New York City, March 21, 2013

★★ People were out under the heavy morning sky in their dark, functional winter gear. Even the man in red glasses and leather pants looked as if the leather had been chosen for warmth. Some widely spaced snowflakes danced past the windows for a while, then were gone. The space shuttle had been unwrapped but was still in its cage. The vendor selling churros from a two-wheeled shopping cart outside the school gate wore a hat and hood; the sun was a gray-white spot on the white-gray clouds. Then came a clear spell, as picturesque and noncommittal as the snow had been.