View from My Room, Trains and Boats and Planes

In case you’re wondering, here’s the view from my office on one recent winter evening, over about a half hour period. It’s looking west across the great New York Harbor (**), towards New Jersey. The neighborhood in the foreground is Brooklyn Heights; if you squint, just left of center on the horizon is the Statue of Liberty. If you know what you’re looking for, you can just make out Ellis Island. There’s also a shot of our downtown Manhattan view.

**As I look out on this panoramic view of New York harbor, I sometimes imagine the hundreds of British war vessels anchored there in the summer of 1776 as they prepared for their August invasion of Brooklyn. And I think of George Washington riding over our neighborhood, leading the defense and then preparing for his war-winning evacuation of the Heights to Manhattan. But wouldn’t anyone?