New York City, March 1, 2016

★★★★ The morning was bright and tolerable. The kids from the school shivered coatless for an actual, if false, fire alarm, as the fire trucks came around the block. All up and down the train car people were coughing or sneezing. Spray-painted utility markings on the Fifth Avenue pavement were richly colored and salient to the untrained eye. Clouds slatted like a ribcage raced overhead in the golden late light. What seemed to be the smell of wood smoke was carried on the pushy night breeze.