Stacy Horn

Her husband put up this memorial plaque in a small garden a few blocks away from were I live and where she worked. Sad.

First, a picture of my customers.  “Hello birds.  I’m Stacy.  I’ll be your feeder today.”

Here’s my issue. As you can see below, right now the birdfeeder hangs over the fire escape stairs. I’d like it to hang over the platform part to the left, where I was able to put the shower curtain down to catch seeds shells, and whatever mess they make. I need something that I can clamp on either of the two places indicated by arrows, so the feeder can hang over the platform. The picture that follows is something I’ve found, and I will discuss the problems with it below.

Here is the hook/arm thing.

I’ve found others, but like this one, they will all raise the bird feeder beyond my reach. I need an arm that extends straight out, and only a few inches. I couldn’t find anything like that and I’m guessing nothing like that is made and I will have to jury rig something myself, which I’m happy to do but I am not handy. Maybe there’s some sort of shower device clamp thingamagjig.

Oh birds of NYC. Do you see all that I do for you? With all these nice people’s help??

Does anyone have any suggestions?

In other good news, I had my last doctor’s appointment and I absolutely positively do not have breast cancer, so YAY! I will live to feed birds another day. Which reminds me, where are the starlings? I love starlings. Although this might be a careful what you wish for thing. I love all the noise they make, but if as many starlings showed up as doves, I’m guessing the racket might drive me insane.

Speaking of which, I was freaking out in the doctor’s office reading Musicophilia and about all the different kinds of audio hallucinations some people are afflicted with. The story of what happened to Schumann destroyed me. Schumann heard music that wasn’t there and at first the music was pleasant, then it became demonic, and then finally at the end of his life it had devolved to “a single, ‘terrible’ note, an A, which played ceaselessly day and night with unbearable intensity.” Can you imagine? Please god don’t let this happen to me. It’s so unfair that it would happen to a composer who gave us such beautiful music. Proof that the universe is completely indifferent to our suffering.

I get the thing where music I practice intensely gets fixed in my mind and then plays over and over, lasting days, but it always stops eventually. If it didn’t I would go mad. When I was younger, ambient sound like air conditioners would sometimes resolve into brass bands or distant choirs.

I met a friend out in Williamsburg for a music festival yesterday, but I didn’t stay long.  Heat just saps my will to live.  And it looks like another scorcher today.  Ugh. Well, I have work to do in any case.

I need to fit in sending a letter to Time Warner about all the design problems in their new interface.  I can’t believe how bad it is.  I’m sorry whoever designed it.

I like the finches best.  I guess I’m all about the little guy.  I have another bird problem that I need to get suggestions for, but I have to take another picture to explain. I’ll do that later.

So!  What’s up for today?  I’m supposed to go out to Brooklyn to hear music this afternoon, but I have no idea where, and only roughly when. It’s been quite the Brooklyn weekend for me.  I was at a party last night in Willamsburg.  It was at the apartment of an old high school friend’s son and his girlfriend. The sons (she has two) and the girlfriend are all incredibly sweet and charming people.

God I’m tired.  For no good reason really.  For some reason swimming just popped into my head.  I flashed on this image of floating lazily in the water somewhere, then swimming at a I’ve-got-all-the-time-in-the-world pace.  I love swimming and I haven’t gone swimming for real since my twenties.  I had one brief swimming experience not too long ago at the Carmine Street Pool that was not good.  I got out of breath quickly, not surprisingly since I hadn’t been swimming in so long, but it was a public pool and all these people were behind me doing laps so I couldn’t stop or go at whatever pace I wanted.  It was a bit nightmarish.  Plus they make you wear a bathing cap.  The image that flashed in my mind was of someplace Bermuda-ish, it was warm, lush, blue, and I was not out of breath.

I brooded and brooded and it hit me that if I used a thicker material I might be able to lean out and push some covering in place. So, hanging half out of the window, which was fine because I had no fear of falling that way, and with the help of a sponge mop, I got a shower curtain into place. I had to both roll and push the bricks into the right position. It would have bugged me if they weren’t mostly straight.

Check it out!! Who’s unhandy now?? NOT ME.