Stacy Horn

I know shots of fireworks are a dime a dozen, but I couldn’t resist. My apologies. I live on the west side and the fireworks were on the east side this year, so I was watching them from a distance. They’re almost always on the east side. But once or twice every decade or so they are on the west side, and there’s always an uproar. People.

I went up to Fort Tryon Park to sit and read and these two guys kept me company. What is the red one? Is that a cardinal? The feathers on his head would sometimes spread like a cockatiel.

I don’t know why it is, but anytime I have to read anything about Boss Tweed, a famously corrupt New York politician from the 19th century, I fall asleep. For some reason I found this history relentlessly tedious, not fascinating. That said, I have 52 pages of research from retired Sgt. Michael E.J. Bosak about him and a voting scandal from 1870. I have high hopes for this paper!

This is a shot from a courthouse he had built and which led to his downfall. Funnily enough, considering his history of voter fraud, it’s a voting site! This is where I’ve been assigned the past two times (I’m a poll worker.) I hope this is where I’ll be for the presidential election. Actually, I really wish I was working the poll site where I vote, just blocks away from where I live, but that won’t happen. The Tweed Courthouse is beautiful though, so it’s a nice 2nd choice.

I’ll be writing all weekend, but it’s what I love to do. Also, I’m at the easier part. It’s always terrifying starting a new chapter. What the hell am I going to write?? Will it suck?? But once the first draft is written, even if it does suck, going in and fixing it is not as hard or scary.

Plus, I will have company. Desk cat!

I just finished Vivian Swift’s new book, Gardens of Awe and Folly: A Traveler’s Journal on the Meaning of Life and Gardening. God I love Vivian Swift’s books. They are enchanting. Later, just a few hours after finishing it, I was staring into a garden around City Hall and the Tweed Courthouse. It was night and fireflies came out. I never see fireflies, I was so thrilled, and it was all so magical and lovely and I thought, I’m having a Vivian Swift garden moment! Which was also a moment of saudade (she explains this in the book).

I’m trying to think of a way to explain what it’s like reading her writing. Her other book When Wanderers Cease to Roam has this same effect. I’ll just go with explaining the after effect. When you put the book down you’re left with the feeling that everything is going to be okay, even if and when bad things happen. And there is beauty and mystery everywhere and remarkable moments can happen at any time.

A photo shoot I passed by recently. An assistant is arranging the model’s hair. I love how her crown came out kinda glow-y.