The first snowfall came down on November 30th and it hasn't snowed since. I woke up late and showered myself into coherence. Drank some juice and opened the window to see snow blowing straight up. The close-set apartments create some strange, but usually invisible drafts that whistle down the street. I squinted a bit and it was like the entire building was silently sinking.

It snowed a bit more in the afternoon, while I was teaching. Occasionally the kids would get out of their seats and look out the window. I taught with one eye out the window, too.

Since then, the weather has gotten steadily colder. The city is sinking into the depths of winter. Brown leaves swirl up from the gutters and settle back again. The crowds on the subway are puffed up from so many layers of clothing. Tiny children are bundled up and totter around like little marshmallows.

Inside the front door of my apartment, the building manager decorated a plastic tree with white lights and red ornaments. Starfucks has switched to their seasonal cups and turned on the heating so that walking in from the cold makes my glasses fog up. Most restaurants have brought out the portable heaters and set them up. Apples are cheap, again, and watermelons are more expensive than a handsome night of binge-drinking and carousing.

'Tis the season, indeed.