To celebrate Easter, I went outside! I hadn't left my building for two weeks except to go to the the curb to put out the trash. And that was a week ago.
By staying inside, I hope to save myself from getting sick. But I have been missing spring, my favorite season of the year, despite the fact that it attacks me with pollen that makes me just this side of miserable.
Two weeks ago, suspecting that the magnolias were in blossom, I went for a stroll early on Sunday morning, a time of low traffic in NYC, even in the best of times. I was rewarded with many beautiful sights, this prime among them:
So On Easter Sunday morning, instead of a spring bonnet, I donned my face covering and went to see what I could see. I found many things. Strange, Sad, and Splendid things. I will show them in the order of my route - north on Broadway, across 14th Street, circumnavigating my beloved Union Square, down University Place, and back to my front door on 11th Street.
As soon as I spotted the long queue of appropriately distanced people along Broadway, knew what they were waiting for:
Union Square was resplendent:
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| George looked as if he was holding up his hand to stop the virus. |
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| The Marquis de Lafayette. I was tempted to climb up and put a protective mask on him, |
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| The flagpole in the center has a gorgeous bas-releif . |
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| The inscription: "HOW LITTLE DO MY COUNTRYMEN KNOW WHAT PRECIOUS BLESSINGS THEY ARE IN POSSESSION OF AND WHICH NO OTHER PEOPLE ON EARTH ENJOY" THOMAS JEFFERSON" This was literally true when Jefferson wrote it. The US Constitution was the first such document. I only hope we can preserve it in the face of the current assaults. |
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| So sad: the flag, limp in the absence of a breeze, flying at half-mast in mourning for our many fellow New Yorkers who have died in this plague. |
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| Abe |
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| Too sad! |
Kids playing: I was a big sister. I know how it feels to have a little brother who doesn't want to do what Mommy told us to do:
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| Look closely at the officer behind the wheel! |
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| Like the homeless person on the bench above, this well-dressed man with three elegant suitcases and large duffle bag, seemed to have all of his possessions with him. I wonder why. |
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| 14th Street, normally one of busiest cross-town streets in NYC: Looking west. |
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| The same, looking east |
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| The man in this pictures, lives in that cardboard box. |
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| Near my my front door: A masked man. |
Every evening, we New Yorkers open our windows at 7 PM and applaud our heroes:
Thank you, Nurses
Thank you, Doctors
Thank you, Technicians
Thank you, Orderlies.
We pray you will be safe!
