I wanted to paint something with a lot of color and personality for this haiku. I usually see Syracuse as it is most of the winter—dark and gloomy. But I really like it when we get back in the fall, and there's still roses in the rose garden, and people out.

I've been downtown and seen a vendor like the one in the poem. A woman with a huge bundle of flowers and teddy bears. She usually tries to get the men buy flowers for their women, and it probably would make them smile. It gives you a feeling of being in the city, being around groups of different people, interacting with city life. I like being downtown here. There's always something going on.