Stacy Horn

My neighbors in the West Village really know how to do Halloween right. They decorate with such committed creativity. Then, on Halloween, their stoops became these tableaus, often with theatre. I just love going from building to building, it’s like carnival in a benevolent hellscape.

I should put together a collection of my favorites. Here’s my first shot for this year though. A short film follows. The best thing I ever saw is towards the end, the zombie girl on the swing. It was set up on 11th Street at a building that always had the most mind-blowing decorations, and I do not exaggerate as you will see. Unfortunately, a couple of years ago whoever was doing this stopped. I will always miss their work and I hope the reason they stopped was because they moved away and not something worse. (I probably say this same thing every year.)

When I finally broke down and bought the camera I couldn’t really afford, (there will be lots of scrimping in my future) Canon sent it via UPS. Of course UPS tried to deliver it while I was at work and left a notice on my door. I called UPS to arrange to either pick it up or have them deliver it on a day I’d be home. “Canon has restricted your delivery options,” I was told. I couldn’t pick it up at UPS, and I couldn’t ask them to deliver it on a day when I was home.

The only option was for them to try to deliver it two more times, both of which would occur on days when I was at work, and then they would send it back to Canon. There was absolutely nothing I could do about it.

WTF?? I couldn’t think of a single reason why Canon would do this, so I called them. The first representative I spoke to couldn’t tell me. Her supervisor said it benefitted both Canon and the customer. “How, exactly?” How did it benefit me to wait while UPS continued to try to deliver my camera before returning it, only to have Canon ship it again, with no guarantee that the same thing wouldn’t happen again? She couldn’t tell me.

“I can’t be the only person to call up upset about this,” I said to the supervisor. “Every customer of yours with a job would have this problem.” It was just so maddening I insisted on an answer. It must save them money. It’s the only explanation. Someone at corporate would call me back, she said, and someone eventually did. I haven’t returned their call yet though. I will update with their answer.

How I got my camera: The next day, when I came home and found another failed delivery notice, I ran out and spent the next 45 minutes running around my neighborhood stopping every UPS truck I came across asking if my block was on their route.

Yes. I did that.

It was exhausting, especially after a very tiring day at work, and I was near tears toward the end. But I found my delivery guy! Who was already locked up and about to call it a day. He saw what a wreck I was however, and he opened the truck back up, found my camera, and handed it over. Thank you nice UPS man.

It was all for this. So you, blog visitor, could see Bodhi’s tongue. Totally worth it.

My choir friend Barbara generously offered her extra ticket to me and we went to a fabulous production of Bellini’s Norma (which I had never heard before). If you ever have the opportunity to see sopranos Sondra Radvanosky or Joyce DiDonato, GO. Their singing was stunning. Mind blowing. God it’s great to live in New York. And to have friends!

I wonder, when Sondra was singing pianissimo and I could hear it where I was sitting, was she in reality singing mezzo forte? Which would mean her forte was really forte forte FORTE??

My plan is to go out and spend the day walking around, taking pictures, something I’ve always loved doing. OR, I’ll curl up on the couch and not move until tomorrow morning, getting up only occasionally to eat and to feed my pack of cats. Who are determined to rip me to shreds. Will I successfully trim their nails today? Stay tuned.

A picture of the moon, taken on the way to choir practice on Tuesday night.

I got the most beautiful flowers the other day, but I can’t put them out on my desk where I can see them all the time, or on the coffee table, because CATS. I tried putting out flowers a month or so ago and Bodhi and Bali knocked the vase over within seconds, sending me scrambling to save my computer, books and papers. I put these flowers down briefly to see if they would still try to knock them over and yes. They would still try. Jerks.