Last glimpse of golden light

We lost our internet connection yesterday, fortunately it was back on this morning at 7am. Do BT engineers really start this early? They certainly don't start at 5.30am, which was the time I first came down stairs! Thank you BT - I really do struggle when it goes missing and it was back on and so speedy (for us) this morning.

The photo was taken on a gloomy, late afternoon walk. As I emerged through the gate near Lower Toad Hall Farm I was met by this shaft of sun, lighting up the ridge. W, the farmer, was out with his Jack Russell, who told me that his wife, J (a member of our book group), had slipped and broken her wrist, so wouldn't be coming to the Christmas book group get together. So I called in to see her for a half hours chat before heading back down the lane and home. Just managed to collect a few dandelion leaves for the rabbit on my gloomy journey downhill. Really I shouldn't complain - our country lane is actually lit from the top of the hill down into the village (perhaps half a mile).

Book group for twenty minutes to wish everyone Happy Christmas and then Photographic Club for our inter-club competition with Stocksbridge. We lost, marginally! Funny world, this club photography! It seems to me that the three judge system operated by Pixels has so much more going for it because it compensates partly for the idiosyncrasies that one judge brings to the process. C'est la vie!

Progress is being made on the fireplace - lots of dust today. I'm not sure how Merv coped!