Whistle While You Work

SPOILER ALERT: Dinna read unless you have finished Chapter 19 in A Breath of Snow and Ashes. 

Whoa. Double whoa. This book is so damned good I don't know what to DO with myself. I canna believe how quickly it got started. It's so not like Diana to write something so fast-and-furious, right out of the gate! I love it!

Did I mention how much I loved Roger and Jemmy sharing the bread pudding at River Run? SO cute. (My god with the maple syrup and butter? I was drooling all over my Kindle at the mere thought.) Roger is quickly becoming one of my favorite things about this series. It's to the point where I do the happy dance when I start a chapter and realize it's from his point of view. And how interesting that Stephen Bonnet should be in Cross Creek - and speak to Jemmy (um, EW). All I could hear in my head when he started asking him who his dad is was Chris Rock yelling "RUN!!!"  Why was he dressed like a gentleman? That was verra intriguing. And I am more than a little curious as to the state of his, um, privates... since Bree shot him in that general vicinity a while back. That seems to be a recurring theme, what with Jamie robbing Jack Randall of his own private parts long ago.

OK - how much did I LOVE the hay-making scene? I don't know WHAT it is about these hard-work-then-celebrate scenes but I love them so much. Remember when they harvested potatoes at Lallybroch? It's just so cool how the men all work in the fields, the women all work in the kitchen and then they all meet up and have a big, ol' party after the women set up the supper. I swear I half expect them to break out into a Broadway number with the men heave-ho-ing and the women dancing while carrying baskets over their heads. LOL (I just cracked myself right the hell up.)  Seriously though, I love how the men all start drinking and then just pass out next to their wives. It's very cute.  (Meanwhile I wouldn't find it cute in the slightest if it were my husband passing out on the grass next to me, but that's a blog for another day. )

OK so... Hi - Bobby and the Beardsleys disappearing into the woods? Whassup wit dat??? I don't buy that it was just a little scuttle over Lizzie for a second. There is something UP there. Definitely. And how about Ian just sauntering over to Lizzie... telling her he needed help with his hand... and that was that. And Jamie commanding it, knowing exactly how it would go down. I loved it. Lizzie - in my humble opinion - has the world by the cajones right about now.  I do find it intriguing that the two men she wants the most (not her betrothed, mind you) both have permanent markings on their faces. Things that make you go "hmmmm"....

OK off to read. Jamie and Ian just left to go see Bird on a Wire... (LOL - I always forget his name...he's going to have a new name every time I mention him)... and I am none too happy about it. And it's such bullshiz because I should NOT be giving a rat's ass about what goes down during Jamie's trips to the Cherokee - other than the negotiations between the two MEN.  I wish "that" scene was just never in the book. In fact, I might just erase it from memory and pretend it didna happen. Yup. That's what I'm going to do...

*Thanks to hayinart.com for the photo. 

And ANOTHER thing...

SPOILER ALERT: Dinna read unless you have finished Chapter 16 in A Breath of Snow and Ashes. 

Why can't I get past this Jamie-sleeping-naked-with-two-naked-Indian-squaws thing? And note that all parties were naked. HE was naked. My friend, Shannon made a good point this morning: Why didn't Jamie put his kilt back on? (Or his shirt, for that matter?)  Although that's not to say Shannon agrees with me. She does not. She, like Tracey, found it a hilarious scene.

Don't get me wrong - I found it mildly amusing. It was comical when Ian was laughing his ass off on the floor. Yup - it was comical. Until Jamie got back into bed with the aforementioned naked women. Then I just found the whole thing wrong. And it only compounded when he got home, jumped into bed with Claire and proceeded to tell her to get on her knees when she asked how it went with the Cherokee. Poor Jamie...sleeping with that cockstand was so tough on him...he had no choice but to go home and rail his wife from behind.

I get that he didn't have sex. I do. And I appreciate the hell out of it. He could have had some major fun with those women; but he didn't.  But I just don't see how a zebra can change his stripes so easily. A man who won't sleep on the floor of a woman when they're not married will most certainly not sleep naked with two naked women once he is.

I suppose I also had a huge problem with the Cherokee women being used as objects like that. And with Jamie not showing a little more respect for them in the whole process.

He could have put his clothes on.
He could have wrapped the women in the skins.
He could have slept on the floor.
He could have waited until the rain let up and sent them on their way.

I can go on and on. I just can't get on board with the notion that Jamie was in danger of offending Bird Who Sings in the Morning, so he had to sleep with two naked women. What about Bird Who Sings in the Morning offending Jamie??? Jamie could go back to the King and report badly about the Cherokee because of what happened. Not that he ever would - but there are two sides here. There is a point where you say "enough" and do what is right for your own soul.  How sleeping naked with two naked women could be right for the soul of a man who has that much honor is absolutely beyond me. I think it's completely out of character and makes zero sense. 

If you know of any further explanation of this scene by Diana Gabaldon, please let me know.

The "Highland Rape" Collection from the late Alexander McQueen

Just came across this quote while reading a Daily Mail article about the (extremely sad) death of fashion designer Alexander McQueen:

So there was the 1995 show entitled 'Highland Rape' which featured torn bodices hanging from the models' skirts and saw him accused of misogyny - something he hotly denied, insisting he'd simply been making a point about how 18th century Scotland had been over-romanticised. 

Intrigued, I did a little research and came across this on Scotsman.com:

His first taste of international notoriety came in the autumn of 1995, when he called his catwalk show "Highland Rape". He explained that the "rape" was of Scotland by the English; a subject in which he had "a special interest, as my family is of Scottish descent". The collection featured dishevelled and battered-looking models in torn clothing. McQueen transformed a loft-like industrial space into a brooding battleground of mayhem to show the clothes. 

He maintained that it symbolised the Battle of Culloden in which his ancestors were defeated and then slaughtered by British troops under the Duke of Cumberland. However, on another occasion he claimed he'd simply been making a point about how 18th-century Scotland had been over-romanticised.

 I am so glad I found this info... I had no idea about this collection or what it represented.

Rest in Peace, Mr. McQueen.

*Thanks to Scott from the forums at thefashionspot.com for the photo. 

Alternate Outlander Discussion

If you want to discuss anything in A Breath of Snow and Ashes or An Echo in the Bone (or ANY of the Outlander books) go on over to the Outlander Book Club - a FANTASTIC SITE where they have discussions about ALL of the books - listed BY book!

LIVID, PARTY OF 1

SPOILER ALERT: Dinna read unless you have finished chapter 14 in A Breath of Snow and Ashes.

WTF????

I have not been THIS PISSED since the incident with the PROSTITUTES in France!!! What is this BULLSHIT about Jamie SLEEPING WITH TWO NAKED INDIAN WOMEN?!?!?

I couldn't give a RAT'S ASS that he didn't have sex with them. He let TWO NAKED INDIAN WOMEN SLEEP IN HIS BED!!!!!!!  Just because it's RAINING?!? OH I don't THINK SO, BOYFRIEND. Get their asses ON THE FLOOR where they BELONG!!!

Please do not even ATTEMPT to tell me "Oh he couldn't pass up their hospitality". Please. Just don't even go there.

Where is Mr. I-Can't-So-Much-as-Sleep-on-the-Floor-of-a-Woman-I'm-Not-Married-to?????
Where is Mr. Honor and Ethics????
Where is JOE CATHOLICISM???????

Clearly he has LEFT THE MOTHERFRIGGIN BUILDING!!!!!

MMMMMMMMMMPPPPPPPHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

9 Lives Indeed

SPOILER ALERT: Dinna read unless you've finished Chapter 13 in A Breath of Snow and Ashes.

OK so Claire is obsessing over bringing Lizzie's fever down and getting rid of Bobby's worms. BLECH. That story is so gross - and yet so fascinating. I canna WAIT to see what she does to rid Bobby of his parasites. I love all this gross Claire stuff!

Poor Jamie. My god, he is tormented by his past right now.  (The gross palm reader totally reminds me of that seer in Robin Hood with Kevin Costner. WHAT a great character she would be on screen.)  And now he's totally obsessed with having 9 lives... and how many of them he's actually plowed through. I feel like he and Claire are forgetting one - but so am I, apparently, because I canna think of it right now. Then again - I'd probably consider him having been close to death a number of times whereas he'd just "Mmmmmppphhhh!" about those situations and dismiss me with his hand.

And Roger taking Jemmy to Cross Creek? Sounds to me like a verra...VERRA bad idea. So bad I canna even stop to THINK about it. And what's with Bree being all "yeah whatEV - take him - I can't wait to play with my white phosphorus."

And here's a question. How does Ian just waltz on to Cherokee lands with the hair of a settler... but Mohawk dots on his face? How is THAT going to go down? (Rhetorical - please do not answer as I havena gotten there yet!) I canna imagine too great. Jamie best bring an extra keg of whiskey along with him.

And speaking of Ian... I am chomping at the bit to find out what happened to him with the Mohawk. And where his wife and baby are. It seems so obvious that they're dead... but something tells me that is for a reason. I have this sneaking suspicion - no, downgrade that to a possible notion - that Emily and their baby might just waltz on to Fraser's Ridge in the coming months and be all "What up, Dawg?" Can you imagine? oooooh.... Lizzie would NOT be happy. Then again - how do I know WHAT Lizzie would be when she's always up shivering in her room... or off making beer with Mrs. Bug!  I am going to start a "Let's Get to Know Lizzie!" campaign pretty soon... because she's the most fascinating non-character I've ever seen!!!

Do You Live in Outlanderland?

So tonight I was watching the movie, "Annie" with my family. And when they got to the part where Annie first goes to Daddy Warbucks' house and sees how beautiful it is, I started thinking "That poor thing - after 2 weeks she's going to have to go back to the orphanage! That will be so hard for her!"

And do you know what my very next thought was?

"That's just like when Jamie had to go back to regular prison life every Sunday after having dinner with John Grey. He was miserable!"

It was like nothing. My brain just switched from one thought to the next like clockwork! And if THAT wasn't bad enough, I'm in full-on Outlanderland dream mode as well.

I have to assume it's due to keeping a daily blog... that some nights I'll wake up in the middle of the night, and I'll know I've been dreaming about Outlander. I woke up last night and realized I had been dreaming about squirrel stew. SQUIRREL STEW!! And I remembered that Jamie kept using the term "wee mongrel".

Do you ever dream about Outlander?