Ellie Eats Sushi

Today the ship's amazing kitchen served up a buffet lunch beyond belief. It was as if someone was getting married.  Loads of seafood and prime rib and a cheese table that covered most nationalities.    Ellie loves her salmon barely cooked and it seemed time for her to graduate to sushi. She was game and loved it!  Tomorrow we are going to the sushi bar by Nobu on board!   What a fun lunch.

Formal Night

Tonight was the first formal night on the ship.  Ellie looked smashing and I pulled it off with help from a black suit and Sean's amazing tie. (Something borrowed...)  

It was a very fun evening at our table with all the folks all dressed in their finest with lobster and oysters to match. 

Today was the day.  My maiden(head) voyage on a cruise ship.  Ellie and I boarded the Crystal Symphony at the dock in Miami Beach.  What opulence!  What service!  What skin care  products!

OMG the eating is scarier than a Las Vegas buffet.  There is amazing food to be had everywhere. AND 24 hours.  Holy Self-Control Batman.  I better get a grip and head to the gym aboard.

We had lunch in the main dining room which was really exciting.  Then we walked around the ship and took the spa/gym tour, saw all the wonderful facilities and then it was tea time!  Smoked salmon sandwiches on crustless bread and tea cakes.  I passed on the clotted cream knowing I had 10 more days to indulge. 



This evening we met our tablemates at Table 51 in the main dining room.  Celia and George from Orange County, CA and Penny and Gordon from Toronto.

Then at 9pm we SET SAIL for the Caribbean. Wow.  This 5 Star Hotel actually moves!




Ellie and I admitted that we are probably the most confusing couple aboard!

So far, Day 1 this has been an amazing cruise!

Manhatin Goes Miami

Ellie and I left the frigid Northeast for the tropical climes of the Florida and beyond today.  (Okay, it wasn’t that frigid, but it makes for a more dramatic contrast.)

I truly could not believe the aqua-hued water directly below the plane as we flew into Miami, however. I felt so pastywhite-dorky seeing it. Like we were in an episode of Law & Order that was off to do a sweeps-week special in Florida as we would land in fish out of water winter clothing. 

Tomorrow we set sail on the Crystal Symphony, but tonight it is reunion time!  It was a total "This Is Your Life Ellie Krach" evening. Ellie’s nephew Bernie and his wife Susan picked us up at the airport.   Just seeing Ellie in action makes me realize how she really is the matriarch of her family and they all love her for it. They were both so, so nice. I really enjoyed meeting them.

 Ellie and her beloved nephew, Bernie

Next up on “This Is Your Life Ellie, Miami Edition” was a reunion with Ellie's dear friend Claudia. She and Ellie had not seen each other in 38 years until tonight!  I do not know why they don’t re-do that show, because this stuff gets me every time! Seeing them hug was just so moving. You know you can't possibly feel what they feel, but that is what makes it so moving!

 Ellie and Claudia. 

We all had dinner together and the stories flew.  Claudia and Ellie met on a cruise ship when Claudia was Ellie’s future husband Bill’s singing partner! That is some history there.  And Bernie grew up in Manhattan and was a real part of Ellie’s family growing up.  It was wonderful to hear all the stories about that.

So much history, so many memories and more keep getting made.  I never tire of tales of yore even if I have no straight connection whatsoever.  Stories are ties to the past and keep long gone loved ones alive and remind us that we have lived.  They also remind me how important it is to keep making more.  And tonight we did.

The Central Park Boathouse

Ellie took me to lunch at The Boathouse in Central Park. I have passed by this place many times and realize it is a part of New York life and have even made up stories in my head about the couples out boating on the lake, but never really connected myself with the place. And here we were.

She said, "You didn't think it would be as nice inside, did you?" And she was right. For some reason I thought it was some sort of casual sandwich and hot dog place. It was not. It is lovely and the view - even in barren winter- is beautiful. And I LOVED, loved my salmon joking that it was fished right out of the lake in front of us.

We had such a lovely "ladies who lunch" talk and meal and experience whiling away the afternoon at the Boathouse.

Thank you Ellie for this lunch. And thank you for the chat. Perfect.

And as we were walking out we saw old b & w photos of Central Park etc on the wall and there was a photo of a man with whom she used to ice skate! Ellie was quite a famous skater in her day.

Someday I will write about her and Dick Button!

Badly lit, but no flash on iphone. Yet.

Rhode Trip!!

Ellie and I drove to Rhode Island to celebrate her and daughter and my friend Mary's birthday. We stayed in Mary's town of Jamestown. It is right on the water and is stun-ning! We had a fantastic meal and GREAT cake made by a local baker.

Jamestown as seen through mesh.

Mary's excellent cake.

Mary and Ellie

The whole gang.

Happy Birthday, Bill

My friend Ellie's husband Bill's birthday was today. I never got to meet him as he passed away 3 years ago. But Ellie invited me to come with her and our friend Phil out to the cemetery in Brooklyn for a birthday visit. I was so pleased to be there with them.

Ellie's family has two mausoleums out there. One on her dad's side and one on her mom's. Her family goes way back in New York and I got to be meet all her relations! Frankly, it was very fun.

Ellie read Bill a poem that she reads to him every year. It was kind of perfect and lovely I thought. It is called Colours by Russian poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko.

Ellie reads the poem. Phil stands by.

Colours - by Yevgeny Yevtushenko

When your face
appeared over my crumpled life
at first I understood
only the poverty of what I have.
Then its particular light
on woods, on rivers, on the sea,
became my beginning in the coloured world
in which I had not yet had my beginning.
I am so frightened, I am so frightened,
of the unexpected sunrise finishing,
of revelations
and tears and the excitement finishing.
I don't fight it, my love is this fear,
I nourish it who can nourish nothing,
love's slipshod watchman.
Fear hems me in.
I am conscious that these minutes are short
and that the colours in my eyes will vanish
when your face sets.

Translation from Russian © Robin Milner-Gulland and Peter Levi


Ellie's dad's "house."


The stained glass inside the mausoleum on Ellie's mother's side. Beautiful.

Ellie's mom's "house."
Fallen red leaves all over the cemetery. It was a very lovely and moving day to be here.

Bon Voyage

My good friend Ellie and her friend Carol took off for England today. I am housesitting for Ellie and loving it. The three of us had breakfast before they left. I liked Carol instantly. She is smart fun and witty. What is not to like?! She even wrote a memoir which I am now reading from Ellie's collection. Very good.

I hope they have a wonderful trip. And I don't break anything!

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg

Ellie's son Roger is out from San Francisco ( we switched places as he is a New York native) and Ellie had me over for dinner. It was a wonderful visit as always and it was great to see Roger again. I love that Ellie was in her housedress and I took my shoes off and Roger wore a raincoat to the dinner table. The conversation was as interesting. What a great night.

We finished off with viewing of the Les parapluies de Cherbourg (Umbrellas of Cherbourg) starring a very young and beautiful Catherine Deneuve and directed by Jacques Demy. I had never seen it before but both Ellie and Roger had seen it 100s of times. Very interesting flick. It is sung through and I was sad when Roger said Catherine didn't do her own singing. Probably the Marni Nixon of France did it! Quelle I don't know what!

Anyway it was a perfect choice on such a rainy night.

Merci Ellie et Roget!!!

The Algonquin Hotel

Ellie took me to the Jazz Brunch at the famous Algonquin Hotel in Manhattan.

Walking into the lobby is like being transported in time and you can almost sense the roundtable and Dorothy Parker and Robert Benchley trading bon mots.



We were further transported when we went into the Oak Room where we had the most divine table right in front of the grand piano. We dined and chatted like it was the 40's and then Barbara Carroll came and tickled those ivories at 80 plus years of age (though you would never know it) like she was born to it. No music, no lyrics, no water glass. I was amazed. I really enjoyed every bit of it. It was swell!



Barbara Carroll

One of the songs Ms. Carroll sang was "Do You Miss New York?" by Dave Frishberg. ( Click on the song and read the lyrics because no site would let me copy and paste them.) It is about those who have left New York for Los Angeles. I was struck, of course, because I left Los Angeles for New York. It is really very good and not terribly LA bashing, but more about what stirs one about New York City and becomes infused in the blood.

Sitting in this beautiful room, in this famous hotel, next to my excellent friend and listening to Barbara Carroll sing "Do You Miss New York?" made me realize that I would and I am staying put.

Ellie's Bench

I spent a wonderful Sunday afternoon with my friend Ellie today in the middle of Manhattan. We had a lot on the agenda including church, lunch and a performance of Knickerbocker Holiday at the York Theater.

But it is often the impromptu moments that truly make the memory.

Since we had time we took a wee detour to Central Park to see "Ellie's bench" which happily looks out onto the Model Boat Pond by the entrance at East 72nd Street. Ellie dedicated a bench to all the beloved people in her family. And she goes there every day to sit. What a lovely thought!

She often talked about it and where it was, but I had never seen it.

Why not take advantage of being with the perfect tour guide for the occasion?

It was a beautiful day and as we descended upon the Conservatory Water (as it is officially known since the initial Olmstead plans were to build a conservatory on this spot.) I felt this wonderful "Eloise in New York" feeling. Mixed with "OMG, I am in Paris!" (It was modeled after a similar pond in the Jardin du Luxembourg and the whole setting feels like you are in a Seurat painting)

So French there is even a nearby mime!

AHOY. There was her amazing bench in this stunning part of Central Park. We happily posed for photos and just enjoyed the day, the moment, the sunshine all from the vantage point of Ellie's wonderful bench.

Ellie on her bench.

I have to say I love the idea that I now know a perfect place in the park that I can sit and know I am taken care of. It is a special place and I can tell why she chose this location.



Pat and Ellie pondside. Like they have done for years. Ellie told me her dad used to sail model boats here before they were electronically powered. A man had to stand in the middle of the pond and skoosh them back to the kids!



(kind if a funny photoshoot, pre-crop snap complete with garbage bags and unidentified lady with a cane!)

Neue Gallerie

Another fantasy realized: Two Dear Pals Meet and We Go See Art and Eat.



Brian and I met Ellie on the Upper East Side and went to the Neue Gallerie on 5th and 86th. Housed in a former Vanderbilt mansion, the building becomes part of the experience as a divinely elegant and intimate space for viewing top rate German and Austrian art. The famous Klimt painting Adele Bloch-Bauer I is here and it is breathtaking both for the technique and the story of its personal journey from the Bloch-Bauer family to the Nazis back to the family and then to America. Read this good Slate article on the purchase.


We also got to see this wonderful exhibition: BRÜCKE: THE BIRTH OF EXPRESSIONISM
IN DRESDEN AND BERLIN, 1905-1913 about a group of Artists known as the "BRÜCKE" or "Bridge." Very interesting. I especially loved Ernst Ludwig Kirchner's work.

This is one of my faves of his:

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (1880-1938) Berlin Street Scene, 1913-14

Afterwards we had coffee and Sachertorte at the swank and over-looking-5th-Avenue-and-Central-Park cafe, Cafe Sabarsky. Why live in a Starbucks world where for a few Deutschmarks more you can have lovely silver trays and sit in an old-time Viennese surrounding in a 5th Avenue mansion. The Kaiser Mélange (Fresh-ground coffee with whipped cream) für fünf Dollar ist wundervoll!




Every day is a jolly holiday with Ellie and Brian and the Neue Gallerie.