The autumn went on being brilliant for so long that the gloomies forecast a dark winter. Well, it's arrived and it's full of light. In the morning aeroplane ice trails beam peach in the clear sky. Once the sun appears from behind the Preselis we're aereated by a strong golden glow which goes on all day. Trees stand as themselves, strong living skeletons of light. This enhances the colour of birds, especially the black ones. In the summer your eye has to wrestle with the complete tonality of green to spot a bird. Now it is tree and bird.

It is cold. In the lanes the hazel catkins bob about in their lime green whilst pussy willow catkins glisten white. From the kitchen I watch jackdaws competing for a useful cleft in an ash tree. A local dairy farm has hundreds of birds looking for food, starlings, jackdaws and seagulls.

People are doing the same in a friendly, more convivial fashion. The darkest day will soon be here. We need light, warmth, food, company. Our village is good at this. We have a committee that starts December off with a Christmas dinner primarily intended for the elderly to whom it is a generous gift. Others can come, but have to pay. This year the entertainment was provided by a farmer's wife from the south of the county, singing and playing the guitar. Our centre was once her school. We've installed indoor toilets and a shower - quite a surprise!

After Christmas we provide a party for the children. Their excitement and delight is more noisy, but all of us enjoy both parties. Then the hall is used by the Brynbilis, a group of local musicians. Brynbilis Parti Dolig, plant dan 12 am ddim draws people from all around, not just the under 12s who come for nothing. The hall is full, the music good, young and old dancing, gossiping, meeting new people, eating and drinking, children are darting about playing their own games. Outside it's cold and dark, the moon is turning her back on us, but here comes the sun!