Stacy Horn

And right away! I’m so happy to be living now, except it’s probably going to get much, much better as time moves on (except for the environment stuff, and the fall of the American empire, which may not be a bad thing).

On my way home the other day I took a closer look at the memorial pictured below. It sits in the park off St. Luke’s Place, which is next to the ball field which was apparently once a cemetery. One of the inscriptions says that the bodies of two firemen, Eugene Underhill (20 years old) and Frederick A. Ward (22 years old) are buried underneath, and that they “lost their lives by the falling of a building while engaged in the discharge of their duty” on July 1, 1834.

I was going to start researching it, but I found the whole story at a blog called Daytonian in Manhattan, and other details here. Daytonian in Manhattan also has a picture of the memorial in it’s original location some yards away (where the ball field is now).

Daytonian in Manhattan also mentions how the body a six year old child, Mary Elizabeth Tisdall, was found in 1934, so of course I had to research her! I found her whole story on the website for Trinity Church on a page called The Archivist’s Mailbag. Along the way I came across another useful blog called the New York City Cemetery Project.

Information that would have taken a few visits to the library was found in under a minute. INSANE. People might think it takes the fun out of it, especially since I love going to the library, but there are tons of things I want to research and for me it just means that I’ll get to more of them this way. So thank you Tom Miller, Diane Fisher, Leah Reddy and Mary French!

I exercise every day and vary what I do to make sure it doesn’t get boring. Sometimes I walk around, taking photographs. The other day I came upon this abandoned lot. (I really should write down locations, it was around 6th and Dominick Street or so.)

North Carolina Karen could probably identify some of the greenery. I can only point out the ginkgo, but hang on, more shots to follow, with different trees and whatever the other things are.

But seriously, beautiful right?

I want to live here. In an abandoned lot, yeah. In a tiny house. With a couple of goats.

One last shot as I was walking away towards home. Sigh. Goodbye beautiful lot.

The title of Tadd’s dance for your life routine was “Send me home, I don’t care.” He didn’t put anything into it! But I can’t fault the decision to send Chris home, even though he was one of my favorites. I agree he just wasn’t doing as well in other styles. But, I love him so … SOB.

Ashley was also a favorite, and I don’t like Ryan, but I absolutely can’t fault the decision here as well. Ashley and Jordan, like Tadd, were barely trying it seemed. While Ryan’s dance for your life routine was fabulous. As was her dancing this week. And last. Okay, Ryan is winning me over. Caitlyn also won me over with her dancing this week, and that reminds me! This week’s routines were pretty so-so for the most part (sorry choreographers, mostly you bring it week after week, not complaining).

It must be hell to park in my neighborhood. I wonder if there are some figures somewhere about which neighborhood has the most movie shoots. This was coming home last night from the … (where else?) library.

Some of the email I get is so badly composed I worry that a lot of people don’t get the help they need because they don’t know how to ask for it. I’ve decided to put together a few tips for writing email.

Tip 1A. Get to the point.

State the purpose of your email in the first sentence. Just say flat out who you are and what you’re writing about and what you want from the person. I know you think you have to sell them on it first, or ease into it, but taking too long to get to the point increases the chances that the person won’t read through to whatever it is you’re writing about.

Let people know right away why you’re writing them so they can read the rest of the email with that understanding. It’s disorienting otherwise. You’re reading and reading and you don’t know why. Sometimes when I finally learn why someone has written me I have to reread the email in that light (not fun when you get a lot of email). Some people never tell me. Don’t assume that your reason for writing is obvious, or that the person will figure it out and offer what you need without your having to ask. Tell them that at the start.

Tip 1B here.

NOTE: There are exceptions to every rule and every tip I’m going to give, of course. But breaking the rules is an art. Only the most adept can pull it off.
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A garden at Canal Street and the highway that wasn’t there yesterday. Okay, it was, but not too long ago it was much more bare. When did trees have time to grow this high?? Some were at least two stories high! I thought putting a small park there was a bad idea, it was such an unpleasant spot. But now it’s so green and lush and the trees are so big you feel hidden from the surroundings. If I worked in this area I would take my afternoon breaks here, with a cup of tea.