#Claire's Thyme Fair

[anolis3]

"Unsettled Ground", by Claire Fuller.

"O, will you find me an acre of land, Savoury sage, rosemary and thyme, Between the sea foam, and the sea sand, Or never be a true love of mine.", from Scarborough Fair.

"The worries of seventy years - the money, the infidelity, the small deceits - are cut away, and when she looks at her hand she can no longer tell where she ends and dog begins. They are one substance, enormous and free, as is the sofa, the stone floor, the walls, the cottage thatch, the snow, the sky. Everything connected.", from Unsettled Ground.

[aitan]

Chia Ra canta "Il Sogno di Maria" di Fabrizio de Andrè

Chia Ra non ha ancora 18 anni, ma la sua pagina artistica su FB (Claire’s Thyme Fair) ha già un suo seguito di ascoltatori attenti e fedeli alla linea. Per quelli che rincorrono i numeri parliamo di 3.617 follower sul Faccialibro e decine e decine di commenti e pollicioni eretti a ogni post cantato.

Di solito accompagna da sola alla chitarra la sua voce delicata, cristallina, precisa e potente, ma su Youtube possiamo ascoltare questa sua interpretazione del “Sogno di Maria” con l’accompagnamento alla tastiera di Alberto Fauro che ha ottenuto più di 6.000 meritate visualizzazioni.

Se volete saperne di più, cliccate qui:

[philtstone]

Summary: Their apartments are dingy in the way that the corners remain dark and the fire feels like it is all but struggling to bring light to the place, but Claire stands, hair loose and undone and hands dirtied from her day’s work, managing bubbling water and carefully ordered medicine box and the mending by the foot of the bed with a sort of seamless, stubborn grace, and he cannot bring himself to move forward, because something about the way she is placed against the lone light source in the room is making it look as though she is from whence the light is coming, rather than the fire.

The continuing, in-between adventures of the faerie and her lad.

i feel like the grandpa from princess bride. "true loves kiss! deceiving british officers! family fluff! daring escapes! domestic spousal conversations whilst on the lam!"

unfortunately, you do have to have some familiarity with the other fics in this series for this one to make sense. that said, we're trying something new with the format here. this is meant to be a serious installment in this universe, but it's good to not take yourself entirely seriously sometimes.

thank you so much to everyone who has stuck with me over the course of this series! somehow, it went from something entirely off the cuff to an actual, planned story arc with deliberate installments. only two stories left now; one that will hopefully be the culmination of this entire arc, and one epilogue.

for now, the title, and subheadings, are from scarborough fair ... and reviews bring my heart so, so much joy

[gosagacious]

Books with Winged Characters

I’m working on compiling a list of books where a main character has wings or winged people are a significant part of the story. I have read a fair amount of these but not all.

Books

Above World (series) by Jenn Reese

Angelfall (Penryn and the End of Days series) by Susan Ee

Ascendant by Kimberly Grey

Between the Sea and Sky by Jaclyn Dolamore

Birdwing by Rafe Martin

Black and Blue Magic by Zilpha Keatley Snyder

The Book of Flying by Keith Miller

The Boy Who Could Fly by James Norcliffe

Catwings by Ursula K. LeGuin: Cats with wings.

The Cloud Roads (Books of the Raksura) by Martha Wells

Defect by Will Weaver

Down (Zalensia #1) by Jo Dresden Haskell

Feathers by Jorge Corona: a graphic novel. 

Five Children and It by E. Nesbit

Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett

Growing Wings by Laurel Winter

Halo by Alexandra Adornetto

Harpy Thyme by Piers Anthony

The Icarus Project by Laura Quimby: Odd example since the title and cover imply a lot of this theme, but wings appear on like five pages.

Immortal City by Scott Speer

Mail-Order Wings by Beatrice Gormley 

Maximum Ride (series) by James Patterson

Mr. Pye by Mervyn Peake

Nights at the Circus by Angela Carter

Peter and the Starcatchers by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson

Raising Dragons (Dragons in Our Midst series) by Bryan Davis: One main character has dragon-like wings.

Rapture by David Sosnowski

Self-Portrait with Wings, by Susan Kohn Green

Skellig, by David Almond

Stormbite by T. Hearts

The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender

The Tale of Angelino Brown by David Almond

Tama of the Light Country by Ray Cummings

The Things with Wings by Greg Holch

To Dream, Perchance to Soar by Ashlyn Nafina

Valkyrie by Kate O’Hearn

The Wayfarer Redemption by Sara Douglass

When the Wind Blows and The Lake House by James Patterson: The origin of the idea that was repackaged for younger readers as Maximum Ride.

When We Have Wings by Claire Corbett: The gold standard for sci-fi winged people as far as I’m concerned. 

The Winged Man by A.E. van Vogt

Wings by Bill Brittain

Wings by Julie Gonzalez

The Wings of Merlin by T. A. Barron

Year of the Griffin, by Diana Wynne Jones: Main character is a griffin, but there are some good descriptions of flying and life with wings. There's a brief mention of the griffin's siblings who are winged humanoids (it's an unusual family). 

Short Stories

“Men with Wings” By Leslie F. Stone First appearing in Air Wonder Stories (July 1929) and Women With Wings (1930)

A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings (short story) by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

“Wings in the Morning” by Sarah Rees Brennan, in anthology Monstrous Affections (Part of the world introduced in her book In Other Lands, which features harpies.)

Picture Books

Gwinna by Barbara Helen Berger

Wings by Christopher Myers

Feel free to add to the list.

[imagineclaireandjamie]

Modern Glasgow AU Jamie and Claire having to deal with their teenage daughters, maybe some boy trouble...

Anonymous said: For Gotham’s Modern Glasgow AU- few years in the future, someone catches teenage Bree & Roger on a “compromised” situation and Jamie goes full Highland Warrior father with them

Anonymous said: For the Modern Glasgow au. Someone surprising teenage Brianna and Roger together and Jamie giving them a serious talk

Modern Glasgow AU

Jamie Fraser eased his elbow out the open car window,humming tunelessly along with his favorite live recording of The Corries’ “WildMountain Thyme.”

It was a beautiful spring day. The sheep were lambingwell – he’d had a good chat with Jenny about that this morning. The fields werejust about ready to till – Ian was going to check on the tractors thisafternoon. Claire had had an unusually quiet spell at the clinic in thevillage. Fergus and Marsali would be back at Lallybroch for a visit in a fewweeks. Faith, Bree, William, and Julia were off school this week – he’d spent agood part of the previous night helping Julia select the next quadrant of theestate for her and Sinem to excavate over the next few days (so far they’dturned up a startling array of artifacts, from broken pipes to corroded ploughsto all sorts of animal bones to a beautiful string of what had to be, oddlyenough, beads from the Mediterranean).

Now that the winter damp was finally dissipating, it wasas good of a time as any to check the outbuildings on the estate – an array ofguesthouses, storage sheds, and cottages where Murtagh, Suzette, the householdstaff, and various long-term visitors lived. Some had been winterized – might aswell make a visit, open the windows, and air them out while the weatherremained fair.

So, armed with a basket full of Mrs. Crook’scock-a-leekie pie for lunch, Jamie found himself turning off the main road to lookin on the stone crofter’s cottage that dated at least from the 1740s but whichhis father had lovingly restored into a guesthouse at least thirty years ago.

And frowning at the ancient red Morris Minor innocentlyparked near the front door.

Jamie cut the Land Rover’s engine and gingerly followedthe fresh tire tracks to the car, which sported a cheery University of Glasgowbumper sticker.

His eyes narrowed.

Swiftly he approached the house and quietly pushed in theheavy wooden door – which he knew had to be unlocked.

Brianna’s coat lay crumpled in the entryway.

Then he turned to the left – to the room where he knew alarge, comfortable couch sat before the old hearth that he, Murtagh, andWilliam had repaired the previous summer.

All he saw was a tangle of red and dark curls, and a blurof pale flesh.

“Roger MacKenzie,” James Fraser growled. “I’ll thank yeto take yer hands off my daughter.”

–

Dr. Claire Fraser pulled her Volvo in between her husband’sLand Rover and Faith’s battered, yet dependable Volkswagen Jetta. She stretchedas she stepped out of the car, and smiled as she spotted Julia’s blonde braidsdarting through the dooryard.

“Hello?” she called.

Eight-year-old Julia whirled backwards and ran to herbeloved Mama, tackling her midsection with a tremendous hug.

“And hello to you too, darling. How has your day been?”

“We’ve got it all marked out and have started digging,”she replied, fishing in the pockets of her coveralls. “Found this so far. Whatdo ye think it is?”

A small, corroded metal lump lay in the palm of Julia’sdusty hand. Claire gingerly picked it up, squinting.

“It looks like an old bullet,” she mused. “Wherever didyou find it?”

“Oh, over in that plot behind the old coo barn. Da saidhis grandda told him that in olden times there was a smithy back there.”

Sinem emerged from the main house and padded over tothem.

“Hi, Dr. Fraser.” Her voice was shy, her English still abit hesitant – but clearly improving.

Julia turned to her best friend. “Are they still talking?”

“Yes – they’re still in the study room. But Mr. Murtaghwas listening from the outside.”

“What?” Claire crouched down to be at eye level with thegirls. “Who’s in the study?”

“Da and Bree and Roger,” Julia explained patiently.

“Roger? He’s here?”

“Oh, aye – Da found the two of them out in one of thecottages. Been holding them hostage until ye came home.” Julia paused, thenproduced a compass from one of her pockets. “Can we go now? The sun will set intwo hours and we have a *lot* of work to do.”

Claire nodded, distracted, and walked as quick as shecould toward the house.

She found Murtagh right outside Jamie’s study – just likeJulia had said.

“What’s going on?” she hissed.

The older man’s busy eyebrows – long gone grey with age –rose in amusement. “He’s been tearing wee Roger a new one for acting improperlywi’ Brianna.”

“What?” Indignant – and wanting to defend her daughter –Claire raised her hand to open the door.

But was stopped by Murtagh resting a work-worn handgently on hers.

“No need. They’re almost done. Jamie’s just about wornhimself out wi’ warning the puir lad. And Brianna, brave lass – she’s been inwi’ him the whole time.”

Claire’s eyes bugged. “She *what*? Just what exactly werethey doing out there, anyway?”

“Just fooling around – kid stuff. Roger swears up anddown that nothing serious happened.”

Now Claire rolled her eyes. “A likely story.”

“Hush,” Murtagh whispered. “I think they’re almost done.”

“…no’ fair to punish me, Da. I’m grown – ”

“Seventeen is *no’* grown, Bree. No’ as long as ye livein my house. It hurts me to think that ye couldna have Roger here, to be openabout it.”

“Because I wanted to avoid *this,* Da.” Claire could justpicture the look of exasperation on Brianna’s face.

“Ye ken weel that I dinna want to hide anything about mylove for Bree,” Roger added quietly. “I love her and she loves me and we’reproud of that. Only – weel. Only there are so many people in this house, Mr.Fraser. We just wanted some time alone to ourselves.”

“Ye could have just asked, lad.” Claire knew that tone ofvoice – and knew that Jamie was probably ruffling his hand through his hair ashe spoke. “I ken ye love and respect my daughter. Ye just gave me the hell of ashock today.”

“I’m sorry – ”

“And for God’s sake I hope ye’re still a maiden, Bree.Because I swear if ye’ve lain together outside of marriage – ”

Knowing this was her cue, Claire innocently breezedthrough the door.

Jamie stood behind his desk, face flushed, hair all amess, arms folded across his chest.

Brianna and Roger, seated in the high-backed chairs infront of the desk, turned to face Claire. Roger looked tired. Brianna lookedannoyed – then relieved.

“Mama!” she exclaimed.

“Hello Roger!” Claire replied in her best cheery doctor toneof voice. “What a lovely surprise! I hope I’m not interrupting – ”

Roger rose to greet Claire with a kiss on the cheek. “Actually,Dr. Fraser, we were just finishing – I need to go soon, to get back toGlasgow. Just a quick trip.”

Bree quickly rose to take his hand.

“I’ll just go see Roger to his car,” she explained,dragging him out of the study and past her hysterically laughing godfather,lurking in the hallway.

Claire met her husband’s eyes, hands on her hips.

Waiting.

His eyes narrowed, seeming more blue than she had everseen.

“If I find them again – ”

“And you’re telling me you *never*, not once, snuck offto a haystack with some girl, James Fraser?”

He pursed his lips. Swallowed. Sank weakly into hischair, burying his head in his hands.

Claire quietly walked around the desk, opened his bottomdrawer, and pulled out the bottle of Laphroaig.

Jamie sighed, leaned his head back against the chair, andunscrewed the top.

[unhallowedarts]

A couple weeks back I asked the internet for help finding something to read, and man did the internet pull through! This is a masterpost of answers I got. If you’re tagged in it, it’s just so I can tell you this: thank you for responding! I got some recommendations I’ve already read, some that have been on my list for ages, some I’ve never heard of before and am excited to have learned about! It was fun seeing such a variety, and now I have a nice list here to come back to next time! If you’re wondering which I ended up reading, the answer is actually that my wife reminded me that I’d been meaning to read Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman, so I played favorites and took that suggestion. But I just finished it, so, I’ll try to pick one of these for the next thing!

@metalpannda​ answered: John Scalzi’s Old Man’s War series.

@vivaciouscactus​ answered: Jewels of the Rebellion is one of my favorite fantasy novels. Its only $3 on Amazon, too.

@theneuroknight​ answered: The Fionavar Tapestry. Recommended by a friend. Not sure what I think of it yet. You might like.

@rabiastudies​ reblogged this from suchprettypride and added:

The Catcher in the Rye

@janeandthehivequeen​ reblogged this and added:

The giver series by Lois Lowry maybe? It’s kind of quiet fantasy, the plot can’t really be described as action at all. Death does enter the plot at one point but it doesn’t dwell on it. You can start at any book in the series and read any of them as a stand-alone as well.

But like, everyone has read that so you probably already have too lol

Oh, there’s the princess bride, which is hilarious and fantasy. There’s action but it’s not action packed, and it’s self-aware and campy and fun. If you’ve seen the movie, it’s like that, but with a very self-aware frame narrative.

Howl’s Moving Castle is like a subversion of different fantasy tropes, also very funny and also relatively light-hearted. The main character has been turned into an old lady so there’s little action.

@jannhpps​ reblogged this from youthbookreview and added:

Little Women by Louise May Alcott is one of my favorites.

@linguist25  reblogged this and added:

I have few palate cleanser books for you @suchprettypride. You might like….

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

A Room with a View by E.M. Forster

Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons, Roz Chast (Illustrations)

On the Road by Jack Kerouac

The Two Princesses of Bamarre (The Two Princesses of Bamarre #1) by Gail Carson Levine

The Unicorn Sonata by Peter S. Beagle

Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones

Castle Waiting, Vol. 1 by Linda Medley, Jane Yolen

Under the Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes

An Ideal Husband by Oscar Wilde

Odd and the Frost Giants by Neil Gaiman

Professor Moriarty: The Hound of the D'Urbervilles by Kim Newman

Steampunk! An Anthology of Fantastically Rich and Strange Stories by Kelly Link etc.

The Wizard’s Promise (The Hanna Duology #1) by Cassandra Rose Clarke

Spirit’s Key by Edith Cohn

Alistair Grim’s Odditorium (Odditorium #1) by Gregory Funaro (Goodreads Author), Vivienne To (Illustrator)

Magical: An Anthology of Fantasy, Fairy Tales, and Other Magical Fiction by Kelly Ann Jacobson etc.

Flunked (Fairy Tale Reform School #1) by Jen Calonita

Cranky Ladies of History by Tehani Croft Wessely etc.

Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie

Newt’s Emerald by Garth Nix

The Marvels by Brian Selznick

As You Like It by William Shakespeare

Topper (Topper #1) by Thorne Smith

Irish Fairy and Folk Tales by W.B. Yeats

Plain Kate by Erin Bow

Walden by Henry David Thoreau

Foxheart by Claire Legrand (Goodreads Author), Jaime Zollars (Goodreads Author)(Illustrations)

My Lady Jane (The Lady Janies #1)  by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton (Goodreads Author), Jodi Meadows

Furthermore by Tahereh Mafi

The Last Days of Magic by Mark Tompkins

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke

The Arabian Nights by Anonymous, Richard Francis Burton (Translator)

The 10th Kingdom by Kathryn Wesley

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass (Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland #1-2) by Lewis Carroll

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court by Mark Twain

Anne of Green Gables (Anne of Green Gables #1) by L.M. Montgomery

The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame

The Princess Bride by William Goldman

Captains Courageous by Rudyard Kipling

James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl

Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast (Folktales) by Robin McKinley

The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick

Arsenic and Old Lace by Joseph Kesselring

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Charlie Bucket #1) by Roald Dahl

Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine

East by Edith Pattou

I hope one of these books serves as a good in-between read. Happy reading to you!

@12minutestomidnight​ reblogged this and added:

This book is pretty well-known, but if you haven’t yet read it: try Kafka on the shore by Haruki Murakami. It’s fantasy, and it’s a contemporary book - so it might be post-modern, though I’m not sure what counts as a post-modern book to you.

@readingbooksinisrael​ reblogged this and added:

I just took out a bunch of Edward Eager books because I needed exactly what you are talking about. They are children’s books about groups of kids who suddenly find magic. They are all great.

Recommended reading order:

Half-Magic-summer of 1924, four kids find a magic coin on the ground that only grants wishes in halves.

Magic By the Lake-summer of 1925, same four kids go to vacation at a summer house near a lake, and find a talking turtle who can grant wishes

Knight’s Castle-the children of the four in the two previous books have to spend a summer together, and end up adventuring much of it when they are turned tiny

The Time Garden-same children go vacation at a summer house near a lake with a thyme garden. they discover the thyme can take them through time

Seven-Day Magic-five kids from a different universe discover a book that takes them on hazardous adventures when they make a wish on it

Magic or Not?-two kids move to a new neighborhood during the summer, and discover a wishing well and try to do Good Deeds

The Well-Wishers-same kids come upon a magic desk, and immediately lose it to the bully of the street

And these sound generic, but they’re not, and every chapter is action-packed, and the characters are great. If you like E. Nesbit’s books, these are based on those. And the illustrations are great! (at least in my copies)

@anassarhenisch​ reblogged this and added:

Orlando by Virginia Woolf - Modern, not post-modern, with a definite fantasy slant and slower pace; about an Elizabethan immortal who slides between genders Castle Hangnail by Ursula Vernon - About a twelve-year-old girl auditioning to be the Wicked Witch of a castle, with a fair bit of whimsy and humour; fast-paced because it’s a kids’ book but it doesn’t feel frantic in the same vein, the Enchanted Forest Chronicles by Patricia Wrede, about a princess who volunteers as a Dragon’s Princess because it’s the only accepted role that allows her independence Uprooted by Naomi Novik - slow burn of a fantasy, occasionally creepy and with fast sections and side character deaths, but the focus is on friendship and saving the kingdom and fighting evil Robin McKinley’s fairy tale retellings if you’re looking for something big, Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke, which is basically Austen does fantasy; there are deaths and depression but again, I wouldn’t say they’re the focus; it’s two wizards fighting Napoleon, reinventing magic, and messing with forces they can’t control

[cultiver]

Claire Cheney’s Cabinet of Curiosities

Curio Spice Co. is a tiny shop owned by Claire Cheney on Mass Ave in Cambridge. Just down the road from Davis & Porter Squares, it has a sanctuary-esque feeling. An avid traveler and collector of curiosities, Cheney has a way with blending both spices and ambiance. Old fashioned looking instruments, animal skulls, and a copy of the Drunken Botanist frame her spice blend and salt offerings. Curated to be an aromatic experience, each shelf has a row of clear jars so you can see and smell the spices. It’s one thing to talk the talk of being a small sustainable business but she really does walk the walk – 99% of the spices on her shelves are fair trade, organic, and/or from small sustainable farms.

Cheney grew up in Massachusetts and spent an impressionable part of her childhood in a shipbuilding town on the coast of Maine. She credits her first solo-abroad trip to Ghana as one event that spurred her interest in botany. She says, “People don’t have access to western style doctors, so there’s a lot of tribal medicine and using the plants in their environment, so I was curious about that.”

Curiouser and curiouser….

She went on to study at Oberlin, a small liberal arts college in Ohio, where she majored in creative writing and environmental studies. As far as her studies contribution to her business acumen, Cheney attributes more the critical thinking and creative skills she acquired at school with bringing her success than her actual degree. She jokes, “I sometimes will mix it up and say I was a creative studies major, cause it sometimes felt like that. Very, very interdisciplinary.”

At Oberlin, she worked as the Local Foods Coordinator at an 800-person food and living co-op. That meant she traveled to Amish farms in Ohio to source vegetables and eggs direct from the farms. Being a woman, the farmers would not make eye contact when she spoke to them, and would only speak to the male she was working with. Also impactful was her senior thesis on wild foods, which started as a project on the wild blueberry industry in Maine, but expanded wildly. She talks about interviewing Alice Waters as part of her project, who is a proponent of the slow food movement, food activist, and all around badass; as I would talk about meeting Beyonce. (but with less hyperventilating) She credits her project as being very beneficial to defining her passion for local, organic, and sustainable food practices. You can tell she’s brought her interests full circle: she informs me of her newest spice blend offering named Herbes de Romance contains wild oregano from her folk’s farm up in Maine.

Cheney’s current business model is fashioned around becoming a certified B Corp, short for benefit corporation. A benefit corporation has a mission statement that goes beyond just profit. Other businesses that have achieved B Corp status include Kickstarter, and Cheney’s friends at the company Susty party, who sell compostable party supplies. To be certified, you need to create a set of achievable goals to fulfill your mission, which vary depending on the business. Curio Spice Co.’s mission is rooted in environmental responsibility and gender equality.

Cheney points out, “it’s a little bit tricky for consumers, because there’s so much language on packaging. Whether it’s organic, now it’s non-GMO, there’s fair trade, then there’s words like sustainable and natural.” As more and more people are becoming aware, “natural” is often used to make a packaged food seem less processed – that doesn’t mean it’s true. While for-profit corporations only have a responsibility to how they can achieve financial success, B Corps also consider environmental and social factors.

If you look closely at the label, you can see the silhouette of a bear. That, according to Cheney, is because bears are super sniffers. After a little bit of my own research, I discovered bears have a sense of smell seven times greater than that of a bloodhound. That, together with Cheney’s affinity for perfumes gives an inkling as to how much sourcing spices direct has to with picking up scents. “It’s a similar process to spice blending, using your nose and finding cool combinations. I’ve studied some natural perfume and it’s helped develop my sensory abilities.”

Cheney has put those sensory abilities she’s gained to work, she seems to always be going on spice hunting trips, her latest being a vanilla quest in Madagascar which you can read about in her new blog post, here. Her social media accounts certainly capture her passion for spices and are a wonderful way to feel like you’re on an adventure right alongside her. As she says, “I think it makes people enjoy the food more when you have the story behind it.”

As for her spice blends, they are very exact, “down to the gram.” Her scales also have to be certified by the city because of weights and measures regulations. When I was considering Curio, and wondering out of all the things I could ask Claire Cheney, about her cool products, amazing travels, the phrase “The whole is greater than the sum of it’s parts” by Aristotle came briefly to mind. When I asked Cheney if she agreed with that assessment, she said, “That’s what’s cool about blending – and you could say the same about cooking, when you combine certain things and it creates a balance, it transcends all the individual ingredients.”

Some of Claire Cheney’s favorite flavor combinations:

**Southeast Asian: **lemongrass, kefir lime, and long pepper **Greek & Mediterranean: **Oregano, saffron, lemon, and thyme

Find Curio Spices at American Provisions in the spice section.

All photos and article by Hillary Anderson.