Early each morning I went for a walk. It was my chief pleasure in a dearth of pleasures, observing day by day the arrival of a new season: the magnolias putting out their petals and so poignantly soon, as it seemed to me every year, but never more so than the spring of 2020- shedding their petals. The cherry blossoms, even lovelier-loveliest, agreed but likewise short-lived.