New York City, November 12, 2012

★★★★ Rich early sunlight made something Impressionist of the fog lying in billows over the Hudson. Above and away from the riparian mists, a lighter, aerial haze glowed. The atmosphere was tropical, but the angle of the sun was subarctic, sending rays under the branches along the eastern edge of the Park. Someone had brought a baby in a full pink snowsuit in a stroller on the train, amid the coatless passengers old enough to dress themselves. The downtown sky left a lovely reflection in a puddle of mop water. Head-on, it was blown-out white, blasting the edges off the forms of oncoming pedestrians. Tall maples in the shelter of the churchyard dropped their leaves over the walls; traffic sifted them out of the middle of the street, till the gutters were broad, yellow ribbons.