New York City, October 24, 2017

★ The only brightness in the view of the city was the sky reflected in the rain-sheeted corners of the concrete slabs sticking out from the face of the fancy apartment building. The air was heavy and dead in the side street but clouds were racing near the building tops, and out on Broadway, gusts were shaking loose the golden leaflets of the honeylocusts. Downtown there was just enough time to notice the sun was out before a cloud threw itself over it. A walk out for a sandwich, before the line of storms on the radar arrived, led into wild buffeting wind on the corner of Union Square. The downpour came and then went away in time for a late afternoon errand. Late eerie light came through in the west and the clouds glowed amber, with blue gaps between them and dark shreds attending their passage. The ones in the distance acquired lumps and shadows as the nearer ones lost their light and became translucent gray. Concealed by the dark, the rain returned.