The Adventures Of Bette Porter And Sissee Gardner Schmidt After Howie (Part 2, Chapter 8)
PART TWO: NEW HAVEN, CONNETICUT

Chapter 8

We had an amazing dinner, starting with a salad of Romaine Hearts, slightly charred on a grill and served with a fabulous shallot-balsamic dressing, over which were tossed oven-dried tomatoes. That was followed by succulently tender Maine Lobsters, right out of the cold waters of the North Atlantic, accompanied by mashed artichokes and sautéed asparagus with tarragon butter. For dessert we were given an Irish Cream Chocolate Mousse.

The dinner, the wine, the view, the night air, our shared love, plus a full moon. Who could ask for anything more?

After our meal we took a stroll on the wrap around deck so the first jazz band could set up on a stage above our dining room. They also began to remove the tables and put the chairs in rows for better viewing.

We held hands as we walked along and no one cared. It was lovely.

We had not realized it but the program was band rotation. At the opposite end of where our band was, another band would perform on the deck below us and then they would exchange venues.

When Bette and I came back we sat down in the middle aisle, with her on an end chair. We were handed program sheets and saw that the first band was the Night Blooming Jazzmen from Claremont, California. They were all uniformly dressed in red blazers, black ties, pants and shoes. They looked sharp and played sharp starting off with “Ain’t Cha Glad!”, a happy tune that got us all bouncing with the music.

I grabbed my tattoo because as I responded to the music, I got a burning sensation but it did not seem to bother Bette. She saw me grimace and tapped my belly a few times, then extending her hand in front of her as she sometimes did, to indicate that I should settle down.

After a few songs the cornet player doubled as emcee introducing the band members with a lot of teasing and laughs, then segued into a “Clarinet Marmelade” solo by the clarinet player who brought the crowd to their feet fascinated with his rapid finger exercises and the dynamite sounds that he produced through that melodic licker stick. Then the enthusiastic appreciation increased when he put a second clarinet in his mouth and played both at the same time.. It was hot dogging but he was really good.