There is, as one would expect, many events on in Inverness and around Loch Ness this summer. This is my top five which if you are in the area you simply don't want to miss!!

1. Inverness Highland Games, 24th July: Staged in the Northern Meeting Park, the games this year have joined with Inverness Armed forces Day to create one of Scotland's largest and most spectacular summer events. ( see www.invernesshighlandgames.com)
2. The Caledonian Canal Ceilidh Trail, 12th July -16th August: For over a month talented young musicians will play traditional music mixed with song and dance at over 45 different events around Loch Ness Inverness and the Caledonian Canal (see www.highland.gov.uk/caledonian-canal-ceilidh-trail)
3. The Black Isle Show, 4th-5th August: The biggest agricultural show in the north - a great day out for the family!(see www.blackisleshow.info )
4. Belladrum Tartan Heart Festival, 6th-7th August: My favourite, with an amazing mix of music of all genres, theatre, comedy, poetry reading - you name it this festival has something for all ages! (see www.tartanheartfestival.co.uk)
5. Inverness Book Festival, 12th-15th August: For those who like a simply like a good read on holiday!(see www.invernessbookfestival.co.uk )

As regular readers of our newsletter will know, we acquired 'Coco the Cat' back in March. After a couple of months settling in she likes nothing better than to sit on top of the fence in the back garden checking out for movement in the undergrowth waiting to pounce upon some poor shrew or vole. This she achieves with regularity but like all cats she likes nothing better than to bring her kill inside to show us which is not good! How then do we keep Coco happy? It is good that she is helping to keep the numbers of voles and shrews down over summer but really we can't have her wandering in to the house with them. If you shake food at her she just looks distainfully at you as if to say ' do you think I'm brainless - I drop this and you'll just remove it' So answers on a postcard please!

I note this past few days in the press that comment is at last being made about how dry it has been over the past few months in parts of the Highlands. An article which appeared in the Press & Journal said that people in Knoydart ( one of the remotest areas in Scotland) face an electricity shortage due to the very dry spring threatening generation of power through their hydro electric scheme.I'm sure there will be more shortages elsewhere unless things change soon. I have never seen some of the reservoirs so low, and Loch Ness is also at it's lowest level for many years. So low infact that here on the south side you can clearly see the 'shelf' which extends out a short distance from the shore before the loch deepens dramatically plunging down to over 600ft.
But then again the weather at the weekend was beautiful showing off the Highlands at their very best. After a very bright hot day, when I drove home from Fort William on Saturday night there was still light in the sky at midnight!

In for an interesting weekend... same as last year my brother and his wife are over from to Canada to run (yes run!!) the West Highland Way non stop from Milngavie on the edge of Glasgow, to Fort William, a distance of 96 miles!( http://www.westhighlandwayrace.org/) All being well it should take them approximately 28 hours. Despite my love of running I'm not joining them on this one but rather, along with my other brother, providing the support crew. Last year I did join in at about half way in what turned out to be an 'overnight epic' from Glencoe to Fort William. The one thing I will never forget is looking across to the Blackwater Reservoir from the Devil's Staircase at 1am in the morning and light still in the sky. It was a vision of stark almost primeaval beauty that I think epitomises much of our scenery here in the Highlands. Last year I didn't manage to take any photos (as I was too busy concentrating on survival!)but hopefully tomorrow I can get some good shots!

Normally after a long run on Sunday I have a 'day of rest' but yesterday evening was warm and sunny and I just had to get out.. I set off up the trail that leads off from the foot of our drive and up in to the woods. That lovely smell of pine needles was thick in the air and with not a sound apart from my own hard breathing it really felt good. At the top of the hill I turned down back towards the River Farigaig running through what is my favourite section of the Farigaig woods where very some very old spruce trees tower high above. Then it was a quick stop at the viewpoint looking down on Loch Ness, before a short sprint back to Evergreen. Yes, it's not a bad place to live..

South Loch Ness Heritage Group have just published the most fantastic little booklet on South Loch Ness. Covering everything from Wildlife and Nature to Sports, to General Wade, it is a great introduction to our wonderful area. It is also a great guide to making the most of driving around South Loch Ness. The booklet costs only £3 and, as a contributor to the booklet, we have here at Evergreen plenty copies available for sale!
Of course as an introduction to the area not everything could be put in the booklet, so if you would like to find out more just go to the website www.southlochnessheritage.co.uk or buy a copy of 'A Country called stratherrick' by Alan B Lawson, the classic book on the area.

I've always liked ice cream! Growing up as a teenager it was a staple dessert in our household.(probably because it didn't require any preparation and in a household of 3 boys my mother had enough to do!) Didn't matter that it was usually just vanilla or, as a treat, strawberry, I was always happy to consume vast quantities.
Fast forward 30 years and I still like ice cream, except now Fiona makes it for guests in all kins of flavours so I get to consume yogurt ice cream, coconut, chocolate, pineapple and best of all.. banana... If I could have one thing if stranded on a desert island it would be Fiona's banana ice cream (ok, so I might take her sticky toffee pudding also )Fiona tells me the receipe banana ice cream says it is' for children'. Humm.. is she trying to tell me something?

Ah who would have thought! The other day I was chatting with a friend who used to own Hazelgrove cottage which is now our self catering next to Evergreen. We were talking about famous people we had met or knew ( very few in my case!) when out of the blue my friend says 'yeah I remember the time I chatted over the fence at Hazelgrove with Robert Plant from Led Zeppelin.... nice, friendly guy'!! Needless to say I almost fell off my seat.. For those of of a certain age Led Zeppelin were at one time the greatest 'rock n roll' band in the world. To think that he has been here!!! Of course you may ask why such a rock star would be here in Inverfarigaig walking past Hazelgrove. Well, in the late 60's Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin owned the infamous Boleskine House of Aleister Crowley notority and the house is a mere one mile from us here at Evergreen and Hazelgrove. So, here is a photo of Hazelgrove just so that you can see the said fence overwhich Robert Plant chatted....