A Good Start

Maybe it's just me, but isn't it nice to wake up to a clean apartment and an empty laundry hamper? It creates a serene atmosphere that helps shield you from the cognitive dissonance of paying, um, a lot for dinner one night, and then paying four dollars for a dumpling feast the next morning.



We ate our dumplings and drank our sodas in Columbus Park, where the ambience is enhanced by squealing children of all ethnicities. The south end of the park is all basketball courts and playground, where we sat in spite of a ban on unaccompanied adults. We walked north through the park, back toward Canal, stopping to enjoy the birdsong from half a dozen cages hanging from a tree along Mulberry.



I'm no ornithologist, but this twitter-er looks like it might be in the same family as the little hua mei in nearby Sara Delano Roosevelt Park. This seems to be a new development since refurbishment of the park was completed. Some things don't change, though: a few old men at the scattered concrete tables by the pavillion, playing Chinese chess, and dozens of other old men crowded around, shouting suggestions for the next move.