Ruby Island

Best way to deal with noisy teenagers is to join them. We had a really pleasant night sitting round the table sharing girl talk. I miss Megs friends from home, so this was nice. The men folk came home from their fishing trip well after dark with tales of spooky places and no fish. Apart from a Crocodile Dundee character who waved a couple of large trout in their faces. They tried to go where he had been, but suffered an attack of the sand flies and had to beat a retreat. The fishing is not going well, but they had a great wee adventure. They joined us round the table and Finn got in on a round of Chinese Whispers. The idea for this stemmed from an incident last Thursday when Kate's dad got shot in the leg by a nail gun and by the end of the day he'd been shot in the head by a rifle and was dead. Kate was sitting round the table with us and thought it was funny - now.

Dragged everybody out of bed this morning to go on a trip to clean up Ruby Island. I'd read it in The Messenger and thought it would be a nice family thing to do and wouldn't cost any money. Everyone was up for it and we deposited all the extra girls at their respective homes. It was dull and a bit damp, but not cold. It turned out to be a gardening trip which they do regularly to maintain the island with it's native species and root out all the aliens. Finn and Meg were fine for about half an hour as they had large cutting implements. Finn enjoyed cutting off the heads of everything within his reach, but did not like being directed into jaggy places for specific items. Meg kept telling him off for cutting things in an indiscriminate manner. Spook strimmed the island for 3 hours and I stayed well out of his way, pulling out Lupins and avoiding his eye. It was a long time before we got the promised sausage sizzle as payment. Finn found a sheltered spot out of the wind and Meg pulled her hood over her eyes in that 'don't talk to me' way that teenagers do.
Spook said it was the most community minded thing he's had to do since the Scouts. Finn and Meg have never stayed in Cubs or Brownies long enough to do anything community minded. Half of Fort William have come out and put the No Fuss tent up and down in a voluntary capacity, so I'm sure they'll be glad to know that Spook did his bit on the island. It's a tiny and pretty place, but it has to be said, we probably wont be back as volunteers (children and Spook ARE still talking to me, but only just,) and we don't actually have a boat, so should be able to stay clear.
Spook can choose next weeks family activity.