An Abundant Life - Gifts Of The Season

A few weeks ago I wrote about the opening celebration for the second show at YES Gallery and the weekend long Hoboken Art Walk and Studio Tour that it was a part of. There were so many wonderful things that happened during that beautiful and special event, but one of them that stood out in my memory was the turn table that the DJ and Musician Rose Image brought into the gallery and shared with me over the two days of that lovely weekend. During the time that it was in the gallery, I played some of the LP's that I hadn't played in years, some that belonged to my older brother from his collection from the late 1960's and 1970's and some of my own from the 1970's and 1980's. Hearing them again after all this time on vinyl made me want to find a stereo system to put in the gallery so that I could play records all the time. I have many of my favorites on CD's and can of course stream them any time I want to, but there is something about vinyl and about playing these old records that brings back the memories of that time and who I was and my brother and my childhood and teenage years like nothing I've ever quite experienced before.

It was on my mind to find a stereo system somehow, and then one day I went to an estate sale and there it was. At the time when I saw it I wasn't really paying attention to all the pieces, I just knew that it was a vintage one and it looked like it was in great shape and that it was the one for me to bring to YES Gallery. I do things like that sometimes, see something and just know it's right, and then later on when someone asks me for specifications I have no idea. That happened once when I was looking for an apartment years ago, and later on, when I was describing it to people they'd ask me about details and I couldn't tell them. All I knew is that it was right and it was the one for me. 

The stereo system turned out to be a Pioneer, but after Rose Image was kind enough to stop by and help install it, we discovered that the turntable was missing the belt that makes it turn. I have no idea what the situation was in the house where it came from, and that is always the way it is with estate sales. The turntable looked pristine, but inside where the belt should have been were only a few small pieces left of what looked like something that had disintegrated. Perhaps it had been sitting in the house like that for years, or perhaps the person who had owned it took one that worked and left that one behind for the sale, but whatever the reason I contacted the person who was in charge of the sale and there was another turntable at the house that works perfectly. This one is a Technics, and along with the Pioneer system its sound is gorgeous.

When I first started listening to the LP's I have, the first one I tried was my brother's copy of The Who "Who's Next" and hearing the opening few moments that go crashing into Roger Daltrey's soaring voice was one of the most wonderful experiences imaginable. That album was revelatory and jubilant for me when I was a teenager, and I had heard it for years before that when my brother was a teenager who played it in his room before going out and sometimes when he'd be drawing at his desk and he'd let me sit on his lap or stand next to him as he created his artwork. For me there is such a deep resonance when I hear The Who, with layers upon layers of memories, of times with my brother and times when I'd listen in my own room and feel the freedom of their soaring sound and lyrics lifting me out of what were sometimes difficult experiences as a teenager.

With each passing day I listen to more, my brother's Led Zeppelin that I sang in a garage band in high school, his Allman Brothers, Neil Young, his Poco, Moody Blues and Rod Stewart and my own later ones, my South Pacific, and the list goes on. There are times when I first put an album on that I'm not even sure what I'm going to hear because it has been so long since I've heard them, and then I find myself singing and dancing and so filled with the emotion of memories, the reminder of hope and love and new beginnings, the experience of remembering a past when I had no idea what the future would bring and the understanding of where I've come from that has somehow brought me to here and now.

Today is Christmas Day, and when I was thinking of what I would write I realized that YES Gallery has been a gift from the beginning, and with each addition of Art and the Artists who create it the gift box gallery has become filled with blessings. This turntable and sound system is another gift, one that I couldn't have understood the power of until I began to play these old records again. Within them is my own history, my past and my present, wrapped up together and tied with streamers of golden light and rainbows.

The Opening Notes

Of A New Vintage Sound System

The Who "Who's Next"

From My Brother's Vinyl Collection

At YES Gallery

Blessings,

Jannie Susan

An Abundant Life - Elegant Celebrations

On Monday evening I had a holiday celebration at YES Gallery that was so beautiful and abundant that it's  still being spoken about and will be for a long time. A wonderful Chef, Greg Norrish, helped me onsite and also in the planning, and Joel Liscio, the Artist and Sommelier who has work in the gallery and who I have done other art and food and wine pairing events with in the past, brought some wonderful selections to share. A vineyard in Santa Barbara that I had shared wines for an art gallery opening and events in 2020 that had to be postponed allowed me to serve their wonderful wine selections for this event, and it was such a beautiful joy to finally be able to share the wonderful flavors of the J. Wilkes Pinot Noir and Viognier with guests at the gallery. Chef Greg Norrish had discussed the menu with me over a meal at a restaurant in Hoboken, Zero Otto Uno, where I was planning that some of the menu items be provided from. I had White Truffles from Urbani that I wanted to use in the menu that was served at the gallery and Chef Sonny at Zero Otto Uno had told me that whatever I wanted to use them with he'd be happy to help provide. It's such a joy to work with Chefs like these two, who not only create delicious food but have the ability to do it so well and are such great help in their expertise and experience. Once I had begun the discussion with them and shared the things that I liked and thought would be good for the menu, they took it from there and created a menu that was memorable and special. There were a few things I had to pick up and one item that I prepared, but other than that they took care of everything with such skill and excellence and good will that the experience I had of hosting was a pleasure.

The idea of the evening was loosely based on pairing Artists with food and wine and their own inspiration that included other art forms, and one Artist read his favorite poem that several of his paintings were titled from. The menu started off with individual antipasti of prosciutto wrapped asparagus which was the one item I prepared, and fresh and smoked mozzarella and sweet cherry peppers stuffed with cream cheese from Fiori's House of Quality served in cups from a variety of vintage snack plates that I had begun to collect when Joel and I had discussed continuing our art, wine and food pairings after a very special Chef we had been collaborating with on them for the Love & Plenty project in the fall of 2020 and early 2021 had left the area for some other projects he was working on. Originally we were thinking of continuing the events in Artists' studios, and I had been trying to think of some way to serve food in an environment where people might not be able to have a full sit down dinner and the snack plates seemed a fun way to do that while keeping with the vintage theme of things that I always enjoy. Following the antipasti which looked so lovely in the variety of cups was a steak tartare on fried wonton shells topped with freshly shaved white truffles. That second course and the one following it of focaccia bites made with straciatella bufala and roasted mushrooms topped with freshly shaved white truffles were creations of Chef Greg Norrish using focaccia and straciatella from Zero Otto Uno and mushrooms he had roasted and seasoned, and they were delightful. The next course was a cacio e pepe made with cavatelli, cheese, cream and pepper from Zero Otto Uno topped with freshly shaved white truffles, and the final dessert course was the first ever White Truffle Panettone from Urbani served with a selection of truffles from Milène Jardine Chocolatier. The room smelled of truffles and was filled with joy and creativity, art and life, and with Chefs like Chef Greg Norrish and Chef Sonny to work with, the food was not only wonderful, the experience of it was a delight.

YES Gallery

Holiday Celebration

With Menu Created By Chef Greg Norrish

Selections From Chef Sonny At Zero Otto Uno Cafè

Wine From Miller Family Wine Company

J. Wilkes Pinot Noir And Viognier

And Sommelier And Artist Joel Liscio

408 6th Street

Hoboken, New Jersey

Blessings,

Jannie Susan

An Abundant Life - Christmas Time

It's been a bit of a long while since I have gotten a Christmas tree or done any decorating for Christmas. For many years from the first year I moved to New York City, I had a Christmas tree all the time and had holiday parties and decorated and cooked special things, but for a number of years now I might do something like make Christmas Stollen or Christmas Dinner, I might make a pie or cookies, I might travel somewhere to share holidays with friends or family, but to go all out the way I used to do is something that for a number of reasons I stopped doing.

I used to throw big parties all the time, for every holiday, my birthday and sometimes just because I felt like it. But it's been a while since I've done that, and somehow I haven't missed it at all. There's a lot of work that goes into parties, and I always threw great ones with great food and fun and music and festivities, and my home was always filled with people, sometimes to the point that I didn't even know everyone there. I really enjoyed being that person who everyone was always talking about my parties and the food I made and the fun they had, but at some point it seemed much nicer to have smaller events with just a few friends and to go somewhere else and leave the work of preparation and cleanup to someone else to do.

But then a few years ago I began to host art events again, along the way that I used to, and it began to be something that I really enjoyed. I was partnering with a particular Chef at the time who made the events much easier on me, and then when we began partnering on the Love & Plenty events I was able to work with a wonderful Sommelier too. Little by little I found myself throwing more parties again, and now that YES Gallery has been off to a wonderful start for a few months now, I've been planning not only the openings but special events in between.

This coming Monday, to celebrate the holidays and a very special day in my life, I'll be throwing another party at YES Gallery. This time it will be a little more ambitious, with a wine pairing and foods featuring white truffles, and several courses of light bites for people to enjoy. The Chef who I had partnered with before is traveling now, but miraculously a Chef appeared to help me at the gallery. I had met him a few months ago after the gallery had opened, and he told me that he wanted to find someone to partner with to do community art and wine and food events. I had already been discussing art and wine events at the gallery with my Sommelier friend, and we had been thinking of possibly doing pairings with light food, and so now here we all are, getting ready for Monday's event which is in it's own way not only exciting but also something that is bringing back so many memories and also reminding me that this is part of all of my dreams from the past coming true.

As I began to decorate the gallery, all of the old decorations I've had for years just seemed to fit right in as if they'd been patiently waiting for me to find a place to let them shine again. Each one is so special, and being able to decorate in this way again is one of the most beautiful experiences I've had in these years since I was born again. There have been lots of beautiful times in these years, so I don't say that lightly, but there is something about the joy of having a space where I can invite people in and decorate windows and vistas for eyes to see and be inspired by that brings me back in time to being a young child at Christmas time and also to my earliest years in New York.

I still have all of the decorations from my first Christmas in my first apartment in the city, and some others that I've collected over the years. On Monday I'll be celebrating 17 years since I was born again, and the miracle of Christmas and all that God has done in my life since then. Having this beautiful space at YES Gallery to have a special party in, and the people to help me make it a truly wonderful one is a birthday gift made for a princess, and it's a blessing beyond anything I could have ever hoped for in my wildest dreams.

Celebrating Christmas

At YES Gallery

408 6th Street

Hoboken, New Jersey

  

Blessings,

Jannie Susan

An Abundant Life - Warmth And Welcome

One of the many lovely things about having YES Gallery as a daily destination is that I've become more adventurous in my travels to and from there. Places that I used to walk past on my way somewhere else have become places that I now walk into to explore, and sometimes when I'm in a hurry to get to the gallery and I haven't had time to eat a good lunch beforehand I'll stop somewhere to see what their options are and find a treasure of wonderful culinary delights.

As I made my way to YES Gallery on a beautiful afternoon, I decided to walk into Losurdo's Italian Deli and Bread Bakery, and when I first stopped in I didn't have time to do much more than to let them know that I had always wanted to walk in and visit them over the years because I'd heard so many wonderful things about them, but that this was the first time I'd had a chance. On that first visit the very nice man behind the counter gave me a taste of their dried mozzarella cheese, something I'd never had before, and not only was it flavorful and fresh, but it was so delicious it made me want to order something right there and then. He told me that every Tuesday through Friday they had a special of eggplant parmigiana, something that is a favorite of mine since childhood when my mother made it and taught me how to slice and bread the eggplant and sometimes let me cook with her as she made it. Hers was always so memorable that it's hard for me to order it anywhere else, but I had a feeling that Losurdo's would make one that would be a lovely experience. They were out of it that day so I tried again on another, and another, until one afternoon I got there in time to get the last piece.

On every visit I ordered something that was wonderful, and when I finally was able to try the eggplant parmigiana it was everything I could have hoped for. The eggplant was so thinly sliced and delicate that my mother would have definitely approved, and the sauce and cheese within the layers and covering it were excellent. I brought it to the gallery to have lunch there, and the portion was enough to bring some home for another day. Because it was such a wonderful experience to enjoy it, I made it last for as long as possible. Served with a good sized slice of their own special bread, it was a meal to savor, and as everything they make or serve in their store, it's filled with the warmth and the welcome that is part of their history of hospitality in Hoboken.

Losurdo's Italian Deli and Bread Bakery

410 2nd Street

Hoboken, New Jersey

https://losurdos-italian-deli-bakery

Blessings,

Jannie Susan

An Abundant Life - Gratitude

Recently I had a conversation with someone who had been going through a challenging time and was beginning to find a new space and place in the world to heal and grow. The conversation reminded me of other times in my life when things had been so difficult that I didn't know how they would ever get better, and that somehow they did and somehow here I am in a time and place where I can look back and see that not only was I able to find places and people to bless me on my journey, but that in every case the time that I went through not only helped me learn something that was important, but also helped me to make necessary changes in my life that led me to much better ways of living and thinking and being.

Twenty years ago I began the search for someone to partner with to create a community space for art and performance and health and wellness and educational programs in topics like sustainability. As I've written in these pages before, I found the person to partner with, but somehow at the end of two more years everything I cared about seemed lost. And now here I am after having gone through such a dark night of the soul all those years ago, having had a spiritual awakening in the process that led to a relationship with God and so many other life changing and miraculous experiences along the way, here I am looking back and realizing that it was twenty years ago when the seed of an idea came into my heart to start the community center and now it has become a reality at YES Gallery.

This past week marked the third month anniversary of the gallery opening, and it was the day before Thanksgiving. As I began to think back and be reminded of other times, I thought about Thanksgivings in the past when I was dealing with so many things that were so difficult, times when I wondered how I could find a way to feel thankful and grateful when it seemed that life was not ever going to be the way that I had always hoped it could be. During one of those times, at the end of that two year partnership that ended in what felt like the worst kind of disaster, someone I knew directed me to begin making gratitude lists and speaking gratitude into my life every moment of every day. I wrote a short story at the time with that name, and it is one of my favorites still. And as strange as it may seem, just speaking gratitude began to make things feel like there was a change for the better. It is now as I look back that I realize how far and wide things have changed, and as I remember that time and those gratitude lists I begin to understand just a little that perhaps in the process of trying to find something to be grateful for I was able to begin to focus on the God that I began to know and to understand that though the world around me seemed bleak, there is a God who is always there with us, helping to guide us to a better place to be.

In the gratitude that I learned to live out in my life, there was a part of it that began to help me understand that I was loved and cared for. Being grateful for the things and people that appeared in my path to help and share kindness helped me receive the gifts and blessings they offered with a heart that over time began to be so filled that it could open to others and share what had been shared with me. I was speaking with someone the other day who said they loved the name of YES Gallery because so often what we all hear is no. As I've written before there are all kinds of inspirations behind the name, but perhaps that is the best one of all. Saying yes is not always easy and hearing no is what we so often expect, so here's to the blessing of having a space and a place where yes is the way of life.

YES Gallery

408 6th Street

Hoboken, New Jersey

Blessings,

Jannie Susan

An Abundant Life - The Most Fragile Landscape

When I began to plan the current show at YES Gallery, I was thinking about titles that were drawn from words in several of my poems, and for some reason the one that seemed the most right for this time was from a poem titled "Be As A Child" that I wrote in 2019 as part of creating a collage piece that had been requested for a show. The poem is about learning to live and love and create again in the way that children do before the world steps in with its hurts and disappointments and broken heartedness:

"Perhaps this, then, 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

Breathing

New Life"

The title of the show became the first line, "Perhaps this, then, is the most fragile landscape" and in a very interesting way I've found myself faced with things in the world around me that seem to be almost challenging my resolve to find joy and peace in the space that has been created at YES Gallery. The show is truly stunning, more beautiful even than the first one was which is always the goal but one that I didn't expect to be able to necessarily achieve. Taking the steps of starting this gallery and saying yes have been all about what this poem speaks of, and though I wrote the poem in the Spring of 2019, its message is still resonating with me now. Saying yes to love and hope and dreams and joy and creativity and art and life are ongoing daily decisions that are not always easy to make when we live our lives with hearts that are open and fully given over to the possibility of beauty but of also the disappointment of being hurt and let down. In my life it has only been with the help of God that I've been able to find for myself a way to stay openhearted without automatically shutting down. It seems at times foolish and unwise to allow our heart to continue to love, to continue to hope where there is no sign that hope is worth waiting for, and to paraphrase my Grandmother's favorite song from "Man Of La Mancha," to dream what seem to be impossible dreams and try to reach seemingly unreachable stars. But just as my Grandmother loved that song, and her daughter, my Mother taught me that dreams were important and worth hoping and striving for, I find myself in the midst of the questions and uncertainties all around being led to look with eyes of faith, to trust and hope and believe that saying yes to life and love and creativity is still possible and necessary, and that within that yes new life will continue to grow.

YES Gallery

408 6th Street

Hoboken, New Jersey

Blessings,

Jannie Susan