Tag Archives: Outlander Links

Thar She Blows – A day full of MOBY – Outlander Retreat Main Event Part 1

The Big Day

So the day I have so eagerly anticipated has finally arrived. Thanks to a body conveniently still running on Eastern Daylight Time combined with an early Seattle sunrise, I was awake bright and early this Saturday morn. After completing my morning Social Media routine — the only morning exercise routine in which I am generally willing to engage, I headed down to the hotel restaurant for a quick breakfast. That essential task completed, it was time for my roomie and I to jump in a cab to head to the Seattle Center for our special day.

A funny thing happened in that brief ride. My heart began to beat just a bit faster and my anticipation kept building higher and higher. I had such expectations for this event, would the actual day live up to all the anticipation? Let me set your minds at ease and tell you: ‘Yes, it absolutely did!’ But, I digress. After a brief cab ride, we arrived at the Seattle Center and made the short walk to the Fisher Pavilion. I must confess I was a bit worried when I first spotted our destination.

Fisher Pavilion ADA Entrance

Fisher Pavilion ADA Entrance

The event was billed as an intimate gathering, but this building seemed to promise a closeness I’m not quite sure I was willing to accept. Luckily, this turned out to be the elevator entrance for the Pavilion which was down a flight of stairs. Whew, first crisis averted. Upon descending the stairs, we were quickly checked in by the ultra efficient Random House staff and entered another world.

The Clan Gathers

Once inside, we were transported into the world of Outlander. I quickly found my way through the maze of fans to claim my bag-o-swag — including the long-awaited copy of MOBY. (Which, to be honest, is currently sitting on the end of my bed in the hotel room right now, calling my name. The blog comes first, however!) Next, I headed into the room where the festivities would begin and Diana’s Keynote and Q&A would be held. To pass the time, I cracked open my copy of MOBY to take a peek at the Acknowledgements.

So why look at the Acknowledgements you may ask? Well, first, I didn’t trust myself to be able to STOP reading if I started reading the actual story; not even for Diana. Secondly, I played a very small part in helping to gather information and proofread the family tree that many of you will find in the end papers of the hardback copy of MOBY. In exchange for these efforts, Diana had graciously promised to include me and my nitpicking compatriots in the MOBY acknowledgements, and, sure enough, we were there! I have to tell you; It was very thrilling to see my name there in print.

Are we in Claire’s Surgery?
Swag Bags
Huge Outlander Key Art poster wall
Outlanders gathering
Nitpickers extraordinaire minus one!
My name in print!

Let the Celebrations Begin

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I love it when a clan comes together… Outlander Retreat Day 1

Anticipation

You know, before the Outlander TV series was even a twinkle in Ron Moore’s eye, Outlander was all about the books and Diana Gabaldon. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m as excited about the TV series as anyone and maybe more than many, but I first experienced Outlander through the magic of Diana’s pen, well keyboard really, and that is still the primary experience for me. Delightful as I find pictures of Sam, Matt’s #POTD and Terry’s costume classes, it still comes down to the magic of the words.

You can imagine how excited I was when Random House announced plans for an Outlander Retreat to celebrate the long-awaited release of MOBY — more properly known as Written in My Own Heart’s Blood. Luckily, when the appointed day and time arrived to purchase tickets — which sold out in 15 minutes — I was able to secure one, although not without some assistance from a Random House angel due to some technical glitches.

Next Stop —Seattle

All spring I have waited for this weekend to arrive, contenting myself with Starz trailers , DG’s Daily Lines and tweets with Outlanders world-wide. Finally it is here! I woke up bright and early this morning and headed off on my Seattle Outlander Adventure.

First stop, the Airport!

Park n Ride Lot
There is a plane at the gate. Great Start!

Once I boarded my plane, I just had to take a shoe photo for Terry. For those of you who may not know, Terry Moore often tweets fabulous pictures of her shoes when she travels. I did the same in LA in January and she seemed to get a kick out of it. Twice makes it a tradition, right?

Well traveled shoe

Well traveled shoe

During the 5 hour flight to Seattle, I amused myself with Twitter and reading my Kindle. Thank goodness for technology! Arriving at Sea-Tac, I made my way to baggage claim to wait for @LallybrochLaura with whom I was sharing a ride to downtown Seattle. As planned Laura landed very soon after me and we quickly found each other. If only finding our town car driver would have been so easy. But on the other hand, if it had, we would have missed out on a thrill.

Could the weekend have started any better?

As I was saying, Laura and I finding each other was smooth sailing, even though we had never before met in person.  The driver, not so much. However, during the course of wandering looking for our lost driver, we stumbled upon many other drivers also waiting for passengers. And it just so happened that Laura noticed one of them holding a sign saying ‘Gabaldon’. Immediately our eyes got verra big and no sooner had we processed the sight than we turned around and… just about ran smack into Diana herself. Not wanting to keep her, we contented ourselves with the briefest of introductions, handshakes and a ‘can’t wait to see you tomorrow’ remark. We also helpfully pointed her towards her driver and then continued the search for our own.

Luckily, a quick phone call resolved the missing driver situation and Laura and I were whisked downtown. Arriving at the hotel, I checked in and Laura stashed her bag in my room while we went in search of lunch.  One of the nicest things about my hotel’s location, is that it is right next to an elevator that whisks you from water level to Pike Market level very quickly without dealing with the hills for which Seattle should be famous. (San Francisco has nothing on Seattle.) We decided to have lunch at Lowell’s in Pike Market.  The food, conversation and view were all lovely.

Hotel Room
Caprese Salad with Beecher’s cheese
Lowell’s Chowder
Me and Laura
View from Lowell’s
The Mountain is Out!

After lunch, we walked back to the hotel and Laura headed off for her evening’s activities. The only thing left on mine is dinner with a friend.  Plan to call it an early night so as to be well rested for the main event tomorrow!

Stay tuned. We’ve only just begun! More to come on the big event tomorrow.

 

 

 

Co-latha-breith sona dhut, Àdhamh!

Wishing a very happy birthday to our very own Gàidhlig expert, Àdhamh Ó Broin.  On his special day, this seems to be the perfect time to thank Àdhamh for all the generosity and patience he has shown to Outlanders worldwide. Feel free to drop him a tweet to @An_Comhghallac to wish him well.

Even Sam has gotten in on the act! See the following video tweeted from @Outlander_Starz:

 

Be sure to watch the video for further evidence of the spectacular job Àdhamh is doing with a very dedicated balach (lad). Say it with me (and Sam):

Co-latha-breith sona dhut, Àdhamh! / coh-laah-bray sawna ghooht, AH giv/

Also, please enjoy the fabulous cartoon created for Àdhamh by the talented Outlander Cartoons!

http://vivigodinho.tumblr.com/post/87701109860/happy-birthday-adhamh
*Credits to the Ó Broinies and Outlander Cartoons

What Outlander Means to Me – Words in honor of #WorldOutlanderDay

So several people have asked me today if I was planning to write anything for #WorldOutlanderDay. I wasn’t really planning to, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I do have a story to tell.  I may even admit to my darkest, most shameful Outlander secret.

In the beginning…

From reading many reminiscences today, I’ve realized that many, if not most, Outlander fans can point to the exact month and year they first read Outlander. I’m not like that.  I’m pretty sure I picked up my first copies of Outlander and Dragonfly in Amber at a Barnes and Noble somewhere in the mid 90s but I couldn’t say when. And although I know how strongly Diana objected to them being there, I likely would not have ever found the books in a bookstore if they had not been in the Romance section. Anyway, I bought them and took them home. And they sat on my shelf for days, months, dare I say, years. I know I tried to start Outlander several times, but I never seemed to make it past the magic first 100 pages. Finally, in the midst of a paperback book-reducing frenzy, I did something I can’t believe I’m admitting in public: much less in an Outlander-related post, I traded Outlander and Dragonfly in at a used book store.

I know, I know. I can hear the gasps and screams of outrage already. I have no real excuse. Looking back, I can only come up with a couple of reasons why I think Outlander didn’t “click” for me back then. First, I was pretty young.  I was only 23 or 24 and was still pretty much living in the bosom of my family and I think I just had a hard time relating to Claire.  Second, although I’ve always been a huge fan of historically based fiction, neither WWII nor the Jacobite period had ever numbered among my favorite historical time periods. Somehow both these factors, plus never making it past the first 100 pages, doomed me into making a tragic mistake.  Most of you will be quite relieved to note however that now, when I recommend Outlander to others, I make them sign a blood oath  not to stop reading before magic page 100.

Seeing the light–

Luckily, unlike so many other things in life, I was offered a second chance.  I was attending a music festival in Wilkesboro, NC, ( not too far from the fictional location of Fraser’s Ridge) when I started chatting with a weaver who was exhibiting her wares in the arts and crafts tent.  As we were talking about different historically set books we had read, she asked me if I had read Outlander. I readily admitted that I had purchased the book at one time but had never ‘got into it.’ Looking back, I think I’m really lucky she decided to have anything more to do with me. However, as I listened to this lady extol the virtues of the series, I resolved to give Outlander another go, and boy is that a decision that has impacted my life.

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World Outlander Day – June 1, 2014

Conny, blogging at Highland Saga, has come up with a great idea to have World Outlander Day on Sunday, June 1.  As far as we can tell , June 1, 1991 was the day that Outlander was first published, so what better way to celebrate? This grass-roots effort is really a fresh example of the “Outlander Effect” from my previous Great Scot post.

Fans the world over are embracing this celebration of Diana Gabaldon and all things Outlander! So what kinds of things are Outlander Fans doing to celebrate? Some of the activities I’ve seen mentioned include:

– Online discussions on Facebook, Twitter sharing how Outlander has affected them personally.

– Pocket Jamie photos commemorating the Day worldwide.

– Reading favorite passages and sections from the books.

– Sharing meals and treats based on Outlander dining (see recipes here: Outlander Kitchen).

– Give-A-Gabaldon Sunday: make a gift of an Outlander book to a friend, library, or book drive.

– Because blood helps us Travel Through the Stones:  American Red Cross blood donations (one Fan is moving her Summer Solstice Quarterly donation up 3 weeks).

– Making donations to Diana’s, Cait’s and Sam’s charities:

– Plant an Outlander plant, flower bed, or garden – for ideas, see: Outlander Plants

– Walk, run, or otherwise mobilize your body for fitness with fellow fans: @OutlanderFit

– Write a Haiku poem about Outlander, and tweet using #OutlanderHaiku (5 syllables – 7 syllables – 5 syllables on a theme or idea from Outlander)

 

What will you be doing to celebrate World Outlander Day, and the effect Outlander has had on your world?