Every year, when I turn the calendar page to September (which of course I still do, being from the olden days and enjoying a bit of whimsy in the kitchen), I think (almost like Pavlov’s dog), YAY! Almost Fall! Time to make something! Time to redecorate! And this year, even better, Time to Plan a cross-country Book-Signing tour! Ask me if I’m happy! Oh yes, I am!!💖. . . MUSICA
It’s forever that back to school feeling . . . Making something from nothing, we do it all the time, and so much, and so normal, we often don’t even know we’re doing it. That’s life! But do try to notice! We all need to recognize how many-faceted we REALLY are! It makes us braver!
To recognize our own creativity makes us more able to do it on purpose. That’s when we enter a whole different world where we know our day is nothing until we create what goes into it. It’s us! It’s always been us! Look at that purely original and wildly brave Dolly Parton. The thing that makes me saddest . . . so much beautiful loving wisdom and generosity, gone from us. But never forgotten. And still spreading her gifts.💞 
So, I need to tell you, an anchor was attached to my get-up-and-go about a month ago … See? No? Neither can I!
There was a teeny red spot on my lower eyelid, right NEXT to my eyeball Eeek!, found during a regular check-up of my birthday suit by the dermatologist, that turned out to be basal cell carcinoma, which is a slow-growing kind of sun cancer, that nevertheless must GO. And because it’s so close to my eye, and because the MOHS procedure I had to remove it required four passes to get it all (to get “clean edges” as they say), I had to have reconstructive surgery the next day by an ocular 
plastic surgeon. Here I am about five days after (still having to sleep sitting up), with my old pals Elaine and Diane (you know them from my book The Fairy Tale Girl) ~ Elaine out visiting us from Martha’s Vineyard and Diane came for lunch that Joe made. In this shot, I’m faking health and vitality because I wasn’t about to miss them. But healing is going to take a while. The bandage is off, so each day it gets better, but three times a day I have to put ointment on it, mungy stuff that glues my eyelashes together into boardlike structures, and there is one last procedure coming Sept. 23 … then I will be as good as new, both eyes matching, can’t ask for more than that! It’s just required a lot of laying around, no bending over, no sleeping flat, and trying not to use eyes. Now you know why there are over a thousand of your comments from last blog waiting for me to read!🫣 But each day I feel more energized. I like to DO stuff, so this entire scene has an element of torture to it!😂 The moral of this story is a reminder to get your birthday suit checked! They can get it if they find it early enough! And being blessed as I am, I never had to lay around alone.💞 First off I had my darling husband ~ a profound statement considering what a doll he is, and a fantastic cook to boot! I was well taken care of.💘 And then these guys⬇️ . . . so you see? You don’t have to worry about me at all!
My two boys, seemed to understand the situation and cozied right up for the duration.🥰
Simon, in my soft spot.
Sammy, in HIS soft spot. We all had great times with TCM.💘
Going down for a nap, I felt paws on my feet, but I couldn’t move around to see and risk the chance the paws would leave, so I lifted the phone over my head to try for a photo so I could see what was happening, and found this. Sammy. My furry, kindred-spirit, cuddle-bug, heart’s desire.💝
And you know I’ve been hurrying to finish my new book . . . but this is what happens when you’re busy doing OTHER things!
I was SO CLOSE to done . . . I literally texted Kellee the approval for the spine on the way to the hospital! She was finally able to send the entire book to the printer . . . and I went down for the count . . . 🙃
And while I was sleeping, they printed out the pages and sent them back so I could approve them… Here they are! I’m so happy.💃🏼💃🏼💃🏼 My bucket list had “write a new book when I’m 80 … and I did it!! A dream come true! (Let’s be clear, I’m not 80 yet😊, but in my 80th year, so I’m counting it)! ♥️ You’ll probably notice my editing marks on the pages, ignore them, they were tiny details I wanted fixed, your book will be unmarked and just for you. Here’s the cover:
So many of you have been preordered we already added more books to the printing! I know you know, but I 
just want to thank you again for being with me as I created this, you’re my inspiration!❤️ And speaking of inspiration… I was telling girlfriends on Instagram that this new book reminds me a lot of the 1980s version of Country Living Magazine’s Christmas issues ~ some of you will remember how wonderful they were! I was totally addicted to that magazine . . . couldn’t wait each month for the new issue . . . I’d plan my red letter 
day: 1. Lunch with my new Country Living!👏 Comfort and Joy is just like that! Filled with photos and Decorating ideas, a collection of my very best Comfort Food Recipes, Winter DIY Projects, Snow Days, Valentine Breakfast, Ideas for gifts, Tablesettings, Parties, Girlfriends, December, January, February, and March, and everything that happens between Christmas and Spring! Above and below are a couple of pages of the Index so you can see some of what is covered…
And I don’t KNOW if COMFORT AND JOY is my last book, but it might be! So I’m treating it with the respect that my last book deserves from me, and extending the celebration with my 2027 calendars and new cups too, made in England, to you from me with Love . . . If I’m going, I’m not going without a proper goodbye … and now we’re coming to see YOU, or at least trying to meet you half way . . . for goodbye hugs and years of gratitude in my eyes ~ this country is BIG, and you never know it more clearly than when driving across it and wishing you could go to every corner! 💝 So come find me! I’ll give you a schedule soon.
Slowly but surely, as my eye improves, and my vision becomes clearer, I’ll work out a schedule for our book tour that we will probably start in November! And Yes! I will be debuting the new/old Diane Keaton Louis Vuitton shoes I won in the on-line auction of her clothing by some predestined, supposed-to-be, miracle.💫🌟💫 They fit perfectly, they’re well-worn I’m happy to see, but she must have loved them since she held onto them for so long. So far I’ve walked in Diane Keaton’s shoes among girlfriends twice.🥰 Getting dressed, humming, 🎶Seems like old times 🎵. . . how is it she’s gone? And Dolly too.🎸 What is going on??? Two hard-working, positive icons. I don’t think I care much for the direction this seems to be going!😢
It was already difficult enough to say goodbye to our parents, but it also turned out to be all their friends too, and all their icons like John Wayne and Bob Hope! So weird! That’s them up there, in the Olden Days, in our back yard, at one of their Come as You Are Breakfasts (I’m in front with a white barrette in my hair), the people we grew up with who made their parties all about us, look all those kids; I still remember their names💞 . . . they truly were the Greatest Generation … the people over 30 we said couldn’t be trusted (said with that special sort of charm reserved for the young) and never ever gave enough credit to for the wonderful, funny, hard-working, contented people they were when they were alive . . . we didn’t know how much we would miss them . . . and now this, Baby Boomers are disappearing. I cry at the remembrances every week on CBS Sunday Morning (the best show on TV) . . . and all the Boomer fun and inspiration we had with them is being remembered and honored.💖 It is true, as Joni sang, 🎵🎶 You don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone. . .🎶 Which applies to everything . . . if you don’t already know it, a long life will teach you that.😊
LOOK, one of our girlfriends found this picture of Diane Keaton WEARING MY SHOES and posted it on my Facebook page (FOSB, Friends of Susan Branch!).💖💖💖
I had to look close . . .
But it’s TRUE! I could just KISS that Facebook Girlfriend for posting them!😘😘😘 Kellee found them there and sent them to me, making my day!♥️
I am definitely aware of not being able to fit into one single item of Dolly Parton’s clothes! Her tiny little feet, with those highest of high heels. Never. I am all clodhopper, all the time. And socks. Diane was my spirit animal.💞
So anyway, the other thing we did to prepare for our farewell book signing, is to reprint books that have been out of print! You know I updated the Summer Book last year ~ I wanted to make sure we had them for our last book signing, just in cases . . .
And This! Autumn! Back due to popular demand! Just arrived! Perfect timing if I may say so.👏 It’s been out of print for 2 years! … but here it is ready to fuel creative hearts for the next three heavenly months. Makes me think that all my books are about comfort and joy. Handmade with love for you from me.💖
And speaking of books made with love . . . my ex-husband, who, as many of you know, has turned into darling old guy with an extra-wonderful, girlfriend extraordinare wife💞, Cliff Branch (major character in life-changing Fairy Tale Girl and Martha’s Vineyard Isle of Dreams; my unlikely guardian angel in black cape🏴☠️ from the way-back machine) called yesterday to ask me if next time I wrote a Willard, would I please THANK my girlfriends for your interest in his brand new (and 1 old) book ~
Of course! Thank you!💝 You made his day, he thinks you’ve forgiven him!😘 And you made my day because I could help him! Life is funny that way! He gave us a special deal: BOTH books, beautifully written, filled with memories and photographs, for $10, and no shipping, so, essentially, free to my girlfriends! He wrote about me in the first one, as you probably saw, and even in the 2nd one ~ he was much nicer to me in his books than I was to him! But if you missed my last post, and you’d like to take a little trip back in time, go to www.Americanmadestory.com Just put in the code SUSAN10 when you’re checking out, and voila! ♥️
For a lot of us, there are only two seasons, Autumn and waiting for Autumn! It’s here . . . I see it in the leafy shadows crossing my living room, and feel it in the cooler air . . . We’ve only just begun!🍁🍂
Kellee has two points of “insider information” she wants me to relate to you . . . I’m the messenger today … First off, she is planning a Studio Sale, maybe the end of October, for the years of Studio 
STUFF we’ve gathered . . . even things from my old retail store, painted book shelves, work tables (one of them about, I don’t know, 20′ long?, beautiful, handmade for us in Martha’s Vineyard, pictured here with a long countertop leaning on it, when we were moving in), hutches, tons of heavy-duty storage racks, not sure but I think there might even be a couple of quilts made with my fabric, and 
of course my art and things. Lots of big things that can’t be shipped. Soon we’ll set a date; it will be we at our Studio in Atascadero, California. An excellent Girlfriend’s road trip ~ we know not everyone can make it, but we are closing the Studio down (don’t worry, Kellee and I have figured out other ways we can still work together . . . she just won’t be doing the shipping anymore so we don’t need all that space). Anyway, as lots of you know, we have quite a sale going on, and she wants me to say that soon it will all end . . so if you want anything before the Studio Sale happens, this would be the time to get it! 💝
Yes! Lots going on!
I must go, Simon is waiting. Talk soon old friends, and new ones too!💞💞💞 MUSICA
And this one too, 
having at our old house on the island, THIS COMING WEEKEND!! Finally! So if you’re in the area of Martha’s Vineyard, this is the ad running in the local Vineyard paper: “Estate Sale: July 25-26, 70 Spring Street, Vineyard Haven, 10am-3pm both days. Park on the street or at Tisbury School. Numbers given out at 10 am. A unique collection of little things and big things from Susan Branch and Joe Hall after 36 years in their beloved house.” Don’t worry, we’ve had many yard sales there before, our house is good at it. Very Experienced. And this one will be inside, not in the garden! BTW, in the spirit of full disclosure, don’t expect the pink dishes to be there, I finally couldn’t take it anymore and at the last minute, the Rose Chintz are being shipped out here! 💃🏼💃🏼💃🏼
the end of March! ROTFLOL. Not. Because then I thought April, then I thought June, then I thought oh no, we’ll probably be on the road in August🥵, but we dodged the bullet on that one… because I wanted this book to be extra good, I kept adding, and soon it was a completely different book. I had to give it a new name! I only thought about the time going by when I WASN’T working. When I was, it was like I had all the time in the world. Extra good came before anything common sense-ish, like getting it done. That’s the good news and the bad news. In the end, it will be all good news. And what matters more than the end?
That is the page I will be signing when I meet you on the book tour when this book is finally in my hot little hands. They say it will take 3 months to print it once they receive it, which I am praying is at the end of this month. This is why I GOTTA 
This expression says, OMG, they’re here! I have waited FOREVER. Do I dare open it? Because if I do, all the anticipation has to go away. Maybe I shouldn’t open it. I see Joe’s scrunched up face and realize he’s right. OPEN IT! So I drag the box opener across the top, verrrrry slowly, dragging out the moment, a little scared of what I might find inside. So many ways things could go wrong, but so many ways they could go RIGHT! I quiet those thoughts by speeding up, pull out all the packing stuff, and oh yeah . . . it’s them . . .⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Look at them. Are they adorable or what!🤩 There is only one answer to that from my perspective! And they’re exactly as worn as I hoped they’d be, clearly having seen lots of fun in their time. I can’t wait till they start talking to me! They still have plenty of life in them. We are PERFECT for each other. Note, She never threw them away. Another reason to love her. Even though she had a jillion newer pairs. They are THAT good . . . old, and used, and kept forever. 💞
Oh yes, they have the Louis Vuitton logo on the backs. They were definitely hers! Will they fit? So I can walk in Diane Keaton’s shoes? OH! PS! I’m so lost in thought of how this felt I just realized I forgot to say that these are Diane Keaton’s shoes I bought in that online auction last month!!! A pure miracle that I got them! I assume everyone knows, but that’s almost funny . . . YES!!! They’re Here! It really has been a red letter month.
