It’s always nice to hear a little about the person running a Blog and I would prefer to share with you as I would if we were having a face to face conversation over a cup of tea – a much more friendly and relaxed overview of who I am, what I have done and where I have come from.
My name is Jessica; I’m 46, a single mum with a daughter who is 8 years old and her name is Kobi.
I must remember "You did your best, you’re a beautiful person and there is always tomorrow".
"GREAT ARE THEY WHO SEE THAT SPIRITUAL IS STONGER THAN ANY MATERIAL FORCE THAT THOUGHTS RULE THE WORLD"
~Ralph Waldo Emerson~
A little peek into the beginning of my life
I was born July 3rd 1970 at Grafton Base Hospital, NSW Australia. Jessica Alexandra Anne Janczar-Jantzen. I was the first for Anne & Jan Jantzen. My mother and father met, while my father was working as a chef on Hayman Island and my mother a waitress on the same island. I remember my mother showing me this beautiful black & White photo of her in a grass skirt which was her uniform and such a happy smile.
18 months down the track my mother gave birth to a baby girl to be my sister named Rebecca Jan. I don’t remember anything about her birth or coming home as I obviously to was young. I do remember any how the times we played. We grew up on Roberts Creek Brushgrove while dad was farmer and mum looked after us. But soon dad was to start work as a chef again.
My father Jan Edward Jantzen was a Master Chef and trained in Switzerland, Vienna and worked in many restaurants overseas. Dad was born in Poland – Biala Beilsko. Dad worked in Sydney alongside my godfather Alex (also Polish) at the ‘Summit’ – Australia’s first revolving restaurant. (my godfather Alex sadly passed away while I was in England in 1997 while travelling in England and was going to see me. I did attend his funeral in England though and dad was very very glad that I did. Alex was his best friend). Dad also worked at the Cebel Town House and the Chelsea in Kings Cross Sydney. Dad would tell me the story about how has a waiter the guy who played Dracula in the movies back then was in the restaurant & he saw him drop a large amount of cash on the floor. Dad picked it up and gave it back to him and this guy told dad that he should have kept it! I don’t know why I was told this story, I forget.
Dad & mum use to drive myself and my sister to Sydney on trips in a big blue ford car when I around 7/8 years of age. My sister asleep across on the back seat and me on a make shift seat behind the two front seats so we could sleep on these long trips. I remember looking out the car window and letting my eyes catch everything in site. Mum had this smelly stuff that she would put under our noses if we were feeling car sick, and it was around the New Castle area that mum decided to stick this under my nose, Oh my god! I can still smell it today. It did work thou.
I remember all the big lights and houses in Sydney. We would stay at my god mothers house, her name was Alexandra. That’s were my middle name came from. I still remember having a skipping ropes and I would go outside and skip on the footpath. There was a little tree I would climb up into and hand the rope from and just basically play. The neighbor did not like this at all & I left my skipping rope out in the tree and when I went to get it, he had taken it! I knew he took it & never told mum as I would have gotten in trouble. I still remember my rope to this day!
We would site see around Sydney and when visiting the Kings Cross District I remember Mum & Dad playing a little trick on us. When we were wandering off they would hide in a shop and then when we realized they were gone, I would panic and start crying. They then would come and give us a lecture about what happens if you go off and get lost? “Stay with us” they would say… To this day I could stand in the exact spot I was crying. And I was only 8 then!
Back home on the farm we had our horses named: Tango (mums horse), Texas (dads), Tiffany (Becks) Misty (mine). There was also Rajah who never really got used. Then we had our cattle dogs Sparky and Spikle. Sparky was the vicious one and never really liked strangers. We had a lassie dog called Sandy and Toppa which Nan had the brother to that dog out on her farm. Then along the way our lassie dog was running next to the car just passed the mailbox and at the first corner she collapsed. I still remember watching her next to the car and then she just fell. She died! I still must find out why? she hadToppa also died of old age I think. We buried Toppa in the paddock diagonally from the farm house that was a sad moment.
We use to go to the Brushgrove hotel also for lunch and one day when I came home from school walking down our dirt road as usual we arrived home and there was this puppy dog, a Springer Spaniel. Dad had saved it from drowning as the owners had to many puppies. But is this true? Another thing to find out. Anyways, we were trying to name it and first there was Scotch, then Whiskey, then we settled on Brandy. So Brandy was our in house pet. I remember one day mum shoeing us in the bathroom with Brandy as someone came to our door! Then mum said it was ok to come out. Mmmmm, still don’t know why…
