Moments before Blair Julia Smith showed up to her umpteenth first date, this time at a bar in Cobble Hill, Brooklynk9win, she nearly called it off.

“It was cold, it was gross out and I really didn’t want to go,” said Ms. Smith, 39, recalling that day in early January 2023. “I was having a bad week.”

She shook off her reluctance and kept her commitment to meet up with Alexander David Hall, the man she had recently matched with on Hinge. Ms. Smith arrived first to the Long Island Bar.

When Mr. Hall, also 39, entered, Ms. Smith was struck by his curly hair and warming presence. Mr. Hall, who goes by Alec, said she also made an indelible first impression.

“She had this incredible smile and this incredible energy,” he said. “It was pretty apparent I was talking with someone to whom I had a very profound connection.”

[Click here to binge read this week’s featured couples.]

The pair spent the next five hours lost in conversation. Mr. Hall, a composer of contemporary classical music, had in recent years started a side hustle restoring and developing townhouses. He offered to show Ms. Smith his latest construction project, which wasn’t far from the bar. On the way, they stopped by his apartment to grab a bottle of champagne.

What could possibly go wrong?

The insects, which were first detected in the city in 2020, accumulated in such numbers that Shauna Moore, the garden’s director of horticulture, found herself fielding regular calls and emails from visitors alarmed by what appeared to be a full-scale invasion of “these crazy new creatures,” she said.

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