— We’ve had a couple of days of unseasonably warm mild weather. It has sucked. 65 degrees? Go to hell.
— Cold snap coming in tonight. And I know I sound like Pa Ingalls but I swear that I can smell snow before it comes. Smells like snow. It’s not just that the air is cold … it’s that something else is coming. Plenty of time it’s cold and you know it won’t snow.
— I hope it snows.
— Went for a walk on Boulevard East tonight. Mooned about, staring at the city I love so well – and it was catching the last dying gleams of sunset, so there were some spectacular effects.
— And above: you realize why some writers (I think Lucy Maud Montgomery uses it quite a bit) refers to wintry clouds as “ranks of clouds”. That’s what was happening in the sky. Ranks of dark heavy clouds … overlapping each other … moving in. There was a clear sunset, but the ranks approached. It was so beautiful!
— And so windy that all of the flags along the memorial parks (Hamilton Park, dontcha know, but all the others) – were standing straight out, full-sail into the wind. Cold! It was totally exhilarating.
— One of the things I love about where I live (and when I think of moving, I actually get a pang of anxiety about not having this at my fingertips anymore) – is having that skyline ever-present, visible whenever you look east – sometimes just the tip-top of the Empire State Building – but it’s always there. I’m obsessed with the city, and I always have been, and I am so thankful that I live in a place where I am outside the city – and can actually see it as a whole. I can look from Battery Park to Washington Heights. I never get sick of it.
— Despite the cold wind and the fact that night was falling, the park was packed. It always is. That’s another wonderful thing about where I live. It’s a place where families go and hang out in parks to watch the sunset … and it’s a really nice community feeling. Every day almost a couple gets married and has their wedding photos taken in Hamilton Park, with the backdrop of the city shimmering like Oz. A bride and groom were out there tonight, her veil standing literally straight out behind her, because the wind was so strong.
— As the sun set, the gleam left the buildings, and they subsided into more prosaic shadows. But man. That “magic hour”. You can’t believe what the skyline looks like! It lasts for, oh, 15 minutes – TOPS. You have to catch it at juuust the right moment – and everything leaps into fiery redness, becomes translucent, optical illusions reflecting the sunset – it’s so stunning.
— Once “magic hour” ended, I walked down to the southern end of the street to visit Alexander Hamilton. To wish him a happy birthday. You can see his bust in stark silhouette as you approach – perched on the edge of what looks like an abyss of air. It’s just so … pleasing to me. The beauty and right-ness (for me) of where I live right now.
— I’ve lived here since 2003 (“the end of an era”), but I’m still not “over” it. I mean, I’m “over it” – but I’m not “over” the views at the end of my street, and the pleasing aesthetics of Boulevard East. It makes me happy for community planning, and nice sidewalks, and old-fashioned lampposts – that work … and war memorials, and nice cast-iron benches where you can sit on to rest … and plenty of platforms with unobstructed views of the city … It’s just an awesome stretch of road.
— And yeah. I can still smell snow.
Some pics (of course) of my walk below the jump.
Magic Hour gleam
The park
Bust of Alexander Hamilton, and the sweep of New York harbor – the “ranks of clouds” … I don’t know. I think this one came out pretty darn good.
Happy birthday, AH.
I know how you feel. I live in the Washington DC area near Old Town Alexandria. A couple of years ago, my Dad was visiting, and I took him downtown to see the WWII memorial (his Dad served in the Army). To get there, we drove up the GW Parkway and over Memorial Bridge – a route I drive several times a week. On the parkway, you take in the full expanse of Washington, from the Capital on the right, to the Jefferson Memorial and Washington Monument, to the Lincoln Memorial – all lit spectacularly. As you pull onto Memorial Bridge, you see the Lincoln Memorial dead ahead and Arlington Cemetery high on the hill behind. About halfway over the bridge, he asked, “Do you ever get tired of living here?” “Nope.”
/65 degrees? Go to hell./ Hahahahaha. You’re so cute.
I feel the same way. I’m living in the wrong place, then.
Great photos. Moody and lovely.
Wow, that last picture with the bust of your dead boyfriend is indeed a stunning photo! Look at that sky! And Alexander Hamilton there, before that beautiful tree, and all the city behind him. Just WOW!!
I know that smell of snow. You, me and Pa Ingalls.
Apparently I was wrong, though – still no snow today!! But it still looks cold and grey, so perhaps there is hope.
well it is snowing in RI. So you did smell it…from a couple states away.
I should express-mail the Nana to you.
hahahahha