New York City, January 15, 2013

★★★ A rim of bright sky to the north, in the morning, made it seem as if the clouds might be going. They reconstituted themselves soon enough, though. The only change from the gray days before was that the old, hard cold was back. Dry skin and a dry cough came to meet it — nothing too awful, yet. Daylight did its ordinary gradual fade out the windows. Joggers and sprinting children were still out on the sidewalks in the evening dark. No, not bad for the depths of the season, if this were the bottom. But at night, from the bedroom windows, came the ticking of something frozen hitting the glass.