That’s how I feel, lighthearted, dancing down the stairs this morning, did my exercises, played with Jack, went outside to sniff the garden. And if a picture is worth a thousand words, then get ready for my version of War and Peace! A nice cup of tea would go good right now, and then my dear girls, Musica!
I have lots of photos to cheer your heart this lovely morning . . .
Starting with these . . . during a spring rain . . .
the colors make me so happy . . .
. . . my kitchen smells like a flower shop! And I’m all well. My cold is finally gone, I get down on the floor every morning now and do stretches and leg lifts, lift my little weights and feel like I’m starting all over!
I couldn’t help taking a kazillion pictures of this vase full of tree cuttings . . .
But then my perpetual audience climbed on top of the fridge to survey his kingdom . . .
of which I am his people — is it the cat or the vase that is the real star of this photo?
It’s the cat. So regal, such a star . . .
The pink cherry blossoms, heavenly!
Letting me loose with a camera can sometimes be a dangerous thing. You should see the ones that got away!
And here’s where I go to gather the pink booty . . .
I could never do it justice with a mere paintbrush . . . never never never
Because looking into this sparkly pink pear tree is like a prayer.
The smell alone is enough to inspire the sweetest dreams . . .
And the breeze, the island breeze filled with the ocean, the blossoms, the green grass, the violets, the sky and all the good things of nature.
And Jack. Well, my cup just runneth over. ♥
We had friends to tea the other day, and despite the diet (I promise you, I am being very good!), I made something mighty delicious — a blueberry angel food cake with lemon glaze! (Fat free, but filled with delicous sugar!). I’ll give you the recipe for this the minute we reach our goal weight UNLESS there is strong request for it now, and then, of course I will give it to you!
We ate about half of it, heaven’s sugar cake, and took the other half, a quarter-cake each over to Lowely and then to Martha! It’s so nice to have girlfriend neighbors with whom you can share the wealth ♥ and don’t get mad at you for doing it!
I used my pink dishes to match the flowers. And then guess what I found out? A year or so ago Joe and I made a little video called “How to Sift Flour.” Truly one of the greats as the title implies! But I just found out it is #1 on Google in the massive Sifting of Flour category!
XOXOXXOXOX
Yes, if you Google How to Sift Flour, this is what you get, without even mentioning my name. We, my girls, are number one! In the world. On Google! WHAT an accomplishment! I’m kind of excited about it! It’s the little things in life!
Remember a couple of years ago we got a new Dogwood tree for our backyard? Well, we just placed an order for this year’s addition to the springtime floral extravaganza at this house. We ordered a Magnolia x soulangeana, a weeping Higan Cherry Tree, and a Honey Crisp apple tree. Also seven new forsythia bushes to put behind the fence in front of our house. Not sure if they will be in stock, but it’s a good time to plant them, so we’re hoping our nursery can find them for us. It’s so gorgeous out there, why not make more beauty if we can, so it’s almost silly crazy romantic over-the-top beautiful? Nothing wrong with that.
Flowering trees are so special — something magical about them after a long cold grey winter. Here’s the dogwood last year — it’s not in bloom yet this year, more to look forward to! One of the reasons this is all especially beautiful to me this year is because . . .
I’ve had a sort of tunnel vision, like looking at the world through a straw, for a long time.
My concentration on our book, the single mindedness it takes, made the world look like this to me . . . here’s Girl Kitty.
Here I am making tea first thing in the morning. I had other things on my mind at all times: What could I say, do, paint, dream up, remember, include, make happen, so that A FINE ROMANCE will be something you will love.♥ I wonder if other authors see the world like this when they are deep in the throes of a project? If ever I was going to write something called “How to Write a Book” I would have to try and explain this.
This is what the kitchen looked like to me at around 4 am.
And here’s a snowy day — it registered because of its beauty but in “real life,” I was looking at the sea from the rail of the ship, or in England walking through wildflower meadows, looking at maps, touring castles, driving narrow backroads, and drinking ice cold peah ci-das in pubs!
I would look out and see Joe shoveling the snow out front and it was vaguely confusing.
He came in every day and made us a cozy fire, but my focus was always always always on something else . . . this was my background music, snap, crackle, and pop . . .
Believe it or not, even this guy never got all the way through . . . but he sure tried.
Ahhhh, here we are . . . this feels familiar . . .
Determined daily to make a movement toward the finish line . . .
One tiny brush stroke and pen mark at a time . . .
Every moment, the pure joy of creating . . . combined with the agony of wanting it to be done . . . but not too quickly, because there was enjoyment of the moment, as strange as that may seem.
Until I got to this, page 8 of A FINE ROMANCE . . . The other 259 pages went to print as of last week, but I had to wait to do this last one. I needed to get legal permission from several song writers in order to print excerpts from their songs in our book, because what would our book be without MUSICA? The last permission came through on Friday, and I was able to do this page. The last one! Oh MY!
And when I finished, the tunnel vision went totally and completely away, and the bright world came shining through . . . all new like I’d never seen it before.
Colors are brighter and prettier than ever . . .
The world is a lovely place! Time for my fake tap dance!
Our walk to the water is more beautiful than ever — it’s 68 degrees on Martha’s Vineyard right this moment and as soon as I finish saying hello to you, we are on our way to our walk to this very spot to see the sparkle on the water.♥
But first, you have been so patient while I was looking at life with blinders on, you cheered me through and were with me the whole way — so, so wonderful . . . isn’t it about time for a giveaway? YES!
It’s possible most of you have these two books . . . but maybe you have someone who you could give them to? Or you could save them for birthday gifts.♥ Spanking new lighthearted copies of The Summer Book and Girlfriends Forever, and isn’t spring the perfect time?
The SUMMER BOOK is filled with delicious recipes for the season, barbecues and picnics, my picket fence garden, and stories such as “Library Days”, “How to Go to a Tea Party”, and “The Raft”.
GIRLFRIENDS FOREVER is a celebration of US — everything we love, Girl Parties, healthy recipes, decorating, clothes, beauty, exercise and a Spicy Mango Salad on page 82 that is to die for. This one also has the story of How I Met the Beatles (when I was “Just Seventeen”).♥
I would love to sign them, to whatever name the winner chooses: her own, her daughter’s, her sister’s, her mother’s, or her best friend’s! Just leave a comment here to enter the drawing at the bottom of this post where you see the tiny word “comments” — (and if you don’t see it, click on www.162.240.10.175/~susanbs3/susanbranch/, scroll to the bottom of this post, squint because it’s tiny, and there it will be). In a few days we’ll pull Vanna off the tennis court or out of her bubble bath (such a lady of leisure) and let her choose the winning name. And I hope with every fiber of my being that this time, it’s you. xoxo ♥ Hope this makes your heart take wings! Bye for now Girlfriends!
Susan…
A lovely post as always, but a little extra “spring” in your words…I love the photos! Thank you for sharing how your writing process works, your excitement on your “How to Sift” # 1 status and your emergence from your creative tunnel! I look forward to receiving my copy of the FINISHED book this fall. 🙂 Have a wonderful SPRING!
As usual, your post made my day a little brighter and a whole lot prettier! Thanks for sharing all the loveliness of your garden and home, not to mention your creative process. Have a wonderful day and week coming up.
What a nice give away.
Beautiful flowers and Kitty.
Love the look of your home.
I love reading your blog. Thank you so much for writing it all. Lynn
I just left my post on the wrong blog.
I’ll do it again. The pictures are
beautiful and I will plant more trees
when I get settled. How do you keep
the kitty babies out of the flowers?
This poem reminds me of you:
Duty makes us do things well
Love makes us do them beautifully.
Phillips Brooks
Thank you Julia. My Girl Kitty only runs outside to roll in the sandy driveway and then skeddadles back inside. She’s shy and thinks we might have wolves. Jack is not allowed out because he is too young and might get killed. So they don’t get in the flowers. None of my cats have ever cared much about the flowers unless I plant Cat Mint — and they LOVE that!
I’m talking about all of the beautiful flowers in the
vases – inside!
OH, LOL, inside! Jack tries a little bit, but I just tell him NO, and so far it seems to be working. Girl has no interest. She is a very quiet kitty.
It was so fun to watch your transition through the photos of your tunnel vision into full-blown Spring! Thank you for the gorgeous photos and a peek into island life.
And the musica! I must say I have been humming A Fine Romance for months!
One of my girlfriends laughed when she heard it and other Fred Astaire songs on my iPod but truly, what great background music!
Have a lovely day,
Marsha
I needed a little cheering up today. Thanks for the beautiful flowers and of course your darling kitties. I can imagine trying to remember every detail you wanted for the book and getting it just right. I am happy that you have come out of it though, missing the beauty of Spring would be a shame! Can’t wait for the book. *S* I can use a little more of England.
I would love to win a book. I love all your flower pictures. Our daffies are out too and forsythia, the flowering trees are just beginning a tiny bit, but alas we don’t have any in our yard. We built a new house 8 yrs. back and have 4 beautiful pines in the back yard that have gotten huge and have been working on bushes and perennials ever since. This yr. I lost 2 hydrangeas over where all my bush roses are-guess I’ll replace them with more bush roses as this is the 2nd time they’ve died. Our soil and climate are finicky. Some things work and some don’t. This yr. I am the gardener as hubby has asthma-it may take me the whole summer to get everything in shape-love it, but it’s hard on me, being only young at heart now. Happy Spring! Happy Book! when does it come out?
I finally gave up and realized that unless a plant is made for this area, I best forget about it. So when I drive around I look to see what looks good in other people’s yards!
Oops-forgot to ask for the recipe!
Well, I was wondering what I was going to do on this really rainy afternoon, and the arrival of your newsletter answered my question perfectly :)) I love the pictures and the links you shared…They just put a little bit (or a lot) of Springtime in my step. I’m so glad you’re rid of your cold and feeling like yourself again.
I must say seeing the announcement in my email of a new blog post always brightens my day. I am loving your positivity on a rainy day. I do not (gasp) have any of your books- just carry you with me in a pocket calendar!! Thank you for your generosity in giving two books away!
The blossoming trees are like ladies dressed in hoop-skirted ball gowns, swaying with the wind’s music. They so make one’s heart light and happy and ready for Summer and The Summer Cookbook.
I’m so happy to hear you are back, up and about and feeling better after your cold. I’ve had two biggies this winter and they really zap your energy. And just in time for you to take in all the sweet smells of spring…your flowering branches on your window sill are wonderful! I just snipped some forsythia and have it everywhere (smile).
When you’re ready, bring that cake recipe on! It looks delicious! And after a long winter of staying indoors and having lots of comfort food, I could use something light and easy on the figure!
I’m looking forward to your giveaway, it’s very sweet of you! I actually had Girlfriends Forever, then one day my daughter was making a scrapbook and asked if she could use some of the pages! I couldn’t say no, so she cut the book up to smithereens and has the cutest little scrapbook, but I’m “Girlfriends Forever~less”!!
Have a wonderful week. It’s gorgeous here in the Midwest and we are loving it!
XO,
Jane From Chicago
I love your Blog and if I won, I would like the book made out to Gertie and Lucy, our two kitties.
HI Susan, I would LOVE to win your books!! Especially to read about when you met the Beatles, my fav group of all time.
The blueberry angel food cake sure looked yummy. Hope you post the recipe soon.
Love Jack and Girl Kitty. My 3 cats Nikki, Sasha and Charlie say Meow! 🙂
Love your blog!!
cathy
Hi Susan,
What beautiful flowers. It looks as spring assprungin Marhta’s Vineyard! Not here in Rockford, Mi. We have cold weather and so much rain, then flooding. We are safe becausewe are high from the riverbutso many not so lucky. We have added a puppyto our household, her name is Lucy and she is just adorble. She lights up our lives like Jack and Girl do for you. I tried to attach a pic but no luck. she is Bichon/Shih Tzu. So gladyou are feeling better. Enjoy yiur spring. Karen
Lovely blooms in your garden. What a cheery colorful post. Can’t wait for the new book. Beatrix Potter was a favorite as a child 60+ years ago and remains. And I have some girlfriends who would love to be invited over for a slice of that blueberry cake. We have new neighbors. Must take them a bundle of flowers as we did as children on May Day. Ring the doorbell and run away giggling!
Love your writing. Your pictures are just so beautiful. Draws me right back to vacations
On the beautiful island you are so lucky to live on. Thank you for sharing your wonderful life with everyone!
Ever the optimist….a bright ray of sunshine! You have a way of urging us to leave the mundane and our cares behind and visit “fairyland” with you. Thanks Susan for sharing your gift with all of us.
P.S. looking forward to the blueberry angel food cake recipe!
I love the smells of all the blooms this time of year, I take my cue from you Susan and clip sweet smells from branches and shrubs all around the neighborhood.. “the best things in life are free”… Happy Spring Susan
Our spring here in North Carolina is into the azalea, iris and lilac phase now. Our daffodils, tulips and dogwoods are mostly done. Pollen everywhere!
I sure enjoy your blog!
Thanks for the lovely blog post. Nothing is blooming yet here in northern Wisconsin. I would love to be entered in your giveaway. Thanks for your wonderful blog.
I have just discovered your beautiful blog and enjoy my inbox so much more because of you! What a lovely give away! I’ve neither of these books so if I win, I think I will be just a wee bit selfish (just this once!) and keep them myself 🙂
Thank you for your photographic poetry! I own your “Autumn” book, and I love it! It would make me so happy to add two more to my little library. Thank you for your beautiful, inspiring blog.
Love both those books. A good friend gave a copy of “Girlfriends” to another friend in our quilt group just the other day. (She had found it in the Assistance League Thrift Shop among the donated items; how could anyone part with it unless you died and it was your son donating it …then maybe?!) I was so happy for the receiver because I could imagine the fun she was going to have reading it.
Congratulations on reaching THE END! It will be THE BEGINNING FOR THE REST OF US SOON:>)
Judy Tracy, Newport Beach, CA
A wonderful post today! Thank you for the lovely pictures. . . . Thank you also for always sharing give aways with us. . . .such fun. Wishing you a perfect day. . . .
. . . .and that recipe sounds like it is going to be wonderful. . . .as blueberries always are!
I have and love your books, Girlfriends Forever and Summer, but I have granddaughters who don’t have them and would LOVE them. I love the idea of passing down Susan Branch things to the younger generation. Yours is such a beautiful world.
Loved the post. Thanks for another close-up of your painting for an unofficial lesson in Susan Branch Watercolor Technique. Also, I would love to have either book. It’s so rude how the library here makes me give them back.
LOL!
When I receive your blog, I feel that I can live in a new place for a few minutes. Here in Virginia our dogwood trees are in full bloom, but their bloom time will last longer for me because I will get to see yours when mine are all spring grean leaves. My brick home was constructed only eight years ago and in the midst of a forest. I love to visit yours with the charm of history and the nearness of the ocean. I have no cat because my husband has an allergy, but I can enjoy the antics of yours. Your friends live close on Martha’s Vineyard and you can have tea. I just spent days in a cabin in the Blue Ridge Mountains with six “girls” and all day yesterday at a botanical garden with 72. My dear husband doesn’t make a fire every morning, but he picks up our baby granddaughter Stella for us to enjoy all day. Alas, I cannot draw or paint, but I can feel the joy of the brush in my hand and the warmth of the tea in my throat, and I don’t even have to get up at 4:30! I am glad I am one of the girlfriends. (Hello to you all!)
You have way of bringing much joy to our days! Thanks so much! Becky in Oklahoma
Love blueberries! As does my amazing daughter. Her only child, her Son, is going off to college! She’s amazing, and I know she would love your books! We shall keep her busy baking and preparing care packages for my Grandson! Thank you for the beauty! Hope your day is thrilling! 🙂
Susan … I’d love a book! I loved this post with all the wonderful, springy photographs! Sue wish I could paint like you do …. fantastic! Carol
My “heart took wings” as I read your blog, Susan. The chance to win one of your books is an added bonus! I really appreciate the explanation of “tunnel vision” as you worked on “A Fine Romance”! As you submitted your last page, so my older son submitted his PhD dissertation for English. He submitted all 295 pages on his birthday, Friday, April 26, 2013! Hallelujah!!! What remarkable ACHIEVEMENTS for BOTH of you!!! We have bought our plane tickets to Seattle for his University of Washington graduation in June. It will be momentous for us, his family…so much more momentous for him! (Yes, I will pack lots of tissues!) When I spoke to him the next day, he described being in a state of “shell shock”. Can’t wait to celebrate with him! Ohhh, btw, I intend to celebrate your “graduation”, too, at our local book signing! 😀
I understand that shell shock! Tell him Happy Birthday and CONGRATULATIONS!
I love the happy surprise of finding your new blog update via email. You’re an inspiration. The pictures always bring a smile, whether rain/snow/sun/flower/kitties or the challenge of a new recipe! “Here is the official request for the Blueberry Angel food Cake!”…that sounds like a little piece of heavenly springtime. Happy almost May! 🙂
Love, love, love your website, can’t call it a blog…it’s much too pretty for that. Have ordered A Fine Romance and am already looking forward to curling up on the couch with it and a cup of tea next Fall.
Thank you for all that you share…you are an inspiration!
I thought we might be doing that, so I put a fire in the fireplace and a teapot on the very first page of the book!
So glad you are 100% better Susan.
What a wonderful blog and what a great post. It warms my heart. I will walk away with the Happy Gene in my body and I just know it will last, and last, and last. So thank you.
If I happen to be the lucky one Vanna chooses out of all your girlfriends out here in Blogville I will be thrilled! I do not have Girlfriends Forever and I would love to have a brand new copy – signed by the author! But I do have Summer Book so that would be a girlfriend’s birthday gift.
Enjoy spring and I hope you will continue to enjoy celebrating completion of another book. (now 100% complete, how fun is that?) I loved reading the Editor’s comments in one of your earlier posts. We can all attest to the fact that you ARE charming, so how could you not write a charming book?!
Hugs,
One of your Missouri girlfriends
xoxo Deb, so nice thank you!!
Love those gorgeous photos Susan–can’t help but smile! Our magnolia is flowered and I’m waiting on the lilacs. Even the branches broken by the snow here in Connecticut have flower buds. I couldn’t bear to cut them off. Are you sure Jack hasn’t been watching Lion King? He’s so cute acting all regal high on his mountain. And, to him, the refrigerator is just like a mountain. Thanks always for sharing your joyous home and family and yummy recipes (can’t wait).
Oh, I would so love to be right thre with you but reading your post is a good second. I love all the care you give to your work! Thanks for caring.
Your little corner of the world is a lovely place these days! Thank you for sharing it with us!
I can’t wait until our trees begin to flower here in Michigan! And to smell the viburnum…
Thank you for these beautiful spring photos–they bring hope to what’s been a seemingly endless winter!
Thank you, Susan, for the beautiful “spring” is coming pictures. Unfortunately, in Florida there is no spring. We go right from “cooler” temps to 89 degrees, which it already was 3 or 4 weeks ago. Hopefully, one of these years, I will be able to return to the Northeast.
I would LOVE to win the Summer Book. Is it still available for purchase on your web site? If not, maybe you could have more printed.
Also loved seeing Jack again.
Can’t wait to try your blueberry angel food cake.
Isabel
Susan,
Glad to hear you are feeling well. So enjoyed your flowering tree pictures. Ours have quite a ways to go yet – just starting to get little leaves. Funny how when we’re so involved with a project other things seem to pale in comparison. I can relate, only on a much smaller scale (because I’ve never written a book). I guess that’s what keeps us focused and moving forward though. Yes, it is such a beautiful world out there! That blueberry angel cake looks soo– good! Your “How to go to a Tea Party” reminds me of the tea parties I have with my 2 and a half year old grandaughter when she comes to visit. Had to go and read it again – cute! Enjoy the rest of your day!
Jan
Oh Please Please…. maybe this time.
You may sign it to me..Gail
thank you so much….
I hope I hope….
Ah, Spring. It looks a little farther along there than here but we made great strides the last two days. I am not even going to think about the forecast for 40s and snow/rain mix for later this week-if I don’t think about it, it won’t come, right? Count me in for the books and the recipe! Perhaps the recipe can be the prize for us all after Vanna does her job?
Good idea, Rita! A very nice “consolation prize”!!! 🙂
I’m so glad your tunnel vision is gone along with your crummy cold! Can you see me now? Loved all the “springtime on the Island” pictures and your words make me almost able to smell the ocean, even way down here in South Carolina near the mountains. I’m looking out into my garden where the roses and azaleas are competing for attention, along with the iris. The last of the dogwood blooms are raining to the ground like so many snowflakes now. I don’t have either one of your give-away books in my collection of Susan Branch favorites so the chance to win them is very exciting! Thanks for being so generous! As for that blueberry angel food cake ~ yes please!! I’d love the recipe when you’re ready to share.
Barbara
Coming soon Barbara! Thank you!
I have been down all week with a sinus infection and bronchitis. To add insult to injury the weather has been unseasonably cold and rainy. Your pretty flower photos have reminded me that there is a Spring at the end of my tunnel. Thank you for your blog. It always seems to brighten my day!
Might as well be sick when its rainy, feeling good again when the sun comes out — get well soon Mary!
A big hello to all the girlfriends! Should I be so lucky as to win the books, I will give one to my friend who also follows your lovely blog and keep the other one. Can I just add that I can’t resist a pretty pink kitty nose?
Then you are one of the lucky ones.♥ Pink eraser noses, cool and damp, perfect.
I went on a garden tour yesterday ( here in Central Califronia) and saw many lovely plants, garden designs, and inspiration, but once again you remind me how it really is the little things that we find beautiful and makes us light hearted. Thanks for the mini, joy filled break! If I am lucky enough to be chosen for the drawing, I know 2 ladies I will “regift” your books to. They will be surprised and very appreciative. Isn’t it nice to give things you hold dear away to others! The ultimate joy! Thanks, gf.
Thanks Susan for a wonderful Sunday. You inspire me every day. In fact, I completed a first draft of my own novel recently due to your uplifting encouragement through this blog. Would love to WIN your lovely books ! I know both would inspire me always. Thanks especially for Jack and Girl. Glad you are feeling well and healthy, Barb
Congratulations Barbara!
Susan,
As usual a wonderful and beautiful post. Loved the video on flour! Isn’t it true that we copy our moms or grandmothers style of doing things-LOL I’m so excited for the giveaway, it will be a treasure for whoever wins! We all love your books, paintings, thoughts, and family tidbits. Thanks again 🙂
Claudette
So glad your feeling better. Congratulations on your book! Been working in the yard today. Feel so fresh. Love every season.
Oh, how I wish we were there for a “gentle” spring. We have 85 degrees again today in Northern California, a bit too quick into summer for me and for my yard. The blooms are panting today! I love your books, and would love to add them to my treasures.
What a wonderful post this is for us, Susan! Spring is here in Virginia but for the most part, still chilly. Through your writing and pictures, I can smell the fragrance of beautiful MV in Spring ♥♥♥ I will always associate daffodils with the Islands up there, even though we have our festivals down here.
Can’t wait for your book! I will be sharing a copy with my mom who is now in assisted living with moderate dementia and after having lost her second husband to cancer back in January. She has had a tough go, but she is in an absolutely beautiful, 44 resident home on property where her sitting room overlooks pastures and horses and flowering dogwoods. She is adjusting slowly after living in her same home since 1957, and she enjoys all of your paintings and blog posts that I send to her. The resident one-eyed orange rescue cat sleeps on her lap and has taken a real shine to her. She continues to give and brighten her world – and you brighten hers 🙂 – so thank you! Happy Spring!!!
p.s. speaking of books, have you read “Homer’s Odyssey” by Gwen Cooper? She adopted a blind kitten, and it’s a miraculous and true account of their adventures and the lessons she learned from life with him. I know it was published a few years ago, but I picked it up on a whim when I saw it in a local bookstore. Great read ♥
I haven’t read it, but I wrote it down! Thanks Mari!
I love everything about you Susan Branch! I can’t wait to receive your new book which I’ve ordered. Perhaps someday we will meet. Happy spring!
Thank you again for encouraging ” wish I could/would” people. Just reading this post and living thru your writing… the drive you have to reach your goals, enjoying nature along the journey and the small things like your tea, kitten, your time with husband makes me feel like “If Susan can do ALL of this you can do the small things you have on you list”. Do you grow herbs with success? If you do please share. Looking forward to the cake recipe. I have never met an angel food cake I didn’t like. Susan , this summer I am blessed to have our 8 year old granddaughter and 13 year old niece for a week. I plan to build the week around artist and authors ( both girls have an insatiable love for the written word and unbelievable readers). Which of your books would you suggest as their “1st”! I plan to share you story, your art, you blog ….it all. I want to be the one that introduces “you” to them.
Glad your view finder has been able to open up again.
I grow herbs, with varying degrees of success depending on which ones. I planted our chives over 20 years ago, and they come up faithfully every year, the first thing we “harvest” from the garden – they are out there right now and they have wonderful purple flowers you can chop and toss into green salads. Lemon thyme is probably one of the most delicious things imaginable. All thyme is fun because it blooms so prettily. Rosemary, depending on where you are, is a great plant. In California ours is almost as big as a VW bug! But here we have to bring it in during the winter. Basil is good, especially in the sunshine, Cilantro likes cool weather, so does parsley. I think your girls would love the Girlfriend Book if you can find it, it’s about us!
Thank you for the herb hints …on way to our favorite nursery! Will try to find the Girlfriend book for my “girls”. Can’t wait to share “YOU” with them.
It is 80 degrees here in northern CA, and I am in the garden planting. Had to come in & look up a few new plants, had to stop by your website and whallah, a new post from you! Happy day! Your posts always make me smile, and your new trees sound lovely. Thank you for a yet another shot of optimism and the knowledge that there are lives as lovely as those I create in my idealistic brain.
My favorite kind of brain.
It is 80 degrees here in northern CA, and I am in the garden planting. Had to come in & look up a few new plants, had to stop by your website and whallah, a new post from you! Happy day! Your posts always make me smile, and your new trees sound lovely. Thank you for a yet another shot of optimism. It is nice to know that there are places as lovely as those my mind creates.
I do not have either book so would keep for me but would share if required :)))))
No requirements as you are just as deserving (maybe more) than your share-person. 🙂
Hello Susan and all the Girlfriends out there! I have given at least eight “Girlfriends Forever” as gifts over the years (always with cookies… this book needs to be read with cookies). I was sad, indeed, when I discovered that it is out of print, but I’ve been persistent and pursued them on ebay, or wherever I can find them. It would be lovely if I were to win the signed copy…. and then I would pass my own copy to a dear friend. Thank you.
pretty please, can we have the recipe for the blueberry cake? A few minutes ago I just took out of the oven a pineapple angel food cake. WW points 2 per serving. All it is is a box of angel food cake and 1 20 oz can of crushed pineapple and bake at 350. Yum. I’d love the blueberry cake recipe!
Love your pictures of all your spring blooms! I am loving looking around my yard at all of the green popping up!
It’s such a rainy and cold day here, so it was wonderful to see such bright and happy spring pictures. Your emails lift my mood instantly!
Love the daffodils, Susan! We are still waiting for ours here in Wisconsin! As if daffodils aren’t enough, our little family is also waiting for a new little bundle due to arrive around May Day! What a wonderful time for a baby!!! Thrilled about ” your new baby” (the book!) and thank you for the giveaway-great idea!
Congratulations Stephanie, a new baby coming just in time for Mother’s Day!
What a delightful tale! Thank you for sharing!
Here in Sweden we have been waiting for spring for what seems a very long time, but finally, the daffodils are blooming and the grass is emerging from the cold ground and our days are lengthening. Yeah!
So glad to hear that you are over your cold; must have been an especially nasty one. Happy to hear that you can enjoy the beauty of spring on your island!
Wishing you a day filled with joy, Delores
Hello Delores in Sweden! Happy spring to you!
We have waited so long here in Michigan for Spring, it is finally getting warmer.
Your pictures of the flowers make me smile. I would love the books. I have ordered your new book, can’t wait to see it.
Wishing Rosemary enjoyed being an inside cat as much as Jack and Girl Kitty do. In the meantime, I’ll pretend through your blog posts. I have shared your blog and such with a girlfriend to the point that she gave me your calendar for Christmas, and now she is on your e-news list! Her birthday is in 2 weeks ~ wouldn’t winning your book and getting it signed to her be the coolest birthday surprise ever! Yea, I thought so, too!
Sherry B.
Tell her I said Happy Birthday! xo
Hi Susan, First of all glad your feeling better. I can’t wait to get A Fine Romance in the mail, I fell in love with England when I was there. I have something funny to tell you, when I turned 40 my best friend got me Girlfriends Forever, we are both fans of your and I got her the book when she turned 40. Well fast forward 10yrs. and guess what she got me for my 50th b-d, yes she did she gave me Girlfriends Forever again, I didn’t have the heart to tell her she gave it to me 10yrs. ago, she still doesn’t know unless she see’s it here and she might. So I was thinking that if my name gets picked I would take The Summer Book since I don’t have it and someone else could get Girlfriends Forever since I have two copies 🙂 Thanks for always making my day a little brighter!
That’s funny! 🙂
Isn’t Spring wonderful!…I wish that I could live on your island, but….OH, yes I do live there with you in fact…everytime you post your beautiful photos and write your wonderful notes to us..I am really there with you…
Can’t wait to have “our” book in my hot little hands…glad that you are finished and are well…
xoxo
Sue
Thank you for your wonderful blog today. Spring has finally sprung here in England and everything seems so much more hopeful. We do indeed have much to be thankful for.
I hope you have a wonderful, long spring that lasts until next fall!
“Say something, Honey”……. CUT! HHHHAAAA!!!! He must have a great sense of humor!
Thank you for getting me in the spring feeling and out of the winter doldrums!!! Glad you are feeling better! HAPPY MAY DAY!! (Almost!).
My mother and I HAD to scatter May baskets!! I still send them in her memory. 🙂
Blessings!
Nan
It’s the sweetest tradition!
Susan – I am absolutely giddy!!! I just got back from Wal-Mart and what did I find in the book section!!!!! “Grandma Tell Me Your Story” and “Homemade Recipe Keeper” – I grabbed them like they were million dollar bills!!! I couldn’t believe it. I am calling the store manager and telling them to get more of your beautiful creations in their store. I can’t wait to sit down and look at them more closely – I didn’t even put them in the cart, I carried them, afraid they would disappear in front of my eyes. Okay, I’m calmer now….
Your blog today is fantastical!! The glorious colors of spring and the quilts on the line and wonderful Jack – what a beautiful thing to see after my HUGE buy at WalMart. Thank you for such beauty and inspiration.
Your books are absolutely delightful & inspirational as well. The giveaway with your personal autograph would make my day…..keep posting those beautiful photos & personal stories. Thanks!
Beautiful post Susan…I’m trying to get rid of some excess baggage myself. Here’s a link to a charming, touching video that will inspire you to no end…and why getting a bit of exercise and eating healthy vegetables should be a way of life. check out vimeo.com/31733784 and I promise you will be inspired!!!
PS I hope I win 🙂 xoxo your friend Jacqui
Reminds me of my mom Jacqui — she’s a mere 83, but does her stretching on the floor everyday — she was doing Jack LaLanne in the 1950’s, and never stopped! Thank you! xoxo
Do you have a BJ’s on the Island? If your garden center does not have any forsythia they are selling them at BJ’s. Big, tall beautiful ones, I got them for my Mum last year for Mother’s Day and they are growing so nicely in her yard.
No Bj’s, in fact, no chain stores of any kind. No Taco Bell, No Micky Dee’s. No Anthropologie! We are going off island to go shopping next week, I will check it out!
Good luck
What a beautiful post! Just went for a walk in Central Park where there were hundreds of blooming trees and bluebells! Every been to New York in the springtime? Its a MUST!
Central Park is a true miracle in New York. Just love it, and walk there every time we go. Lucky to see it in the spring!
Your blog is delightful and always brings a smile and cheerfulness. So glad to hear that you are feeling well again. It is no fun to be sick, or recovering from surgery, which is what I’ve been doing since January. Reading your posts, even those from inside the tunnel, were always a pick-me-up! I am looking forward to the new book – my copy is on order – and reading all about the trip to England. It would be a dream come true to be able to follow you there, on the Queen Mary, no less! Thanks for all your hard work, and for sharing your adventures in such a beautiful way!
I’m hoping you’re getting better Carla — spring is a good time to do that! xo
Thank you for the beautiful and inspirational pictures. It’s 95 degrees where I live and getting hotter each day. Spring here is so fleeting, so I’m living vicariously through you. I’d love to win your beautiful books. Thanks so much for the opportunity! xo, Sheena
Thanks for the chance to win.
Susan, I would love to give the “Girlfriends” book to my BFF. Reading your blog helps me believe Spring WILL come — even though we’re looking for yet more snow here in Colorado!
Susan,
I feel the exact same way when I get to the end of the spring term and summer break is just, sigh, hours away — like this week! Once my grades are posted, I celebrate with an eclair and creme soda! I sit on my swing, watch the hummers zoom to and from the feeder, and listen to the roosters sing to their hens.
Enjoy your freedom! Isn’t life wonderful?
You have singing roosters? 🙂
Indeed, I do. They have this pretty little song they sing to their hens. It is a combination hum/whistle. They only do it when it is bed time. Perhaps they are courting the girls a little? Is this when I tell you that goats hum to their kids at night? 🙂 They really, really do!
Thank you again for bringing Spring into focus for all of us. Lovely Photos that are always appreciated!
Hi Susan,
Glad to hear spring has sprung for you! Thank you for your darling update…I always love to know what you have been doing. I’m so nosy but, in a friendly manner. I love “all things Susan” and have quite a book collection. Since I drive a beetle convertible, the cover on your Girlfriends Forever book is my fave….so ME! I’d like to say that if I won I would gift one my friends but, most likely I would keep it por moi. My birthday is May 11th, and I so need a little something from Susan…just sayin’.
“We love you Suu-san, oh yes we do,
We love you Suu-san, and we’ll be truuuuue!
When you don’t write to us, we’re blue!
Oh, Suu-san, we LOVE you!!!!”
I think I even know the tune to that song! 🙂 LOL, thank you Jana!
I loved reading your beautiful post today. I am recovering from the nastiest cold that I have had in a long time. I now live in Florida, which can be lovely but do I miss the beauty of spring. So glorious after a long cold gray winter.
I would love to win one of your books. I love the ones that I have and haven’t some as gifts so adding another to my collection would be wonderful.
Keep filling our days with beauty and joy.
Love you blogs! Look forward to the recipes, thoughts and of course the photos.
We too are ordering plants to brighten our garden here in Cambria, Ca. Coming soon two new wisteria’s, can’t wait. Hope to win the books as I just told my daughter the Summer Book was one of your’s that I don’t have.
Susan, Maybe I could have you sign the Girlfriends Forever book to my friend and she would have two copies also! Ha,ha
Can’t wait to try your Blueberry Angel Food Cake! Looks Yummy!
I’ve enjoyed your Blog’s for about 2yrs now and followed you through
England and Beatrice Potter ( had to buy the movie with Renee Zellwegerr).
Can’t wait for September to get your new book. It will be like reliving my trip
to the Cotswold! Thanks for Sharing with me!
We’ll do some more things, soon as I think of them! Glad to have you along Mary!
Oh, how excited I am for your new book! And I would love to win either of these beauties as well! What a grand giveaway!!!
How sweet of you to offer your books to your readers. Like everyone else, I would love to have them. I have loved your artwork for years and have only recently discovered your blog. I so admire people with artistic talent – I look at the lovely drawings and such and wonder why I can’t do such things! Alas, my talents lie in logic and math – I can reconcile even the most disheveled bank book. So, instead, I look at the artwork of others whose talents lie in that direction and daydream a little while my three kitties are curled up on the couch beside me – one at my feet, one at my side and one above my head. What would we do without our furry babies!
Thank you for your letters to us while we wait for our new book!
I’m impressed with the logic and math!
Oh, dear Susan, you are a gift to us indeed! Your thoughts and hopes and dreams are so real to all of us! I would so much love to be chosen to receive a copy of “Girlfirends Forever” to give to my dearest childhood friend who is now fighting peritoneal cancer. She manages to keep a “glass half full” attitude through all that she must endure. Your lighthearted posting and photographs were so perfect to read today! Like Victoria, who commented that she was celebrating a 67th birthday, I wonder how the days have flown by so fast! I too, am now Medicare-worthy! Bless you for all the goodness you share with us! You are a heartwarmer for sure! Sincerely, ~~karen~~
Love your “spring fling” photos! I have the Girlfriends book but not the Summer one. Would love to have it, Vanna! 🙂
What fun to read how you are enjoying spring. Our trees are leafed out, spring bushes all bloomed out and now the roses are putting on a beautiful show. We’re enjoying fresh greens from the garden. Unfortunately the snakes are out also! Love reading about your seasons and joys.
Enjoy your blog so much! You bring such a smile to my face with the pictures of beautiful flowers and of course your adorable cat. I have enjoyed your stickers and stationery items for years. I’m still one of those people who enjoy writing snail mail letters to my best friend and always watch for your items. So glad you are feeling better.
Oh, I just adore your books Susan. I love sitting w/them and pouring over the pages and recipes and sayings….always cheers me and gets me excited for the new season etc!
Would love to get my hands on the Summer book and have an awesome girlfriend who would love the Girlfriends book ( I have my own copy that is worn and loved 🙂
Thanks!!!!
Congratulations on finishing your last page. I can’t wait to get A Fine Romance. It will take me days and days and many cups of tea to get through it – I’m going to savor it. Happy Spring, Girlfriends!
I’ve been anxiously awaiting your post and was so happy to see it today! I would love to win your books, I can’t wait until a Fine Romance comes out…and your blueberry angel food cake recipe!
So glad you are feeling better! Thank you for the beautiful pictures! They give me energy to spring clean! Oh.. please pick me…heehee!!
Thank you for all the beautiful pictures this morning!!! I always enjoy reading your posts. Excited about the upcoming Blueberry Angel Food cake recipe, I could almost taste it looking at your pictures!!! Happy to hear you are back in your groove!!
What a beautiful, beautiful day on your homestead. I wish I had a clothesline to hang my quilts on. Love to see them blowing in the breeze. It looks like spring has finally arrived on the island, isn’t it beautiful? We’ve had spring here on the south tip of Vancouver Island for a few weeks now and everyday is a delight. A small bird made a nest in one of my planters that sit on the deck railing just outside the kitchen door. The babies (three of them) are almost ready to fly the nest. It’s been quite interesting watching them grow.
So glad you’ve finally finished everything for the book, it’s going to be a long wait until fall, but then, oh how lovely it will be savouring each page. Your giveaway is great, I’ve neither of those books, so, of course, would love to win. Would also love the blueberry cake recipe in time for Mother’s Day. Even though it is my day, I always like to make a cake, and everyone else brings the dinner.
Susan, I’ve been dogwood hunting. Last year I got a weeping cherry tree about 6 ft or so and I couldn’t wait for it to bloom. Alas, it seems to have died. It was given to me as a gift and the friend had her gardener guy plant it. When he did he left the burlap on around the root and I told him I didn’t want him to, but he insisted it was the right thing to leave it on. So, I’m not sure what caused my poor tree do give up, but with my VA clay soil, and trapped roots – I suspect that is it. I was just wondering what you and Joe prefer with your new flowering trees. I was thinking of a dogwood now instead of another cherry tree. I’m actually rather indecisive. I thought a pink dogwood, but its not really ‘native’ either. Oh, I just don’t know what to do. But I loved your blossom branches in the vase. I’m in the middle of adding all sorts of new plants. A friend is moving and we went over to dig up some favorites of hers she wanted to go to a good home. The new owners are doing a tear down but has promised to keep much of the garden, but much will be lost. Okay, I’m rambling now! thanks for the pix. xo t
You can’t really lose with any of those trees. Pale pink or white flowers shine bright in a garden. Darker pink is warmer. But next time ask the person to dig the hole twice as big as it needs to be, and loosen the soil around it very well and fill it half way with mulch, compost, planting mix, something like that, to give those roots a start. He can loosen or cut holes in the burlap to make it easier for the roots to go free. When you water, water long, slow and deep, so the roots don’t have to reach up to get at the water, you want them to anchor deep. If you get a half-way decent freeze, you can choose an apple tree, and double your pleasure, flowers and fruit! Good luck Thea.
I would love love love to win. I drop everything every time you email… I enjoy my visits with you so much. Thank you for sharing so much. <3
Your yard was already beautiful and to hear what all you are adding makes it sound like it will be a fairyland! Your blogs make me feel like I’m there to enjoy it all with you. Many thanks since we don’t have all the blossoms.
I figure if enough of us girlfriends ask for the recipe for the blueberry cake you’ll have to give it to us or we’ll rebel!
I’d be honored to win one of your books. I have just the spot for it in my revamped kitchen (filled with all the antiquely things you’ve told us about in your blogs) I’ll have to send you a photo, I’m so proud of it.
Glad you’re over your nasty cold and on your way to a new skinnier you.
Love from the girl with the Peter Rabbit guest room too.
Anne Marie from New Richmond, Oh
I feel the rebelling and am waving the white flag immediately! 🙂 I’ll put it up soon!