It was cold and snowy in the city on Saturday, so the dog and I bundled up. He’s the one with the blue boots. I’m the one with the blue hat. (My hat recently inspired some guerrilla art.)
Morningside Park is always magical in the snow.
The little pond was frozen solid.
A little boy and his father stopped to throw snowballs onto the ice. (Click photos to enlarge.)
Cross-country skiers slid across the fields, and dogs sniffed and romped.
Heading up the great stone staircase, we spied three feral cats well camouflaged by snow and bare bushes. Can you spot them? (Click the photos to enlarge.)
A white cat is balanced in the twigs, a gray cat is perched in the wire fence, and a white-and-black cat sits on the snow to the right.
Saint Luke’s Hospital loomed over us as we continued our climb.
Sledders were at play on the slope just below Morningside Drive.
On the street, the back of Saint John’s Cathedral invited us to explore.
We walked over to Amsterdam Avenue and the unfinished towers at the front.
We entered through the animal gates.
“Oh, I want to eat his eyes,” exclaimed one of these lively little girls as they circled the snowman below. “They’re made of Hanukkah gelt!”
Leaving behind the would-be cannibals, we headed into the Cathedral grounds.
We spotted the resident peacocks. First one.
Then two.
And finally, three as Phil, the white peacock, preened inside the peacock house.
A group of teenagers came clattering up the path. The girls squealed and shrieked when they saw the peacocks, running toward them to take pictures. The birds, accustomed to paparazzi, ignored the girls, even the one shivering in a strapless dress and bare legs. Humans. What can you do?
We gave a last look up in search of the neighborhood red-tailed hawks, but no hawks today. Just Gabriel forever blowing his horn atop the Cathedral as the stony apostles wait patiently in the cold.
