Central Park. Silver gelatin darkroom print by Paul Goldfinger ©.

By Paul Goldfinger, Editor @Blogfinger

Winter can be lonely anywhere it’s cold.  In the City the bleakness factor is diminished by the presence of so many people who can live or visit  there and enjoy the warmth of it all, with simple pleasures like ducking into a corner coffee shop, wandering in a snow driven Central Park , going to Lincoln Center to see the Bolshoi, feeling the crunch of snow underfoot while coming and going from  small shops on Madison Avenue,  visiting Rockefeller Center at Christmas, or watching the snow fall on cedars in Washington Square Park.

There is an endless supply of delightful bistros and small ethnic restaurants that welcome you as you come in from the cold—often with a fire crackling nearby as they offer you an array of lasagna or steak frites or Thai noodles.

But, it can also be a solitary place—lonely and bone chilling.  Maybe feeding the birds can help.  Maybe you need to have dinner in a shelter. The City wants everyone, even the homeless, to have a place to get warm, and they do a good job of retaining charity and humanity through winter in the City. The NYPD is on the front lines of providing compassion and warmth, making sure that the lonely get embraced by the greatest city in the world.   We all want Spring and we all have dreams for tomorrow.

FRANK SINATRA