A rainy day in the neighborhood.  I don't need to tell you it's been a strange year of weather in the New York City area. April had no showers -- it was the driest on record -- which was a surprise coming after a warm, wet March. And now although May has flowers, it also seems to be getting the balance of April's shifted quota of precipitation. Now, I'm not complaining but it has been raining, and drizzling, and fogging and showering for nearly a solid week. If I didn't know better, I'd think it was London not New York.

For joggers like me, rain can be a sensuous blessing at warmer temperatures -- in the sixties and seventies -- and a pain to dress for when it's colder. But no great stress anymore thanks to the super "Mountain Classic" anorak Cathy got me from L.L. Bean. It's got drawstrings and zippers and hoods and pockets and pouches and elastic in all the right places, weighs next to nothing, does a super job of keeping the rain out, but lets the body heat escape. Thanks Cathy! But for all its great features, the anorak doesn't have a lens hood, so no photography on rainy day jogs.

But coming up from Broadway into Isham Park I can imagine a bright, sunny Spring day despite the recent deluge. In fact, it would look a lot like the picture you see on the left which is the north entrance to the park at about 214th Street. (You can click on the image for blow-up.) Climbing up these steps brings you to a pleasant lookout with stone benches, a commemorative plaque, and then on to the paths from which I took the pictures you saw previously. This isn't a "Central Park" with zoo and lake, bandshell and fancy fountains, but it's home to alfresco weekend birthday parties, vigorous games of catch, near-yuppy sunbathers, and just plain setters. You know: "Mildred, let's set a spell." It's nicer than ever since the Parks Department scrubbed and painted it two seasons ago, and, get this, replaced the scrawny lawns with truckloads of instant grass -- sod! Whatever happened to grass seed and scarecrows? I guess the gods of economic upturn have decreed: sod not seed, cover don't weed!

I just took another look out the office window to see what else the gods have decreed. Not sun. But I can make out the recently-blasted sand-colored brick of the building across the street, and the recently-painted fire escape. Again, with a little imagination, I can see the cityscape formed by the stairs and landings and their shadows on a recent bright, sunny afternoon. You can see it too in the image at right. Although there's nothing wrong with this image, I prefer the cityscape in black and white as I have it in my Photo Gallery. Of course, that image, which was done about eight years ago, was helped a little by a telephoto lens and a more creative angle. Why shoot the scene over and over again? Because I want to make "the camera" see what I do. Honest, Harry, I'm not in a rut. It's just that certain vistas strike me as powerful, comic, artistic, or just great fun and I keep learning and shooting, experimenting and shooting until I get it "right".

What I don't get is why some of the police in New York aren't qualified to do the job. Turn the page for my opinion.