Reminder: Tonight is Outlander Chat Night!

Don't forget MONDAY NIGHT CHAT tonight at 9:00 PM Eastern Standard Time!

We'll be discussing anything from Outlander....all the way up through the first 50 chapters  in A Breath of Snow and Ashes.

Hope to see you there!

She Moved Through the Fair

SPOILER ALERT: Dinna read unless you've read The Fiery Cross.

Oooofah! I just came up with a song/scene to beat the band.  I am loving "She Moved Thro' the Fair" - sung by Orla Fallon - for The Fiery Cross when Roger is hanged. Oh man it gives me chills. Let me set the scene (which is all in slow motion):

They're walking Roger to the trees to be hanged... and then you see Brianna smiling and talking with Jamie and Claire, thinking they're out of danger because the battle with the Regulators is over.

Then as Roger is dying... his life is flashing through his eyes... we see flashes from when he was a little boy... with his parents... and the Reverand... and him at Oxford... and then he lingers on one memory: the day he and Bree were at the Scots festival in Massachusetts. And they're laughing and talking and her hair is gorgeous in the sunlight... and we keep seeing the scene flashing from Bree smiling at the fair in her 20th century clothes - to Roger dying - to Bree smiling with her parents in her 18th century clothes, having no idea what is happening to Roger at that verra moment. Chills, chills and more chills!

Forever Let Us Hold Our Banner High

SPOILER ALERT: Dinna read unless you have finished Part 6 (Chapter 52) in A BREATH OF SNOW AND ASHES. 

I couldna understand - for the life of me - what a chapter entitled "M-I-C" was going to be about. My first thought was "M-I-C...K-E-Y...M-O-U-S-E" and I thought "nahhhh". But sure enough - there it is - Bree explaining Disneyland to Jamie. (Meanwhile Disneyworld would have been much closer to their house in Boston - but who am I to question the Mistress Gabaldon?)

ADDENDUM: My thanks to TERRY who posted the following comment: Disney World opened in Oct. of 1971. Frank was already dead by then.

Sigh. That was just a lovely little scene of Bree and Jamie, sitting on the stoop, watching the fireflies... listening to the kids playing (and by "kids", I also mean Roger LOL)...and talking about Bree's world. Although I did get a pang of pain when she mentioned Frank and called him "Daddy". That has to be ten times worse for Jamie to hear than for Claire to hear a mention of Laoghaire, dontcha think? Frank raised his daughter as his own. OCH!!! That makes me throw up in my MOUTH a little when I think about it!!

Anyhoo...back to Mickey and Pals...I've always maintained I'd like to see much more of 20th century explanations to Jamie. It's just so comical.

"A giant rat?" he said, sounding slightly stunned. "And they take the weans to play with it?"

SO funny I almost fell off the couch. I canna tell you what I'd give to see Jamie in the 21st century for just one day. And every time I envision it, it becomes a terribly campy 80s movie in my head, a la Caveman or Splash, where the main character who is from another place and/or time learns about his surroundings by watching TV. I can't stop wondering what things would set Jamie off. I mentioned this in our chat last week... and one of my top picks of things I'd like to see Jamie discover is tanning cream.  Can't you just HEAR him??? "Ye rub it all over ye and it makes ye turn brown? Now why in the name of a wee de'il would ye want to do that, sassenach?" Oh god I die every time I think about it!!!

So I ask you:   

What 21st century product would YOU most like to watch Jamie discover?

PS - I've reached 150 posts. Word.

Male/Female Relationships

SPOILER ALERT: Dinna read unless you have read chapter 50 in A BREATH OF SNOW AND ASHES!

Ya know, lassies...I need a chunk of uninterrupted time to sit with both my book - and my computer - and blog about what I'm reading, while I'm reading it. Those are the best blogs. They're thorough and emotional...and I sound like I know what the hell is happening and who is who. When I have to reach back too far to find things I've read, it's not nearly as fun. For me to type... but more importantly, for you to read.

Soooo.... I have decided to go a little backwards. I'm going to blog about what I read today...and then maybe I'll go back over things I've skipped. Mmmmkayyyyy? Great.

So what the hell is up with Roger Mac? He is being a complete DUMBASS!!! I canna even feel SORRY for him anymore. I didna know people would talk??? I didna know this would happen??? I didna know my wife would be upset/suspicious/jealous/all of the above??? Is boyfriend KIDDING???  C'mon. I don't know how often he's been up at Amy McCallum's... but I'm thinking it's been quite a bit. How about bringing Bree with you to visit with Amy while you fix stuff? How about inviting Amy and her kids to dinner? How about telling Claire or Mrs. Bug to get on the matchmaking thing and find her a new man? (OK I know matchmaking isna exactly Claire's forte but WORK with me here, please.)  Nooooo...he's just going to keep going there, day after day, and playing Guy Friday while the entire Ridge talks about him and his assumed affair. Even Jamie is giving Claire looks at the breakfast table over his plate of ham, bacon, bread-dripping-with-butter and any other artery-clogging breakfast Mrs. Bug decided to cook up  today. My god - wouldna you think Jamie would wring Roger's neck? It always amazes me, the things Jamie chooses to get involved in - or doesna choose to get involved in. This is something he should get involved in.

And what's with Malva swapping spit with Bobby Higgins? UGH! I want him for LIZZIE!!! NOT happy about that....

OH WAIT - Back to Roger - how about THIS little ditty I just read today: "William Buccleigh MacKenzie had mistaken Roger's concern for Morag MacKenzie for...well, all right, he'd kissed her, but only on the forehead..."

I'm sorry. COME AGAIN???? He only kissed her on the forehead??? Did I read that right?? Did I MISS that back in The Fiery Cross? On the forehead? That's all??? And her husband had him hanged??? WTF??? Do you remember it being only on the forehead??

OK - lower the blood pressure... lower the blood pressure... Next....

Bree and Jamie moving the boulder for Bree's aquaduct... and Jamie saying "Why, ye clever, bonnie wee thing!!!" because she knew the water would start to erode through the clay. Cute, cute, CUTE! I loved that part. I was just telling my mentor/sister, Tracey verra recently that I want more Jamie/Bree cuteness. And there it appeared - right in front of my face.

I just wish we'd see Jamie relate to Bree when she's doing something less typically masculine once in a while. She doesn't have to be inventing tools or designing guns or doing manual labor for Jamie to understand/appreciate her. He's not a barbarian. And I'd like to see a little more hugging and maybe a good cry together. Yup. That's what I'd like to see.

Set the Fire to the Third Bar

Spoiler Alert: Dinna read unless you have finished VOYAGER.

I recently added the song "Run" from Snow Patrol to my "A Breath of Snow and Ashes" playlist... and realized how much I love this band where the Outlander series is concerned. Their lyrics are similar to a lot of Diana Gabaldon's writing in a strange way. A lot of nature. Snow. The cold ground. Bones. Praying.

And my favorite thing about both the series and this band's songs: undying, relentless, urgent need to be with the one you love.

The band sounds like the books - if that makes ANY sense whatsoever.

Anyway... I found this song and had to blog about it. It makes me think of Jamie in Edinburgh the night before Claire comes to him.  He's had a long day of printing and smuggling.. and he's laying on his cot,  happy to be free. Free of Laoghaire. Free of the crown. Free of everything... Everything except his pain - and yearning for Claire. And little does he know that she is there...in his time... trying to get to him... trying to find her way to him... Oh god I can see it unfolding right before my eyes. It's from both of their perspectives. Give it a listen and take a look at the lyrics below.

"Set The Fire To The Third Bar"

(feat. Martha Wainwright)

I find the map and draw a straight line

Over rivers, farms, and state lines

The distance from 'A' to where you'd be

It's only finger-lengths that I see

I touch the place where I'd find your face

My finger in creases of distant dark places

I hang my coat up in the first bar

There is no peace that I've found so far

The laughter penetrates my silence

As drunken men find flaws in science

Their words mostly noises

Ghosts with just voices

Your words in my memory

Are like music to me

I'm miles from where you are,

I lay down on the cold ground

I, I pray that something picks me up

And sets me down in your warm arms

After I have travelled so far

We'd set the fire to the third bar

We'd share each other like an island

Until exhausted, close our eyelids

And dreaming, pick up from

The last place we left off

Your soft skin is weeping

A joy you can't keep in

I'm miles from where you are,

I lay down on the cold ground

And I, I pray that something picks me up

and sets me down in your warm arms

I'm miles from where you are,

I lay down on the cold ground

And I, I pray that something picks me up

and sets me down in your warm arms

Who Needs Vrooms When we Have Toot Toots?

SPOILER ALERT: Dinna read unless you have read chapter 40 in A Breath of Snow and Ashes.

So I'm reading along... sweet as you please... when all of a sudden, James Alexander Malcolm Mackenzie Fraser FARTS in bed. Yeah... you read that right. He FARTED. In BED!!!

WTF????

Don't get me wrong. I get it. I really do. He's a regular husband who emits gasses, just like anyone else. Only he's NOT a regular husband. He's FRIGGIN JAMIE FRASER!!! HE DOESNA FART IN BED!!!

THERE'S NO CRYING IN BASEBALL!!!

And Jamie Fraser doesna FART in motherfrigging BED!!! Before SEX with the ALMOND CREAM no less. My GOD!!! What is NEXT?!? Is Claire going to DOUCHE right before Jamie does her up against the fencepost?!

Le Sigh.

Out of Sight, Out of Mind. NOT Out of Heart.

SPOILER ALERT: Dinna read unless you have read chapter 36 in A Breath of Snow and Ashes.

So my sister and Outlander mentor, Tracey wants to know why I'm not going into more detail about Ian's story to Marsali about Emily and what happened to his bairn. Would you like to know, too? OK. What I think about Ian's life with the Mohawk:

Frankly, my dear... I don't give a damn.

NOT that I don't care about Ian or "his pain" as Tracey says. I do. I love Ian. Like a son. My own SON'S name is Ian for god's sake. But I canna take it, lassies. I canna take anything that has to do with those two heartbreaking years when Ian was with the Mohawk. I am dealing with his time with the Mohawk like he deals with it; I dinna want to talk about it. I dinna want to THINK about it. It KILLED me when they TATTOOED HIS FACE for the love of god!!! I canna - and wilna - THINK about what life was like for him while he was gone from the Ridge. Don't ask - don't tell. DON'T WANNA KNOW!!!

Calling all Jamie's!

Here's an amusing little ditty for ya. A Purgatory friend was at work today and had to call some guy named "Jamie". He had a really nice voice and she kindof lost herself in her thoughts for a minute whilst talking to him. 

And you know you do it, too. Hell, I saw a sign today for "Christie" street and immediately thought "Tom!"

Hey, Mrs Wilson!

SPOILER ALERT: Dinna read unless you have read chapter 39 in A Breath of Snow and Ashes.

Wow I havena posted in quite a while, sassenachs.  I do apologize! Let's get this party STARTED!

So Fergus is verra sad because Henri Christian is a dwarf... and in the 18th century, life was horrendous for someone like him. He is also feeling sorry for himself because his hook leaves nothing but woman's work for him to do - and he has zero intention of changing or feeding any of the bairns. That leaves him no choice but to make a meager living translating for those on the Ridge (or beyond) who speak French. Boyfriend needs a trust fund.

Ian has now informed Marsali (and the ever-eavesdropping Claire) that Emily had a baby girl who died in childbirth. That is all we know - for now. I'm curious as to the whereabouts of Emily at this point.

Amy - one of the widows on the Ridge (whose husband brought her here with the bairns and then up and died on her whilst fixing the roof) - asked Roger to come and help her because she thought there was a devil in the pail of milk on her kitchen table. Turns out it was a frog. I'm wondering why she didna know this? Could it be that she is trying to use her feminine wiles on Roger to land herself some 20th century minty freshness? Only time will tell. For now she seems like a nice enough girl but a) Diana doesna write nice books and b) poor Roger is always hounded by one type of demon or another.

Mrs. Wilson died and an absolutely HILARIOUS non-wake wake ensued. I have not HOWLED this hard since reading Jamie's reaction when Bonnie Prince Charlie's mistress shaved her "honeypot". Holy COW it was funny when she sat her ass right up in the coffin and Jamie ended up holding on to her...and she was yelling at Hiram because he was too cheap to pay for a proper wake. Oh hell it was funny. My husband said "What are you laughing at?!" I was truly LOL.

OK more to come. I have to break off here or y'all might start yawning...

OUTLANDER CHAT

SPOILER ALERT: Dinna read unless you have read a good chunk of The Fiery Cross. 

Thanks so much to everyone who came to the chat! We had a blast and I am really looking forward to doing it again! 

We discussed so many things... from Lord John Grey and Jamie's "proposal" in "Voyager"...  to Bree and her super-human powers of design... to what products Jamie Fraser would be totally freaked out about in the 21st century! (My vote is for tanning cream. Absolutely!!)

I'm sorry we missed those of you who weren't able to come... and I want to let you know we will be working on some different times for chats so everyone can participate - even if your time zone is nowhere near mine!

And lastly, a big THANKS to Laura from The Outlander Book Club for sharing all of her tremendous Outlander and Diana Gabaldon knowledge with us tonight!