When Lilacs Last In Manhattan Bloomed

In April, around the bend in every lane in Fort Tryon Park another vista is heralded by a fresh scent.

Yesterday, a stroll beneath the overlook of Fort Tryon brought me to lilac.  Lots of wonderful, soft lilac, in full bloom.  Petals just past their fullness had just begun to dust the pathway with a confetti of purple.

How many visitors to Manhattan -- or even other Manhattanites -- would imagine that a neighborhood exists where two minutes from one's apartment where on a warm preternaturally early spring afternoon, a bench awaits them, offering eternal moments of serene privacy, a majestic river view, greenery in all directions, and a gentle breeze wafting spring's lavender herald to one's nose?

Such a neighborhood exists.  Two of them, actually.  The are in Upstate Manhattan -- the bucolic sub-boros of Hudson Heights and Inwood.   Life is so splendid here.  How can one not delight in it?   I have been delighted by it for a dozen years.

Welcome to the neighborhood -- the most beautiful, most surprising neighborhood in the most dynamic borough in the most alive city on the planet.   A place I am incredibly amazed every day to call home.