The Jazz Cruise to the Caribbean

Hello family from Boston, we met at the airport. I love kids which is why I photographed them.

More than half my photos did not come out. How frustrating!

Had a great time on the Jazz Cruise, a b'day gift from Ethan Iverson of the The Bad Plus and his wife, my daughter and kidney donor, the great Sarah Lynn Deming. 

Got home last night, saw my darling BF Scott Sherman, who had the house ready for me. Loads of mail and the heat on. We cuddled up like always while watching a very strange avant garde film The Lady from Shanghai with Rita Hayworth and Orson Welles. She died at 68 of Alz Disease.

Got home via Uber, a 2.5 hour drive from LaGuardia. Mento, orig from Bangladesh, was my great driver, a Muslim citizen, as is his wife, who he met here on FB. Fortunately they're both American citizens.

Scuse me a sec. Am gonna pour myself anudder cup of Rum Coffee, which I bought aboard the ship.

While we awaited to board our plane at LaGuardia, I kept walking about and saw an interesting flavor of Starbucks...Smoked Butterscotch Latte.



Sarah was in a wheelchair so we got preferential treatment and were whisked through various security points.

One of our Shore Excursions. Victor, narrator, brought us to the top of a mountain in the Dominican Republic, to the east of Haiti, where we viewed a $1 million hotel. My late sister/law Kay Deming Graham was a Peace Corps volunteer in DR.


 
 Here's what we got to eat in the million dollar hotel.

Sir, I said, I don't want this. I'll await the next course.

When Sir said this was all we'd have to eat, I said, Okay, don't take it away. I gobbled it up I was so hungry. We'd been on the bus a couple of hours.

Refreshing swim in one of two freezing cold salt water pools on deck 10. I don't wanna get tan as "cancer" is one of the side effects from kidney antirejection meds.

Ethan, Sarah and I walked along the South Beach strip, in Miami Beach, lit up in the darkness. Unfamiliar vegetation. Elijah was our server at The Icon.

Sarah and I walk down a street in San Juan PR.

We're looking for a restaurant and also a place to buy gifts.

One of the shops was selling sheets and towels made of BAMBOO. I bought Ada and Rich soft white towels, which they received, and bought Scott blue towels as he likes colorful things (like his Ruthie).

Private beach at Labadee Haiti. 

 Below is interior of $1 million hotel in DR.

 Nice tiles.

 On the way back to ship.

 They give you cold drinks before you go aboard. Also small ice-covered towels.

Canyon Ranch Spa did my pedicure for $80 including tip.

On the beach - great dystopian film - I sat under this coconut tree.

This is Sergio, whose wife Connie, is in the water. They're part of an Italian community in Toronto. We also met at the Hollywood-Fort Lauderdale Airport on our way home.

 Great Haitian food we ate under a pavilion that protected us from the broiling sun. BBQ pork, fish with sauce, potato salad, honeydew, rice n beans, etc.

Ah, this is what I was waiting for. GIFTS. There were many small booths.

The Haitians wait all year for the cruise ships to arrive so they can sell their wares. They are high pressure sales people. 

How much for this (white lace) blouse? I asked. 

For you, ma'am, one hundred dollar.

We bargained and I got it for $22. They also give you free merchandise as an incentive to buy. I'd brought $200 with me.

 

 I bought a couple of Elijah's Passover Cups, which were hand-carved and quite lovely.

After I bought from three stands I asked Frandy above to escort me out, as everyone tries to pull you inside.

As you can see, the people are quite beautiful!

 Hard to see but Frandy made his own paintings. I bought an unusual blue and white one, moody.

 Hadn't realized these trains were free to ride. Again, I had to husband my moolah.

BTW, Scott got the gift I bought him today. A towel set made of bamboo. A cool blue. He loved it.

I sat in a seat next to two women, one was from Idaho. I mentioned that Ernest Hemingway died there. Killed himself as he believed his brain was not functioning well. The woman said he left a long legacy of suicides. 

Wiki - In 1961 Ernest Hemingway committed suicide at the age of sixty-one. There have been five suicides in the Hemingway family over four generations -- Hemingway's father, Clarence; siblings Ursula, Leicester and Ernest; granddaughter Margaux.

I must look pretty old as several people offered to pop me into a wheelchair and roll me toward our cruise ship, called The Celebrity. Read about it here, Lesley Reed!

Am carrying a free blue backpack which says "Celebrity Jazz Cruise." I tossed it when we left the ship.

Dancers made a pretty sound as we approached the ship. I tipped em a couple of dollars.

David Sanborn interviews drummer David King of The Bad Plus and another drummer.

Most of the musicians aboard teach at various colleges. And have had wonderful mentors.

The food was various and new aboard the ship. Superb grilled salmon with mushrooms, onions, curried rice and fruit. Coffee was strong and dark.

Joshua Redman, son of Dewey Redman, both great sax players, and Reid Anderson of The Bad Plus on bass.

Took all these pix so I could have good views of The Boys.

In every concert, people in the audience came and went. Such short attn spans!

This couple was on the elevator with me. Here's the menu of drinks.

I'm tanning my legs, sort of. When you take kidney antirejection meds you're prone to skin cancer so I eschewed a proper tan.

I will finish the book. I will finish the book. From Sarah and Ethan's huge collection.

Look! He's even written about new crime mysteries he's discovered. He just started teaching at New England Conservatory of Music. Due to his busy sked, he writes lessons while on airplanes.

On the previous cruise I took before my kidney transplant, I never got good pix of my state room, so I made sure to capture how it looks.

My bedside table. Dyou think I've stolen more pens from American Heritage than any other patron? The pens have a nice CLICK to them and have longlasting ink.

Nancy Stratton, my new friend who I'll never see again, cuz she and husband Lee live in southern CA, told me the skin lotion on the ship is a well-known brand.

A good many seafarers had mixed marriages - black and white. I thought it was fantastic! Nancy, who's black, and Lee, a white man, could not marry as they lived in Alabama, so they went north to get a marriage license. Nancy told me that in Alabama mixed couples would live together and bear children.

They pretended the black woman was their maid!

Lee, who has had diabetes for about 40 years, has no complications b/c Nurse Nancy takes c/o him. Of course I took photos of them, but who knows where they are? Although I took hundreds of photos - many repeats cuz I couldn't tell if the iPhone was working or not - some of my best pix got lost.

Did I tell you how much my pedicure cost? I thought it was $69, but then on my final bill it showed $80. Guess that included a tip.

Every night I'd step into the shower and let cold water pour over my walkin-sore feet. I'd wash all me clothes in the sink, roll em in towels to dry out, and hang em in the shower on a small line. By morning, they were mostly dry.

On the way to the Hollywood-Fort Lauderdale Airport. Our driver, Manny, did not speak English.

Ethan and Josh Redman talk on the bus. Josh lives in Berkeley, CA. Told him I lived in San Francisco a couple years with my BF Curtis Branch. We slept in a Murphy Bed that pulled out of the wall.

Except we lived in a dump. The Russian landlord had a crush on me and would bring me red caviar to eat.

Oh no! The memories are flooding back. A Catholic woman I was friends with built a shrine in her closet. I consider myself part Catholic, tho I'm all Jewish, b/c I'm attracted to the pageantry, as well as Christ himself, since we share a birthday. I also worked at Maryknoll Missioners in Ossining, NY, when my ex and I lived up there.

Thanks, El Greco, for your blessing.

I slept exceedingly well aboard the ship. In the morning, I would report to the Fitness Center and get aboard the Treadmill. I'd trudge for 15 or 20 minutes - was that hard! - and kept going faster and faster as if that would subdue the boredom and get me finished fast.

Then I noticed you could watch a scene. I chose Lake Merced (where dat?) and a bike ride around Marin County. Some woman was running on the treadmill and not even holding on. 

Sarah and Ethan had a large state room with a sliding door that led onto a balcony. One night they invited me down to watch a film.

  That Jeff Bridges was so damn good you couldn't even recognize the Dude. Requested it at my library. Since it's a new film, 2016, there are 90 requests before mine. The Rolling Stone liked it.
 

So, as most normal people know, the Grammys were on last night and Adele won once again.

I have heard of Adele, but I never paid any attention to her.

The woman is fantastic! I listened to her on YouTube. Emotion, raw emotion, that touches you deeply. Her famous song, HELLO, who now even I have heard of.

Before I drove in the howling swirling winds to my Monday job at the nursing home, Symphony Manor, I wrote a poem on FB, like I did before the cruise ship. My friend Ellen Rosenberg, who I spoke to this morning, told me I should write about my trip.

I had actually forgotten about it.

LABADEE HAITI

Sandals off
my feet sunk
in what once were
seashells a million
years ago, now ground
to soft powder we
call sand

Connie in green bathing
suit plunked her
lawn chair in the
rolling green waves
eyes turned toward
heaven, while her
husband Sergio
smoothed lotion
on his big hairy
belly

From under the
coconut tree I
gathered courage
trotted on hot
sand to freezing
salt water, sat like
a baby in peaceful water, then
allowed salt water to
carry me where it would
how fine it felt, dreaming of
nothing but the amniotic sac surrounding
me and peerless blue sky, sailing
me right back home to the living room
bathing suit dry, garbage men chugging
down the street the beginning of
a new day for 7 billion people including
The Bad Plus and the Hollywood remains
of Rita Hayworth.

Hello from the Jazz Cruise in the Caribbean!

With great difficulty I'm logging in on the Internet Cafe, here on the sixth floor of the ship which has 12 decks.

$50 for 24 hours.

Sarah and I just came from a marvelous gospel concert in a huge auditorium. Stadium seating. Everywhere you go, they wanna sell you something, esp. alcoholic drinks.

Host of the gospel show was Wycliffe Gordon. Super-talented. He either played the slide trombone or the saxophone.

Today we stay in the ship all day long as we make our way to Puerto Rico. Loads to do.

My main concern is watching my blood sugar. I try to keep it a little high rathan go low. Fortunately in Brooklyn, I bought a new battery for my meter.

Last night when Sarah Ethan and I were eating, the meter did not work. I reached into my diabetes bag and pulled out the new battery.

It was impossible to open. Finally Ethan pried it open with a fork.

He mostly stays in his cabin as he's on deadline working on a new piece.

I told loads of people about The Bad Plus. Juan and Toby Valdez, who I met poolside, showed up at the concert while the boys were banging away. They played from their new CD "It's Hard" - Reid Anderson was the moderator - and offered "Life is often hard" - we were sailing over rough seas for the first time and it was difficult for the seas inside us to remain in balance.

Altho Juan is Cuban, he was born in the Bronx. He and I had many things in common, health issues.

Today before the gospel concert, I had breakfast - an omelet on an English muffin - never again - you can taste the preservative -  corned beef hash (OK) - and loads of cheese - cheddar, swiss, provolone - which I dipped into Grey Poupon.

The sked announced a film about Miles Davis. It was on the Rooftop Terrace. The only way to get up there was to climb up a stairway - not to heaven - but a stairway where you could scarily see to the bottom.

All right, Ruthie, you can do it, says I.

I'm wearing my sneakers. Good, I said, after each stair I climbed. Good. I was friggin terrified!

You could barely see the film bc of the sunlight plus it was terrible!

I asked one of the many international helpers to hold my hand while going down the steps.

On their name badge, everyone has his/her name and their country.

Last night I had Gordiana from Serbia.

For $69 I got my toenails polished. Met a very lovely woman also getting a pedicure from Philadelphia. She's getting a master's in psychology from Chestnut Hill College. She'll specialize in trauma.

We'll definitely keep in touch, we told one another. I gave her my card. I will never hear from her again.

We disembarked in Nassau, the Bahamas.

They do not want any strangers returning on the ship, so they photograph you at several points and insist on two forms of identification.

Sarah and I had a fantastic meal! First we walked about half an hour checking everything out and then settled on a high-up restaurant where we'd have a view.

I ordered a Bahama Mama which had coconut, rum, pineapple juice and was delicious. I was entitled to a second drink, but didn't wanna chance getting tipsy, like I am now from the rhythm of the sea.

We had spicy seafood chowder, buttered roasted cauliflower and a soft biscuit holding fresh lobster salad.

Gifts: It's important to support the people of the island whose gift shops line the streets. Karen sold me a pull-toy for Max. Sarah took a photo of the two of us together.

I've probly taken 100 photos but I don't know how to get them on here. However, I may ask Elena from Ukraine if she can take them off my iPhone and put them on here.

You know the troubles I've seen with my iPhone right? I actually called Ethan and Sarah on it. And the first day I was at set, while still in the States, I called Scott.

It's usually about 71 degrees.

When people say it's February I have no idea what they're talking about.

Afternoon Tea at 2 pm features some good jazz people.

Amazing to think that every single person on this cruise loves jazz! There are also children aboard.

I am really hungry now.

Oh! I bought about 25 postcards. Have no idea how and where to mail them. I did bring an orange sheet with me with many names.

Am reading a fairly good book the kids lent me: Oblivion by Peter Abrahams.

Wish me luck as I sway my way to the Oceanview Cafe.

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