Jaaaaannnnuuuaaarrryyyy...........

"A January Scene", Great Island, Co. Cork.
Panasonic LX 1, 1/1600 sec, f8, -0.66 EV, ISO 80, 45mm equivalent, (Click to enlarge)

January is such a loooooonnnng month. It’s cold, it’s wet, it’s dark, the bank balance is the wrong side of zero – but apart from that it’s doable! We're nearly there, we've made it, just two and a half days to go - and there are small signs of new life in the Garden with the hope of Spring not too far away…

Here’s a wonderful poem I found by a chap called Francis Duggan. (Duhallow is in North Cork, near Kanturk):

In January In Duhallow

The cold winds of January from the north east does blow
And the weather is cold quite cold enough for to snow
And the hungry birds silent on the naked hedgerow
In the flat and rushy fields where the Blackwater flow.

January in Duhallow from here far away
In the chill of the morning the frost bound fields gray
In the farmyard sheds cattle bellow for silage or hay
Where the sun seldom shines on a January day.

The distinctive harsh caws of the silver backed crow
In the Season where grass does refuse for to grow
And few cars on the roadway that leads to the town
Near where the river flows bank high in flood waters of brown.

In January in Duhallow the old fields looking bare
With the harsh chill of Winter in the cold Morning air
And at least eight long weeks till the first breath of Spring
When Nature will bloom and her wild birds will sing.

Francis Duggan
(LINK)