Jolene, this is gorgeous writing! I am transported. Can’t wait to read more. I’m savoring this one. Plus, popovers are so yummy. I’ve never made them. Will have to try. English majors may not have a definitive direction and yet what wonderful adventures we have. So glad we are friends and writers. Honored really. Let’s keep going! 💛💫💛
Right back at ya, Amy! So glad you are here, we are here, English majors are here! I hope you know how much I appreciate your support and encouragement, always. Means the world. ❤️
Thank you, Kate ☺️I know, we were babies once! A friend of mine was saying the turtleneck with double layer shirts look so 70s! 🤣 Hope you’re doing well, catch up soon! ❤️
Grand Central Oyster Bar's Pan Roasted Oyster Stew with biscuits. Sitting at the bar watching the shucking, slushing pans, steam rising when the oysters plumped, butter oozed, with the cream that never curdled.
I could have been sitting near you in the waiting room or on the train, two young girls passing one another, blazing with the same joy, fear and certainty they were in the best magical place to become the grand women we hoped we would be. Now I'm sitting in my bathrobe in a little town on a break from such a changed city, older and still trying to figure it all out. Your wonderful piece brings it all back in bucketfuls! Maybe we're still circling in the same orbit.
Pat, this is such a wonderful comment and beautiful description of being young women with big dreams — and it’s so amazing to think about the possibility that we DID sit in the same train car, or waiting room, etc. I laughed out loud when you switched gears to “now I’m sitting in my bathrobe” because I’m in sweatpants and just cleaned out the litter box 😂 The Glamour! How is your fracture? On the mend? Hope so. Also, you made my week with your subscription, really appreciate it so much! Thank you! ❤️
Isn't it a thrilling to think we were once so close to people we would come to know and be a part of our lives! I was so happy to switched to one of your pays--i had been paid like 2 years ago then poverty struck and I had to go to free subscriptions and now it's retreated and I can once again support your lovely work. As for the foot I am currently lying on the couch with it propped up and have a lap full of crumbs from the Entenmamm powder donut from the box my sister bought me to feel better.
Means a lot, Pat, thank you! THE ENTENMANN’S! 🤣🤣🤣 I’d be joining you in the ‘dusting of the powder on clothing’ but mine would come from the Entenmann’s Crumb Cake! 😂❤️
I really enjoyed this. Thank you. I loved A Moveable Feast too. A life of being in cafes with a group of fellow writers and bon vivants is definitely a dream of mine.
Oh I LOVED reading this. Brought back floods of memories - buying purple sunglasses in New York, going to Saturday Night Fever Dance Classes with my sister here in the UK, the feeling that anything was possible when I was in my 20s. This was fab, more please! Oh and by the way, those popover tins are flipping gorgeous, never seen the like!
I want to see a picture of you in those glasses 👓 💜 Jenny! Thanks so much for this, really appreciate it! The popover pan is the Best! $17 US makes 6, they’re online!
Such a highly, hugely relevant piece — Women finding themselves while in the back-half of their lives. I love that you’re living — and sharing — the wisdom gleaned from it. Youth is fun but this phase, the post 50, is so much richer; fuller. Thank you capturing that in both your writing and your energy.
Beautiful writing, Joleen. Those days of New York in the ‘70’s come alive in your writing. I feel the nostalgia of your younger self and how Grand Central is like Proust’s madeleine. Love this piece.
Lizzie! Is that you? 😃 This means the world to me, thank you so much — I love Grand Central as my Proust’s Madeleine, perfect! Love to you, Rick and everyone gathered in CT, love and miss you all. 🤗 ❤️
Oh, Jolene. This is magnificent. Truly. You have me in tears. I came to NYC in 1976 and left in 1987. I relate to everything you have to say and yes, you made me cry. It's not just about the City or even food, but it's about life. You are truly a magnificent writer. This must be the introduction to your magnificent memoir! Love you, Jamie
I loved reading your personal story and thank you for sharing with us. I can relate to much of what you experienced, and this morning I am transported to my job as a file clerk at an insurance company in downtown Portland, Oregon. It was a hideous job! I love the picture of your 22 year-old self, and the popovers---yum! Write on, Jolene!! ❤️
Pam, thank you so much for your kind words and encouragement, and those memories of early jobs that were “challenging” lol, stay with us! Thanks again. ❤️
Jolene — I read this over my morning coffee in a rain-sodden Toronto just now. It’s a wonderful essay. Evocative of a time and place and lushly immersive in its details, just wonderful.
I went to NYC for the first time in 1996, age 30. My best friend from Toronto high school had moved there after college in 1988; it had taken me that long to scrape together time and money (our Canadian dollar! 😔) to visit. And by 1996, NY has been considerably cleaned up of course. But I was smitten from the first glimpse of the skyline. I couldn’t get over the Greek coffee shops on every corner and made my friend stop so I could get a coffee in that iconic cup. I marvelled at the dirty patch of ceiling in the beautifully restored Grand Central Terminal that Jacquie left for folks to see the difference and how the 1930s green and gold zodiac now shone. The Chrysler Building looked to me like a skinny silver brooch. I sat by the Lions at the Public Library and thought, I will always adore this city. And nearly 30 years later — after many visits, after 2001, 2008, the pandemic — the city has changed and yet it is always still New York and even as a proud Canadian, it will always have a sizeable slice of my heart.
By the way, I can’t recall quite how I stumbled upon you here — but you had me at Sarabeth’s, because my glamorous friend who worked as a producer in TV news in 1996 took me there for breakfast and I was suitably charmed. (Also I scrolled back to read all your cutting board lunches! And you were writing about Judith Jones just as I discovered her! Serendipity!!). Thank you so much. 🩷
Sydney, this is so wonderful! I love your description of the city and thank you for reminding me about that patch on the ceiling. Chrysler Building as a beautiful deco brooch is perfect! Sarabeth’s really was a charming dining room space, and New York stays with us, for sure ❤️
This is really great writing! I didn’t expect to attentively read the entire piece - at 2am, nonetheless!
Cathleen, what a compliment! Thank you so much, really appreciate your comment, now — get some sleep! 😉
Jolene, this is gorgeous writing! I am transported. Can’t wait to read more. I’m savoring this one. Plus, popovers are so yummy. I’ve never made them. Will have to try. English majors may not have a definitive direction and yet what wonderful adventures we have. So glad we are friends and writers. Honored really. Let’s keep going! 💛💫💛
Right back at ya, Amy! So glad you are here, we are here, English majors are here! I hope you know how much I appreciate your support and encouragement, always. Means the world. ❤️
So good to celebrate your work and art! 🖼️ I appreciate your support too. Cheers!🥂
And it’s a beautiful one, too. Keep ‘em coming. Love the picture of you, too. Can you believe we were that young once?
Thank you, Kate ☺️I know, we were babies once! A friend of mine was saying the turtleneck with double layer shirts look so 70s! 🤣 Hope you’re doing well, catch up soon! ❤️
My NYC look when I was going to music school there just a few years earlier usually was overalls, pigtails and a baseball cap worn backwards!
Yes, we’re due for a good catch up.
Love it!
This is wonderful, Jolene!
Let me just say: "Will the real Peggy Olsen, please stand up"
I’m here! I’m here! 🧍♀️ 😂 Thank you so much for this, really appreciate your comment! Best regards, P.O. 😉
Bravissimo, Jolene!
So many warm, lush, velvety memories
of working in NYC in the same era.
Grand Central Oyster Bar's Pan Roasted Oyster Stew with biscuits. Sitting at the bar watching the shucking, slushing pans, steam rising when the oysters plumped, butter oozed, with the cream that never curdled.
Jolene! Bellissimo writing!
Keep the words flowing.
Thank you so much and I LOVE your description of watching all the action while sitting at the bar! Perfect! 🦪
I could have been sitting near you in the waiting room or on the train, two young girls passing one another, blazing with the same joy, fear and certainty they were in the best magical place to become the grand women we hoped we would be. Now I'm sitting in my bathrobe in a little town on a break from such a changed city, older and still trying to figure it all out. Your wonderful piece brings it all back in bucketfuls! Maybe we're still circling in the same orbit.
Pat, this is such a wonderful comment and beautiful description of being young women with big dreams — and it’s so amazing to think about the possibility that we DID sit in the same train car, or waiting room, etc. I laughed out loud when you switched gears to “now I’m sitting in my bathrobe” because I’m in sweatpants and just cleaned out the litter box 😂 The Glamour! How is your fracture? On the mend? Hope so. Also, you made my week with your subscription, really appreciate it so much! Thank you! ❤️
Isn't it a thrilling to think we were once so close to people we would come to know and be a part of our lives! I was so happy to switched to one of your pays--i had been paid like 2 years ago then poverty struck and I had to go to free subscriptions and now it's retreated and I can once again support your lovely work. As for the foot I am currently lying on the couch with it propped up and have a lap full of crumbs from the Entenmamm powder donut from the box my sister bought me to feel better.
Means a lot, Pat, thank you! THE ENTENMANN’S! 🤣🤣🤣 I’d be joining you in the ‘dusting of the powder on clothing’ but mine would come from the Entenmann’s Crumb Cake! 😂❤️
I have that too! We'll have to put up wioth the husband complaining that we ate them all!
😂😂😂
I really enjoyed this. Thank you. I loved A Moveable Feast too. A life of being in cafes with a group of fellow writers and bon vivants is definitely a dream of mine.
Thank you so much, Amanda. I am right there with you for the writerly café society! ✨
Great travel down memory lane -- highlight, your photo.
Love ya, Eddie. ❤️
Oh I LOVED reading this. Brought back floods of memories - buying purple sunglasses in New York, going to Saturday Night Fever Dance Classes with my sister here in the UK, the feeling that anything was possible when I was in my 20s. This was fab, more please! Oh and by the way, those popover tins are flipping gorgeous, never seen the like!
I want to see a picture of you in those glasses 👓 💜 Jenny! Thanks so much for this, really appreciate it! The popover pan is the Best! $17 US makes 6, they’re online!
Such a highly, hugely relevant piece — Women finding themselves while in the back-half of their lives. I love that you’re living — and sharing — the wisdom gleaned from it. Youth is fun but this phase, the post 50, is so much richer; fuller. Thank you capturing that in both your writing and your energy.
Deborah, thank you so much for your comment, I am very touched by it. ❤️
Beautiful writing, Joleen. Those days of New York in the ‘70’s come alive in your writing. I feel the nostalgia of your younger self and how Grand Central is like Proust’s madeleine. Love this piece.
Lizzie! Is that you? 😃 This means the world to me, thank you so much — I love Grand Central as my Proust’s Madeleine, perfect! Love to you, Rick and everyone gathered in CT, love and miss you all. 🤗 ❤️
Loved every single word and sentence of this. Thank you for sharing about your life and journey as a writer, Jolene. Please keep it coming ❤️
Thank you so much, Sinù, and thank you for your encouragement! ❤️
Oh, Jolene. This is magnificent. Truly. You have me in tears. I came to NYC in 1976 and left in 1987. I relate to everything you have to say and yes, you made me cry. It's not just about the City or even food, but it's about life. You are truly a magnificent writer. This must be the introduction to your magnificent memoir! Love you, Jamie
Jamie, thank you so much for this, I can’t tell you how much your support means and how much I value your work, thank you, my friend. ❤️
I loved reading your personal story and thank you for sharing with us. I can relate to much of what you experienced, and this morning I am transported to my job as a file clerk at an insurance company in downtown Portland, Oregon. It was a hideous job! I love the picture of your 22 year-old self, and the popovers---yum! Write on, Jolene!! ❤️
Pam, thank you so much for your kind words and encouragement, and those memories of early jobs that were “challenging” lol, stay with us! Thanks again. ❤️
Jolene — I read this over my morning coffee in a rain-sodden Toronto just now. It’s a wonderful essay. Evocative of a time and place and lushly immersive in its details, just wonderful.
I went to NYC for the first time in 1996, age 30. My best friend from Toronto high school had moved there after college in 1988; it had taken me that long to scrape together time and money (our Canadian dollar! 😔) to visit. And by 1996, NY has been considerably cleaned up of course. But I was smitten from the first glimpse of the skyline. I couldn’t get over the Greek coffee shops on every corner and made my friend stop so I could get a coffee in that iconic cup. I marvelled at the dirty patch of ceiling in the beautifully restored Grand Central Terminal that Jacquie left for folks to see the difference and how the 1930s green and gold zodiac now shone. The Chrysler Building looked to me like a skinny silver brooch. I sat by the Lions at the Public Library and thought, I will always adore this city. And nearly 30 years later — after many visits, after 2001, 2008, the pandemic — the city has changed and yet it is always still New York and even as a proud Canadian, it will always have a sizeable slice of my heart.
By the way, I can’t recall quite how I stumbled upon you here — but you had me at Sarabeth’s, because my glamorous friend who worked as a producer in TV news in 1996 took me there for breakfast and I was suitably charmed. (Also I scrolled back to read all your cutting board lunches! And you were writing about Judith Jones just as I discovered her! Serendipity!!). Thank you so much. 🩷
Sydney, this is so wonderful! I love your description of the city and thank you for reminding me about that patch on the ceiling. Chrysler Building as a beautiful deco brooch is perfect! Sarabeth’s really was a charming dining room space, and New York stays with us, for sure ❤️
I loved your story and hope to read more!
Thank you so much for the encouragement, Jean!