SPRINGTIME IN NYC

Yes, indeed! even the subway is getting into the spirit. Every workday, I ride the shuttle subway between Times Square and Grand Central Station, and they are getting decked out for spring and summer. One car has a toad painted on the outside (painted to look like a frog--but I know the difference); the inside is decorated to make you think you are sitting beside a frog pond. The second car has a tree on the outside, with a forest inside (except that the trees are pines and the branches overhead are deciduous trees--don't they have any biologists on their staff?). The third is my favorite: butterflies on the outside, and on the inside you're sitting in a grassy field of daisies with blue skies overhead. Makes you more cheerful about being underground on a nice day.

My real spring celebration was yesterday at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden, where the cherry blossoms were at their peak. They are supposed to have one of the largest collection of Japanese cherry trees anywhere outside of Japan. There was a celebration of Japanese culture going on, with dancing, music, and crafts (they tried unsuccessfully to lure me into making Origami peace cranes). Oh, and the LILACS were all blooming, but I finally gave up on trying to smell every one of them. I allowed myself a little nostalgic visit to the desert conservatory, and sweated my way through a nice tropical collection...and even found a couple of dirt paths to walk on. They had the best Bonsai collection I have ever seen, with artistic little trees of many varieties, one a couple of feet tall and documented as over 300 years old.

Not to speak of "old" but definitely speaking of blossoms, the other spring beauty in the picture with me is my "New York" cousin Sharon (from my Dad's side of the family)...we are the same age but she has always been the more glamorous of the two of us. We had a great visit in a little cafe in Bryant Park, next to the big Public Library downtown.

The only thing that makes me think it's not spring here is that we're not having tornados; it sounds like the rest of the country is making up for that...what a year! An increase in the frequency and severity of violent storms is a predicted outcome of climate change--so here at the UN we are doing what we can about those storms. It will take a long time though, even if we start right now. So we have to start right now. Here at number 204 we are praying for all who lost their lives or lost loved ones... You all be safe, and enjoy every blossom that comes your way.