New York City, August 10, 2015

★★★★ Tiny clouds freckled the sky in patches, and the faintest homeopathic dilution of heat and haze lay over the sidewalks at midday. By afternoon the clouds had mostly but not wholly closed over, and a dim breezy coolness had chased away even the memory of summer heat. Glimmers of brightness showed now and then. Dull-witted toddlers wandered away from their indifferent caretakers into the vicinity of the worn spot in the playground asphalt that corresponded to home plate. While dinner was cooking, a sudden burst of full sun came through, a dawn in the west. The rifts in the clouds glowed and colored, then faded to leave paintbrush splashes of purple.