A gem that maintains its luster.

Central Park is all that.

I must admit that there are rare moments when the iconic park can look a bit rough around the edges when the city feels like it has been running on caffeine,  attitude and an awful administration.

Then there are days in Central Park in spring when it feels like someone quietly remembered to water the soul.

The park is in the middle of one of those thoughtful revitalizations that New York City does so well, amounting to a polishing of decades of fond memories.

Poet’s Alley, officially Poets Walk, is in the process of  being renewed.

The dedicated benches, those quiet witnesses to a century of breakups, proposals, bad poetry, beautiful memorials to those who loved the park and are no longer with us and don’t forget the enjoyment of excellent sandwiches and cart coffee, are being restored with respect to history and just enough sturdiness to survive another generation of New Yorkers and visitors sitting perched on the iconic green benches taking in the awe inspiring surroundings.

And then there are the plantings.

Spring has arrived not with subtlety, but with a kind of joyful insistence.

Cherry blossoms doing what cherry blossoms do…brief, beautiful, and statuesque.

The lawns are greening up and picnic ready.

What’s striking isn’t just the beauty, it is the care by the dedicated Central Park Conservancy staff.  The sense that there is still value in stillness, a well-placed bench, a path that feels the same as it did fifty years ago only a little better maintained.

You sit for a moment. Maybe longer than you planned.

You welcome the turtles who have emerged and are sunny themselves on rocks and floating branches.

For endless moments in time, Central Park is absolute perfection, providing me and my doggie with pure, unfiltered joy and a sense of daily adventure.