Shutters rattled; slate rumbled. Atlantic winds shrieked over granite cliffs guarding Scotland's Outer Hebrides. The gale slammed into a stone cottage, a mother and daughter's home. Facing the onslaught were two small windows, not so much for viewing the seascape as to let light in and shoo darkness out, the only door. Sturdy chimneys, cemented on either side of the home, were bookends to keep two rooms from blowing away.