Lallybroch

Just have to make sure I mention the Ladies of Lallybroch website. I come across it periodically when I'm searching for specific Outlander series info. Today I stumbled upon this awesome section on their site where this Scottish fellow recorded himself saying different lines from Outlander. My sister Tracey made me ask my friend Hugh (from Scotland) to do this to which he replied "I wouldn't even know how to make an MP3 file" - or something of that nature. (Perhaps this was preceeded by an "Och!" I'm not really sure. Some things are lost in translation where email is concerned, aye?)

What really sucks is that I canna truly research the site, because I'm terrified of spoilers! So I just come upon it - peek a little - then quickly close it. I feel I owe these wonderful women a "Thank you" because I can tell the site is really awesome - even if I can't let myself properly peruse it!

I also have to throw out some props to the Ladies of Lallybroch because they are mentioned by Diana Gabaldon, herself... in The Outlandish Companion. Does it get any better than that? Maybe my Julie and Julia post was wrong. Maybe Miss Diana wouldn't totally loathe my site; maybe she'd just think  it was a little silly. And I could TOTALLY live with that.

Starting The Fiery Cross

SPOILER ALERT: Dinna read unless you have read Chapter 1 of The Fiery Cross.  (I think it's Chapter 1. I just got a new Kindle and don't want to search too hard to see what Chapter I'm on, for fear I'll lose my place. I'm still getting used to it, aye?)

Just sent the following email to my sister, who has also recently started book 5:

So far I'm a little "ahh... whatever" at Bree with all the sudden acting and speaking like she was born in 18th century Scotland. She made some comment that sounded like Jamie - and Claire addressed it immediately and said "Bree is just like her father and has picked up the language" or something that effect (as if they're not speaking English; it wasn't even Gaelic) but it's just... bothering me. I guess maybe I'll change my mind as I get further into it? They are walking back from the meeting with the soldiers and carrying the two babes (another thing on my nerves; Bree has gone from a young college girl to a mother with a babe on her hip, fixin' up the evenin' stew - in about 30 seconds) and Jamie is drilling Roger about the priest  and just found out he's a Protestant.

And how did this marriage between Duncan and Jocasta come about so abruptly? And Jamie isn't a tad bit worried? I know they're friends... but still. Are we to believe it was brewing for some time, only we didn't know about it?

Diana, Stephenie and Carol

Just finished watching "Julie and Julia", the movie about the woman who blogged about spending one year cooking every recipe from Julia Child's cookbook.

I wish I could say "Wow, that was so inspirational!"  But all it really did was remind me that Diana Gabaldon and Stephenie Meyer would probably be like "Um, yeah, whatever" if they ever saw my blogs. Especially Stephenie, since there are like 40 million blogs about the Twilight series. And Diana... well Diana has degrees in Zoology, Marine Biology and Ecology. Something tells me she's not going to look highly on a blog that obsesses over Jamie Fraser's mojo... and uses words like "shizzle".

I know, I know, that sounds really negative. But Julia Child, herself was like "Um, yeah, whatever" when she found out about Julie's blog. I have to be realistic, ya know?

On the positive side, Julie published a book about her blog - which was later made into the movie I just watched. And before all of that, she seemed to be happy, just cooking and blogging. Kindof like me... only I'm just reading and blogging, right?

So the moral of the story? The moral is that I should keep writing my blogs... because they make me happy. Being a Twilight/Outlander fan makes me happy. Meeting with my friends and talking about these books makes me happy. And isn't that what's important?

Yeah. I think it is. That... and Jamie Fraser's kilts and his big... hard... um, dirk (it's a knife, geez!)  And Edward Cullen's big, iron bed. That he doesn't even need.... the one with the flowers... that Bella doesn't even WANT to sleep on, because she's a FREAK!

Yeah... I love my blogs. :)