"Our Gal Sally" Starr 1923-2013

This photo is ca. 1955...when I had the good fortune to get to see Santa, probably at Gimbel's downtown at 8th and Market along with TV personality Sally Starr.  Sally was a major local TV star here in Philadelphia hosting daily children's programs that featured Popeye cartoons and the Three Stooges shorts from about 1954 to 1971. Sally died yesterday at age 90. She was very gay-friendly. I remember seeing her at gay pride events at Penn's Landing some time ago. 

Frozen River

The Schuylkill River in Philadelphia is frozen in the vicinity of Fairmount Park. The geese can sit on the ice.

Farewell To A Long Time Friend

I met Joe Greenberg in the early 1980s through Amateur ("Ham") radio. Joe joined the Lambda Amateur Radio Club back then, an organization I started for GLBT amateur radio operators. Joe helped me run the club by serving for a time as one of the officers. He supported me as I struggled to get national ham organizations to treat their GLBT members without discrimination. Joe was a very strong advocate for being out and proud of who we are. I'll always be grateful for his steadfast support.

While we did not live close enough to see each other, over the years we stayed in touch by computer. Joe worked well into his 70s as an accountant. He lived alone but he seemed to have many friends. Finally, Joe moved into a senior's house where his meals were provided. He would send out daily emails to all of his friends. He struggled with health issues related to aging, but his spirit was always strong. Joe played piano and at the holidays a few years back he sent out CDs of Christmas music that he recorded. I'll have his music to enjoy in the coming years.

Joe died late last week, peacefully in his sleep. He had undergone surgery recently and he was in rehabilitation but hoping to return home soon, but that was not to be. We had a chat by telephone a couple of weeks ago. He sounded very sharp and very positive at that time. I hope I can remain as positive as he did as I get older. I'll miss his entertaining daily emails about the soap opera quality of his life in the senior's home. He was a good friend and he will be missed.

Cafe Sabarsky Lunch

With friend Michael at the lovely Cafe Sabarsky on the upper east side. A taste of old Vienna!

Road Trip

Today is Dan's birthday. We're celebrating with a trip to New York City to see the ballet. So far the train is on time in spite of the snow yesterday.

A Great Film Score: Hour of the Gun (Suite) 1967

Birthday Festivities

Friends took me out for dinner last evening at one of my favorite restaurants. It was a great birthday!

The Greatest Birthday Gift: A Poem From My Husband

A HOUSE OF MANY ROOMS

                                    (To my spouse, James Kelly-Evans)

                        The house I live in has many rooms.

                        The house is both new and old at the same time.

                        The rooms are colored like the rainbow.

                        The room on the top floor, delphinium tinted,

                        has a portrait on its wall. In that painting

                        your eyes search mine before I leave and shut 
                        the door

                        in regret for all the ways I’ve failed you.

                        Two doors away I find myself in a world of jade 
                        green,

                        with underwater currents that run both smooth 
                        and wild, like River Nile.

                        They contain all our daily joys and foibles, the 
                        years and the friends,

                        quiet moments and now, more often, forgotten 
                        ones of accumulated life.

                        In the tower of orange, gold and fire

                        is a painting of an ideal, muscular St.George,
                        the demon in his eyes.

                        He bears his crossed shield and an impenetrable 
                        warrior’s helmet--

                        He is one of those idealists the world hopes for 
                        and rejects. 

                        His eyes are your eyes, wide as magic.

                        In the black and purple wound colored chamber

                        the man in the mural holds in his hand a golden 
                        chain

                        and the dragon at the end of the tethered chain 
                        is the

                        soul of my mate’s anger at all the ways life has 
                        cheated him,

                        defeated by careers he never had and the ages 
                        he missed living in.

                        In the newest room in the house of many rooms

                        countless windows flood us with the light of 
                        Van Gogh’s summer wheat

                        turned to blond dust at the End of the Harvest

                        gathered in my mind like all your kind words
                        and buried secrets.

                        At the end of a long hall lies the crimson room, 
                        red as poppy blood.

                        There your eyes graze mine and your lips touch 
                        mine and for that moment

                        I forget the rest: the house of many rooms, 
                        old and new,

                        that was not only your life but my life as well.

                                    -R. Daniel Evans   2012

Goodbye To A Cute Little Friend

Our friend Howard had to say goodbye to his companion Rico. Rico was a sweetie and he will be missed.

January Birthdays

Both Dan and I have birthdays this month. Mine is first. I turn 64 on Wednesday, January 9. Our friends Richard and Mark took me out for dinner Saturday evening after we attended the Met opera HD broadcast. We had a nice dinner at Sagami. Richard and Mark were very kind to drive us over to the restaurant and treat me to dinner. It was a great way to start my birthday week celebration.

Road Trip To Paramus

We visited Dan's brother Bill in Paramus, NJ today. He now lives at the Emeritus senior living complex there. The photos were taken at lunch at a Japanese restaurant in nearby Ridgewood, NJ.

Celebrating 2013 With Good Friends

Our friends Richard and mark joined us for a tasty dinner at one of our local Philadelphia restaurants om New Year's Eve. It's great to celebrate the new year with good friends!