New York City, March 17, 2015

★★ Listless rain fell for a while in a lightless morning. Then there was mildness and humidity, with bright patches in the gray implying promises. Up the subway stairs was a glimpse of blue and a glimmer of sunlight — lost, in a 90 degree pivot, to a cold breeze and a dark mass of clouds over Lower Manhattan. When the blue finally did take over, it was at the expense of the comfort. Above were clean white clouds, below was a rusty curb face shining brilliant orange, and tumbling by was a passing pedestrian’s ball cap, ripped away in the sharp jaws of the wind. Trash excitedly threw itself around. A dog dropped a cuboid turd, accented in yellow-green in the sun, before its owner could steer it to the curb.