April in Manhattan

Annamaria on Monday

My blog Bro has gotten us ready for May, and to tell you the truth, I am ready to see the end of a month that has brought us so much woe.  But before we leave it, I want relive the beauty it also brought, which I enjoyed so much that it made my heart sing.

April in Paris   

Famously, the song April in Paris wins people over.  It makes us want to see those chestnuts in blossom.  And to want to find a true love.  It offers us a glass of wine in an outdoor cafe.  Paris, the lyrics say, makes you want to long for love.  It has you asking, "Whom can I run to.."

Spring in Manhattan on the other hand gives us more than longing. The song, though not so famous, shows people in love and were they go as their love flourishes.

Spring in Manhattab

Springtime in Manhattan delivers more than just chestnuts in blossom.  

Here's what it looked like this April.

    

I am signing off today with these words of Mohandas Gandhi, who is pictured here in Union Square on April 1.

 

When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end they always fall. Think of it--always

 

A Flower is a Lovesome Thing

 Annamaria  on Monday

My title today comes from a song by the incomparable Billy Strayhorn.

I am writing on a beautiful Easter Sunday morning, and despite the news reports, I cannot bring myself – with sunlight streaming into the room - to think about, much less write about dark things.  There will be time for that another day.  This lovely day is for beautiful thoughts.

I love the springtime and flowers especially - joys not even allergy attacks can dispel.  Time was that I had an outdoor garden that I loved. I delighted in Saturdays dressed in rags, getting all dirty, digging, planting, and weeding.  The result looked like this:

The time for such delights passed, and for ten years now, I have been only an indoor gardener.  It's rewards also come in the springtime:

The beautiful city that surrounds me also bursts back to life with the spring:

This year, though, my favorite magnolias (also called tulip trees) budded in a March warm spell.  When the temperatures then sank into the low twenties (minus 5C), the promised pink blossoms died:

I feared we would never again see the glories of how they used to look in full bloom:

Mother Nature has, in the past week, now bestowed hope.  Lovely green leaves have emerged from the wreckage wrought by climate change:

And hope springs that next year we will have our beauteous sights again.

Listen to Billy Strayhorn's haunting pean to Nature's wondrous gifts.  And hope along with me.

What the Crime Writer Saw

Annamaria on Monday

Here is what New York City looked like this past week.  I didn't go any place special to see these sights.  They are just what I passed by while going about my business--going to the grocery store, walking to the subway or to a restaurant to meet friends.  Every once in a while, I just had to pull out my phone and snap a shot.  Listen to this while you are looking at the photos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3nSvIiBNFo