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pammcst.bsky.social
Pam🌻
@pammcst.bsky.social
880 followers 830 following 220 posts
🔵 TN mom, grew up in MI, Gen-X, Introvert 🫘
Some interests: reading, libraries, museums, archaeology, anthropology, history, photography, nature, Outlander, Doctor Who, Belle and Sebastian, Marcus Aurelius, Thich Nhat Hanh
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pammcst.bsky.social
I was thinking that it reminded of some part of Meditations by Marcus Aurelius too. This isn't even all the quotes I've found about constant change in the universe (some are just partial quotes from longer paragraphs), but I think they are definitely similar to the concept of change in this novel.
"The world is maintained by change- in the elements and in the things they compose. That should be enough for you; treat it as an axiom.” - Marcus Aurelius, Meditations Book 2, paragraph 3 "The world is nothing but change. Out life is only perception." - Marcus Aurelius Meditations Book 4, section 3 "Constant awareness that everything is born from change. The knowledge that there is nothing nature loves more than to alter what exists and make new things like it. All that exists is a seed of what will emerge from it." - Marcus Aurelius Meditations Book 4, paragraph 36 "Change and flux constantly remake the world, just as the incessant progression of time remakes eternity." - Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, Book 6 paragraph 15
March 10, 2025 at 12:38 AM
pammcst.bsky.social
This line made me think of this part of the Tao Te Ching. I like to think of water as a symbol of persistence.
Verse 78 Nothing in the world is soft and weak as water. But when attacking the hard and strong Nothing can conquer so easily. Weak overcomes strong, Soft overcomes hard. Everyone knows this, No one attains it. Therefore the Sage says: Accept a country's filth And become master of its sacred soil. Accept a country's ill fortune And become king under heaven. True words resemble their opposites. Cheng yen jo fan Watson, Burton; Lao-Tzu; Stephen Addiss; Stanley Lombardo. Tao Te Ching (Hackett Classics) . Hackett Publishing - A. Kindle Edition.
March 9, 2025 at 11:41 PM
pammcst.bsky.social
I'm only ~2/3 through the book, but I did like this quote. It's good advice (literal caution about water rescue*) and metaphorically about how people may resist or even reject help when it's offered.

*BSA rescue technique: Reach, Throw, Row, Go - prevent the victim from latching onto you.
The rescue techniques for reaching and throwing to a victim in water include: Reach: Use an object to pull someone to safety. Throw: Toss a floating object to a person in trouble. Row: Use a boat to save if available. Go: Swim to the victim as a last resort. Prevent the victim from latching onto you.
March 9, 2025 at 9:31 PM
pammcst.bsky.social
A portion of Diana Gabaldon's Facebook post addressing some of the speculation about Faith & Master Raymond in the #Outlander books + differences between the show and the books

I also thought the part about the different perspectives in the graphic novel was interesting so I included that too.
Note: One paragraph missing in this alt text due to character limit So THE EXILE isn’t told solely from Claire’s point of view; it includes POV’s from Jamie, Murtagh, Dougal, Geillis, etc. Consequently, there are bits of the story that aren’t in OUTLANDER at all, or that explore what Someone Other Than Claire was doing at the time. That was interesting, and that’s what caused me to think about Master Raymond. As noted above, I do intend to write a book ABOUT HIM (if you follow my Facebook page, you will have seen a few bits of it (my little meditation on Halloween—“In the cold time, when the spiders die…Sometimes I think I see it, too.”—is from that book. There’s a little more, below… Anyway, as I said, that book isn’t on top of my mental pile, but ideas still show up, and I tuck them away in some mental crevice, from which they peek out now and then, like curious moray eels… And one of those was my thought as to whether Master Raymond might have intervened in some way that we didn’t see, after the nuns ejected him. I have not written a word about this, and quite possibly never will. OK. You aren’t going to see any of those thoughts in Book Ten, because they don’t belong there. If you ever _do_ see them (and they aren’t even developed thoughts; just what I call kernels), they’ll be in Master Raymond’s own story (should I live that long…). But the bottom line here is that No, Faith isn’t/wasn’t alive in the Outlander novels, she’s not going to be, and neither Claire nor Jamie will ever think so. William will not ever have Moral Qualms over having unknowingly had sex with his half-niece (though it’s interesting to see how many people think that possibility is Just Horrifying…I mean, really; what’s more wrong about having sex with a prostitute who’s related to you than one who isn’t, as long as no children result?). Repeat after me: The books are the books, and the show is the show…
January 23, 2025 at 5:14 PM
pammcst.bsky.social
The house torn down in 2004 looked similar to the house on the right side of this photo
Image: A few brick houses on North Campbell Ave in Chicago. The red brick house on the right is similar to the house the author of The House on Mango Street grew up in. Information about the house from Literary Chicago: "...Unfortunately, the original house at 1525 North Campbell Ave. was demolished around 2004; a modern three-flat apartment building now stands in its place. However, Cisneros herself stated that the house that stands directly across from 1525 is very similar to her childhood home. This house is “small and red with tight steps in front and windows so small you’d think they were holding their breath,” just as it is described in the title story of The House on Mango Street. That story goes on to say, “Bricks are crumbling in places, and the front door is so swollen you have to push hard to get in. There is no front yard, only four little elms the city planted by the curb.” A later story observes the house “with its feet tucked under like a cat.”
January 21, 2025 at 3:29 PM
pammcst.bsky.social
Will book ten come out before the show ends? Diana Gabaldon Coral Mansfield I honestly don't know. With luck, they may be more or less simultaneous (that would be ideal <g>), but there's no way to predict that.
January 19, 2025 at 5:19 PM
pammcst.bsky.social
#Outlander spoilers for S7:E16

Facebook replies from Diana Gabaldon on a question about Master Raymond, Faith, etc
Diana Gabaldon Possibly the show is insinuating that... The Ending of Season Seven is def not in the books. Katrina Zanelli Evans Diana Gabaldon how do you feel about this? Diana Gabaldon Katrina Zanelli Evans Well, mixed. They did base that bit on something I told them (i.e., had I written a second graphic novel--which I didn't, for assorted reasons--I would have expanded on Master Raymond's story (which doesn't appear in the novels, for obvious reasons) and said more about his healing of Claire at L'Hopital des Anges, and perhaps what happened to the child), but I don't think it worked very well as done in the show, mostly owing to very limited time and resources.
January 17, 2025 at 3:43 PM
pammcst.bsky.social
Merriam-Webster: Take a screenshot of this GIF, and whichever new word you land on is YOUR word for 2025. Godspeed. screenshot word: mythical
January 1, 2025 at 4:43 PM
pammcst.bsky.social
A relative trying to friend me on Facebook...

No. I don't think I will.
Screenshot of Facebook friend request with the name marked out and their profile picture has 45's name and 2024
November 16, 2024 at 3:06 PM