Thoughts while watching Outlander Season 1 after the end of Season 5

Episode 101: Sassenach

  • Claire’s voice sounds different
  • VE Day: The first of many, many, many times we’ll see Claire drink! And the first time we hear her theme music.
  • I forgot how pompous Frank is.
  • So sad seeing Leoch in disrepair.
  • And there we first see Jamie, but we don’t know him yet.
  • This is when I started hating Frank – when he accuses her of infidelity.
  • First time we hear Dance of the Druids
  • I miss Mrs. Graham.
  • At the stones with Frank that first time, why didn’t Claire hear any buzzing sound?
  • Well, Frank, it’s your own fault. You should’ve gone with her when she asked, but you were too interested in the life and times of BJR.
  • Claire wakes up in technicolor!
  • Always take a Murtagh, even if you don’t know what a Murtagh is yet.
  • I miss the witty banter of the first season.

Episode 102: Castle Leoch

  • Episode 2 picks up one second after the end of Episode 1. None of this months going by off screen between episodes like in Season 5.
  • Oh wow… the fireside scene. So much happens. He explains the back scars, she worries about Frank, and they share a tender moment.
  • I never realized the jaunty cello tune must be Mrs. Fitz’s theme.
  • Ugh. Stupid, slutty Laoghaire.

Episode 103: The Way Out

  • I so miss the humor of Angus and Rupert.
  • “Lily of the Valley” in that dreamy voice… *sigh*

Episode 104: The Gathering

  • We meet Geordie #1. The first of many Geordies. At least three by the end of Season 5 by my count.
  • It’s interesting seeing Claire and Murtagh knowing how close they’ll become eventually.

Episode 105: Rent

  • Aieeeeeeee! We meet Ned! ❤ ❤ ❤
  • Just noticed that their “road song” is about grinding corn! Hahahahahaha!
  • Wool waulking! I forgot that was in this episode.
  • Just noticed that the wool waulking song has “Mo nighean donn” in the lyrics.
  • Wow. Two song lyrics that were meaningless until later.

Episode 106: The Garrison Commander

  • How can anyone like Tobias Menzies?

Episode 107: The Wedding

  • (I’ve watched this episode so many times that I have no new observations.)

Episode 108: Both Sides Now

  • Wee Roger!!!!!! 😀
  • Maybe if Claire hadn’t shouted, “Fraaaaaaank!!!!!!” she would’ve made it through the stones. Did the redcoats see her or hear her first?

Episode 109: The Reckoning

  • Ugh. The Leghair boob scene.
  • Why are all of DG’s Irishmen villains?
  • LOL! I forgot about Murtagh’s sing-song “thank you” before he knocks out the guard.
  • You should’ve killed him (BJR), Jamie!
  • Jamie’s really pretty in this episode.
  • Jamie was totally leading Laoghaire on.

Episode 110: By the Pricking of my Thumbs

  • Murtagh Interruptus
  • I LOVE Geillis’s coat! And Claire’s, too.
  • Although she’s batshit crazy and a problem later, I really love Geillis.
  • lol @ the Duke talking about separating Claire’s head from her neck. Ironically foreshadow much?

Episode 111: Devil’s Mark

  • A murmuring of swallows?
  • Oops. A murmuration of starlings.
  • Honestly, this is probably my favorite episode. So much happens. So much is revealed. And Lotte’s acting is brilliant.
  • Why is Jamie so BEAUTIFUL in this scene? Hair? Lighting? Stubble amount?

Episode 112: Lallybroch

  • Drunk Jamie and the “elephant” music! Hahahahaha!

Episode 113: The Watch

  • a.k.a. The first wasted episode

Episode 114: The Search

  • a.k.a. The second wasted episode.
  • Always take a Murtagh!!!
  • Claire and Murtagh made me cry. 😥

Episode 115: Wentworth Prison

  • Boy, do I miss Rupert and Angus.

Episode 116: To Ransom a Man’s Soul

  • (I couldn’t watch this episode. It’s too difficult.)

The beginning of the end

My baby starts high school soccer practice tomorrow. High school. Even though school doesn’t start for 4 more weeks, as far as I’m concerned, as of tomorrow, he’s officially a high school student. My baby. A high school student. They’re not kidding when they say kids grow up fast.  In the blink of an eye. Wasn’t he begging me to play just yesterday? Beating me at Monopoly even though he couldn’t read yet? Holding my hand when we were walking together? Wanting to be pushed on a swing?  Laughing uncontrollably as I blew raspberries on his chubby baby belly?

Who is this young man living in my house, answering to my baby boy’s name? Holed up in the basement for hours playing video games with his friends. Only surfacing to use the bathroom or to grab something to eat or drink. Why do I have Sunrise, Sunset from Fiddler on the Roof in my head?!

Tomorrow is the beginning of the end. In four years, I’ll be left dazed and confused as to how my baby can be going off to college. An adult. Able to make his own decisions without checking with us, getting our approval or our signatures on the line that says Parent Signature.

Where did the time go?

My thoughts while watching Outlander Episode 304: “Of Lost Things”

  1. Watch yer head, Wee Roger!
  2. Does anyone else think the actress playing Geneva resembles Caitriona a bit?
  3. and — BFFs ♡
  4. Lord Ellesmere is so gross! Poor Geneva. (That’s right. I feel sorry for her.)
  5. How the hell can women ride side saddle? I’m getting scoliosis just watching it.
  6. I hate seeing Jamie with his head down looking subservient. is meaner than I remember reading him to be.
  7. This reminds me a wee bit too much of the wedding episode scene.
  8. Thank you, writers, for portraying the scene with Geneva as I believe Diana intended it.
  9. Right now, the timeline bothers me. Jamie’s about 35 and Claire’s about 50. Seems out of line and icky.
  10. Actually, Roger seems too old for Brianna, too, but that’s not the timeline. , Rog.
  11. Isobel Dunsany is so nice. I wish we saw more of her.
  12. Too bad Master Raymond wasn’t around for Geneva. Best 18th century physician (besides Claire, of course).
  13. They did an excellent job with the Ellesmere shooting scene.
  14. Let Jamie hold the , Isobel!
  15. The display of so many emotions within mere moments on ‘s face is remarkable.
  16. I thought Willie was supposed to have red hair. So, ya know, he’d look like his sire.
  17. “This is 1968. I’ve been fighting sexism since 1743, goddammit!” ~ Claire Beauchamp Randall Fraser Randall Fraser
  18. Ye shouldna call yer bastard a bastard, ya bastard!
  19. Why isn’t LJG’s hair lighter?!?! Distracting.
  20. I’m really liking David Berry. (Except his dark hair.) Good face actor. Now, get some sun, man.
  21. The scene!!! ♡ ♡
  22.  “Dinna fash, lad. I’ll remember you.” 😥
  23. I’m so happy that Willie gets raised by Isobel and LJG. Good people. Caring people. They’ll love him well.

In summary: : Joe said and Willie said . All is right in the world (of Outlander).  

 

X-Plan: Giving your kids a way out (#xplan)

Bert Fulks

Friends, as most of you know, I get to spend an hour each week with a group of young people going through addiction recovery.  Yes.  Young people.  I’m talking teenagers who are locked away for at least six months as they learn to overcome their addictions.  I’m always humbled and honored to get this time with these beautiful young souls that have been so incredibly assaulted by a world they have yet to understand.  This also comes with the bittersweet knowledge that these kids still have a fighting chance while several of my friends have already had to bury their own children.

Recently I asked these kids a simple question:  “How many of you have found yourself in situations where things started happening that you weren’t comfortable with, but you stuck around, mainly because you felt like you didn’t have a way out?”

They all raised their hands.

Every single…

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The Essential Selfishness of School Choice

Fantastic explanation. #schoolvouchers #charterschools

gadflyonthewallblog

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Say your friend Sheila invites you over to her house.

Sheila has just made a fresh pumpkin pie.

She offers you a slice.

You politely refuse, but she insists. She hands you the knife so you can take as big a piece as you like.

You start to cut and then ask, “Does it matter where I cut from?”

Sheila says, “No. Take whatever you want.”

You don’t like crust, so you cut a perfect triangle piece from the middle of the pie.

Sheila’s face reddens.

This wasn’t exactly what she meant, but what is she going to do? You took your slice, and now the rest of the pie is ruined. No one else can take a whole piece. Your choice has limited everyone else’s.

That’s what school choice does to public education.

It privileges the choice of some and limits the choices of others.

Advocates…

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The Dense web of financial interests

The Cost of the Pipeline

The Lambertville Pipeline Committee met with a representative of U.S. Senator Cory Booker this week to talk about the city’s concern about PennEast in general, but also specifically about the impacts to the drinking water site and Suez.

I won’t go into a lot of detail, we were promised some help and hopefully that will go somewhere.  But it was clear that the Senator would not come out against the pipeline, a position that we knew going into the meeting.

Even so, it’s unsettling when you figure out why various politicians won’t come out against projects. It seems you always just have to follow the money.

One of the people associated with Senator Booker is the Rev. M. William Howard.  When Mr. Booker was Mayor of Newark, Howard was tapped to lead his transition team.. In fact, the Senator considers Mr. Howard a mentor to him.

As it turns…

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Breaking News: CNN to Host Town Hall With Libertarian Candidates Gary Johnson and Bill Weld

THE LIBERTY HERALD

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In a historic move the cable news network CNN will be hosting a town hall for the Libertarian Party ticket of Gary Johnson and Bill Weld on June 22nd.

From the Politico:

CNN will host a primetime town hall with Libertarian Party presidential candidate Gary Johnson and vice presidential candidate William Weld, the cable news channel announced Wednesday.

CNN anchor Chris Cuomo will moderate the town hall, which will air Wednesday, June 22 at 9 p.m. It will be held at CNN’s headquarters in New York’s Time Warner Center, with Johnson and Weld being asked questions by voters.

CNN has held 10 town halls so far this election cycle, with most of the Republican and Democratic candidates. Libertarian candidates have generally not had the same media exposure that their Republican and Democratic counterparts have. Fox Business Network held a two part Libertarian party debate back in April, but primetime…

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