walking

Inspired by a book I recently read, A Year by the Sea, I am going to begin writing about my walks. I hope to have a year's worth of noteworthy reflections next October. What I'll do with them is anyone's guess. For now I'm just wanting to notice what I notice.
Yesterday, October 16, I was walking to meet a friend for lunch. It was a beautiful Indian Summer day, almost 70 degrees. Astonishing for mid October. On one street corner, a man was standing on the sidewalk, another hanging out a window above. I heard one say: There is a god. I imagine in response to the weather, the clear blue sky with streaks of white clouds. On the way back to the office, so many gorgeous puppies crossed my path. And on a particular street that I will have to search out again, a nature in the city oddity. A tree which had been cut down - I saw the shaven stump, had grown one of those bulbous things around the iron of a railing. At first, I looked at it wondering "how'd they do that" until I realized it was one of those lovely little natural wonders. Another tree, also cut, had grown its roots right around some part of the building and its water line or some other kind of pipe, not a few feet away.
Walking home from work on Union Square, I was struck by the sign of a dishevelled black woman: Tired of prostitution. Need money. Please help.