From the blog, A Year in the Park, where Brenda Becker documents her daily discoveries in the mystical heart of Brooklyn.

After school, the Third Street Playground sat deserted under a bleak sky. Not a toddler, mommy or nanny in sight; no strollers, juice or Goldfish crackers; just the patter of cold rain on fallen leaves. I imagined where they are instead, the crew that fills this place with happy shrieks on sunny days. Maybe struggling into leotards for ballet class; slumped under the plastic stroller cover, watching the Christmas lights roll by; peeling off parkas and heading for the couch and cartoons; spread out on the floor coloring next to a companionably hissing radiator in an old brownstone. But not playing outside, not today.