New York City, February 25, 2016

★★ A bright and promising sky, of broken silvery white and gray on blue, had closed over by the walk to school. A male house sparrow chirped in a leafless little street tree, unwilling to give up. It was mild but would get no milder. A banner for free preschool had half-fallend from a fence, and rainwater had pooled in the downed portion. Scattered stamp-sized plastic ziplock bags cast their little water-shadows on the sidewalk. Some blue raced briefly overhead around midday and departed. By school pickup the temperature was plunging; the phone battery died less than half an hour off the plug. Some sort of cold spray was blowing. After dark, the sky and clouds had separated out into the rusty city-night equivalents of blue and white, but the spitting drops were still on the wind.