THE ROVER RETURNS.

Yes ... this is December and one expects to see images such as these ... frozen leaves.

and on the one to follow, not rain drops but small, frozen globules of ice.

But that was just in the shade where the sun had not reached throughout the day.

And what a day it has been, lovely sun bright blue skies as I waited inside for news about my recalcitrant motor, the Rover. Nearly a month ago now she decided in her menopausal age of 15 years old ... to throw a wobbly and basically go on strike and refuse to start.

Mechanically speaking she is in great condition and apart from a head gasket renewal just after I bought her 5 years ago for a mere £1oo. She has sailed through all her MOT's and ... driven well. But when I needed her to take me to the Doc at the start of the pneumonia she just quietly said " No way!". I ended up taking the bus into town and a taxi (via the pharmacy) back home to indulge in a course of anti-idiotics and other beat the bug remedies. Meanwhile, other various attempts to start her failed rather miserably.

The problem ... discovered after various attempts to start her was the immobiliser system.

She was towed away by my local garage recovery truck, and still failed to respond to various attempts to get her electronics sorted out. Until today when a specialist in immobiliser systems, reprogrammed her electronic, idiosyncratic  system and started!

She was delivered back to me and we were able to finally get out and about in sunshine!

The forest track was just wonderfully warm and the light cast between the trees was a lovely sight to see. It really did not seem like it was almost mid December today and as for the daft dog, he was just so happy to be out and about and exploring something different from the area local to home. The frozen leaves were in the deep shaded areas where the sun had not reached all day but above the sky was a rather beautiful blue and below the now leafless deciduous trees stood naked against the almost cloudless background.

I just love this almost candelabra shaped ash tree. Once part of a much thicker boundary line of trees, this ash has remained. Most ash grow upwards from a single trunk but this one has branched out in different directions. As I stood there to take a photograph, I thought there were still leaves on the tree, but then they took flight. It had been a small flock of (sadly) unidentifiable birds. Meanwhile above me a single buzzard circled and various crows croaked their rather rusty sounding calls. Jays flitted between the trees and it was sunny!

Above me, the now needle-less larch trees were fully laden with tightly packed cones (not yet squirrel eaten) but, I think this one has seen it's fair share of grey squirrel activity.

But, what a lovely sight set against a clear blue, gradually cooling, December sky.