Soliloquy on the Silhouette

Like her running mate, the Celebrity Solstice, this is a beautiful, tasteful ship with none of the glaring bling of a lot of cruise vessels. From the artwork on the walls to the furniture in the public rooms to the décor of our stateroom, she is quite the lovely lady.

Our cabin, as shown in the last post, is quite large: four people could do yoga, there’s that much floor space. Right now Ransom is lying down on the full size sofa while I’m sitting in an easy chair. I could instead be sitting at the desk or at the table on the balcony.

Last night we ate in one of the specialty restaurants – a concept I still have trouble with, remembering when paying for food onboard was an oxymoron – and it was exceptional. Qsine doesn’t provide traditional menus; rather, we were both given an iPad on which to build our meal. The waiter than compared the two lists, rearranged items and made suggestions as to how we would proceed.

Thus began the parade: excellent food served in extraordinary fashion. Sushi lollipops were exactly that: the freshest of sushi, rolled into balls and presented at the top of sticks, upright on a marble slab. Soup and Soufflé was an intriguing presentation of three chilled soups served in very small tall and thin glasses -- with straws -- alongside charming square cups of three complimentary soufflés. Escargot was hardly traditional either; the snails were joined by lobster meat and they were served with paper cones of brioche.

Dessert was a two-step process: first we were given a Rubik’s cube-like paper box that opened in various ways to display various choices. Ingenious. I passed, but Ransom’s mango ice cream was exceptional.

The food was excellent and the experience was worth the extra tariff, though, as I say, I still have a bit of trouble with the concept.

This is being posted just as we end a very rainy and windy seven-hour stop in Lisbon. We found Ransom an internet café and I found a cathedral, so it was a typical trip ashore for us. Shortly we leave Europe behind and head across the Atlantic. If today’s weather is any indication I may be glad for the patch behind my ear.

Salmon at Sea

Most mornings, on most ships, I have smoked salmon with its accompanying capers and red onions. I love this dish but for some reason only have it onboard. With a croissant and some fresh fruit, it makes a lovely meal.

This morning was no exception. We just came back from breakfast and the café, with its myriad food stations, was excellent, as on the Celebrity Solstice. One of the reasons we sail this line is the quality of the food. After two meals on board, it’s clear that that quality is still being maintained.

We’re docked at Cagliari, Sardinia. The old town is visible from our balcony; shortly we’ll go ashore to explore a bit. It’ll be hard though to leave our cabin, one of the nicest we’ve ever had. (See picture).

Damn, but I wish we could sail more often than we do!

Addendum: we’re back on board after two hours of walking around, having a gelato and doing a bit of shopping. Tried to find the cathedral but couldn’t; popped into a couple smaller churches instead.

Impressions: Cagliari is more sophisticated than I expected. Of course we only saw a bit of the “downtown” area. I would have been willing to explore more, but my knee and ankle were screaming for me to stop. So I did. A place to revisit? Probably not, but only because there are too many places already on that list.

Well, that was scary (Traveling is not for the faint-hearted, part 2)

Getting through the Rome airport was remarkably easy and the hotel’s driver was waiting for us as promised. I’ve been through this airport several times, and it can often be a madhouse, so I was happily surprised. Within 90 minutes we were in our hotel.

We went out for a bit of a lunch and then walked for an hour or so; didn’t see anything particularly noteworthy, but enjoyed the time to stretch our legs after the miserable coach experience.

Back in the hotel I had just taken a shower and was getting dressed when I reached for my shoe and noticed a liquid dripping to the floor. “Shit, I thought, some toiletry broke and was all over my shoe.” But my shoe was dry and it took me a moment to realize the liquid was blood and it was coming from my leg! My sock was drenched and when I removed it; blood gushed out of a tiny wound just above my ankle.

Ransom gave me some toilet paper and I tried to stop the blood, but it was a serious gusher. Pretty soon several wads of toilet paper were drenched. More frightening, at times the gushing became a very thin stream shooting straight out in the air!

Ransom ran down the hall to reception and they called 911, or whatever the Italian equivalent is. In the time it took for the responders to arrive the hotel guy and I fashioned a towel tourniquet and kept steady pressure on the wound.

Then things got really odd. Two paramedics arrived, followed in a separate group by three more! And what they saw was – nothing! The bleeding had stopped and there was virtually no sign of a problem, except for all the bloody tissues and towels lying about.

They took my vitals and everything was pretty normal, though my blood pressure was a bit low (100/80). After much discussion – with Ransom interpreting some of it – they told me to go about my day but perhaps add a bit more salt to my diet.

And that was it. Through the whole event I felt fine and so we went out for dinner, came back to the hotel and watched a movie on the laptop before going to bed. This morning I still feel normal. I tried, and failed, to get advice by phone from the Yale Health Plan last night; I’ll try again today. The most perplexing thing is that the blood at times shot out in a way I’ve only seen in movies. And of course I’m concerned that tomorrow we’re getting on a ship that is crossing the Atlantic – with little chance for land-based 911 service.

And a shout-out to my Republican friends who rail against the President’s so-called move toward socialized medicine: the caring Italians who showed up to help me asked me to sign a form. That was it. No proof of insurance demanded, no co-payment, no address to send bills to. I was in distress, they came to my response, they saw that I was all right. Isn’t that what government is supposed to do for its citizens? And the Italians even do it for their guests!

Traveling is not for the faint-hearted

I’m writing this about two hours into an eight-hour flight to Rome. When it’s finally over it will, I am sure, have been worth it, but, boy, it ain’t easy:

2pm: we leave the house

3pm: we board a van from CT Limo to JFK

5:30pm: we arrive JFK after stops in Bridgeport, South Norwalk and Stamford

7:20pm: we head for the gate after eating a surprisingly good meal

7:30pm: we learn the 8:50 departure time has been moved to 9:50

9:20pm: we board

11:17pm (!): liftoff

6:45am (est): we arrive Rome (12:45pm Rome time)

Total: 16 hours and forty-five minutes to get to the eternal city.

We’ll spend two days in Rome and then board the Celebrity Silhouette for an 11-day cruise ending in New York (Bayonne, NJ actually). We’re celebrating a major birthday (60) and a major anniversary (25).

As I said, I’m sure all this hassle will be worth it, but whoever coined the phrase “getting there is half the fun,” was certainly NOT talking about flying to Rome when one lives in Connecticut.

Postum scriptum: I add this at 6am New York time, having just had a very mediocre croissant but some acceptably dark coffee. Sleeping in coach is a skill I will likely never develop. I did in fact doze on and off, but slept only fitfully. I feel terrible, have the sniffles and want nothing more than to lie in bed and pamper myself for days on end.

But wait, I can do that. Yay!

He changed my life -- and yours too

I keep reading about Steve Jobs and even crying as I do. Now, I'm pretty sentimental, and I cry easily, but, nonetheless, I am surprised at the intensity of my feelings. True, I've been a devoted Apple fan for years. I own a MacBook, an iPhone and an iPad and have at least two iPods somewhere in the house. I have over 90GB of music -- 18,000+ tracks -- in my iTunes library, I have an iMac at work and I look forward to buying a MacBook Pro to replace the MacBook.

So, yeah, I'm a big fan of Apple products.

But, still.

What was it about Jobs that touched me? Maybe that he didn't wear a tie. I love that, being a special hater of ties. Maybe that he was partial to mock turtlenecks; I have a couple dozen and wear one virtually every day in the winter.

Mostly I guess it's that Steve Jobs knew what I wanted before I did. He designed products that were smart, easy and cool. The promo video for the new iPhone 4S includes the line "it just works." That's the way I feel about almost all Apple products. They do what I want them to do and they do it easily, without the clutter and jargon that confounds Microsoft users.

I hope Apple can soldier on, for I don't think Steve Jobs is replaceable. As David Pogue wrote in today's Times, he has been compared to Thomas Edison, Walt Disney and Leonardo DaVinci. That's some pretty impressive and rare company!

I will steal a page from Pogue and end with this quote from Jobs's 2005 commencement address at Stanford:

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”

Rest in peace Steve, and thank you for making my life more interesting.

15, 25.5, 2.3

Pick a number, any number. You’d be right with any of them if someone asked you “how long have Ransom and Walter been a couple?”

It was fifteen years ago today that we got married, in all senses of the word except the legal one. The wedding was held in Sudler Hall on Yale’s campus, officiated by Rev. Kate Lattimore and attended by family and friends. There were vows, rings, cake and music – including a never-heard-since piece my husband composed for the occasion.

If you said 25.5 you’d be talking about the number of years that Ransom and I have lived together. It was in April of 1986 that I walked away from a new job as the general manager of a Richmond, Virginia, restaurant, sold most of my possessions and moved to New York. Crazy, yes, but the best decision I ever made.

And it was a little over two years ago that we were legally married here in the great state of Connecticut after the state legislature made same-sex marriage possible. (Between the two weddings we also held a Civil Union ceremony, so we have in fact tied the knot three times).

Tonight will be a quiet one; Ransom leaves tomorrow for Brazil so we’ll likely have a simple supper and perhaps cake for dessert; the real celebration will be later this month when we cruise from Rome to New York.

Last night we contemplated another part of our past as we watched HBO’s The Strange History of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. Though the impact of the show has been diluted a bit by the September 20^th overturning of this hateful policy, it is still a powerful documentary that I recommend for its historical importance if not its cinematic quality.

In May of 1971 I had avoided the Army by telling my draft board I was gay. By 1975 I was a gay activist, fighting homophobia at VCU and in the larger society; in November of that year I attended the Gay Academic Union Conference in New York and met Copy Berg, the Navy ensign who followed Leonard Matlovich’s lead and came out publicly to his superiors.

In other words, my history with this issue goes back a long way. Add to the mix that I am an Army brat whose father served his country for over thirty years and, well, there are lots of feelings and emotions around the military and gays in the military.

Ransom and I have been married three times and society as we know it has not ended. Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell has been repealed and the military services have not collapsed. Isn’t it time that America got completely over its ignorant homophobia?