New York City, September 7, 2016

★★★ Well before midday, the brooding gray from daybreak was scattered and gone. The sun was summer-hot on the way to the hot dog stand for the children’s last lunch of vacation. The blue of the younger boy’s t-shirt stretched and flowed along the glossy side panels of a slowly turning moving van. Indoors the air conditioner could almost be left off, but there as no other way to get rid of that last increment of discomfort. At Times Square, sweltering air kept spilling into the 1 train car as the doors kept jerking open when they were supposed to close. The afternoon stayed hot even in the intervals when the clouds returned. When the clouds left, the clear returning light justified all the effort the builders had put into the cornices.