Outlander Chat Tonight

Outlander Chat tonight.  9PM Eastern.

Outlander Chat Tonight

Outlander Chat tonight.  9PM Eastern.

Kevin McKidd and the Speyside Sessions

Immense thanks to Miss Christie for sending me this amazing video about TRUE HIGHLANDERS making beautiful music together (for charity, no less.)

Listening to this made me think of my time in Scotland and I had a wee cry.  And then I realized I am SO excited for Karen since she is leaving next week for bonnie Scotland, herself!

Brave are the hearts that beat beneath Scottish skies...

Snow Patrol: Set the Fire to the Third Bar

Watch this video from Snow Patrol (band that hails from Northern Ireland and Scotland) and think about Jamie and Claire, stuck in different centuries, without each other...especially when Claire was in Scotland in the 60s.  So close...but yet so unearthly far.  This video gives me chills.  You can see them in adjoining rooms...feeling each other but not being able to be together...and literally feel yourself drowning in all their yearning.

The lyrics are under the video.  Try not to cry...



I find the map and draw a straight line

Over rivers, farms, and state lines

The distance from here to where you'd be

It's only finger-lengths that I see

I touch the place

Where I'd find your face

My fingers 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

And I, I pray that something picks me up

And sets me down in your warm arms

After I have traveled 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

Outlander Chat Tonight

Outlander Chat tonight.  9PM Eastern.

Outlander Chat Tonight

Outlander Chat tonight.  9PM Eastern.

The Paoli Battlefield: May 30, 2012

"One of Howe's commanders, Major General Lord Charles Grey--a distant cousin of Grey's--attacked the Americans at Paoli at night, with orders to his troops to remove the flints from their muskets.  This prevented discovery from the accidental discharge of a weapon, but also obliged the men to use bayonets.  A number of Americans wire bayoneted in their beds, their tents burned, a hundred or so made captive--and Howe marched into the city of Philadelphia, triumphant, on September 21."  ~Diana Gabaldon,  "An Echo In The Bone"

Yesterday I "went home" and visited the Paoli Battlefield in Malvern, Pennsylvania with my children and my very dear friend, Anne.  Anne and I have been friends since we met in the first grade at St. Norbert School in Paoli where Tracey and I went to grade school.  Tracey, Anne, and I have discussed the fact that we don't remember ever being taught about this pivotal battle in the Revolutionary War...one so important that the American military's battle cry "Remember Paoli!"  could be heard at battle well into the 1800s.

I cannot tell you how much I enjoyed visiting this beautiful, peaceful field.  You will all think me nuts when I say it reminded me of one of my favorite places in Scotland; a "drovers pass" in the lower Highlands where there is a massive valley sunken into the mountains from years of cattle driving.  I have always said there is "music in the silence" there...and I felt the same way about this quiet battlefield in PA. 

My sincere thanks to Diana Gabaldon for Remembering Paoli. 

And my very heartfelt thanks to Karen Henry of Outlandish Observations for reminding me how much I love having grown up in an area so rich in Revolutionary War history. 

Major General Grey.  I hope Hal spat in his tea. 

My kiddies who were surprisingly quiet and reverent throughout
our entire visit...without constant reminders from me.
Kids can "feel" the past even better than we can. 

The original Paoli Massacre monument from 1817, which stands inside
the gravesite.  The battlefield can be seen in the distance. 

Fresh from Memorial Day

My son photographing the original monument with what else?
His Nintendo 3DS.
Hey, I'll instill a love of history into them any way I can. :)

I was iffy on this shot because I didn't want to be disrespectful...
but if letting her quietly sit on a canon for 20 seconds makes the stories stick, then I'm OK.
They both took photos to school today to show their teachers.  Not too shabby.  :)

The current monument, erected in September 1877  

My wonderful friend, Anne (a Paoli local) who puts up with me dragging her
 to battlefields on any random Wednesday when I'm only in town for 6 hours.

Remember Paoli
Please. 

No Chat Tonight

Chat is cancelled tonight in observance of the Memorial Day holiday in the US. 

A sincere THANK YOU to all the men and women who have fought so valiantly for the United States of America.  Every one of you is remembered in our hearts.  

We will NEVER forget. 

PS...

REMEMBER PAOLI!!!!

Lunch with NY Times Bestselling Author Diana Gabaldon

How cool is this???  You can win lunch with Herself!  Thanks to Julie for the heads up!

And I should elaborate and mention that the auction is being run (again!) by Brenda Novak to raise money for Diabetes research.

And we all know how I feel about Diabetes research.  :)

THANKS to Outlandish Observations: Paoli Massacre

My sincere thanks to Karen over at Outlandish Observations for mentioning Tracey and me!  Today's Friday Fun Fact gives information on the Paoli  (pay-OH-lee) Massacre.   Tracey and I grew up in Paoli, Pennsylvania where it took place.  Actually, it took place up the hill in what is today "Malvern, Pennsylvania".

Interestingly enough, M. Night Shyamalan lives in Malvern...and I can't help thinking what a neat film he could make, using the story of the Paoli Massacre and a haunted 18th century stone house.  (You will come across many of these in that area of the world.  Frankly, I miss them greatly since moving to New Jersey.)  Or the General Warren Inn which still stands today and is fully operational.

The Paoli massacre - to nutshell it for you - happened when George Washington left General Anthony Wayne (another history celeb in the Paoli area) in charge - and his troops were ambushed in the middle of the night by troops led by Major General Charles Grey.  Heard that name before, have ye?  Weeeeel, I thought ye might have.  It's because he was a distant relative of one Lord John Grey (or at least in Historical Fictionville created by Diana Gabaldon he was).  Charles Grey led his troops to the camp at Paoli in the middle of the night, so as to surprise the men while they slept.  It was a bloody battle and the British used bayonets to kill the American soldiers (even after some had surrendered).  This was thought of as a barbaric act, even then.

Up through the early 1800s, the phrase "Remember Paoli!"  was used as a battle cry to remind the troops just how ruthless the British military could be.

Take a look at this alphabetical list of the known casualties of the Paoli Massacre and give them a moment of silence in your heart on this Memorial Day weekend.