Author: Stacy Horn

My friends David Schwartz and Anne Dorobis have this amazing holiday party every year, amazing because they are great hosts and they have a lot of talented musical friends. There is always a line-up of gifted performances at their parties. This year the party was on Zoom and it really worked. They made it fun, (with a limerick contest and the traditional musical performances) but they also made it special by inviting everyone to say a few words about what they missed this year and what they were were looking forward to when things get more back to normal. I loved hearing what everyone said. Choked me up.

I said I missed singing great music in harmony every week with other people, but I was loving reading books again for the sheer pleasure of it, and not because there was something I needed or wanted to learn, or for research.

I had a behavior problem with my cats, (Bodhi and Bali making Bleecker’s life miserable) so whenever I have evidence that things are better I have to take a picture. Bodhi and Bali still chase Bleeck sometimes, which he doesn’t love. But I’m starting to think that maybe they always chased him, and I just didn’t pay attention before because someone is always chasing someone around here. In any case, peace reigns at times.

This is Bali sleeping on top of Bleecker. While I was dealing with the behavior problem Bleecker couldn’t even be in the same room with the other cats. This is a miracle. And …

This is all three of them chilling out together. Bleeck is on my lap and that is Bodhi and Bali on the desk, distracted by something in the window. Hopefully a bird. And not Godzilla. (That was a big fear of mine as a child, that Godzilla might arrive at any moment. Or, that a volcano would erupt and I’d have to run from the lava.)

Oh! I love the COVID artifact on my laptop. I have to take my temperature before going to work and then email them that I’m good to go. I forgot once, so now I have a note reminding me to do this.

I watched a livestream of a mini-Loser’s Lounge last night, and had a zoom meeting with friends as we watched it. I teared up. A glimpse of life back to normal. (The Loser’s Lounge is a musical tribute show I’ve been going to for about 25 years.) You can see last night’s show here. The next livestream is January 21st, according to their website.

Balloons. Always uplifting. Spotted these as I was leaving work last week. Someone had a fun night!

I took a walk in the snow last night. This was my favorite shot, even though it wasn’t much of a “snow” shot. But it felt magical walking around the West Village late at night, with only snow plows and others like myself, who wanted to be the midst of it all, and this shot captured how I felt.

This is the garden at St. Lukes, where I sit sometimes to read, although not for a long time.

A man and his dog.

I was walking behind him for a while.

A girl in search of a drink? I’m kidding. That’s the White Horse Tavern and it was closed.

My pictures make it look like it wasn’t much of a storm, but it was. This was one of the first shots I took. This is my block, looking back towards my building, where you can rent an apartment and be my neighbor according to the sign. Maybe I should go out and get more shots now, because it continued to snow throughout the night. It should be more dramatically snowy now.

The pandemic continues to break my heart. Since I started working at the ASPCA I’ve been passing by this store inside the Times Square subway stop, Record Mart. I love it because I’m a nostalgia junkie and they always had great hifi nostalgia displays. So I was very sad to see this note pictured on their shuttered store when I returned to work at the ASPCA Hospital last month. I’m glad that they will continue online, but I will miss their window displays.

Could they really be the oldest record store in Manhattan, as they say in this sign? How is it possible the first opened as late as 1958? Here is their history. Okay, according to a quick search they are not the oldest, no disrespect to Record Mart. The Commodore Music Shop opened in 1935 on 42nd Street. And the Casa Latina del Bronx record store opened in 1951, and moved to a new location in 1955 as Casalegre. Okay, that’s the Bronx, not Manhattan. Anyway, I’m sure there are many contenders. Doesn’t matter. I miss passing Record Mart by and I hope people will shop at their online store.

Here’s a picture of their window that I posted last year.