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.

Do me a favor. Leave me a reply. (They never do.)

Novolog Pens - My kingdom for a Pen - Poems: Happiness Is - and Cardboard Cut-Outs

   For my cruise I'd like to bring two packs of Novolog Pens. That's a total of 5 pens per pack.

I only have two pens left.

Due to new Medicare rules, I can't get them without a new RX from my diabetes doc and that means making a last minute appt!

Will they help me out?

Dr Laura Fitzpatrick moved her office to Doylestown, much further than the Executive Mews in Willow Grove.

We'll see what happens tomro.

 Okay, now it's tomro. Am gonna see a new doc. First appt is on May 8.

  Danny Boy, I hear the pipes of Scotland calling


Thank you so much, I said, to the woman who called me.

She told me the reason the first appts are so far away is bc of the merger with Jefferson Hospital.

Would they have done better had they merged with Home Depot? 

Actually Laura Fitzpatrick has to call Kronic Renal, said PACE, so I put a call into her. I was prepared to drive down to Doylestown. 

The Compass is nearly done.

Guess who's holding us up?

Ruth Z Deming. I need one more poem, a really good one to submit.

What dyou think of

HAPPINESS IS

Being noticed when
I go outside, hot
cup of tea in my hand

AW AW AW!
Crows call across
the steel-gray
sky, silhouettes
like proud soldiers
defending their land

In the naked trees
squirrel nests are
revealed, babies
suckling and munching
on acorns with their
vampire teeth

Tiny drops of snow
bury themselves in
my hair. A different
sort of snow. Like
tiny ping-pong balls
hollow inside like
the vast expanse
of sky

Where Dad and I
still play ping-pong
in the basement of
our house on
Glenmore Road.

Hear it echo
across the sky?

***

BTW, if you listen to the sound of crows - which you can do on YouTube - they don't really CAW. It's more like AW.

***

I looked out my upstairs window tonight and saw a line of houses grinning across the street like jackolanterns.

Maybe I'll work on something like that. See below.

Also check out the night sky right now.

Venus is blinking on and off low in the sky. It's called a triangulation of Mars, Venus, and the Moon.

Tonight – January 31, 2017 – look in a general westward direction after sunset to enjoy a close-knit couple, the moon and Venus. A fainter object, Mars, is also nearby so that these three objects, all neighbors to Earth in orbit around our sun, make a triangle on the sky’s dome. The moon and Venus will pop out into your evening twilight almost immediately after sundown. That’s because they rank as the second-brightest and third-brightest heavenly bodies, respectively, after the sun. As dusk turns into darkness, watch for the planet Mars to appear on the sky’s dome, near the waxing crescent moon and dazzling Venus.




Wrote a new poem on the first of February. I like metaphysical poems.

PAPER CUT-OUTS

On my early morning
walk round the block
I view them again
the myriad of houses
of cars of lights
switching suddenly on

Were they here yesterday
or the day before? Grinning
like jackolanterns in
the night?

What is real?
What is not?
What's happened to
the stars and constellations
that bloomed so bright
last night?

Paper cut-outs.
All of us.
With the exception
of Icarus still
falling, still falling
into the sea.




Matisse paper cut-out on Icarus.

The above is the second and last poem I submitted to the Compass. Just mailed it to Rene at Boggs Printing.

How about a leetle nap?

Don't mind if I do.

But first join me in looking at the bright daylight outdoors! 

Getting Ready for the Carib - But first the Compass - Poems: Ballustrade of Lights and Cool Sheets

Here's a note I sent out to ND members.

Hi everyone,

Next evening meeting of New Directions is Tuesday night, February 7, from 7 until 9:15 pm.

Ada will be your engaging host at Abington Prez Church. Carole and Greg Hodges will lead the Loved Ones' Group.

Next Daytime Meeting is at the Willow Grove Giant Supermarket on Thursday, Feb 9, from 10 am until noon. Helen and Jonathan will be there.

View meeting locations on our website below.

My vacation:  My daughter and kidney donor, Sarah Deming, and her husband Ethan Iverson, pianist with The Bad Plus, gave me a fantastic b'day gift...a Jazz Cruise to the Caribbean.

My son, Dan, will drive me to their apartment in Brooklyn on Thursday and we'll leave from LaGuardia on Friday.

***
The Compass is ready to email to our graphics designer.

"Rene," I said when I called her this morning.

"Ruth!" she said, recognizing my voice, "I was thinking I'd be hearing from you soon."

Highlights of our many great articles include: The one and only Alex Grinberg on his five favorite movies.

Freda and Bernie Samuels on a meal they often serve company - Salmon and Garlic Mashed Potatoes.

BTW, did you know you can buy frozen vegetables? I just made a delicious stir-fry for dinner.

Dan Hartman wrote an article on Why You Can't Find a Psychiatrist.

We have excellent first-person profiles, poetry and how to find a good psychotherapist.

***
Earlier today I watched a repeat of last night's Charlie Rose who interviewed both Warren Buffett - age 86 - And Bill Gates, 61. I liked Bill's outfit.

The notable thing about Buffett is that he doesn't have back to back appointments, but he allows time to think. View it here.

Just posted this poem on FB

BALLUSTRADE OF LIGHTS

Quick! Leave now and
the library will still
be open. Who will be
there behind the counter?
The Angels.
When Life gets you down
When things go wrong
Let their voices cheer you
and give you everlasting peace.

Talk about anything you wish
The Superbowl come Sunday
The influx of Girl Scout Cookies
Your new favorite coffee: Peppermint
Mocha
The Angels think you're marvelous
as they pop new books n movies
into your new red bag, the color
of rosebuds, getting ready
to shout out loud next spring.

***

Just rode my bike for 20 minutes while viewing an independent film of a man from Haiti - 103 yrs old - who was visited by his grandson. The old man wants to move to America. He's having a tough time, but, by Jesus, his great love, I think he's done it!

***
COOL SHEETS  

I can do nothing
without music
The Lieutenant Kijé
Suite is on the radio
as I sweep my bed clean

Off go the books
Nothing remarkable
not even Aimee Bender
whose stories grow tiresome

And handkerchiefs made from
fragments of PJs and a
Pennypack Trust Creek
Cleanup shirt, a
dew-drop green. Did I
see a faery ring when
we passed the lily pads?

Crumbs, there are always
crumbs. I shovel peanuts
raisins and pretzels
in my mouth when I
watch my evening shows.

Slow down. Slow down.
What's the rush?
I'm not Mailman Dante
clad today in warm clothes
like a baby carried on his
mother's back.

Once I had a baby named Dan
his knitted cap turned up
by accident. Go away! Go away!
I can't be reminded of the
passage of time.

I sent postcards out today
to his children, Grace and
Max. I shall lie a few
moments on my red couch
and think of
nothing while the
sheets go round and
round in the machine.

Nothing. Nothing.

Homeland Series Five - Compass Fini - MTM Mary Tyler Moore

CARRIE'S BACK IN THE SADDLE AGAIN

First we sat up in bed eating his
home-made pizza on a long rosie towel
as we watched the credits roll across
the screen. Would it be any good
without Brody? I could barely remember
his blue eyes and how they groomed
him "to turn." And tried not to, down
that hole.

I bit into an olive and munched with
joy as Scott pretended to remove my
half-filled plate. Season Five was off
to a slow start, like a dog with a limp
in a reading primer. Donna had told me
they get even better with each season.

I just put my sun tan lotion in my carry-on
like she told me...think of something...
bag it! Carrie, with her bipolar, has a
certain brilliance, it was Saul, who saw
it first - I imagined him singing on The
White Way - but it was impossible

And of course now I was hiding my eyes
Such terrible things - the woman we hated
most - a spy! - why! - a brilliant trickster
who dies gangster-style at the end - Carrie's
hunch was right

Carrie as mother? Like us, she and Franny
read before bed. I'll be home by eight, sweetie,
she says, while slinging her rifle up the
stairs toward the end of the show. "Forgot
to tell you," said Scott today, and we replay
the end of the show - by then, we were curled
up on our sides, nodding on n off, watching
Quinn flatline, if indeed he did.

***

Got my final article for The Compass from Daniel G Hartman, MD. I'd asked him a simple question: Why Does It Take So Long to See a Psychiatrist?

Why?

A recent trend in physical medicine is the growth of “concierge” practices.  These are medical practices that do not accept insurance but, instead, charge a fee for access to your doctor.  These fees can be hundreds of dollars each month, making it out of reach for most families.  The cost for the concierge doc would be on top of your standard medical insurance since that would be required to cover fees for lab work, x-rays/MRIs or hospitalization (required under the Affordable Care Act).  The up-side of this is that you get easier access to your doctor (you generally have his/her direct cell phone number) and more time with him/her when you do need a face-to-face assessment.  

Dan himself takes insurance. Ever read his Sidewalk Psychiatrist column?

Anyway, in the not-too-distant future, you'll read the whole thing.

***

Just woke up - 1:15 am. Mary Tyler Moore: A Celebration was On, orig'ly aired in October 2015. She just died on January 25, 2017 at age 80. 

We don't think of these actors as aging. Ed Asner looked odd in his older years. Ted Knight aka hilarious newsman Ted Baxter died many years ago.

Robert Redford chose MTM to play the repressed uptight mom in Ordinarily People by Judith Guest. She was terrific. Timothy Hutton played her son in his debut role. It was hard to watch her play a woman who couldn't face her feelings.

At my nursing home job the morrow, I'll speak briefly about MTM. Gotta think of two songs we'll sing. They love it. When the lights went out in the Minneapolis Newsroom for good, they all sang It's a Long Way to Tipperary. I'm not familiar with that song.  Are you?

  Famous group hug at show's end.

Hurry hurry print out two songs and then you can return to bed.

Was at Mom's tonight. She suggested we do Beatles' songs.

Just printed out Yesterday.

Any other ideas out there?

Got it!  February is Valentine's Day. What's your favorite love song?  Tea for Tea they might know since Mom knows it.

In October 1927, the conductor Nikolai Malko challenged Dmitri Shostakovich to do an arrangement of the song after the two listened to it on record at Malko's house. Malko bet 100 roubles that Shostakovich could not completely re-orchestrate it from memory in under an hour. Shostakovich took him up and won, completing it in around 45 minutes. His "Tea for Two" arrangement, Opus 16, was first performed on 25 November 1928. It was incorporated into Tahiti Trot from his ballet The Golden Age first performed in 1929.

Impossible to sing, so we're going with My World is Empty Without You, Babe.

Oh, good news, one of my fave short stories just got published. The Schmitt's Turkey Farm. Here's another:  A Thief Comes Calling.

Thankyou thankyou thankyou for publishing it!!!