New York City, January 5, 2015

★★★ A wash of orange light brightened to clean yellow and came bouncing straight through the windows from the west. Pigeons clattered on the cold wind. Prudence and the long-range forecast dictated restraint — no gloves on yet, no scarf, the down coat left hanging for when it would truly be needed. Big unsmooth cumulus clouds were moving east on the blue. A street preacher rolled a mobile sound unit up Lafayette in the afternoon, telling people to stop shopping, then to stop smoking. Shadow pants bell-bottomed as they thickened to meet each advancing stride. Uptown on Amsterdam, the sun and wind raised tears. Near the river — its surface brown and irregularly gouged by the wind — there was no point in holding out hatless anymore. Blue clouds floated in a pink east out the glass wall by the swimming pool, and then quickly the pool deck lay in nothing but unwholesome artificial illumination.