An Abundant Life - Spanish Reveries

When I was in Junior High School we had the opportunity to choose which language we wanted to take between the options of French or Spanish. My sister and brothers had all chosen French, but for some reason I thought that Spanish made more sense for me to learn. I think it was because it is a language that is spoken regularly by so many people in the United States, and even though it wasn't something that I knew I might want to speak and understand at some point in the future, it just seemed to make more sense to learn Spanish instead of French. It's something I've always been glad that I learned even though I don't remember as much of it as I used to know, but over the years I've definitely been able to understand some things that some people say that I wouldn't have been able to understand otherwise.

My teacher for Spanish was a younger woman who was fairly new to the school, and she did a lot of fun things with us. She had spent time in Spain and she had us reading books and visiting with all kinds of interesting people, and she took us to a Spanish restaurant in Boston for a class trip. While we were there we had to order everything and speak in Spanish and it was such delicious food and such a fun experience that it gave me a love for Spanish food and Spanish restaurants that I've had ever since. I went to that Spanish restaurant several times after that trip, and on one or more occasions that same teacher brought a smaller group of us to celebrate graduations and awards and things that we had done in school that were special that she wanted to celebrate with us. As I got older and was able to drink Sangria, I learned more about that too, and that's another thing that I enjoy whenever I have the chance to have it and remember those beautiful times at that lovely restaurant.

At times over the years I have learned how to make some Spanish dishes like Paella, and I discovered an excellent recipe for Sangria that I used to make all the time for summer parties. But somehow the restaurants I've tried have never seemed as wonderful as that special place that holds some lovely memories of those long ago days in Boston.

A few weeks ago I received a message in my inbox after I had been liking some posts on the Instagram page of a restaurant in Hoboken called Sangria. The person who wrote me the note invited me to come in to the restaurant and so the next time I was meeting with a friend for dinner I suggested that we go there. It was really such a wonderful experience from beginning to end, with food and Sangria and service that were all excellent. We sat outside and enjoyed the afternoon that drifted into evening, and even though I didn't have to use any of the language in my conversation that day, the food itself brought back so many memories of the first time I had been to a Spanish restaurant and how special that experience can be.

Sangria

800 Jackson Street

Hoboken, New Jersey

https://sangriahoboken.com

Blessings,

Jannie Susan

An Abundant Life - The Good Life

A number of years ago when I was out shopping at one of the supermarkets that's a bit further away from where I live, a woman complimented the pants I was wearing. They had been a gift from someone at a time in my life when I was going through a very rough patch, and they had a story behind them because they were bought from the teens section at Sears instead of the regular women's section. I don't pay attention to the labels of petite or women's or plus size or men's or boys or teens and I'm also not a snob about labels though I do love well designed clothing and sometimes, not always, a designer label can mean a beautifully cut and sewn piece. If I think something is comfortable and interesting, I'll buy it if it's affordable, and if it's on a sale that's even better. The Sears we were in when I found those pants is a great store where I've often found all kinds of wonderful things over the years, so though the pants were in the teens section I tried them on and the woman I was with bought them for me to help me feel like someone was taking care of me during that very rough time in my life.

When the woman in the supermarket complimented my pants, I felt like I needed to tell her that story, and the we got to talking about thrift store shopping and buying things on sale and how if you're creative with the way you view clothing you can find any number of wonderful things to wear that will make you feel like a million even if you don't actually feel like you have very much at all. As we spoke she asked me if I knew about a store called Unique, and I hadn't heard of it so she described where it was and I decided to go that day because, though it was a bit of a walk, where we were was about halfway there from where I had started out that morning.

That first afternoon when I discovered Unique I found a Trina Turk dress that was $14.99 at full price if I remember correctly. It was a gorgeous silver silk halter sundress and it made me feel like someone special, and though even at that price it was more than I felt I could afford at that time I decided I'd go ahead and give myself the treat of it. The way that Unique used to be in those days was that on some days they had 25 percent off and on others 50 percent, and then if you signed up to be a VIP member which is the same as the way the supermarket cards go in that it's free to sign up, they would give members special discount days and extra discounts on days like birthdays. I found so many things at Unique in housewares and dresses and shoes and coats and clothing of all kinds, and they have a wonderful selection of fun and beautiful vintage collectable items too.

When everything shut down in early 2020 they were closed for a while, and as everything in the world was so topsy turvy then I wasn't sure if they'd ever be able to open again. But one day when I was talking with a friend about wonderful thrift store shopping and Unique came up in the conversation he told me that it had opened again so I began to plan my next trip back. They had changed their way of offering discounts, and the VIP cards don't matter any more. They have a color code system now with certain discounts determined by the color of the tag on the item. I still find wonderful things there and as the woman who had originally told me about it had said, it's easy to always find something great. It's a place where I go when I need to take a good long walk to think about something or take a break and a breather or calm myself down if something is going on that is making me feel less than peaceful, and the experience when I get there is always a fun one that gives me the enjoyable feel of a treasure hunt.

On one of the first days when I had gone back there, a woman who was at the checkout next to mine made a comment about the fact that they weren't using the VIP card any more. The machines at the checkout where still asking for the VIP card and I couldn't get it to register or use the number on my card. Someone came over to help me from the store personnel, and the woman next to me said, "They don't care about those any more, we don't get anything special." And as I continued on with my checkout I thought to myself, that I still felt like it was a very special experience. Maybe we don't get special discount days and maybe no extra discounts for a birthday, but at prices like these and a wonderful selection of just about everything that you can imagine, it feels like a special experience to me to go shopping and find beautiful things that are affordable and give you the feeling of living the good life even on a very small budget.

A Recent Lovely Find

From Unique

Blessings,

Jannie Susan

   

An Abundant Life - Learning To Sing Again

I moved to New York City when I was 21. Although it seems like I have had several different lifetimes since then, it also feels like it was not very long ago, but recently when I began a new project with a young man who is 23 I was reminded of those days and what I was like then and I realized that there are many years and life experiences between his time of life and my own. He's a very mature person, so it's not anything that he is doing that makes me think of the time gone by. I am reminded of my own history because when we talk about music and art and even things like technology there are things that he might have heard of but that he didn't experience first hand and the first time around.

In writing this blog, from time to time I have mentioned things from the past and occasionally in the last few years I have begun to write a bit about my own personal history and people and places I've known that might not be around any more. Today for some reason as I was thinking about what I would write this week it occurred to me that I've never really given an overview of my life and work in any depth. In August I will be celebrating the anniversary of the beginning of my New York artist's life and I'll also be starting a very big new project and continuing work on another, so it seems that it might be time to add a little bit of description of my history and lead it up to this time of a new chapter and new beginnings.

I am an actress, writer, designer, curator, and collaborative artist. After graduating from Sarah Lawrence College, I spent my first year in New York working with the Circle Repertory Company (now New Circle Theatre Company) and became a member of that company’s LAB the following year.  Since then I have appeared in over 40 plays and independent films in New York and have had my work published and produced by various organizations including Circle East, ChaShaMa, La Mama Etc., HERE Theater, Evolving Arts, the American Theatre of Actors, and HOME For Contemporary Theatre. My voice can currently be heard at the Cloisters Museum describing the permanent collection. Reaching out to the community is an important part of my mission. From 1997-2006 I produced evenings of new theater, music and art in downtown locations such as the Knitting Factory, the Bell Caffé, the Orange Bear, South’s, the Tilton Gallery and The DEKK.

In the fall of 2001, I developed the concept of the Downtown Revitalization Project. In response to economic concerns, the project brought Artists, Designers and Artisans together with restaurants and retailers for evenings designed to promote art and commerce throughout Manhattan. My photographs and poetry are part of the September 11 Photo Project and were published as part of a collection from that exhibit in April of 2002; my work is also featured in the spring 2002 issue of the literary journal How2 as part of a section on women writers’ responses to September 11. In August of 2002, a collaboration with a photographer and interior designer resulted in a show at the Belmont Lounge, “New York:  Through My Friend’s Eye,” a personalized look at people and places throughout Manhattan and the five boroughs, told through poetry and photography.  An article about a sailing adventure aboard an historic ship which highlighted the need for working together was published in the June 2005 issue of the boating magazine Offshore. My short story, A Woman’s Back, was published in the inaugural art and design issue of Void Magazine in July 2005, along with an illustrative photograph by playwright and photographer Ty Adams.

In 2006 I began working in the areas of community and youth development, bringing arts education and enrichment programs including a community garden and access to healthier food to Manhattan’s lower east side while working as the Director of an after school program on Avenue D and as a fund raiser, grant writer and volunteer coordinator for that program and a local Soup Kitchen. From June of 2009 through July of 2016 I worked with Cornell University Cooperative Extension as a community educator in the Nutrition and Health Program with outreach to all five boroughs. I am part of the downtown Neighborhood Network Coalition and the Community Partnership Initiative which works to combine forces of community services agencies to support neighborhood residents, families and children.

I continue to produce evenings of new theater, music and art, helping performing and visual artists and writers launch new work and have their voices heard. My lifestyle blog "Notes From The City: An Abundant Life" highlights artists, designers, entrepreneurs and small business owners who contribute to the life of communities. I also work in the areas of community and youth development, sustainability, holistic health and wellness, and towards alleviating the effects of food insecurity, hunger and homelessness. Through my company The Good News Foundation I connect individuals and organizations with services, funding, and opportunities for outreach and growth through community-based collaborations. My recent project, Love And Plenty, is designed to address community health and economic concerns on the local level by bringing Artists, Designers and small business owners together with community residents for events online and off to raise awareness, market goods and services, and help restaurants to receive funding to hire and train staff and provide meals for people in need.

Love & Plenty was accepted into the Food Systems Game Changers Lab and is part of Cohort 21, which presented the solution “Education = Power In Choice (EPIC): Empowering Communities Through Food System Education” at the UN Food Systems Summit 2021 and is currently developing a sustainable local program model in collaboration with organizations in New Jersey and New York that will be replicated globally. The collaborative project “What Is Revealed” "Leak" that was developed with visual artist Alberte Bernier and dancer and choreographer Kara Jhalak Miller and the Jhalak Dance Company was presented in a ChaShaMa art space in New York City in June 2022.

The new projects I'm working on will be highlighted in future posts, but for now this is a small glimpse of these years that have passed and the people and places who have been a part of my ongoing journey. In 2019 I created a collage art piece at the request of an arts foundation for one of their annual fundraisers. There is a poem that was central to the piece that goes like this:

Perhaps, then

This is the most fragile landscape

When the heart that has been broken learns to sing again

In spite of

And with all uncertainty

Trusting

Hoping

And

Breathing

New life

I realized that, though I was thinking when I wrote it how it can be hard to open ourselves up to love again when we have been heartbroken, that same challenge of opening ourselves up to the unknown can arise even in the day to day experience of having a new opportunity presented to us that is a reflection of something that once was near and dear to our hearts. Today as I was walking on this lovely summer afternoon I heard someone crying in such a heartbroken way that it began to affect me deeply. I was reminded of times in my life, when I was 21 and before, when I had cried in that way and when it was over I never wanted to feel that way again. In the years after that some part of myself was shut off, and in more recent years as slowly that part of myself was carefully unfolded by the loving hands of God I began to do the work again that I am passionate about. These new projects are a culmination of so many hopes and dreams, and as I learn how to sing again, in spite of and with all uncertainty, with trust and hope I am breathing new life.

"Be As A Child"

By Jannie Susan Wolff

May 30, 2019

Blessings,

Jannie Susan

An Abundant Life - Painting Life

Allison Green is an Artist who I admired before I met her, and when I had the opportunity to go to a gallery opening of a solo show of her work in New York City a few years ago I was not only struck by the fact that her work is even more beautiful in person, but she is even lovelier than I imagined she would be. I had thought that she must be wonderful, because everything that I had read about her after seeing her work spoke of someone who truly cared about not only the natural world that she depicts in many of her paintings but also of the kind and caring nature she has toward the people who inhabit the world around her. At the gallery opening on that first evening when I had the chance to experience the garden of the world she creates, I felt so welcomed by her and so warmly brought into the sphere of the joyful life that emanates from her that in a way it seemed that I must have known her for years. The gallery itself was lovely, on the top floor of a brownstone on the Upper West Side in Manhattan, and Susan Eley, the Founder of Susan Eley Fine Art is also so warm and welcoming and has created a gallery that anyone can enjoy and feel comfortable in as they experience and learn about art during a visit.

Recently on a visit to Mana Contemporary for the Open House, I had introduced someone who is always interested in meeting the Artists I know to Allison, and when the subject came up of a solo show that Allison had in Susan Eley's gallery in Hudson New York, we started to talk about taking a day trip there. As I wrote in my blog post last week the day trip ended up being a quick overnight, and a visit to the gallery was the reason that trip was planned.

Hudson is one of those wonderful towns where even though there have been lovely updates it feels almost as if time is lost in a very pleasant past. Visiting the gallery there was part of a day that had been a much needed country adventure, and when we arrived in the town late in the beautiful late spring into early summer day and found Susan Eley and her gallery and saw Allison's gorgeous pieces there it seemed like some kind of a magical world we had entered into. This is what Allison does as she begins to craft not only her pieces but the world of the shows they will go into, and Susan Eley has created another lovely space in Hudson that welcomes the visitors into a peaceful and beautiful world to view and explore and enjoy the beauty of art.

This particular show is titled "Malia's Garden" and it is named after Allison's Daughter. There is a very sweet story that I read in a post by Susan Eley on Instagram that when Malia arrived for the opening she walked into the room and stated, "I am Malia and this is my Garden." How wonderful it must be for Malia to know that such a beautiful garden was created for her, and how wonderful that we all can enjoy it. As we look at the world that Allison Green has made come alive for us all, we can find a deeper beauty and joy that reaches back to our own childhood days of exploring the wonder of nature.

A Visit To "Malia's Garden"

A Solo Show By Allison Green

At Susan Eley Fina Art

Hudson, New York

Blessings,

Jannie Susan

An Abundant Life - In The Garden

A few weeks ago a friend wanted to take a day trip to see a show that an Artist I had introduced her to was having in Hudson, New York. It was a gallery that I'd been wanting to visit for a while and the Artist is a lovely one whose work I always enjoy seeing and supporting, and so we began to plan a day when we could go. As the trip is around a two and a half drive and my friend would have to work the next day, she suggested that we try to find a place to stay overnight so we could enjoy the most of our visit to that lovely area. The time of the year being prime vacation time meant that most places where we would have liked to stay were at their highest prices. If we had more time to stay it might have made sense to treat it like a very short vacation, but for a few hours of rest none of them seemed like the most economical choice.

As I put on my travel planner mindset, I started looking at out of the way places that were in the same general area but not in the town itself, and one place that appeared seemed almost too good to be true. The price per night was about a third of what the other places were asking, and it seemed like it was only a very short distance outside of the town center. The only way to book it seemed to be online and I couldn't find a telephone number or a website easily. Because it seemed like a mirage in a way, I kept searching for a way to actually speak to someone to see if this place really was as nice as it sounded, and finally I found a number that seemed to be related in name. The place I was looking to stay in is called Micosta Leisure Inn and the telephone number was for Micosta Enterprises, so I dialed the number and a very nice voice answered the phone saying he was Steven. I asked if I had reached Micosta Leisure Inn and he said yes, and when I explained that I'd been having difficulty finding a number for him, and he said I'd found the right place.

During that first conversation with him I discovered that not only had I found the place I had been trying to find information about, but I'd really found some place that was extra special. He was so friendly and helpful, and from the sound of his business I think he must be very busy, so his helpfulness and friendliness was even more appreciated. He described the rooms he had available, and they all sounded great, and when he said there was one that had a door that opened onto the garden where the strawberries were starting to ripen and that I'd be welcome to pick them, I told him I'd definitely take that one and another one near it as long as my friend agreed that this was the place to stay. When my friend gave her approval I booked the rooms, and Steven told me that the raspberries and strawberries were both ripening. It really was such an extraordinary place to have found and he had been so friendly that a part of me was still thinking that maybe it couldn't be as wonderful as it seemed. There was something about it that still seemed to good to be true, but I thought to myself that  at least it was economical and if it turned out to not be what I was hoping for it was only for one short night.

When we arrived to check in, Steven was even nicer in person if that is possible. He is one of those people who makes you feel at home while also leaving you to yourself and your privacy. Micosta is just a few minutes drive from the center of town, but it's in a lovely very rural feeling area with sloping hills a a waterfall flowing over a dam on the nearby river. The rooms were just as he had described and even better. He had said they each had a full kitchen and they were so fully outfitted that any cook could have been happily at home there. The decks outside the rooms were comfortable and large enough to sit and enjoy the lovely view with friends, and the room he had described as opening onto the garden was not only well planned out and comfortable, the garden had a full sized raspberry and strawberry patches side by side in fully ripening rows, with blueberries at the beginning or their growing season to one side and fruit trees just beyond.

Micosta Leisure Inn I think must be some kind of magical place because I enjoyed it so much even for that one short night and following morning that I felt as if I could have had a real vacation there. As we were getting ready to leave and I told Steven how wonder it was, he told me that I was welcome to come back any time, and that the tomatoes would be ripening in the fall. I'm not sure how I found Micosta, and I would think that perhaps it was all just a beautiful dream, but the strawberries and raspberries I brought home with me were as real as they come, though fresher and more lovely than any I'd had in years. The memory of that beautiful garden and the experience of being there will continue to inspire me as I look forward to more beautiful days to come.

In The Garden

At Micosta Leisure Inn

Hudson, New York

Edited Photograph Courtesy Of Sonia

Blessings,

Jannie Susan