New York City to Maplewood, New Jersey, to New York City, August 23, 2015

★★★★ The sun outperformed the forecast in the newspaper, flooding the face of the apartment block to the west, drawing people out onto their balconies in a morning theoretically at risk of showers. Bright yellow-green plant life was growing on the flat waters by the Turnpike, like gold mottling on a decorative mirror. The roads into the suburbs were clear, the air clean, the passage from indoors to out uncomplicated. The three-year-old worked himself into a sweat going from basketball to tee-ball to kiddie car to balance bike. The remains of a water battle on the asphalt of the driveway dried up quickly. The late clouds over the Turnpike were extravagant, a row of dramatic grays stacked on a row of magenta. Back in the city, from 27 floors up, the colors flared even brighter — purple topped with pale pink, above a background of flaming gold.