Hello my darling girls … I can NOT begin to tell you how happy I am to be home. I’m going to put on some ★ MUSICA★ for us . . .
This is the view from out the windows over my kitchen sink. It’s good to go away for three months, then when you get home you are extra grateful with cup 
runnething over all over the place. Alive! Alive! We made it home alive! We were living as birds on a wire out there. The big wheelers and oil trucks did not kill us after all! We did not slip off the road into a ditch. The house is still here! My cozy quilts, candles, the stove! The cooking! The cats! The TV clicker we know how to work! Nothing changed! A long delicious winter is coming. Downton Abbey is coming! Very happy . . . but we were tired. It was a long trip ~ we didn’t realize how long until we stopped. We’ve been going to bed early, smooshing in our cold bedroom with rattling windows under big feathery quilts. Last night for dinner we had chicken soup, a wedge of ice-cold iceberg lettuce with chopped tomatoes 
and creamy-lumpy blue cheese on it, and a big sweet potato. In front of the fire, all quiet and crackling, log falling, embers breaking. It’s freezing here. We ate the skin on the potato too, because it was organic ~ I buttered and salted it and I cooked it hot at 425° so the skin would caramelize a little bit and be extra flavorful and we didn’t have to put any extra butter on it because it already tasted so sweet and good. It wasn’t fast food. It wasn’t something from our ice chest. It was real! The heat from our stove warmed the kitchen. We are coming to ourselves again, and this Friday is the big 
yearly Christmas dance our friends have given at the yacht club every year 
since 1979. So in addition to sleeping, napping, unpacking, eating right, playing with Jack and Girl and getting organized, I’ve been trying to figure out what to wear. So far it’s a ballet-length black taffeta full skirt, with short boots, a v-neck beaded velvet top and a separate brown fur peter pan-type collar. The goal is to look as good as possible, but even more than that, to be warm. The secret is in the jewelry which is lots of shiny jet beads and gold earbobs in the manner of Scarlett O’Hara in Gone with the Wind. This party gets so crowded no one sees you from the neck down anyway. I keep threatening to wear my jammie bottoms and shearling slippers with my velvet top and jewelry. No one would notice. But that’s the outfit, unless I change my mind. The earbobs are a for-sure. Right now I’m typing with one dark reddish brown fingernail . . . trying out the color for the outfit. Ladeedah, ladeedah. The life of a person with a house, a bathroom and closets. Today, we are going to the movies. Buttered popcorn at 3:45 ~ a matinee, my favorite! We’re going to see About Time. I hear we’re going to love it, don’t tell me if you’ve seen it ~ not until tomorrow.
I had a really nice thing happen the other day. I was asked to do an interview by Jennifer Carroll who has an online magazine called Celebrating Everyday Life
(what’s not to love about that title). She asked the best questions, about A FINE ROMANCE, but she covered lots of other topics too, like “who would you have for dinner if you could have anyone?” I liked that question! Had to think! I answered them as best I could, and then I thought, this would make a nice post for the blog. I think she’s planning to run the interview in January or February, I’ll be sure to let you know… in the meantime here’s the preview for you, my Girlfriends . . . some of you will recognize these answers, but so many people are writing to say they just found my books or my blog … we have new Girlfriends, and this is especially for them . . . here goes: Jennifer: When did your love of England begin?
me: Little by little, mostly through reading, art and seeing old movies, clues of interest kept coming up.
England is an “empire of imagination.” I think we crossed this bridge in our car!But those clues were like the lambs scattered on the sides of English hills, one here, one there, they did not come in a clump. My mind was slowly cataloguing them. Over time I became more and more curious about the culture, then about the history and learning about my English ancestors as I discovered them.
It was a very slow unfolding, but after seeing my first English garden and realizing there were hundreds of them all attached to ancient castles, cottages and manor houses; realizing I could visit and even stay at some of the homes of my literary and artistic heroes . . .
. . . seeing the countryside where all the history I’d read about came alive because it’s all still there, nothing has changed; learning more about the interesting lives of people I’ve known from their art and writings, and then the surprise and serendipity of learning about people and lives I’d never heard of before (but should have), I became more and more enthralled more and more inspired. Each time we have gone over, we found ourselves deeper in love and always learning something new.
Jennifer: A Fine Romance – what was the creative process of writing and illustrating the book like?
me: I wrote the whole book while we were traveling for the two months in England, as a diary, one day at a time as it unfolded, mostly while we sat in gardens and pubs. Sometimes I would paint at night. When we came home to Martha’s Vineyard, I rewrote it in my good writing, and put in the photos of the Queen Mary 2, of Beatrix Potter’s House, of the gardens and pubs; I drew the maps, tested the recipes, and added more watercolors. As always with all my books, I just work one page at a time and try to make each page as interesting, fun to read, and as informative and pretty as I can.
It’s a joy, I’ve been so lucky because I love to make things, and I love to share my passions with other like-minded people. Beauty is the very best of life. I love to try and make some to add to all there is.
Jennifer: A Fine Romance has been a runaway hit. Can you tell us your favorite part of being a bestselling author and what has been your biggest challenge in the journey?
me: When Joe and I decided to go to England and keep a diary of the trip, we decided to take all my “blog girlfriends” with us. I told them in a blog posting to get their passports ready and lose some weight, because we were going to 
Every one of these chaise lounges had a Girlfriend on it, but they were so careful — I got out the camera and turned around, boom, they were gone. We did not get caught.
smuggle them aboard the Queen Mary 2 and take them along with us to England and they needed to be as tiny as possible. We would hide them in a lifeboat. It was the joke that ran through all the postings of the trip ~ that they were being so “good and quiet” and no one knew they were all smooshed into our stateroom with us. 
They complained sometimes about being “packed so tightly” in our suitcases as we moved from place to place and about having mash lines on their faces, but they handled all the folding and unfolding very well, and were very quiet when room service came. They liked to dance, and one of them fell into a river on a walk to Ellen Terry’s house, but we all returned safe and sound with memories galore. Whenever I took pictures for the blog (and the future book) I always thought, “What can I show them? What would they like to see?”
They complained sometimes about being “packed so tightly” in our suitcases as we moved from place to place and about having mash lines on their faces, but they handled all the folding and unfolding very well, and were very quiet when room service came. They liked to dance, and one of them fell into a river on a walk to Ellen Terry’s house, but we all returned safe and sound with memories galore. Whenever I took pictures for the blog (and the future book) I always thought, “What can I show them? What would they like to see?”
What will make them laugh, or cry or go ahhh, or go OH! ~ and that awareness of them made it even more fun for me. Previously, I’d written all my books totally alone in my studio with kitties to keep me company. This time I had a whole group of Girlfriends cheering me on. That was my favorite part. When the book was finished, it was “our book.”
I can’t think of any real challenges except
. . . of course, as I am reminding Joe in this photo, the phone never worked while we were there.
Jennifer: What is your favorite region of England? Why?
me: This question is kind of impossible because it’s shockingly beautiful almost every place you go. But, I will say the Yorkshire Dales put a thrill from the tips of my toes to the top of my head . . . positively spiritual with a strong feeling of coming home, tears-in-eyes beauty, the history and sweep of it all. As the wind blows fragrance of wildflower, rain and grass across the vastness of the Dales and the lambs are baaaaing high on a hill, you want to open your arms to the view and draw it all into your heart to keep it there forever.
♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥
Jennifer: You’ve also published several cookbooks. What first drew you to cooking?
me: I helped my mom by making desserts when I was very young, brownies and potato chip cookies for sack lunches for my brothers and sisters. But, really, it was setting the table that truly got me going.
I just loved to set the table, mixing and matching old china dishes, etched colored glasses, putting flowers from my garden in little vases, lace-edged napkins, or the ones I would embroider myself, mixing and matching bowls and silverware, lighting candles and making it pretty. It was like playing house. But then, it was difficult to get people to come look at my pretty table without food on it. They simply did not care. So I learned to cook. And loved the art of it, combining recipes, flavors and trying new things. 
And when I walked into the room carrying a homemade banana cream pie with the flakiest crispiest crust, rolled out on my kitchen table with my wooden rolling pin, just like my Grandma made
with sugared whipped cream and bananas and toasted coconut, my friends would go, “OH MY, look at that, you are wonderful Susan, yum yum yum ~ and the table by the way, it looks so beautiful!” They made me feel so good, I couldn’t wait to do it again. It was the first time I really felt like I had something I could give. It was one of the ways I began to notice it was the little things that made life sweetest.
Later writing books, hoping I could help others experience that wonderful feeling when they brought a homemade banana cream pie into the room, became my passion.
Jennifer: What do you consider your “go-to” dish?
me: With all the cookbooks I’ve written, there are so many recipes that are go-to for me. My Mom’s Spare-ribs and Juice with Onion Pudding (I’m the oldest of eight children so my books have lots of home type dishes) . . .
. . . always has them rolling in the aisles from happiness. I also have the best Apple Crisp recipe alive in the modern world as we know it today. I’ve tested them wherever I go (a rotten job but someone must do it), and this is a true thing if I do say so myself. ♥ Also, crisp-skinned
roasted chicken with my Grandma’s Bread Stuffing. I really could go on all day. A big one-dish casserole of Pork Chops, Apples, and Sweet Potatoes. Cold White Rice Salad scattered with fresh flowers and herbs. My roasted Cranberry Sauce mixed with Orange Marmalade for toast and tea. In my new book, A FINE ROMANCE, there’s a recipe from my English girlfriend Siobhan. It’s her Orange Lavender Polenta Cake, moist with the little crunchy bits, it’s gluten-free and it serves about 24 people so it’s perfect for a tea party. You would like the recipe? Oh yes!
roasted chicken with my Grandma’s Bread Stuffing. I really could go on all day. A big one-dish casserole of Pork Chops, Apples, and Sweet Potatoes. Cold White Rice Salad scattered with fresh flowers and herbs. My roasted Cranberry Sauce mixed with Orange Marmalade for toast and tea. In my new book, A FINE ROMANCE, there’s a recipe from my English girlfriend Siobhan. It’s her Orange Lavender Polenta Cake, moist with the little crunchy bits, it’s gluten-free and it serves about 24 people so it’s perfect for a tea party. You would like the recipe? Oh yes!
Jennifer: Tell me a little about your ideal day at home?
me: I go into my studio very early before it gets light. I close my eyes and meditate and count my blessings which is a good way to start because it usually brings on 
a bout of ecstaticness. I have my tea and maybe it’s snowing outside and all I can hear is the furnace humming and the patter of snowflakes on the window. I swirl my watercolor brush in water then load it with paint, put it on paper, and watch the color spread. I write in my diary, make a list or work on a new book. Later, I take Joe his tea, the snow melts and we put on our big jackets, mittens and hats and walk out to the water through the woods (we live on an island so there’s lots of woods and lots of water) . . .
a bout of ecstaticness. I have my tea and maybe it’s snowing outside and all I can hear is the furnace humming and the patter of snowflakes on the window. I swirl my watercolor brush in water then load it with paint, put it on paper, and watch the color spread. I write in my diary, make a list or work on a new book. Later, I take Joe his tea, the snow melts and we put on our big jackets, mittens and hats and walk out to the water through the woods (we live on an island so there’s lots of woods and lots of water) . . .
We come home and eat a healthy breakfast. I shoot ponytail bands across the room for my kitty Jack and he retrieves them; we do this about a hundred times. I take my book 
to lunch, sit at a corner table next to a fire, eat and read. Then a nap. Then a bubble bath. Then Joe and I make dinner together and friends come over and we laugh and drink wine.
to lunch, sit at a corner table next to a fire, eat and read. Then a nap. Then a bubble bath. Then Joe and I make dinner together and friends come over and we laugh and drink wine. I normally don’t get all those things in one day, a nap and a bubble bath and lunch with my book? Not all on the same day. But those are the things I love best and you said ideal. I have red letter days, red letter weeks, etc. Where I get to do the things I love in moderation.
Jennifer: What’s your favorite way to make ‘an everyday’ feel special?
me: Everyday ~ perfect for your magazine! I would say the Bubble Bath. With the book. Then the diary, and of course the kitties and Joe make every day special.
♥
Jennifer: Describe your favorite celebration…
me: I love Valentine’s Day. I do think it was invented for women, so I like to make sure all my Girlfriends feel loved on that day. I also love to give Tea Parties. There are so many creative things you can do with decorating the table! I’m a Christmas person too… I don’t think there is a holiday I don’t like! I like non-holidays too, which all seem to revolve around winter and breakfast. Sunday breakfast in bed. Winter breakfast parties with friends.
Jennifer: Can you share your philosophy when it comes to entertaining?
me: I go by the six senses. Does it smell good, look good, sound good, feel good and taste delicious? (The sixth sense is Imagination.) If all those bases are 
covered, you can’t ask for any more. Hot chocolate with homemade marshmallows in front of a crackling fire, dinner under the arbor draped with twinkle lights in the garden, cinnamon spice wafting from the oven, old music playing, if the church bells ring across the street, then it’s perfect. Most important to remember: It’s not what’s on the plate that counts, it’s what’s on the chairs. Your friends and family. A party is a gift you give the ones you love.
covered, you can’t ask for any more. Hot chocolate with homemade marshmallows in front of a crackling fire, dinner under the arbor draped with twinkle lights in the garden, cinnamon spice wafting from the oven, old music playing, if the church bells ring across the street, then it’s perfect. Most important to remember: It’s not what’s on the plate that counts, it’s what’s on the chairs. Your friends and family. A party is a gift you give the ones you love.Jennifer: If you could have anyone in the world over for dinner, who would it be?
me: What a wonderful question. I would like Albert Einstein to talk about the spiritual side of his life ~ put his elbows on the table, start talking and not 
stop until he told it all. I know a little but not enough. I’d love a dinner with Elizabeth von Arnim to hear how she was inspired to write her first book (Elizabeth and Her German Garden). I would like Beatrix Potter to talk to me about her childhood. I would love to get caught in a big nor’easter storm with Gladys Taber where the electricity goes off and we light candles and make baked apples in the embers of the fireplace while shadows dance on the wall from the flames. I would love a fashion-show tea party where Diane Keaton models everything she’s ever worn — at the end Greta Garbo would come out wearing the dress she wore in Ninotchka (the white off-the-shoulder sparkly one, the prettiest in all movie history) ~ while Frank 
Sinatra (preferably with Tommy Dorsey’s orchestra) sings It’s Always You.
stop until he told it all. I know a little but not enough. I’d love a dinner with Elizabeth von Arnim to hear how she was inspired to write her first book (Elizabeth and Her German Garden). I would like Beatrix Potter to talk to me about her childhood. I would love to get caught in a big nor’easter storm with Gladys Taber where the electricity goes off and we light candles and make baked apples in the embers of the fireplace while shadows dance on the wall from the flames. I would love a fashion-show tea party where Diane Keaton models everything she’s ever worn — at the end Greta Garbo would come out wearing the dress she wore in Ninotchka (the white off-the-shoulder sparkly one, the prettiest in all movie history) ~ while Frank 
Sinatra (preferably with Tommy Dorsey’s orchestra) sings It’s Always You. One date with Mark Twain, lunch on a rainy afternoon, just the two of us, elbow to elbow, at the Plaza Hotel in New York. That’s the young Sam → in that photo. (I would probably come home and write “Susan Clemens, Mrs. Sam Clemens” a hundred times in my notebook, wondering will he call? Which he won’t because there are no phones, maybe he will write!). After the Plaza, I’d jump through time to pass a tray of orangey-cherryish Old Fashioned’s to everyone at the Algonquin Round Table in the 1920’s (the way to be popular with this crowd, but never saying a word, only listening and praying not to be disillusioned. It’s always dangerous for dreams to truly come true, you take your chances, imagination is a wonderful thing and perhaps all is best left there; in some cases the dream itself might be enough). And that’s all. I’ll just leave you with a few words of wisdom from the genius who should know all about it . . .
Well, I hope there was something of interest for you in this interview. I may have gotten slightly carried away with the dinner parties! Oh well, must get ready to go to the movies . . . bubble bath first, on quest for a red letter day and “being home.” Hope your day is going wonderfully. ♥ Love you all! xoxo
I’m so glad that you are enjoying being home—it was like I was writing it as it is my sentiments exactly after being gone. I cannot imagine how long that trip must have seemed to you but Thank You so much for taking the time to come and meet us all. Merry Christmas to you and Joe as you enjoy “nesting” in your home together during this already frigid winter.
You are so welcome Lynn Marie, thank you for coming along!
I’m laughing about your comment about “the TV clicker that we know how to work.” Yes, it is the familiarities of home that we miss the most…The banana cream pie looks WONDERFUL. How do you keep the bananas on the top from turning brown and how did you remove the calories? Are you going to post a photo of you in the outfit that you are wearing to the dance? It would be fun to see it! Have a good time!
Also, I never heard of anyone eating the skin of sweet potatoes. Do you always eat it? Do you wrap them in foil to bake them?
Now that I can get them organic, I always eat the skin. Vegetable skin is where so many vitamins are. And this one is particularly delicious, filled with flavor. I don’t eat the potato out of it, I cut it so there’s a bite of skin with every bite of potato. I don’t wrap them in foil. I wash them, dry them, poke them with a knife here and there, put butter in my hands like handcream and rub them all over. Wipe the butter off my hands with a paper towel, salt the potato all over, and pop it into the 425* oven. I put a small square of foil on the shelf under the potato because they will drip. And that’s it… an hour or so later, even longer if you can wait, and voila, healthy, filling deliciousness!
I put the bananas on top at the last moment… there are fresh sliced bananas in the bottom on top of the crust, then the pudding, then the whipped cream, with the bananas on top. But none of the Bananas get cooked. I’ll see about that photo Pat!
It is always such a pleasant thing to find you here with a new blog post. The smile that crept across my face when you mentioned “earbobs” absolutely made my day. One of my favorite childhood memories was watching my mama every Sunday morning getting ready for church and picking out just the right pair of earbobs. It’s amazing how many people don’t know what you’re talking about when you mention them, but they’re a big part of my memory book. She wore the kind that you actually had to screw onto your ear! No clips, just tiny screw posts. Thanks for that memory Susan. I’m so very blessed to still have both my parents with me. My sweet daddy is 93 and my mama is 87 and they are both in relatively good health. I never take that for granted and always give thanks for being so blessed. Loved the interview and look forward to the “rest of the story” as Paul would put it. Hope you have a grand time at your party. Happy for you that life is getting back to normal for you, Joe and the kitties. Merry Christmas and much love Susan. (P.S. that pie is to die for!!!)
Love the memory of your mom and her earbobs! Merry Christmas … btw I made that pie the other day and ate the entire leftovers — some bits of crust, thank the Lord, and a mush of whipped cream and bananas — all by myself!!! It’s a good pie.
I can remember my grandmother and she always had her earbobs on, I can remember when she was in a retired home and she would dress everyday, to the nines as my dad would say. she would dress and have her jewelry on and her earbobs on then go to chapel, breakfast, her morning walk and off to the sewing room where she spent time quilting and she was in her 90’s at the time, she lived to be 105 years young.
That’s some very good genes you have there Pat!
that was on my dad’s side of the family, on mom’s side grandma died at age 75 and grandpa was 89 when he passed away. he was the film editor for Gone With the Wind and won the Oscar that year for it.
No kidding, how wonderful Pat. That’s some history!
well my grandpa had an older brother, my uncle or great uncle.. not too sure about that, but he also worked in the film industry as a film editor, he work on Pride and Prejudice; National Velvet, The Thin Man, After the Thin Man, The Women, When women Meet, Anna Karenina, David Coppefield, The Three Musketeers and Marie Antoinette… to name a few. never won an award, but he had a son, my uncle Bob (Robert Kern jr. ) who edited the TV show, Happy Days!!!
What a bunch of fabulous movies, how fun that must have been for him!
Yummo….a delicious, delightful, dandy, dashing post, my dear! xoxo judi
Home. The coziest, most comforting place on the planet, especially when your family (including kitties!) are there with you. So glad you’re home safe and sound, Susan, and relishing everything about it. My favorite blog posts of yours are the ones you write from home. 🙂
Mine too I have to say!
🙂 Still so jealous that my mom got to meet ya in IL and I didn’t. But you wrote me a little note and I have it on my kitchen wall. Love you, sweet Susan!
xoxo Wendy!
Susan, me falling into the river was supposed to be our little secret! I need to get an outfit made entirely out of Wellies material…I’m such a klutz. 🙂
One of many reasons we love you. xo
hey I pulled you out and I think Deb or Lynn tried to drown me!!! LOL!!!
They thought they were saving you. It was warm, the bees were humming, I think it might have been a plot. I don’t know.
^ That made me cry, but in a good way.
xo E.
It makes me happy you’re so happy to be home. You’ve been so generous, giving us yourself for three whole months, you deserve to take as much time as your soul needs to recharge your batteries and enjoy everything you love doing. Wishing you, Joe, Girl, and Jack and wonderfully beautiful Christmas season! Thank you for this wonderful post, it too, made me happy and warm inside. Have fun at the movies with Joe and enjoy that yummy buttered popcorn! ♥
Thank you Marie! It’s pretty darn wonderful to be back in my normal spot!
AAAHHHH….home at last! Love that feeling after a long trip so well expressed by you. It was relaxing just reading about it. I’ll impatiently await the full “Celebrating Everyday Life” interview — January and February seem a long way off. And have to say — I never realized that Samuel Clemens was such a good-looker back in his day – Yowzah!
Welcome Home Susan and Joe!
I know. Yowsah is right. Put it together with the brain you’ve really got something there!
Thank you Susan! This post is just what I (and, I’m guessing, ALL the Girlfriends!) needed…what a happy BOOST to read during this busy, busy time. I love it all, as always, and simply adore the Colette quote – I must do something with that (watercolor? cross stictch? calligraphy?) to have it hanging over my stove as I make “a little magic”.
Wishing you and Joe and kitties (and Girlfriends) a very happy *magic* Christmas!
What amazes me and makes me so happy is that you all take the time to read the blog when you’re all so very busy. Love our connection!
I loved each and every answer and detail. We live….and travel through you and your adventures! Merry Christmas my friend! Warm hugs from Florida, Diane
Merry Christmas back to you Diane!
Hi Susan,
What a nice post and I think that will be a wonderful addition to the magazine. Jen will get a promotion for sure! So glad you are home, I have that same pile of your books right here on my bookcase, plus A Fine Romance.
Idea—- a recipe box to match your tea tin.
Nancy Jo
Oooh, nice idea!
Ooh put me down for one! 😉
Yes! A generous sized recipe box…enough for 30 plus years of recipes. My husband was a pastor and I have parish treasures generous slipped to me when not shared with anyone but family. There are my mom’s recipes brought from Germany and my mother-in-laws using prairie garden and barnyard yield. A wonderful idea!
I’m thinking you might need more than one box! 🙂
My recipe box is literally a wooden box with two shelves and both shelves each hold two rows of recipe cards. The bad news is that they are the small recipe cards. I need one now that holds the larger cards which make it easier to read…(hear strains of the song, “Mother, you are growing old….”) LOL! 🙂
Cozy quilts, chicken soup, a bubble bath and a crackling fire . . . make room for me (minus the bubble bath – that would be weird)!
Susan, I’d like to add that, aside from your wonderful post, I’m just a banana pie away from a good mood.
LOL! OK! but I think the good mood might be closer than that … at least the sense of humor is intact!
Another interesting post! They are always a joy! I think I know how you feel about being home. (I was away from home 31/2 months while you were. Yes…my book came to me there, after being forwarded. Oh, what a joy!!) I love home…everything about being home! There is no other place as sweet. So I’m happy for you that you can be there at your “favorite spot”…and enjoy it all. Your interview was very interesting! Oh…I got my 2014 calendar today…what a pleasure! 🙂
Welcome home to you too! We are so lucky!
Boy, do I wish I lived down the street from you. I would knock at your door with tea in hand and ask to sit by your fireplace while you talked about how wonderful 2013 was for you! What a fun time (plus hard work) you have had and we went right along with you. By the way…..I received an email newsletter from Yankee Magazine yesterday and guess what handsome home and couple appeared??? Yes! You and Joe…..LOVELY! xo
You gave me an idea, I will do that tea, fire and 2013 with Joe after Christmas and before the New Year. That sounds like the perfect way to wrap it up!
You’re kidding! We made the newsletter! How nice. Thanks for telling me Betsy!
Yankee has posted the article on-line: http://www.yankeemagazine.com/article/home-3/susan-branch
Oh that’s wonderful Cathy, thank you for the link!
I have made those pork ribs many times, Susan, and they are always a hit. I love to put the juice over jasmine rice. Your banana cream pie is to die for, just gorgeous and I bet tastes even better! xo
Mmm, over the rice sounds delicious. I hate to say it, and I’ve never written this down before for public knowledge, but when we were little, and cooties were unknown to our family, we kids would dip our spare-rib bones in the leftover juice and just suck it off. THAT’S how much we loved it.
There were no germs or cooties back then, Susan. I’m sure of it…don’t remember hearing about them back then and we are about the same age…they are all a modern invention! LOL! 🙂
Dear Susan,
Oh, I love the snuggling in phase of coming home- and how your perspective of your home is changed for a few moments- seeing it with refreshed eyes. 🙂
So funny, I would have those dinner guests too – particularly Mark Twain as he a huge corner of my heart belongs to him. I’d add Louise Andrews Kent, Frances Hodgson Burnett, NC Wyeth and LM Montgomery too. <3
I hope you two enjoy the movie and the party- love the idea of the jammie bottoms!
xox
Gabi
Love hearing your dinner companions, they are just wonderful!
Enchanting entry, Susan, thank you so much for sharing with us Girlfriends. And welcome homey-home-home!
My “who would you invite to dinner” party would include Thomas Jefferson, Leonardo DaVinci, JFK, and Walt Disney. Then I would just sit there and soak up all that genius!
Your blogs make me so happy. 🙂
Sarah
That would also work for me Sarah!
Right now my list of “dream team” dinner guests has exactly 30 names on it [and always growing]. I guess we’re talking “buffet” at this point [haha]. But if I had to limit myself to the # I could actually seat at my own table, I’d ask Tom Brokaw, Jacqueline Kennedy, Meryl Streep, Doris Kearns Goodwin, David McCullough & Susan Branch. Not necessarily in that order. Now [gulp] – what to serve?
Oh, what a lovely afternoon you have given me! I just finished gluing ribbons to some hearts and stars that I had made from wheat bread, and dried and dipped in parrafin! I’m going to hang them on these cute miniature trees in each bedroom! Now while the glue dries, and my husband naps after some minor surgery on a finger, and Christmas music is playing in the background, I got a cup of tea (what else?), and visited with you once again! Hope your winter is full of joy! Thank you for keeping the happy-meter pegged out at intense in my heart!
I hear your joy in the day and love it Mary Pat!
Oh Susan, what a delightful post! I love the snow pictures, the description of what you’re wearing to the dance, and then the interview for the magazine. (I’ll definitely look that magazine up!) We all got to reminisce about “our” trip to England. Such fun! And please please please have a contest so the winner can go to your dinner party with all of those wonderful people! I would LOVE to be there and think some time with Mark Twain would be top of my list. I’d add Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt and FDR to the list too because American history is my cup of tea.
You always spark my imagination! Thanks for taking the time to bring us along!
And imagine, you could also invite your great great grandmother. Oh my!
Girlfriends, I have made Susan’s mom’s spareribs and juice as well as the Orange Lavender Polenta Cake and I’m here to say they are yummylicious. We had the ribs with deviled eggs and baked beans picnic-style in the family room on the coffee table. Simply divine! The cake I made to serve at the morning-after brunch the day after our youngest daughter’s wedding. It was pounced on by hungry post-wedding vultures and devoured on the spot. A big 10 out of 10! BTW, the onion casserole with the ribs was lip-smacking good!
Yay! Good reviews! Thank you Jo!
I hope you will post a photo of yourself in your party outfit!
My mother would make banana cream pie with a meringue topping. It was my favorite dessert! But I’ve never made it because no one in my family likes cooked bananas and I’d be left to eat the entire pie by myself!
I’ve never seen a photo of a young Mark Twain. He was handsome and rather serious looking, but you can see his wit in his eyes even then. He was a man with much to say!
When we are in Heaven and you have that dinner party for Albert Einstein would you invite me too, please?
Yes, you can come too Cathy! Wasn’t that Sam a cutie pie? See the sparkle in his eyes? He was already gearing up.
Wonderful post I just read as I was having my tea this afternoon! I never get enough of your thoughts on England and your trip 🙂 have fun at the movies!
It was fun, despite the fact that we didn’t get to see the movie! Broken projector. Supposedly. Do they still use projectors?
I think some places still have them, like old movie houses and some schools. remember audio visual from school in jr. high????
According to the Internet, digital is coming to local theaters but fairly slowly considering how fast technology tends to move these days. Only a few theaters in major metropolitan regions [NY, LA etc] are completely digital at this point. Apparently the cost is what is slowing down the transition. By the time most theaters can afford to “go digital” there’ll probably be something EVEN NEWER on the market!
Susan, I’m so glad to be one of your Girlfriends. Thank you. 🙂
Me too Patti!
What a wonderful post, jam~packed with so many happy things… love your interview… and I too would love to spend time with Beatrix Potter (and you of course!)… by the way… I know you have said many times one of your girlfriends who visited named it the Peter Rabbit Room… can you tell us which girlfriend christened it that?… it’s my favorite room in your home!… well… along with your kitchen and that stove I sooo desire!… I think the idea of a recipe box to match my tea tin of yours would be fabulous!… I got your tea dishtowel too, so that would really look adorable in my kitchen to have a recipe box to match!… glad you are home and enjoying all of the things you love… we always called those “ear muffs” if you are taking about what I think you are… and Jack and I wear ours whenever we walk in this cold weather we are having… much love, xoxo Julie Marie
They’re not earmuffs, they’re actually earrings! An old fashioned name for them.
My girlfriend Diana christened the Peter Rabbit room. Brilliant girl!
xoxo Julie Marie.
Oooh, earrings… now I know what you are talking about!… I have several pair that were my mamas and my grandmas that have those old screw on backs… eek, they hurt!… okay… so Jack wears “earmuffs” when we walk (me too)… he doesn’t wear earrings, hee hee… xoxo Julie Marie
That’s very good to know! 🙂
December Greetings Susan!
Just read your wonderful blog out loud to my husband, Gray, as he was kindly washing my dishes from a Christmas luncheon that I had for some friends. I have to say that he enjoys your blogs almost as much as I do and understands why all your “girlfriends” love you so much and always look forward to a new posting. He said your description of decorating for holidays sounded just like me and I have to agree with him.
My luncheon featured Christmas dishes, vintage serving pieces, a lacy tablecloth, candles and music. The main course was individual chicken pot pies, my homemade rolls and a salad. For dessert, I made your recipe for chocolate mousse with whipped cream which everyone raved about and I had to give them your recipe to take home with them! Thankfully, (?) there are a couple of leftover desserts that won’t last long.
Your banana cream pie sounds/looks marvelous along with so many other of your recipes. Time to browse through all your cookbooks again for some inspiration once the holidays have ended.
Have a grand time tomorrow at the party – your outfit seems just perfect.
Wait for me, I’ll join you for that buttered popcorn and the movie in a few minutes! 🙂
Bye for now, Michele xoxoxox
Mmmmm chicken pot pies and homemade rolls, please, I’m hungry, it sounds just wonderful Michele!
Hi Susan, Mmmmmmmm………..apple crisp sounds so good. I have a recipe I make but I’m planning to try yours since it might even be better than the one I’m used to making. We are right now in VA Beach and it is so cold to us. We came from 80 degrees in Fl to 36 here in VA~! I think my blood must have thinned out. My hands are starting to get chapped and my skin is drying out. Thank God for skin lotion. Enjoyed this blog like I always do. So glad you are back in Home Sweet Home! Hugs, Gail xoxo
I don’t want to push it, but I could almost guarantee it, unless you have some sort of miracle recipe and then you will have to share it! 🙂
Perfectly wonderful interview! Such interesting questions, indeed! Love your perfect answers especially the people you chose to have for a chat over dinner! Glad to see you back at home and in your comfortable, lovely routine! xo
Thank you Karen!
Oh Susan, Pure enchantment again. Thank you. I am getting ready for the dearest friends of more than 30 year to come Monday for a Christmas luncheon. “A party is a gift you give to those you love”, HOW TRUE!!!! But it is a gift to myself. Preparing the menu, decorating the house with trees-my theme, I love themes; setting the table, baking all things decadent and tree shaped, imagination overflowing and knowing they will love and notice because that is the kind of friends they are. They will scold—You did too much, but delight in everything. You could come too, fit right in, but I know Home is where you need to be. So dear Susan wear your sparkles, have a lovely time. And I thank you for loving all the girlfriends.
Love and bunny hugs, Shirley-the eager to please.
Yes it sure is, a gift for yourself too, in the doing. Another win-win moment! Love and bunny hugs. xoxo
I agree with Sandy, the word earbobs made me smile and I thought of my mom and a special pair of green rhinestone earbobs she wore with the cutest dark green ribbed sweater suit. She was so slim and classy in that! Miss her. Your answers in the interview were so fun with all the reminiscing. I could picture everything! (Although I didn’t need to since you gave us the best pictures anyway!). We have our Sunday School Christmas auction party tonight! I just chose my outfit, finished the picnic basket of surprises tucked inside that we are donating to be auctioned, and getting excited about parties for the coming year that we’ll “purchase” at the auction. Lots of money is raised for mission charities and we get a full social calendar in exchange! Have fun at the movies and your party! Glad you are home. 🙂
Thank you Sarah, have a wonderful time tonight!
Love it! The song selection was very sweet— and great for my 9 yr old to hear such beautiful and sweet sounds! You are such an inspiration 🙂
9 is such a good time to feed children with inspiration, they never ever forget. xoxo
Oh Susan, I got lost in the links today! My reward for finishing my Christmas memory story set in about the same time as the “musica” selection today. Magic in the Attic the title. About leading my two younger brothers up a ladder to a hatch in the pantry ceiling to purloin the boxes of Christmas decorations from the attic, drag them down, and set up the tree while our parents were out “running their fingers through the beans” my Dad’s expression for shopping :-). Now if I could only paint the way you do . . . Old picture will have to suffice and hope some young grand nieces and nephews enjoy it along with their punch out gingerbread house from you know where :-).
Loved the Gladys Tabor link and the dishes and Diane Keaton’s fashion page :-). Loved the recap interview for the on-line magazine upcoming. Thanks for everything. Have a blast at the ball.
They will LOVE that Sylvia, and the old photos will make it the best for them.
Home, home, home… There is no place like home. We finally came home after our three months away, and I cried. I don’t want to leave for a while. I just want to stay here and play house. I loved to play house as a little girl, and I guess it has never gone away. Welcome home Susan! We missed you!
Feels wonderful Michelle, thank you.
Hi Michelle,
I have been meaning to say hello! I checked on your blog link a while back, I think it was right after you got home. I hope your husband is doing well and you have a wonderful Christmas! You have Goldens and that caught my eye. Our girl is 8 years old and getting quite white in the face. She is the love of Jim’s life. She is our first Golden and now I can’t imagine life without one.
Merry Christmas!
Chris
I love your world. Oh yes, I needed to read this post today…time to light a candle and make the tea.
Yes, deep breath and thank you xoxo
Hello Susan & Girlfriends~~~Loved the post as always! The description of you & Joe settling back into your nest just sounds delicious :0). This is my favorite time of year! Jennifer’s digital magazine is beautiful & I can’t wait to see the issue with your interview. Hope your Christmas plans are coming along & the decorating, baking, & tasting has you feeling cozier. Everyone be warm~~~slow down & take time to reflect~~~and share the love!
XOXO, Linda
PS Petey is looking well after his big adventurous road trip.
It’s that time of year when the world is in love . . . Musica. xoxo
Petey holds up better than we do!
I’m glad to hear I am not the only one who has a fear of the big tractortrailer trucks. We live near I75 which I traveled frequently in years past, but it’s becoming way too dangerous for me now.
I love today’s blog, so interesting and enjoyable. I’m one of your “new” fans.
Yes, those trucks are something else. My brother listens to the truckers on CB radio and says if you listen to them talking you get even more afraid. That alone makes me not want to listen!!
I lovelovelove this post. It’s alright that you got carried away with the dinner parties…that is good and interesting 🙂
What a wonderful list of people over for dinner…Gladys Taber was the first life style writer that I read first when I first came to the states…I am with you on the nor’easter…how wonderful that would be. I feel like reading her books again…I need to see if I can get them in the Library or on the internet….I never owned them always borrowed them from the Library. I am going to join the Friends of Gladys Taber…thank you for that link.
OK!!! enough this is starting to look like a blog post 🙂
Just one more thing…I like your proposed party outfit…redish brown polish, earbobs and all. Earbobs is new word to me. 🙂 Ooooooo! and yes, the Tadpole cake aka Orange Lavender Polenta Cake…lovely. I am making one for an upcoming Christmas party…giving you all the credit of course.
You get the credit! That’s the joy of it. You’ll love being a member of Friends of Gladys Taber, they send out the most wonderful newsletter.
Have you ever watched the movie Midnight in Paris? Your comments reminded me of it with the what if, who would you like to be with. I was kind of forced to watch it on a river cruise in Russia ( it got rocky on a large lake) and ended up loving it. I would have different choices but it’s fun none the less.
Oh yes, I had to see it because of the whole idea of it. My favorite thing about that movie was the music, plus I have a thing for Zelda Fitzgerald and loved to see her come alive.
Hi Susan, love the blog, especially the part about home. I’m trying to get a week of staying home and quilting by the Christmas tree with a fire in the fireplace, a cup of hot tea and maybe some quilting friends dropping in to quilt and visit. So far I haven’t even gotten one day but maybe next week.
I got a surprise when I opened my new Country Sampler Mag. On the page where people write in wanting to know about certain items and their value there was Petey!! I had to laugh seeing him—I think he’s got a life you don’t know about.
He seems to get around! OR, perhaps he has, could it be, brothers? 🙂
OH MY!! (big sigh) How do you always know exactly what we need?!! I’ve always known that I was a homebody, loved ALL things home, family, romance and sentimental beyond words. But it’s only in recent years that I’ve truly lived it to the fullest, regardless of what “others” may think. Home IS truly where the heart is and I am so grateful that I’ve connected with kindred spirits who totally understand it all. Thank you, Susan, for being our mentor of sorts, but mostly our sister/girlfriend. You bring out the best in us always.
How sweet Becky, kindred spirit! xoxo
P.S. Today is the day the first of the 13 Icelandic Jólasveinar come down from the mountain. This will be the eight year that I count down to Christmas, on my blog, by telling each one of their stories day by day until they have all arrived on the 24th of December.
Susan, I wanted to share this info with you…if you would like to keep this unpublished I will understand 🙂
No, Mo’a it’s fine … I don’t mind at all. I only try not to let the blog turn into too much of an advertisement, but the backend of this blog filters most of that out, but I love to share us with everyone.♥
You are marvelous darling!
You are marvelous!
I hear the accent in this Sheri!
Dear Susan,
What an absolutely marvelous post this is! It was a true joy to take time in my Christmas schedule to read this!
Your life on Martha’s Vineyard sounds quite idyllic! How wonderful that you have snow at this point in the season.
I consider anytime I am home surrounded by loved ones to be a time for celebration, so we tend to come up with reasons to “party” at anytime they are able to be here.:-)
Your choice of fashion for Friday night sounds absolutely charming! I know you will have a great evening.
Thank you for all you do to spread your joy all around!
xo Nellie
Merry Christmas Miss Nellie! xoxo
I’m so happy you commented on being tired . . . because I was kinda depressed knowing that I couldn’t have made it through a week of your trip! And I guessing that you are about maybe eight years older than me. So I’m thinking that here you guys are so FULL of energy and I’m exhausted going to the grocery store, library and post office . . . . .
Hahaha … yes, well, we are making up for it now!
I love those J-I-N-G-L-E bells
Those holiday J-I-N-G-L-E bells
Those happy J-I-N-G-L-E … B-E, double-L-S
I love those jingle bells all the way………
Oh my gosh……I read this happy post and for some reason that J-I-N-G-L-E bells song just popped into my mind, I started humming it, then singing it…. and now it is swirling around and I can’t get it out…..LOL!
And…….I could have dived into the banana cream pie….. it looked so yummy…..definately will be on my list of Christmas treats…..scrumptious…..!!!
And so much better than ” ice chest” food…..LOL!
Your party ensemble sounds festive, fun, and “chic” the beaded velvet top, sparkly, the boots “cool ” and the skirt “devine” ( yep….. Diane Keaton would be jealous) …..but the earbobs….ah, have not heard that in a long time. I still have some of my grandmothers earbobs…..
As the story is re-told by my Mom….in the early 1900’s …a well dressed woman would never have left the house with out her earbobs on……she would be half naked…..LOL.
Thanks for sharing some of the interview…can’t wait to read it all.
Have fun at the party !!!!!!!
I love those J-I-N-G-L-E bells…….
Deb
You get me singing Deb!
Thanks Deb…..now we are all singing Jingle Bells!
Loved the video clip and thoughtful questions and responses. Who Would I like to have dinner with. Beatrix Potter would be good, Rachael Carson I think would be fascinating. Laura Ingalls Wilder would be another on my list. My husband would have one of the astronauts, we just watched the BBC film “In the Shawdow of the Moon” a great documentary about that time frame, worth the time. Glad you are home for the Holiday’s. Sometimes i tour your blog with my mom, she especially likes seeing and hearing clips of the Ocean. Simple things we might just take for granted are certainly special.
I will send some more Winter ocean for your mother this year. And yes, so many fabulous people to be inspired by. We are always standing on the shoulders of those that came before us and leave us with pieces of their hearts and minds, so so lucky.
Magical ! Your perfect days sounds VERY perfect, and this entry as wonderful. Love the cozy winter, too. As much as I love the bustle and busy of the holidays and family and friends…I look forward to January and the soup by the fire, blankets, old movies, and cozy times. Love your explanation of why you entertain….friends are stopping in on the way home to family next week and said “Don’t cook…we don’t want you to fuss”….I LOVE TO FUSS ! I WAS BORN TO FUSS ! I think you were, too. And good college friends coming for a brunch the following week….then slide in to the New Year and winter bliss.
Enjoy your party, enjoy your “wonderful life” !
BORN TO FUSS, never stop me from the fussing! 🙂 Fuss your heart out Ann, and have a wonderful time!
BORN TO FUSS. LOL – !!!!!! What a great e-mail or Twitter name for someone [especially a Girlfriend]. I think a great many of us were born with a super-sized FUSS gene!
good afternoon Susan, girlfriends. its a cold day here, in fact one might say freezing. we haven’t been above freezing since last week. and yes we had some snow, not a lot but some. but now we have ice, over the roads and everywhere and its not melting off, in fact if anything does thaw it refreezes. that’s how cold it has been here. now we are having a freezing rain.. the fun never stops. just an update on little Midnight, he’s doing fine, almost back to his old self, lovable and snuggly. we still have to get him to put some weight back on, he lost a lot of weight, but I have no doubt he will be back to normal by Christmas. off to break the ice on the water tubs for the chickens and mop up the bathroom, a pipe burst. have a good one everyone. hugs… 🙂
I love the idea of a yearly Christmas dance, and I love the outfit. let us all know how the dance went, stay warm. hugs….. 🙂
Since I think 1979 — and for me, since 1982. The only difference is that they seem to end a bit earlier now, at least for me!… but it’s all ages, just like it’s always been.
OH Pat! My sister started to say, when I ask about the weather up there on Monday…”Well let me tell you…when I left for work it was -17″. Yikes!!!
The freezing and thawing and refreezing is what is making me think going home is NOT such a good idea. New England wasn’t that bad where I lived. The ever warming Atlantic I guess.
Up there, meaning in St. Cloud, MN where my sister lives.
Goodness, pipe burst! We finally wrapped our bathroom pipes, plus put a tiny little electric heater in there, and it’s saved us from the fate you have just experienced. Stay warm Pat!
we got it fixed, it appears the guy who remodeled the house before we bought it improperly welded it, figures since the guy thinks he is such a “great” contractor…. his license was revoked in this state and suspended in 2 other before this. not much we can do but fix it, and get a new vanity, our Christmas gift to each other and for now I get the clean up in the bathroom. today I am going back to the hardware store and getting a new lockset for the back patio door, that fell off last night as well.
“…the TV clicker we know how to work…” LOL!!! Cute. And true too. The best thing about traveling always seems to be coming home. Having your own things around you. Looking out windows to familiar sights & hearing familiar sounds etc. I’ve been away from home for more than 3 months at a time but never “on the road” for that long – it must be even more true when you sleep in 3 or 4 different places each week. Have fun at the dance!
Try every night a new place. That’s how it was coming home. We were like little groundhog day robots, getting the stuff in and out of the hotel room. Joe did his part, I had mine. No words, just load up the cart, rearrange everything AGAIN, and go. I didn’t know it bothered me until NOW 🙂 Going nowhere now with a capital not going! 🙂 Ahhhhh home. Yes.
EVERY night a new place? Arrrggghh… as Charlie Brown would say. :>)
Yeah. Well said.
Welcome home Susan! I do enjoy being tiny and so very quiet while traveling with you, first to England and then on the book tour ;), but there is nothing like being home, especially in time for the holidays!
I loved your answer about who you’d like to have dinner with because so many on your list are exactly who I’ve thought I’d want to meet if only I could. Top on my list has always been Albert Einstein. And oh my, how I’d love to just sit in the corner of the room and listen to the conversations of the Algonquin Round Table group! And Mark Twain! I’d be beside myself. And Elizabeth von Arnim was certainly a woman after my own heart. I can relate to her in many ways. I’d love to have a cup of tea with her on a spring day in her garden and chat about babies and men of wrath and gardening. There are so many throughout history, but if I had to chose just one, it would be Albert Einstein… I think.
Thank you again for sharing your adventures, as well as your simple pleasures of home with us Girlfriends.
So tiny and quiet. Such a good girl. Men of wrath, LOL.
As always, this was a wonderful blog. We could tell just how thrilled you are to be home – there truly is ‘no place like home’! I loved getting a snippet of your interview – especially your choice of dinner with Diane Keaton modeling everything she has ever worn! I, too, would adore that. Enjoy the rest of your day and I look forward to your next post.
I even Tweeted her one time and told her I would like a book with those photos in it. I don’t know why she isn’t listening to me! 🙂
Loved this post, made me think ,who would I like for dinner? without a doubt you Susan!!!!!. From a small girl till [73, don’t tell] I’ve dreamed of wanting a life you write, paint & live. Some has come true,some has not, but I never have lost the dream. Your blogs bring them closer. THANK YOU
That’s so nice Florence. Plus you have my grandmother’s name, my sister’s middle name. You may not have noticed that the life you dream of is the life you have.
My grandmother’s name was Florence, too. I’m named after her but I go by my second name. But the older I get, the more I like the name but too late to change now. Gramma was known as Auntie Flo to her nieces and nephews. She died when I was 21 and I still miss her love. She came to Canada from England as a young wife and mother and didn’t go back for a visit until in her sixties. She and Grampa had four boys and four girls. Would love to give her a Christmas hug.
I understand.
I love you too Susan. The dance sounds divine! A Christmas dance at that. Arnie and I finally went to see a movie together. It bothered him that in four years we have never gone to a movie together. You have to see FROZEN even though it is a children’s movie. The queen’s dress may just surpass Greta’s!
Can’t be. Just can’t. Long see-through white sleeves, wide scoop neck bordered in glittery jewels and beads. It’s so gorgeous. Tell us how the movie was Margot! If it’s anything like Finding Nemo I will be running out the door to go to it.
They must have stolen the dress, because it is the same except that the jewels are glittery snowflakes! It was better than Finding Nemo, which I liked too. We saw “Thor” one day and “Frozen” the next. I sure got my Scandinavian fix, because last Saturday morning I went to the Swedish women’s craft and bakesale too!!!
NO, they stole the dress? How can that be. Oh well. Still, the first sighting is the one you remember. Was Thor good too?
Yes! Who can pass up the vision of a Viking man? LOL I liked the science, but I am not really a sci-fi person. My husband told me I should watch the first one to really understand it. The first one has been on TV this week, but I missed it~ twice.
Another lovely post, Susan. I’ve missed commenting on your last couple of posts, so I haven’t officially welcomed you home. So glad you arrived safely with no mishaps. I’m still having so much fun telling everyone about meeting you and the “party” at Strawberry Patches! I’m going to another one at SP tomorrow. Suzanne is throwing a High Tea (oh, what to wear?, what to wear?) to celebrate Downton Abbey and see the new line of fabric inspired by that show. Yay! January! Almost time! On a sad note, I lost my brother the Saturday before Thanksgiving. His heart finally gave out due to the ravages of diabetes. I’m the youngest of six, so now there is just my sister and me. We will miss him…..Enjoy the rest of the Christmas season and I will look forward to more lovely pictures of your home and surroundings.
Merry Christmas!
Nancy
Hi Nancy! I hear you’re having a tea party at the store, today? I think so! Sounds wonderful! Wonderful to hear from you.
Oh Nancy, I answer as I’m reading and I just got to the part about your brother, that makes me sad. It must be awful to lose a sibling. I’m glad I’m the oldest, not that it matters, but maybe it will. Sending love to you. Keep on keepin on, for life is still beautiful no matter what. xoxo
Thank you for your sweet words, Susan. They mean a lot to me.xoxo
It was just lovely to meet you Nancy.
Oh my. That was like a wonderful box of chocolates. Better, even. And I’ve just checked our library website and see that Elizabeth’s German Garden is on the shelf. I’ll be stopping by to get it on my way to choir rehearsal tonight.
Thanks for all the delicious words and images, Susan. You are the best.
You’ll love it Ginnie. She is witty and droll and sweet and funny and really good!
I’m so glad you’re home. I loved your trip and that the booksignings were successful but I missed stories from the island.
There should be some of those coming along soon Audrianne.
Me too!
Susan, it’s always a treat to read your blog! I look forward to each one! Same with me as with Sandy about the earbobs. I had totally forgotten about them. Nice to be reminded of people and things that have been gone from your life for a long while. Had hoped to get to see you on your book signing tour but that didn’t work out. I have your book with your signature in it and that is special to me. Would still love to meet you someday and thank you in person for bringing us all back to the important things in life! Thank you!
Maybe someday Ginny!
Another wonderful post for us ~ thank you, thank you! I have a movie recommendation for you: Frozen by Disney. It has a great story and the music is fantastic -our family (grown children & us) loved it!
That’s two of you who’ve mentioned it, can’t wait to see it!
Especially love Jennifer’s last question…and you answered it beautifully. Wasn’t Mark Twain a handsome young man? A lunch date with him on a rainy afternoon at the Plaza Hotel…oh my, yes! But a nor’easter with Gladys Taber at Stillmeadow with the fireplace and the cockers and the irish and the cats and baked apples…now THAT would be my first choice! Enjoy the Christmas dance! Your outfit sounds so cute. I remember having a “fur” Peter Pan collar in the ’60’s. It tied with little ribbons that had fur pom poms on the ends. Loved it! 🙂
He was gorgeous. Brilliant, funny, touching, a good man. I have a serious crush on him. But yes, the apples and the storm with the cockers and the Irish, you are right.
My collar is vintage, old, given to me by my girlfriend Margot. I think I remember seeing yours!
I have my mom’s from the 50s, with Angora and pearls crochet into it. And we have crochet lace collars our mom made to dress up our sweaters.
One of my all time favorite outfits from those days was a soft pink short sleeved sweater topped with a white crochet lace collar (made by my grandma) tucked into a bright turquoise felt skirt. The skirt was appliquéd with a fancy white French poodle wearing a black collar set with rhinestones..and she had little pink bows on her tail and ears. I had a VERY full crinoline skirt to wear underneath the whole shebang, a wide black belt with a sparkly buckle to cinch it all in, and bobby socks and saddle oxfords to complete the look. Oh, then there was the addition of a little black velvet clip-on bow that I positioned just above my bangs to accessorize my teased, short bouffant hair do, held in place with a generous application of AquaNet. The height of early ’60’s fashion! 🙂 🙂
Oh my goodness, what a picture you must have made!
Shannon! Love that memory of our hairstyles! I remember well having little bow clips in lots of colors for each outfit!
Always bows! We were lovely!!
Dear Susan, Another delightful post. So glad you are home and continuing to share your days with us. Hope you and Joe had a grand time at the party. Can you believe it’s almost Christmas? Sitting in front of the fire with my cup of tea and enjoying your blog. Nice way to spend some time at home with the Christmas tree lights sparkling and my kitty lying on the floor beside me. Almost a perfect day. Hope yours was too.
Sounds perfectly delightful!
I hope we get a photo of the dressed-up couple on the way to the dance – like a prom picture. Please, pretty please.
If the freezing rain doesn’t return tomorrow, I must go shopping for things to make a banana pie with coconut. Never thought of putting coconut – it looks very elegant and very delicious. I’ll probably cheat and use a Pillsbury crust – they were on sale, and I had a coupon.
I had lunch at Bev’s today. She and Husband Bill are going to walk across England in August, so I let her borrow my A Fine Romance book. She hadn’t seen it before and got so excited, I guess it’s time for another order. No wonder it’s such a hit – everyone who sees it, wants one. We’re all so proud of your success.
Well you can use a premade one, but I promise you, and I hate to say it, but a real homemade crust is the frosting on the cake, the cat’s meow and the bee’s knees, an amazing gift in a pie since you hardly get one anymore.
You’re a doll Patsy, thank you. Lucky people, walking across England. That’s just so great.
Bev told me she didn’t know what else to get Bill for Christmas, so I told her that when I ordered her book, I noticed that you have berets like Joe’s for sale and wouldn’t Bill look dashing in one.
So, the second black beret will be walking across England. The Brits will think it’s a new fad. I can hear them now. “All those Yanks wear black berets when they walk across our country. We’ll know how to spot them now”.
So fun Patsy!
well this afternoon just got better, I know what I’m getting for Christmas, a new bathroom vanity. I just dried off the things from under the sink and to add insult to injury today, the doorknob for the back patio door just fell off… can this day get any better??? we’ll see!
Friday the 13th hit early here. and I have black cats, they are supposed to be lucky.
At least you didn’t go half the island away to find the projector at the movie theater is broken! 🙂
wow sounds like Friday the 13th hit early everywhere yesterday. Happy Sankta Lucia Day everyone.
Thank you, I needed that!!! So sweet. My husband gutted our little master bath, took a wall down and put in a corner Jacuzzi tub for me! He is now working on the beadboard walls, has tiled the floor, etc. This is our 25th Anniversary gift. Can’t wait…already have my lavender bath salts ready to go….oh yeah!
Thank you for reminding me to keep living the better life. xoxo
Marybeth
What a wonderful gift! That’s just as good as getting a picket fence garden! Say hello to that hardworking man of yours for us!
Could some of the girlfriends loan out the handy hubbies??? LOL
My dad would be the perfect person for this, he can fix ANYTHING.
When I saw the title to this post I shouted “Yes!” – I’m just back from a very long 3-country business trip to Asia and every little thing about my home makes me deliriously happy right now – even the things I don’t like. I laughed and laughed at all the things you are grateful for (“the TV clicker we know how to work!”) because they sound so much like my litany. Though mine includes “no more raw fish bowls” and the fact that I can understand the language here. Your dinner sounds delicious – just the thing after a long trip on the road. Welcome home.
hahaha, I get it exactly, deliriously happy. Aren’t we lucky! The language! Makes such a difference! Welcome home to you too Mesclun!
I absolutely loved reading your blog today. I am almost finished with “A Fine Romance” , but am taking my time because I don’t want it to end. It is such a wonderful book! I do feel as though I was along for your journey. Thanks for all your books, I have been enjoying them for a long time and many of your recipes have become our family traditions. Glad you are home and enjoying this time of year. I anxiously await your next post.
Thank you Charlene, it’s so good to be home. Love that you are enjoying our book . . . makes my day to hear it.
You are much younger that me, but your blog brings back so many memories of my own special times with family and friends…….you bring it all back! Glad you are home safe and sound and have a Merry Christmas
Oh goodie, I am much younger than someone! 🙂 Merry Christmas Barbara! xoxo
Susan, I’m sure you remember me as the girlfriend-along-on-the-trip who giggled with excitement when we reached Beatrix Potter’s place!
Loved, loved, loved this post, and the video of the dales made me just a tad weepy. In a good way, of course.
Sending hugs and blessings from here on the farm.
Miss Potter! Of course I remember! 🙂
just a happy note to all the girlfriends, right now on the Hallmark movie channel (187) is the Bishop’s Wife and at 5:30 on the same channel is the movie special Babes in Toyland by Disney with Annette Funicello and Tommy Kirk a total holiday classic complete with the wooden soldiers. enjoy!!! 🙂
Fantastic interview, Susan! I am so very glad you are home and shooting ponytail rings for Jack.
I am very happy that you are home to celebrate
The rest of the story….
Sorry to repeat..the whole message will not post I was trying to post Christmas trees and hearts. Very happy that you and Joe are home to celebrate Christmas. I missed Jack and Girl Kitty too.
hmmmm, wish I could help, I have limited powers in this particular case!
It’s snowing here in MI like crazy this week! Today was such a busy day ( and also productive) but how nice and relaxing to see a new posting from you and sit for while and soak it in!! Hope the movie was GREAT!
I’m sure it would have been if the projector was working, but it wasn’t, so we had to find other things to interest us, and luckily we did. Beautiful Edgartown, all lit up for Christmas.
I was so glad to see that you are back home. It is very cold here in Ohio, near Hudson, and may even get colder this week-end. I know what coming home is like, I just came home from the hospital, after three weeks, and am back in the warmth of our home and so excited to see our yellow lab Cassie. I know you have many memories of your trip this fall and I have a special one as well, seeing and meeting you. Stay cozy.
I hope you are feeling better Mary, that’s a long stay away from home. Lovely warm Cassie sounds like the perfect welcome.
So great to hear you are safely at home and doing all of the things you love. You and Joe have certainly been traveling a lot in the past year. I bet the kitties are thrilled to have you home.
Paul and I are taking a mini-cruise over Christmas. We’ll be in the Western Caribbean. We lost our beloved Goldendoodle, Wendy Sue in Nov and we both have taken it hard. She was my husband’s shadow and the main reason we didn’t travel much. My husband couldn’t bear to board her while we went away. (She was a rescue dog we got from the pound.) She had a wonderful and long life–we had her for 13yrs. but it’s still so hard to give them up. We’re hoping a total change of scene will help us heal.
Have a wonderful Christmas and kiss the kitties for me. Kathy
Blessings on you for a lovely trip. So hard to lose a pet, they know all our secrets and love us anyway. xoxo
Susan: what a great post! Had a bit of nostalgia, humor, reflection, and recipes to boot! Have to try that Apple/Cranberry Crisp! Perfect for breakfast, I think on a cold, snowy, Sunday morning! Aren’t we lucky we live in the Northeast and can experience each beautiful change of season? There is something to love about each of them. I was wondering who the young man in the picture is at the end of your post. Is that a young Mark Twain? I have always said that my ideal dinner companion would be Eleanor Roosevelt. What a remarkable woman she was, and an inspiration to many. I could just sit there and listen to her talk about her life for hours. I wouldn’t mind being serenaded by Ole Blue Eyes while Eleanor and I are eating either! What a thrill that would be! Keep warm Susan!
Once there was a play in New York, we just popped in off the street because there it was, they had popcorn as if it was a movie, because it was a play written by Steve Martin called Picasso at the Lapin Agile. It was the make believe meeting between Picasso and Einstein! He has them meet in a bar in Paris in 1904. I just loved it.
Loved this entire entry. I want to see how you pair the v neck sweater with the fur collar (I have one too). Lots of food for tummy and thought in this one Susan. Thanks.
It’s pretty to have the fur (and warmth) and the open neck below where the beads are. Try it.
Hi Susan, thanks for the gift of another wonderful post since your arrival home to MV…each day I read only a few pages in A Fine Romance so the pleasure will last until your next book!!Merry Christmas to you and yours (all two and four-legged included)!!
Go slow Ellie. And I’ll hurry! 🙂
What a joy to read this post, thank you. I’m hoping A Fine Romance will be under the Christmas tree for me very soon.
Please could you tell me what steak sauce is? I haven’t heard of it here in England, & I so want to make those spare ribs.
Enjoy your party & have a wonderful Christmas.
We have two very popular, very flavorful brands here that are available in every supermarket here, one is called Worcestershire Sauce and the other is A-1 and either is good for this recipe. I bet you could google them and get them sent to you if you wanted. They’re medium thick sauces that come in a bottle and are made with spices and vinegar, raisin paste, orange puree, garlic, celery seed and the like. Guys like to dip bites of steak in them.
HEINZ 57!!!
Oops!
Gill, I think our steak sauce is called brown sauce in England. Hope I’m not steering you wrong.
PS – A-1 is also awesome on French fries! Light years better than ketchup. :>)
Have you ever tried fries with tartar sauce?
And we can buy the Heinz 57 with Worcestershire sauce in it now!!!
How about fries with Tiger sauce. Mayo and horseradish. Yum!
Susan,
I’ve been shooting hair elastics across the room for two weeks…Kaiser and Emma Cats just watch them go by. The only one getting any exercise is myself. I have to go pick them all up.
Ha!
Ginene
Hahaha . . . oh well! You can make the pie and work it off by playing elastics with … as it turns out, yourself!
Wonderful blog to come home to…thank you! Must go back and savor it a little later. Must say…I love football and my Chargers are on now…must cheer them on in the cold mountain area of Denver. However, I will be back and look at all the little details, recipes and notes from girlfriends. My pellet stove is on, my bean soup with left over ham bone from Christmas party awaits…plus glass of Merlot. Nice evening. See ya later gals!
P.S. Oh darn…Denver just scored!
LOL! And that soup sounds delicious!
As Dorothy would say, “There’s no place like home.” I really enjoy spending cold winter days in front of the fireplace and ‘just being,’ as my husband and I used to say. A good book, lists of plans for Christmas Get Together with family, and for Christmas Day itself…these are the only things I need to keep me happy and grounded for the day. Ah, also some good music to dream by…I’m so glad you and Joe are truly home and are settling in to your familiar surroundings with your loved kitties and friends and neighbors. Welcome home! Sherry xoxoxo
Thank you Sherry! It’s the perfect time to be home … Christmas, snow and kitties!
Glad you’re home and getting to enjoy all the winter festivities! I thought for sure you might want to have Lady Cora for dinner!
LOL!
As always a terrific blog Susan. I only wish it could have been in my stars to enjoy your friendship “in person.” I’d just love having you as a best friend. Your real friends are so lucky. Don’t get me wrong, I have wonderful friends that I love dearly. I’d just enjoy having you as one of my personal friends.
I went to a luncheon today at the Oxnard, CA Yacht Club. One of my friends invited me. We had such a wonderful time, drinking wine, eating a salad that had bits of fruit in it, enjoying laughs with friends. Each table had a hostess that dressed their table with with their own personal settings & Christmas decorations. It was such a lovely event. I’m like you, I enjoy lovely china, crystal, & setting a table. I won a basket of goodies as well, which made for a fun event for me. Getting together with girlfriends definitely puts me in a happy mood.
You make your blogs sound so cozy that I just want to walk right into the pages you write. (Sandy of Chihuahua Flats)
Oh Sondra, thank you. I love the sound of your party … must have been wonderful — all those decorated tables! Congratulations on the basket of goodies!
That is one of the BEST ideas for a party I’ve even heard – how much fun to see all those gorgeous – and DIFFERENT – tables! :>)
It’s so funny that you mention Diane Keaton (whose style I very much admire). I was looking at your picture earlier in the post and thought how much you and Diane resemble each other.
Your outfit for the dance sounds perfect and lovely. Wouldn’t it be fun for the Girlfriends to be able to see you all decked out for the Yacht Club dance? (hint hint).
Thanks for the deliciously long post. Just what I needed this evening.
Thank you Maria! I got in a cab in New York once a very long time ago and the driver asked me if I was her. I wanted to marry him and live happily ever after. So that was sweet of you. Actually I look a little more like Paul McCartney these days (and I sort of always have!).
I don’t think Paul’s legs can hold a candle to yours or Diane’s. Just sayin’ 🙂
Let’s not tell him this though, poor thing. 🙂
Oh my gosh…I have thought that too! I was watching Something’s Gotta Give the other night, and thought…WOW! Diane Keaton and Susan Branch look so much alike!
She could play Susan in the movie version of A Fine Romance!!!
If we went back in time, she would be perfect!!
Whatcha mean, “…go back in time?”
I mean that I think that Zooey Deschanel might be my choice for the 32 year old me arriving to the island and meeting Joe, then Diane could take over! 🙂
Awesome post! I like your answer to who you would like to dine with. How can one possibly pick just one! Love all the information even though I have been with you for a while. Now I am wanting a bubble bath! I would include some candles and a glass of wine and maybe a piece of chocolate. There now I’m set! Welcome home and take your time to adjust. Winter is a great excuse to slooooow down! Happy weekend girlfriends and Sue and Joe, et al.
I’m already thinking winter might be too short for me this year!
It’s always too short for me.. I love it!! especially after the holidays are over and the real quiet sets in!! Maybe because my birthday is in February I was destined to be a “Winter” girl..:-)
I know just what you mean Diana, there is something quite wonderful about going down for the winter.
I’ve always been a “winter girl” but this winter thus far has been subzero temps and snow and terribly icy roads. It is like Instant January! I might be changing my mind…
All our snow melted last night and shockingly, it’s 50 degrees today. I had to blink twice to make sure. Can’t believe it!
So glad your home safe & sound. Wanted to let you know I enjoyed your talk & booksigning so much when you came to Wichita,Kansas. I’ve loved and read your books for years but to actually meet you it was like a dream come true! I Loved you before but even more now ! Hope you have many more books in your future !
Nicest thing for you to say Rose! xoxo Thank you.
I was so tickled to see you had posted! The way you spend your days is how I like to spend mine. Enjoy your holiday season, and give those two kitties a hug for me. They are just lovely. 🙂 Kit
Stay warm Kit!
Banana cream pie…..what a lovely idea! But it will have to wait. Tomorrow Mickey Mouse will be having a dinner party and we’ll be there with 2 gorgeous granddaughters who are in the high school band playing at Epcot. Shall I save seats for you and Joe? We could order hot cocoa and cookies from the lady in the gingerbread house? And stop to hear Father Christmas tell about the holiday in England.
Heavenly Chris! Have fun!!!
I’m so glad you are home safe and sound Susan! Now you and Joe can enjoy the holiday! Three months is a long time! Your website is my ‘happy place’ that I go to and look at when life is just too hard so I’m thrilled you are home in your ‘happy place’ 🙂
We’ll be back to normal again soon Charlene. I feel like we’re on our way!
I have a feeling your house is smiling, too, now that it’s a “home” again, with you and Joe in it. 🙂 Loved this nice long, cozy post!
I think you are right … when we got home the house seemed to be holding its breath. Not now. We are all on the program of living now.
I cannot imagine the world without an England in it. It’s our well-spring, our stem, our, almost, reason-for-being, in this country…..and so amazing in its preservation. I’m thinking all those Brits would have overrun every pasture and by-way, just by sheer numbers! Where are most of them living, actually? Are they overflowing the cities and seeping into Canada, New Zealand and Australia? Why haven’t they filled up their dear, little, island, yet? It’s mysteriously amazing and wonderful. Every once in a while, I want to know where they all are…….Maybe they’re all there, crammed into London, somehow. Wherever they all are, we love them. They can come and live with us, if they’re too cramped in their bedsitters.
I know what you mean, miles and miles of open-ness and tiny villages with a few cottages for charm, then a castle here and there, but like the Dales, where the views stretch for miles, there’s no one hardly there. I think they are up the side roads maybe. However, go to Ambleside during a bank holiday and there’s hardly room for you on the street it’s so crowded. So I think you are right, they are in London.
Awwwwwww so glad your home! Snuggled in with Joe and Jack and Girl Kitty. Nothing more comforting than home and a handmade Quilt! I love the view from your Kitchen Window! Your blog soothes my soul to no end! We want to see a pic of you all glammed up for the yacht cub party, Earbobs and all! That is what I always heard them called by my Mom and Granny! That Banana cream pie is heavenly! I have almost that same pile of books with A fine Romance on top! Thanks for the warmth and happiness you share with us!
Big Hug!!
Connie Sue
Hugs Connie Sue — feels so normal to be home and talking to everyone from here again!
Oh how I LOVE your blogs! Such a lovely treat for the day. And YES there is NO PLACE LIKE HOME! HOME SWEET HOME! I had to send you a quick reply today because I finally took your suggestion and visited The Queen Mary in Long Beach today. Must admit I was thinking of you when I had lunch next to the window enjoying the view! I live in South FL and travel frequently to CA so I finally took the time for this excursion. Looking forward to being home again myself on Saturday to see my two cute kitties! (BTW my cats go crazy every time they hear that cute chirping birdy sound from your website-priceless!) Thanks!
Good for you Wendy … gorgeous ship. Travel safely, you’ll be home to kitties tomorrow!
Such a great way to describe how you came to love England! Couldn’t agree with you more. You blog never disappoints! such wonderful descriptions of what makes great days. I too love England and all things English. I look forward to when I may go visit again.
I am right there with you Christine. Joe and I go back and forth. We want to be HOME for a while with no place to go But then, we see a little English cottage, and off go the imaginations!
All those dinner parties surrounded by those amazing people sound wonderful, but really, we would like to have dinner with you and Joe! Merry Christmas! One of your girlfriends and her boyfriend of 40 years.
I’ll do my best to bring you along ~ but no matter what, it seems, unless some new strange invention comes along, you will probably have to do the cooking and set the table yourself!
Oh such joy to read this heartwarming post. You are delivering warmth on this frigid evening here in Wisconsin. I loved your interview and insights into your life it is always a pleasure to see a new addition to your blog. That first photograph out the kitchen window is so lovely, wish I could cozy up in front of a fireplace too, but ah life with the kindergartners before Christmas is anything but calm and carefree. My break is over back to getting the lights put on my Christmas tree tonight, oh the sweet smell of pine, wonderful! Looking forward to seeing your homes transformation for the holidays.
Loved to see you here Sue! xoxo
Loved this post, so cheery…Christmas spirit is oozing out of my heart now. I just can’t wait to really live (if that makes sense). God bless you Susan, you always manage to change my perspective and give me a boost in a better direction. It’s been tiring for me to get ready for Christmas this year, with lower energy and a year end for our business to do at the same time; but I want this Christmas to be special because my family, including my new granddaughter, are coming to spend the holidays with us. The quote written on the wall is perfect with my very busy granddaughter coming…”Children left unattended will be fed espresso and given a puppy.” I’ll post it on the wall and my daughter and son-in-law will get quite a laugh at that. Just a little reminder that I’m not up to speed yet.
I think I have a Christmas miracle to be thankful for. I had my first appointment for a check up with my doctor and everthing is normal. I was told that most people going through the treatments I had usually have multiple problems…hospitalization, major burning of the skin, can’t finish the treatments, blood problems, many infections etc. This wasn’t a walk in the park for me, but I didn’t deal with any of that. They looked at me and pretty much told me that this wasn’t normal, I think they were dumbfounded (sp?). Thank you Girlfriends for all the prayers…looks like they worked. I couldn’t have done it without you, I really couldn’t have done this without your support. I prayed that the medical staff would see God’s hand in this and the benefit of all the prayer I received, and it looks like that prayer was answered. Now I get to spend Christmas with my family and especially my granddaughter. There is no better gift. Christmas has a whole new meaning for me now…I can’t even put it into words. Thank you girlfriends, Merry Christmas and God bless you all. xoxo
Oh Rhonda, that is so fabulous! Now you just have to get used to being “not normal!” 🙂 Makes me so happy to hear. ENJOY ENJOY! xoxo
Rhonda, this is such wonderful news! Blessings to you and your family, and especially to your new grand baby. I wish you a very Merry Christmas, and a happy, healthy New Year!
Merry Christmas Rhonda!
XOXO
This looks like a shout out to me! xoxo
The best news, Rhonda! Keep it going, Girlfriend! xoxo
Rhonda, I’m so happy to hear that things are going so well with you! Yes, prayers are the most powerful medicine going. I know that you will be the best Christmas holiday with all your family and especially that grandbaby!!
Merry Christmas, Rhonda!
Carol M
Susan,
Everything in this post was of interest, just like every blog post is!!!
I’m delighting over bubble baths, fires in the fireplace…you know how to live!
I can’t wait to hear about your movie review, it’s one I too want to see. Think I see some banana cream pie on the horizon and probably on my hips too, but we won’t go there, no need to spoil all that deliciousness!!!
Sending love and hugs,
Jeanette
I wrote this in a comment above, but here it is again for the “review” of the movie!:
My friends loved it, which is why we went. But there we were, on our date, showered, dressed, hats, scarves, gloves, happy, drove across the winter tundra to the next town of Edgartown where the only theater on the island is, up the creaky stairs to get tickets, and guess what? “The projector is broken.” Thank you. OK, give us free popcorn. We walked around, ate popcorn, took pictures of the moon, visited the jewelry stores, ate a hot brown bag filled with deep fried oysters and had Brandy Alexanders in a sparkly Christmas-decorated restaurant . . .
Banana cream pie comes right off within three days if you play your cards right. 🙂
Susan,
What a lovely way to spend your time and make the best out of your trip across the island! Yum.
We’ll await your next installment when the projector IS working and you can have more popcorn and another adventure!!
Happy Fabulous Weekend!
We’re getting ready for S*N*O*W this afternoon and overnight here in central IL. Running my errands earlier so I be home tomorrow decorating, baking and wrapping = divine Saturday! Think it will be headed your way soon…
XooX,
Jeanette
Thank you, I will love it. The more snowed in, the more the wind whistles, the better for me this year, I am in the MOOD for hunkering down! 🙂 Cook cook cook. Yummy. I exercise to eat. My motto.
I KNOW I’VE READ IT BEFORE…CAN’T FIND IT! WHAT IS YOUR EXERCISE ROUTINE–IF YOU DON’T MIND SHARING?
Thanks, Judy in Nashville
P.S. going to Parnassus Book Store to pick up another copy of “Fine Romance” to gift a dear friend.
Well, two of the best newish things I do: before tea in the morning I have juice of half a lime squeezed into hot water… and also, first food of the morning is a big juicy organic honey crisp apple. I also try to keep homemade cold slaw around because I love it, and it fills me up and seems to help keep weight down. My three exercise routines are #1… floor stretches, leg lifts, and other exercises — I do that pretty-much every day. #2 brisk walk, almost 3 miles, almost every day out to the water. And #3 there’s an exercise bike in our bedroom which I ride at least every other day, but better if it’s every day. I read while I’m on the bike, which makes the time pass in a flash, plus that way I go through lots of books. I exercise to eat. I love to eat, but if I did it the way I like to do it and did not exercise, I would be a goner!
Is A FINE ROMANCE at Parnassus Book Store??? Oh that makes me so happy, I have always wanted to go to that store, but we just couldn’t get there this time. Makes my day to hear that Judy, thank you!