First trip outside the neighborhood since I started working from home 10 days ago, soon joined by 3 colleagues ages 45, 12 & 9.

Sharing here my drive thru a hushed NYC to “the old country” (the UES) & back.

8:10am. Pigeon convention, Atlantic Ave.

Brooklyn Bridge, 8:18 am.

Hardly ever this empty at any time of day, let alone what should be peak rush hour.

(Yes, we recently bought a car. A hybrid, OK?? Ambivalent at the time but now thanking my stars.)

FDR Drive, rush hour.

Even the skyscrapers seem to be self-quarantining behind a curtain of fog.

FDR, heading north, rush hour.

73rd & First, around 8:40 am.

74th & Park, toward Grand Central, 8:45 am

Finally, on Lex, 1 thing reliably unchanged: The bodega that has expanded to double-wide since my childhood.

The owner sends a hi to my kids, & while I pay for daffodils & tulips to take upstairs she says, “Your mommy always like.”

I can see her smile in spite of her mask.

More after dinner.

Forgot this shot from the near-empty FDR.

Ok, back on my expedition to 74th & Lex: good to see another unchanged thing, neighborliness in the bldg, where many rent-stabilized tenants have been for 50-60 years. This note on the elevator mirror is from someone there since my childhood...

Quick visit to relatively empty Central Park.

This is the magnolia tree I’ve used as a marker for the seasons thru my childhood & my kids’, near Alice In Wonderland.

“Nature’s first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold”

Central Park

Fifth Ave, Friday around 3pm

Fifth Avenue, passing St. Patrick’s, around 3pm Friday.

42nd St, looking west from 5th Ave, Friday afternoon.

SoHo, Friday afternoon, going south on Broadway.

Interestingly, on the return trip back over Brooklyn Bridge at rush hour, traffic seemed almost at normal level. But once on BQE, again almost empty. Will leave you w/a shot from Cadman Plaza.

Adding to this thread periodically with glimpses from around NYC on the occasional foray for reporting, necessities or - usually - the search for places with enough room to run the kids around without getting too close to people. Bklyn near Pier 6 today:

PIer 6, Brooklyn Bridge Park.

Ephemeral message from yesterday; by today it had washed off.