The winter that wasn't

But it don't snow here
It stays pretty green
I'm going to make a lot of money
Then I'm going to quit this crazy scene
I wish I had a river
I could skate away on
I wish I had a river so long
I would teach my feet to fly
Oh I wish I had a river
I could skate away on...

Joni Mitchell

Now I have to take back the bad things I've been saying about the weather.  Yesterday was unexpectedly spring-like with sunny blue skies and not a wisp of fog in Seattle.

The daylight hours are noticeably longer, and the first tulips are showing above the ground.  Here's some beautiful January scenes from a different time and place.

William John Hennessy

Out and About After a Snowfall

Regis Francoise Gignoux

Skaters on a Frozen Pond

Thomas Kirby Van Zandt

Judge Van Aernum in his Sleigh, 1855

John O'Brien Inman

Moonlight Skating in Central Park

Attributed to Winslow Homer

Skaters

William Charles Anthony

Skating in Winter

Edward Moran

Farm in Winter

 

Hendrick Avercamp

Winter Landscape