A Winter's Morning

At dawn, an old pier on Manhattan's East Side looked as though it could have been set in concrete, so calm was the East River...

There was nothing concrete about the flow of brisk shoppers and workers on Eighth Avenue.

I saw some nice reflected light playing off old bricks on West 35th Street...

A relief on the wall of Housing Court in lower Manhattan...

And —what a relief — on this occasion, merely walking past our dear friends at 100 Centre Street...!

Later in the day, a man and his best friend crossed Manhattan Avenue near West 125th Street in Harlem. I just discovered recently that the sharp curve of West 125th Street right about where Manhattan Avenue crosses it — one might accurately call it a dog-leg corner — this section of West 125th Street was called "Manhattan Street" until the locals voted to change the name in 1920.

And right before I saw that man and his dog, I glimpsed some great square box belonging to Columbia University, seen through the leaves and cast iron railings of Morningside Park.

Who is that in shadowed silhouette? The picture taker himself, the one and only, merely, just, only — me.