‘Send me something lovely,’ I asked Laura as I walked into Carl Schurz park, just after one of the March Nor’Easter’s. There was a few inches of snow on the ground and I felt in need of cheering up. If you follow this blog you’ll know that since my wife Laura passed I sometimes say these words and somehow they magically conjure beautiful things to appear.

This time I saw a perfect little snowman with twig arms sitting on a park bench. It was the mini version of a snow man that Laura sent me just after we met. We had two dates and a dozen breathless emails between us. I was on vacation in sunny Florida and she was still in arctic New York. A snowstorm had just blanketed the city. And one of her emails contained her photos of the snow people in Washington Square Park. I loved them all, but especially one of Laura smiling and pointing at a surprisingly human snowman with twig arms (the image below). And now, 7 years later, here was its little twin.

Greedy for more lovely surprises, last week I entreated Laura again. ‘ Send me something lovely’ I commanded as I raced up the steps into the park. And immediately I heard back. ‘Loveliness is all around.’  And of course, she is right.

But it won’t stop me asking for more.