New York City, August 1, 2012

★ A day with hardly any good points, yet not worth being miserable about. The reward for waking up early was a mud-brown western sky, collapsing quickly into gray mist and a shower. The rain clouds went away, came back again, and then lingered with one foot in the doorway, unable to take a hint. A three-dollar umbrella was exactly what it deserved. Come sundown, the western edge of the clouds lifted a little, revealing that the mud sky of morning had been replaced with scarlet Play-Doh. It was an improvement, anyway.