With storms predicted for the northeast, I switched to an early morning flight that would have me home for lunch. The chaos of the newly constructed canopy, bent through a magnifier on the back of the shuttle, seemed like a fitting end to 48 hours on the road.

I was in New York for a pair of meetings, one near Times Square and the other near the World Trade Center. I hadn’t been down to the memorial sites before, the last time I was in that area was probably 30 years ago.

I am not a city guy. Never have been, don’t expect to ever be one. Small cities, sure – Athens is awesome, very manageable. And I can see ending up in a small town again, someday.

But New York City … erm, pass. And mostly I have. After spending many days there earlier in my life, it had been 14 years since my last visit to Manhattan. I did find some comfort while wandering with a visual intention, but the unfocused moments of transit still bother me.

Times Square and the Museum of Modern Art were my plan for the first day, then dinner with some old friends.

More practice with the studio lights in class today. No one got burned, no one was blinded. Call it a success.

It’s almost fall here, but not quite. I do miss those sudden autumn cold snaps, the ones that shock the trees into shutting down and spreading out the color.

Sound advice, even if the pencil marks will get washed away shortly.

While walking over to the Tate Student Center for the Georgia Scholastic Press Association conference, the morning light spilling through a railing and bench down onto the bricks stopped me cold.