My hubby & I made the trip to Iowa City yesterday with my latest catscan in hand & I was very fearful of going to this appointment. I knew my 5 mos of chemo had shrunk the largest tumor & I was hoping for good news. Well, we got both good news & bad news & the wind knocked out of our sails for both of us & last nite was able to update my status: "For those of you who know I have been fighting cancer for 6 mos, I had an appt today in Iowa City w/cancer dr/surgeon & now after 5 mos of chemo here locally, I am ready for surgery. That will happen in the middle of Jan ....so for now, I am 'chemo-free' & intend to enjoy everything I can for the next 6 weeks. Unfortunately, after surgery & recovery (4 to 6 wks), I will then require chemo for at least 6 - 12 mos. Thank you for all your good thoughts, prayers, comments and/or cards ... appreciated! Right now I am building up strength for the year ahead." So, starting this morning, after a good night's sleep, I am enjoying the next 6 weeks of 'chemo-freedom'... ;-) Happy Holidays! ~~Hugs, Jeanne S.

My husband and I rented an old house on the river on Lady's Island, SC, one year while we were waiting for our house to be built. The house was in a well established subdivision of homes built in the 80's, yet this house was over 100 years old, and stood out because of it's older, Victorian farmhouse style architecture. It had three levels, that included a walkout basement, which is very rare in a coastal area where the properties are so close to sea level. The story behind the house was that it had originally been owned by a woman, who after a huge dispute with her neighbors in downtown Beaufort, had the house moved by barge across the river to Lady's Island onto property she had inherited from her father. There was no bridge to the island in those days, and she used to row herself across the river into town for provisions each week. The first paranormal experience happened to DH, who was out in the yard mowing one afternoon. Our kids were at school and I was at work, and the entire neighborhood was quiet when he suddenly heard this strange, lilting music coming from the house. He went inside, expecting to find a radio on, or that one of the kids had come home from school without his knowledge and turned on a tape player. As he climbed the stairs from the basement to the living floor, the music stopped and he never could find the source of where it came from. The house was empty, and the kids didn't get off the bus until hours later. He told all of us about it, but none of us had a clue as to what it could have been. A month or so later, my daughter took her 8-track tape player to her girl friends house for a weekend sleepover. The girls turned on the tape player and heard this strange lilting music, something like they had never heard before, coming from the tape player. My daughter remembered what DH had told her about the music he heard, and called us immediately and played the tape over the phone for him to hear. It was the same music he'd heard that day previously in the yard, and was a tune none of us recognized. He told DD to bring the tape home with her the following day so we could all listen to it and try to figure out the mystery, and she agreed to do so. When she returned the next day and we sat down to listen to it, the tape was blank - and she swore that she hadn't erased it, she was as disappointed as we were that it was empty. The next occurrence in that house was also with DH. We had a group of friends over to the house one night for a cook-out, and the upstairs bathroom was occupied when DH needed to use it. He went downstairs into the basement where there was a tiny half bath installed. As he stood in front of the toilet peeing, he felt a tap-tap on his shoulder, as though someone was trying to get his attention. He said, "just a sec and I'll be finished", and turned his head, expecting to see someone waiting to use the room, yet no one was there. He immediately turned around and walked through all the basement rooms, and there was no one around, anywhere. We later heard from our neighbors that the house was haunted and previous renters had also witnessed strange occurrences while living there. One woman had been setting up the dining table for a birthday party for her daughter, when one of the balloons she'd blown up and attached a string to suddenly began moving about the room on it's own accord, as though it were held by someone walking around the room. It was an airless day and all the windows were closed, and she claims the string wasn't vertical, but angled as though someone was running with it. As she stood there, three other balloons were invisibly grabbed up and then they all went floating, as though they were being held by someone, up the stairs to the bedroom level. That family apparently had so many other bizarre happenings in that house that they got spooked and moved out. That's why it was available for us when we needed a quick short term rental. We never felt threatened or in fear about our "ghost", just figured it was the old woman's energy still there for some reason, and we always wished we could have found out more, but we moved out soon afterward to get into our new home.

I got it too...it's great! His are always great!

I think the writer you are thinking of is the late Lilian Beckwith who wrote The Hills is Lonely and several other humorous books about the Hebrides. mariannese, the Norsemen/Vikings landed first on the Shetland and Orkney Isles, to the North of Scotland (the Hebrides are on the West coast) they were remarkable sea-men. Even to this day the Shetlanders see themselves as quite distinct from the Scots . . . no pipes, reels, tartans etc although they became part of Scotland in about 1450 as they made up part of the dowry of a Norwegian Princess when she was bethrothed to the King of Scotland. As children we used to stay on Unst, the most northerly of the islands in the days before oil was discovered in the North Sea. A fascinating, remote area, really wild Shetland ponies, almost as wild sheep, sea-birds that would attack humans at nesting times, very laid-back but independent people and the most incredible clear air free of nearly all pollution. Sorry I sound like a 'travelogue' :-) "And so as the sun sets on the Holm of Vatsland, we say farewell to Shetland" Here is a link that might be useful: Lilian Beckwuth