Rise Stevens: A professional to the end

In Ms. Stevens’s 351 regular appearances at the Met, her professionalism was perhaps never more apparent than it was in one of her many productions of “Samson et Dalila.” Playing the temptress Delilah, Ms. Stevens reclined on a chaise longue to sing the aria “Mon coeur s’ouvre à ta voix,” among the most famous seductions in opera. One night, overcome with theatrical passion, Samson flung himself onto her mid-aria. Samson did not know his own strength. Under his considerable force, the chaise longue, on casters, began to move. Ms. Stevens sailed offstage and into the wings, still singing.

A simple question

ROSS — Alan Gordon. You are still with us ……. everyday. What is shinola anyway? Love, Mom, Dad and Chris From the New York Times' In Memoriam, March 21, 2013. (H/T Thom Forbes)

Where to begin? At the beginning ...

Harry Weathersby Stamps, ladies' man, foodie, natty dresser, and accomplished traveler, died on Saturday, March 9, 2013.

Mailman who invented Diplomacy

He wasn’t always socially adept, and it didn’t really bother him. His preferred lullaby to sing his kids to sleep was “Battle Hymn of the Republic.” He might sign greeting cards to his family with the rather formal “Regards, Allan.” But he had a wickedly deadpan sense of humor that kept them in stitches. Once, Tatiana presented him with a Valentine’s Day card that mentioned those “three little words.” “Breakfast served anytime,” he intoned in his deep professorial voice. When he used a label maker to make little signs for objects around their home, he added one that was quirkily endearing. He placed a label above the cat’s bowl, at feline eye level. It read: “It is essential in this life that you be your own cat.” (H/T to Joan Lufrano!)

Calling all birds ...

She knew most of the local birds by their names and knew all their calls, and she was quick to notice a new bird in her yard.