The Reward

To see this grand design, you have to take a bike north along the River, then up the ramp underneath the Henry Hudson to 158th, and walk up with the bike on the pedestrian walkway on the right; it helps if you are old because you are not tempted to ride all the way up the steep ramp in low gear. On the right there is this tall fence, with mesh size just big enough for the lens of the cell phone to peek through without getting obfuscations on one or two of the corners. (The fence protects the Amtrak tracks way down below from being bombarded with debris). And then you see the award for all your trouble: a gigantic network which looks neural in intent but it’s at least 20 by 40 feet in size. Some climbing plant with tentacles firmly anchored in the cement. We will see in a couple of weeks, by the power of spring, if it is still alive, or a mere ghost of a plant that lived there once.