New York City, November 19, 2015

★ Dead leaves, blown high in the air, moved as dark spots like a flock of birds against the gray. The warmth was inappropriate again, the dampness like the aftermath of a summer shower. Some rain passed through, flattening linden leaves onto the pavement. A bearable drizzle came after it at school pickup time, and then an almost unnoticeable drizzle on the walk to the library, accompanied by a colder wind, as if the showers were blowing away. They were not. Outside the library, the newly fallen night came with a full soaking rain, all the way up to the grocery store and back.