22 Comments
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Laura Lollar's avatar

Jenn, I hope you are both feeling better now. And congratulations on your publication in the Adirondack Explorer/Almanack. I like your new graphics too. My gosh, you’re a busy lady!

Jenn Woltjen's avatar

Than you. I am feeling much better. Yes, January and February were busy for me. Thank goodness I had something indoors to do because it was too cold here to be outside. I think about you often with your the loss of your father.

Laura Lollar's avatar

Thank you Jenn! It’s been an adjustment to go on without him for sure!

Alexander Pelerin's avatar

Hi ! I came across your newsletter in the AdventureStack directory, got curious, and subscribed. For now I don’t have access to that directory – my newsletter is only a month old. But I’m trying, and of course I’d love to gain new readers.)) I write about long-distance hiking and how it changes us.

If you’re interested, feel free to read and subscribe:

https://theopentrails.substack.com/

Hugs,

Alex

Jenn Woltjen's avatar

So glad you connected with me. I just started reading some of your posts and I also subscribed! Please keep in touch.

Alexander Pelerin's avatar

Thank you!

Erik Hogan's avatar

That’s exciting news and I’m glad to hear the momentum is building! We supposedly had a record cold December, but with the way temps fluctuate here it’s kinda hard to tell. A couple of deep cold snaps in January, but it feels like we’re sprinting head first into spring right now.

Jenn Woltjen's avatar

Yes, I was pretty surprised with hearing from the editor of one of my favorite regional publications. A much-needed boost to my dismal and cold January. Yesterday, it reached a high of 50 degrees and we soaked it in.

Glenda Mitchell's avatar

Your January is too cold 🥶 to be outside, mine is too hot & humid 🥵

Jenn Woltjen's avatar

I’m glad you support me on not going outside…..I like the moderate temperatures for outside activities.

Elizabeth Oldham (she/her)'s avatar

Congratulations on the Adirondack Magazine byline! Glad you're thawing out now. We in BC have finally had a good snowfall at lower elevations. And your SubStack re-org sounds great.

Jenn Woltjen's avatar

Thank you Elizabeth. It was definitely a morale booster for me. This winter has certainly been different. We have visited BC before but in the summer - just beautiful. Keep in touch about your next skiing adventure.

Jill Hinton Wolfe's avatar

Love that you got a chance to read “Wintering”! ❄️

Jenn Woltjen's avatar

Yes, I found the book a little different from what I anticipated but she is such a wonderful writer.

Ali Lopez's avatar

Congrats on the publishing opp! And thanks for the callout on the soup recipe :) February has been bringing all the light here...(in fact as I type this it is after 5pm and STILL light out!!!) hoping that is helping brighten your mood!

Jenn Woltjen's avatar

Thank you Ali. Yes, each day it gets lighter longer. Just love it. Definitely brightening my mood. I know I had a bout of seasonal affective disorder.

Marty (KC) Kanter-Cronin's avatar

Great post today Jenn! Random out of order comments:

Congrats on getting published in the journal and getting to be a regular! That's awesome.

BRRR on your cold streak, not one that I would ever look forward to for sure. On your snow, I can't imagine all that you had to move. Ugh. I am glad you like snow, too bad it was so hard to take advantage of it.

My favorite recipe is Pasta e fagioli. (Pasta and beans, literally). Its not hard, it's hearty low meat dish, reheats better than the first time and goes well with bread.

Very Shiny Banner! It looks amazing and like a lot of work!

On books: I am going to check out your first two on your stack, they look intriguing. Two back at you: "Is a river alive?" by Robert Macfalane, and "the hidden life of trees" by Peter Wohlleben.

On Writing: You are always very thorough and thoughtful, whether it's 4 a month or 2, I look forward to your posts.

On Sickness: It really sucks to hurt that bad, that you don't want to eat. I got lucky, I only got a minor dose compared to yours. I hope you are better!

Jenn Woltjen's avatar

Thank you Marty. I promised I would write something about my January. I’m in a better mood now so I could think more clearly. I love pasta with beans and do use cannellini (?) beans a lot on my pasta. I do love to make batches of recipes so we have lots of leftovers. We finally got out to ski last week and the sky was so blue. Very thankful. I cannot imagine having to train for a spring marathon through this. I do not like to run on a treadmill.

Julie B. Hughes's avatar

Great piece, Jenn. I, too, read Wintering, and it wasn't what I expected, but I still really enjoyed it. I made several batches of Superhero muffins as well, and currently making the Flourless PB chocolate chip cookies from their Rise and Run Cookbook.

Congratulations on the piece being accepted for publication. How exciting.

Have a great week, and I'm so happy to have some warmer temperatures.

Jenn Woltjen's avatar

I was not expecting Wintering to be like that either. I need to try some more recipes from the book. I am sure you are liking this better running weather. I can run in temps as low as 15 to 20 degrees with no wind.

Julie B. Hughes's avatar

Yes, this warmer weather has been amazing! -12 degrees to 33 degrees. Heat wave. :)

Jenn Woltjen's avatar

Yes, 33 degrees is definitely a heat wave in my book.