New York City, May 25, 2015

★★★★ The early clouds made the daylight slow-rising too, putting the whole morning on holiday time. There was shade enough by the inner fence of the playground to roll ground balls with a child-safe baseball. Then a booming roar came down and filled the paved yard, as a military jet blasted up at an angle into the smoky blue. After it passed, the softer roar of ordinary, flatter-flying jets kept pulling the eye up, the usual background noise claiming the foreground. The three-year-old and a friend climbed over the low iron enclosure and got down in the mulch. The swings were hot but not too hot, nor would they likely afford such open-ended swinging for months, once the crowds came back. The direct sun was baking by afternoon, but then in the span of a short dip in the kiddie pool — by the time the adjustable kiddie pool floor rose from four feet through three feet and all the way to zero, beaching the stragglers, for adult swim — the sun’s hold broke and mild shade controlled the streets.