““Culloden,” he said, the whispered word an evocation of tragedy.”
Outlander: Voyager, Diana Gabaldon

We had turned off the main road to Inverness, and were heading down the ‘B’ roads in search of an ancient site we wanted to visit. As we drove, a young stag leaped out into the road in front of us, his emerging antlers still rounded and covered with velvet. I was glad that I was not driving at speed as we followed the brown signs that said ‘Culloden’; there have been more than enough deaths there without adding to their number. But that was  one place we were not going. The battlefield of Culloden has too many tales of horror and too many uneasy ghosts still haunt moor and memory. I had no desire to feel them… and, as a sassenach myself, there is a lingering sense of shame for the actions of the Duke…

The rain poured down on our rooftop that night, and our previously dark and quiet house became filled with bright flashes of light and deep rumbles of thunder. My young daughter, who is afraid of thunderstorms, raced into our bedroom.

“Mom, I’m scared. Can you sleep in my bed with me?” Of course, I agreed.

I felt on edge too, but not because of the storm. I was facing other fears. Tomorrow I was scheduled for a breast biopsy. This was the second time in a few years that doctors had found something suspicious. Last time, when my daughter had just started preschool, I underwent breast surgery to remove abnormal tissue. Luckily, it turned out to be papillomas, benign growths in the ducts. However, faced with yet another procedure on the same breast, my fears ran high once again.

Cancer was no stranger to my family. My father and grandfather…

Very grateful to author Lyn Horner for hosting this week’s episode of Odd Jobs and Characters.. More about Lyn and her books after the extract. I hope you will head over and check out the rest of the post on Lyn’s blog.  Thanks Sally

Last week I wrote about my cross country journey of many hours by train, to reach a hotel in the heart of the Snowdonia National Park in Wales. My time there was filled with adventures, and in this post I would like to introduce you to a couple of memorable guests.

To spice things up a little, and since I am the guest of an award-winning romance author, I have included a little love interest.

Snowdonia National Park; wikipedia creative commons; photo by Mike Peel

The hotel boasted an award winning restaurant which overlooked the Mawddach estuary. In the summer months in particular, guests could…

It is Friday and time to let our hair down with a few visual aids.  Whilst the first one is cute, it is actually quite an important infographic that identifies your dogs body language..

And then there is this.

And completely unrelated because it made me laugh..

Have a great weekend…. don’t do anything that I wouldn’t.. Sally.