contending
She's giving an outdoor talk, and her voice strives to rise above the wind.
context
I bump into someone I know quite well in a location where I don't expect to see him. For a couple of seconds I don't recognize who he is, because his face is usually framed by other surroundings – not a street with a church on one side and glossy, sparkling storefronts on the other.
interval
Late at night, the subway platform fills with people waiting for an infrequent train. They look up from their phones, crane forward to peer into the tunnel, sigh, look back at their phones.
melted
The Camperdown elm looks like it has melted. Its branches are rivulets of brown wax.
parting
We murmur how we'll see each other soon, but we probably won't. Our friendship has weakened in the last year or two, not for any one reason, or really any obvious reason.
rose-tinted
Someone plays "La Vie en Rose" on a saxophone under an archway. They're striving to create a certain atmosphere – romantic, nostalgic, Parisian – on a muddy day.
soothingly
Ginger and carrot soup to soothe what might be the beginnings of a cold.
