MOVING ON

These pictures were taken at my friend's apartment up on the 7th floor, after we got back from a recent hospital minor operation. He had to stay overnight previously to make sure he'd be fine. The snowstorm was raging when we were out ready to go home after his discharge. In the meantime as I accompanied him, my thoughts wandered out......I've learned to really enjoy and make the most of my experiences during snowtime, which is one curious aspect not usually described to most people who come from tropical countries like myself. I was grateful, though, that I had great exposure to one terrible winter storm one February over 4 years ago in Japan; I was told it's one of the few occasions that Tokyo experienced snowstorm as strong as that one in long years. I gleefully took pictures, and took note of how terrible it is really for someone who's from a tropical country not to be explained what kind of season "Winter" can be in its worst natural appearances. ...

Something maybe sniffed in the air during these cold winter months. So far, this season is actually not as bad as the one last year. I recall finding myself unconsciously crying silently while walking early mornings when the previous nights had brought thick snowfalls from the skies beyond my usual, limited horizon, and I put forward a brave front to my destination. I recall seeing bleak & wet snow covered grounds, with buildings, vehicles silently standing, as I trudged in my heavy boots towards my direction for the day. I always remember vividly the pigeons that were huddled together, adding some color to the bleak surroundings, trying to make the most of it, keeping each other warm, and working on feeding themselves with the food some unknown strangers had thought of casting away as refuse (or perhaps deliberately as feeds for NYC's resident pigeons and other avian & mammalian creatures). I thought to myself, the pigeons could very well help themselves, and proceeded ...