Today is my day for B I R T H D A Y G R A T I T U D E and we’ll start with my favorite song ever in the history of the world . . . MUSICA! Good Morning Crocus, ♫ Good Morning Daffodils, Hello Tulips, ♪ Hi there Miss Hyacinth! Hello fresh spring air, you smell so good! ♫ Hello Sunshine ~ Hello GIRLFRIENDS! ♫
T O M O R R O W I S M Y
So many things to be grateful for and I thought today would be a really good day to talk about them.
Let me first say that if I put every one of my blessings in this post, reading it would become a full time job because they pretty much go to the moon. But I have to start somewhere! My favorite magazines have arrived and for my own birthday present to me, I’m taking them to lunch this week. Me and them, alone, at a corner table, with a knife to hold them open so I can eat Sesame Noodles and read at the same time. One of my most favorite luxuries, reading all alone in restaurants (a sidewalk cafe on the Champs Elysees? Oui!)
And him, my shadow, he’s more than a luxury, he is my must-have. And the very best present I could ask for, he and Girl have been playing this last week, chasing each other up and down the stairs, you can hear their feet running back and forth upstairs, ambushing each other, jumping off the beds. It’s wonderful! So good for Girl and just what I was hoping for her when I brought Jack home. I hope it lasts. Jack is 2 1/2 years old and this is a first!
Spring has come to Martha’s Vineyard! The early morning light is exquisite. Pristine, fresh, clean, and a miracle if ever I saw one. Especially after this winter!
I have huge amounts of gratitude for Mrs Bowditch who lived in our house from 1949 until 1980 and was so good about planting for spring bloom. I got to meet her once. She’s been my inspiration.♥ I hope she knows I’m taking good care of her house for her.
Our daffodils are in bloom. Thank you!
We have nature’s address, it’s out through the woods along a dirt path that takes us here . . . no leaves on the trees yet, but the sun is lovely and the breeze smells wonderful, and you can hear the waves.
Crocus! Pure miracles. First there is snow and then there are crocus!
I’m grateful for talented Kellee who made me this kitty last year. xoxo
And for little children who write me beautiful letters with borders. Thank you Little Children! xoxo
I’m grateful for these, my own research department, my diaries . . . Yes, I know I’ve been MIA from our dear blog, and I’ve missed you! But every time I’ve tried to do an update (and I have tried!), I think “Oh, just let me add this one more little thing to my new book and THEN I’ll go do a new post” . . . that’s when I fall into “the zone” and have to say help I’ve fallen and I can’t get up. But no one comes, so what can I do?
I can’t save myself, and honestly, I really don’t want to. I like it in there. I’m driven in the best possible way. I wake up and RUN to my paper and pen before all my morning fresh-from-dreamland thoughts disappear. I have 418 pages of our new book written, Girlfriends. Of course, probably 50% of it is what English people would call “a crapjob” ~ but that’s OK, first I have to get the whole entire thing down on paper, and we’ll worry about crap removal later on. I promise, it will be distilled, only the juicy bits will be left when I get done. It’s almost my birthday and I feel so grateful to have this passion.
And then this . . . digging through my photos, I found this one. I am SO grateful for these two cutie-pot-pie Leos in my life, the Blog Daddy, John Patrick Stewart Jr. (hi Dad!) and my partner in crime, Joseph Buckminster Hall. ♥
And I’m so grateful I was ever a part of this group of little people. ♥ ♥ ♥
I love sharing my birthday with Gladys Taber. I love being born on the same day as someone who was a light to the world. ♥
I’m excited that Joe and I will be at the Friends of Gladys Taber meeting in Connecticut in June — I’ll be speaking and signing A Fine Romance and we get to tour her house Stillmeadow for the very first time!
And right after that, I come home to this . . . these are my high school girlfriends (last fall in California) . . . and they are ALL coming to stay in my house for four days in June! I’m grateful I have this to look forward to! We have stories, we laugh, we have fun! They are like sisters to me. I have some house fluffing to do! (And with my “passion” in full bloom plus old man winter to sweep out the door, this house needs it! 🙂
I’m thankful for this, because this means YOU. ♥
Counting the blessings of my last year, one of the best of all was going out to meet so many of our Girlfriends. Look how cute Lucy and Ethel are! I’m telling you, this was a ball!
A Fine Romance was such a blessing ~ it took me here ↑ (both of those horse pictures are still on the door of my studio, one from Jessie and one from Sydney) . . . and it took us all here ↓♥ To Beatrix Potter’s house in the Lake District. M A G I C A L , I almost can’t believe we were there.
And tomorrow, on my actual birthday, I get to go to lunch with my best girlfriends here on Martha’s Vineyard ~ 
making me grateful for a Spring Birthday ~ the perfect excuse for a girlfriend lunch. And then we’re all going to the nursery together! Our nurseries close in the winter, so this will be a treat, our first visit this year! Sometimes my California girlfriends wonder why I would want to live in a place that has such a cold winter, and this is part of the reason. It’s thrilling to go to the nursery for the first time, seeing the first flowers, smelling the warm sun on grass. It’s a miracle every year. The more miracles, the better. ♥
And this weekend, I’m going to write us a new Willard! Oh yeah, I think you deserve a birthday present too . . . make sure your addresses are all up to date. It won’t go out for about a week and a half, I’ll be sure to let you know.
One more wish, my birthday wish for you is that you go through your days gracefully growing more beautiful and wise, never missing a sunset or the opportunity to count your blessings, I hope that’s how we stay forever young. ♥ xoxo Love you . . . ✥Wham, *❊ BAM,✱ whoosh,✶* sparkles *♫*✱•*¨*•.☆.♪•*¨❋**••*¨ ✱*•★.* ♪* ✱ •*¨✸*•.★.♫•*¨☆✱*•*♥. . . feel that?
D O N ‘ T F O R G E T T O
Every Birthday Blessing, dear Susan! My niece’s birthday is tomorrow, also, and she just had twin boys this week, so two new April birthdays to celebrate with joy!
Happiest of Birthdays to You ~ thank you for helping us fill our lives from the well of sweetness!
Awwww. so sweet Barbara!
Oh, what a wonderful post!! Wishing you all the best for your birthday. What I loved about this post is all the smiles. It brought me joy and I couldn’t resist smiling too. It was a great start for the weekend. I can’t wait for your new book. That will really make me smile and dance a jig. Enjoy yourself and I’m giving you a big birthday hug & kiss right now!!!
Oh happy day! I’m the first one today to wish you a very Happy Birthday Susan. I’m thinking of baking a pineapple upside down cake to celebrate your birthday. Oh happy day!
Toni
Now that sounds like a GREAT idea, I should do that too!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY SUSAN!!!!! I LOVE all of the beautiful gifts you are receiving for your birthday, and so like you, sharing them all with us… I hope your day is as fabulous as you are, I know it will be… my birthday is in Spring as well (May) and it is truly a rebirth and renewal of all of the things I love as well… lucky you getting to tour Stillmeadow!… but I know you will share with us after… that photo of your daddy and Joe is my favorite of all… enjoy your day with your favorite magazines… and lunch with your girlfriends… and Spring on MV… and writing your new book… oooh, what can I say, I just love you!… happy happy happy birthday!!!… xoxoxo Julie Marie
First, happy, happy birthday tomorrow!!! Thank you for all your beautiful, wonderful blogs and books, your mom for passing you your happy gene which allows you to make us girlfriends so happy, and all the little things you share that mean so much. So glad you’re getting so much enjoyment from writing your next book, it makes me smile just reading about the passion going into each story. Susan, you are someone who is a light in our world. With love, always. ♥
OH, Susan!! You are a breath of Spring every time I read your blog! I look for it regularly and was so happy to see you updated it today! Thank you, thank you for the sunshine and lift to my day! I hope you have as blessed a birthday as you deserve and you deserve the best!
Thank you Amy, have a wonderful day!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY SUSAN!
Pat Bates
Dear Susan~HAPPY BIRTHDAY tomorrow!!!…I could “hear” the excitement in your heart as I read your blog post…your excitement for your birthday, spring and spring’s special flowers, your gal pals, your favorite two guys and life itself…you bring such promise to all of us…THANK YOU for being you…xoxo…can’t wait for Willard…sometimes I don’t get it through email…where do I go to sign up again and make sure it gets to me???…thanks…
If you go back to the post, you’ll see that WILLARD is highlighted, you can just click on it. OR, scroll down in the right hand column you’ll see it says Willard, just click there.
Thanks…I hope you are having a wonderful, spectacular birthday…may this be the beginning of your BEST year ever…
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SUSAN! I visited Martha’s Vineyard last fall with my daughter. We walked around a neighborhood close to town that I’m pretty sure is your neighborhood (hope that doesn’t creep you out). When you post pictures, I find it so easy to be drawn back there. I know the feeling, the smells, the peacefulness. I look at the pictures over and over just to get lost in what was such a glorious experience for me. It allows me to forget, if even for a brief moment, the often times of misery I have unexpectedly found myself in. Such a bright spot, you are. Much love and thank you!
I’m glad to hear that. xoxo
P.S. 418 pages of your/our new book!!!…WOW!!!…you have been reallyreally busy…
Hi Susan, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday dear Susan, Happy Birthday to you! I like you have an April birthday….I share mine with the Tax Man! Love your list of blessings….we are lucky that we embrace our birthdays, no matter the age. Maybe it is because we are April babies. Enjoy your birthday to the fullest!
Happy Birthday Joan!
May you have so much to be thankful this day! Glad that you are alive and although you share your birthday with the day taxes are due happy that you are able to pay your taxes or receive a refund. Rejoice for life is so precious and valuable and our time here on planet Earth is so short…let us enjoy every minute given to us! Bless You this day!
Sweet Sue
Life is indeed grand, and I hope your birthday will be a truly lovely one. I’m an April baby too, and have always considered it one of the best months of the year in which to have been born. My parents once gave me a pink dogwood tree, and it blooms every year right around my day. What a gift that is, especially now that my step-mom has passed away. It is almost as if she is still here to share the day with me.
I wish you all the happiness that you bring to so many around our world, Ms. Branch, and that is an immeasurable amount indeed. Happy Birthday!
Trees are the best gifts! For just the reason you mention. My girlfriend got married in my backyard and they gave me a Magnolia in thanks and it blooms every year reminding me of that lovely day.
We’ve missed you Susan but I’m glad you’re totally immersed in our book. Loved seeing photos of Blog Daddy and Joe and our boy Jack. I can’t tell you how happy I am to hear Jack and Girl are finally playing. Two and a half years? Talk about playing hard to get!! Most of all I want to wish you a very happy birthday. I’m so glad you’re taking some time off to celebrate and enjoy. You’re the best!!
xoxo Suzanne
LOL, Girl has her feminine wiles. Jack knows his place too. Fingers crossed they just keep doing this!
Birthday hugs to Suzanne too! I believe it is within a couple of days of Susan’s:)
OH! Fabulous post! I was afraid I was going to see “Quinoa Salad” again when I logged on as I do every morning with my coffee. Of course, I knew that meant you were plugging away at our next book, but it’s such a treat to see a new post! I’m going to need a bigger Susan Branch bookshelf! Yay! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, dear Susan! XXO
Thank you Teresa!
Happy, happy Birthday tomorrow Susan!! What a beautiful post. And I think the best way to celebrate every day, and especially our birthday is to count our blessings. I get those magazines as well. I’ll be setting some time aside this weekend to read them with cup of tea in hand. Many blessings for a wonderful year ahead.
How wonderful that you share your birthday with my first born. A beautiful girl that lives in California. Happy Birthday to you and since I know how you love stories, here is one involving my Jennifer and you in an indirect way. Jen was living in San Diego and you had opened your store near Pismo Beach, so on one of our trips to California she agreed to accompany me (and my long suffering husband) up to your store. We planned the trip about 6 months in advance and stayed at one of the hotels you recommended. I can’t remember the name, but it sat up on the cliffs over the ocean where we saw the most beautiful sunset ever. We walked down a ton of steps the next morning and found sand dollars that I still have at home. The Pelican’s were so numerous and Jen who had been enjoying sunshine every single day, got to experience damp air and wind reminiscent of a rainy day back East. We paid a visit to nearby Hearst Castle and then . . . . well your store had closed. We all laughed so hard as what would have caused us to visit your very special little town except your store. We went to the candy shop instead and had lunch across the street. The best chicken salad sandwich ever. I am still trying to recreate it! That being said thank you for inspiring us to travel to a place we may have missed along the way. Thank you also for many, many years of bringing beauty into our lives. We all love quotes, reading, cooking and art and you deliver on all levels. I have 3 daughters and have endeavored to build their Susan Branch library trying to stay ahead of the date that your books go out of print. Just found a copy of Baby Love on Amazon for my middle daughter’s baby boy, Caleb! Anyhow, lunch hour is almost over better run! Thanks again 🙂
I’m just glad you got to tour the area — it’s very sweet, not a bit glitzy (therefore not too crowded), just nice and real. Sorry I wasn’t there to say hello! Do say Hi to Jen for me, and to the long sufferer!
Happy, happy birthday. You have sure brought some beauty and joy into my life, since I found you last year, and read your book, and started following your blog. You know we all have times in our lives when things aren’t going so well, and your work has been a place of refuge for me. And I love hearing that I’m not the only one who really enjoys going to lunch alone with a book or a magazine. In fact, I’ll go do that today!! Again, thanks Susan, and Happy Birthday!
Thank you CV! 🙂
Happy birthday! So happy that spring has sprung just in time for your day! And it was so nice to hear from you and hear what you’ve been up to. I can’t believe Jack and Girl are finally playing together. Gives me hope for my Cheddar and Oreo (who turned one last week!) and our old girl, Midnight. Well, maybe they think they are playing but she does not! Enjoy your day!
It was smart of you to get two young kitties, I should have done that, so that Jack would have a playmate. Him depending on Girl has not been the best thing!
HAPPY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SUSAN!!! What a delightsome post today! Your list of blessings blessed me right back. This is the way to live! Have a birthday like no other; they just get niftier and niftier. (I’ll be 69 on Tuesday the 15th. Wow.)
Happy Birthday to you Mary Ann!
Thanks again for such a sweet blog. I love the 1972 news flash from Vogue. I was one of those women and now I blame my sore ankles to all the times I fell off those shoes!!! If those are your high school girlfriends, you must’ve have been in the class of 1985!! Have a wonderful birthday. It sounds like it will be great.
Happy Birthday Susan! You sound so happy, it is contagious! I am grateful too. After 8 months of hubby working in Alabama, he gets to move home! We both are so relieved and grateful! I knew it would all end well and it did. So I am planning a great homecoming for him! Did you get my package? I know you don’t want us to send gifts, but that book was meant for you! Happy everthing! Love.
Hi!
I’m so happy for you Laurie!
Happy Birthday, Susan!
I love the things you are grateful for. They resonate with me and I’m sure with all your readers. Have a wonderful birthday lunch tomorrow and just enjoy your special day.
P.S. We missed you and the blog. It was way too long to wait to hear from you.
Birthday blessings to BeYOUtiful Sue. May your special day bring you as much joy as you bring to us (the girlfriends)♥♥♥ Have a wonderful birthday tomorrow!!!!
Happy Birthday, Susan! I understand how special birthdays are and I was blessed to spend mine last year on a short trip to Hudson, Ohio with my mom and aunt to meet you at your book signing at The Learned Owl! What a wonderful birthday it was for me. And, my books are signed “Happy Birthday” by you which makes me smile each time I open them. Thank you, Susan. – I do hope that you have a blessed day, a year full of happiness, wonderful memories, and good health.
Thank you Janet! xoxo
Happy! Happy Birthday! Susan!
You have been missed…..but we understand…at least until they get this cloning thing worked out. 🙂
It sounds as though your birthday will be just wonderful, and you could use the break!
Girl and Jack playing you say?! Wow after all this time I would not have expected it. So maybe there is hope for Katherine Rose and BB3? Maybe it’s just spring in the air!
Know that you are much loved by all the girlfriends and have a great birthday!
Love,
Chris
Happy, Happy Birthday!! I will celebrate my birthday on Sunday with family, steak, and coconut cream pie! 🙂 Hope you enjoy your day and CELEBRATE!
Happy Birthday Kristina, have some of that pie for me!
Happy birthday! What a fun blog post…well, they’re all fun, but with this one I especially felt your enthusaism…was spontaneous! I just shared your new book with another creative friend today…she’s on her way to Barnes & Noble! Thank you for adding joy to our lives!
hello Susan, hello girlfriends. good morning fro cave junction. Susan any wishes for a very Happy Birthday and many more to come. loveit ht Girl and Jack are finally playing together, that means there is hope for my Miss Kitty an the rest of gang t get along especially Tabitha since she is the that starts all the wars with Miss Kitty. Have a wonderful day and a wonderful celebration of your birthday. Happy Birthday!! time for me to get the peeps out to their pen in the yard and let them go enjoy the sunshine and the good weather. wishing you all the best for your Birthday hugs….. 😉
Susan…I hope you have a very very Happy Birthday. It sounds like it will be grand! I just love your enthusiasm for life. You really make us all think. And yes, A Fine Romance really was a blessing to us all. I have passed my book over to a girlfriend who tells me..”I can’t put that book down either!”.
My favorite nature’s address is Bass River Beach in South Yarmouth and Grey’s Beach in Yarmouthport. Both are places I love to go to for peace and the heavenly smell of the sea!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY! ENJOY YOURSELF!
Trish
There should be a book called Nature’s Address!
Happy Birthday!!!!! you are wonderful and hope you have a wonderful day!! and i have to agree I would love a corner table with a magazine any day! the simple things in life……
I hope you have the best B. day ever!
Happy, happy birthday! Spring birthdays are the best! (mine’s in 3 weeks) I’m grateful for such an inspiring lady “blogging” such wonderful tidbits to us all….that would be you! Enjoy your very special day! Hugs!
Happiest of birthdays to you, Susan! Thanks for brightening my days (especially today with your blog post…I missed you and had been checking daily thinking: “I hope nothing is wrong…she doesn’t usually go missing for this long.”) Yes, happy, happy, happy is the best way to go through our days and I, too, am grateful for all of the good (simple) things in my life. Enjoy all of your birthday festivities.
Everything’s fine, just been in that zone! Thank you Debbie!
Happy Birthday Susan!!! I hope you have the most wonderful weekend of birthday doings.
Happy, almost Birthday Susan. Hope the lunch with Girlfriends is grand and the reading alone is wonderful. Yes, Spring is in the air and I’m loving it. Away this week-end with hubby for a much needed rest and relaxation time.
Happy Birthdy………..have a wonderful day
Wishing you the happiest of days tomorrow, Susan!
xoxo,
queenmum
Let’s pretend it’s tomorrow……….HAPPY BIRTHDAY SUSAN, one of the rays of sunshine that I hold dear to heart. What a marvelous birthday you have planned. My favorite nursery always “takes me away,” to the land of happiness. The reason you have so many friends is that you’re such a happy, giving soul. I can’t imagine you ever sad. Your childhood pictures always show you happy, happy, happy. Your adult pictures are also always happy. What a wonderful smile you have. ENJOY your special day, my special friend. Oh, & I’m sure you’re very busy, so if the a new blog doesn’t come up when we all go to it, we’re a patient lot. Be easy on yourself. We all know you’re trying your best to keep us all happy. Remember, this may sound selfish, but you’ve got to make “yourself” happy FIRST. (Sandy from Chihuahua Flats)
You are a dear Sondra … thank you!!
Happy Birthday! Thank you for sending us a new Willard to read.
Happy birthday! Wishing you all the things that make you happy. (I think you have a pretty good handle on that already.) Spring is finally here in Indiana and I have those very same magazines waiting for me – Saturday, sunshine and sitting on the deck reading. 🙂
Perfection!
Hello Susan, I am wishing you a very Happy Birthday. I see you have already counted your blessings. Loved your photos. Especially the one of your father and your husband. May you have many, many more wonderful birthday filled with love of family and friends. Blessings, xoxo,Susie
Sending birthday hugs and beautiful wishes to you from San Diego. LOVED, LOVED your post. Girlfriends are so important…one came visiting me last evening from L.A. and we went off to listen to music, have a specially made Mai Tai, scrumptious flat bread on a beautiful outdoor evening in Southern California. What could be better??!! Adored the pix of Joe and Blog Daddy! You are so fortunate to have these two men in your life; BUT they are so fortunate to have you! ENJOY your special day!
San Diego evening, Mai Tai, flatbread and girlfriend, who could ask for anything more! xoxo Thank you Linda!
Happy, Happy Birthday to you, Dear Susan!!! Enjoy all the sweet bits, of your Birthday Celebrations!
.
I won’t be able to get to the Gladys Taber gathering. But… Once upon a time, my husband, daughter and I managed to “follow Gladys’ cookie crumbs,” left in her books, and to find Still Meadow. We pulled up in-front, and I almost went into a trance! To see all that, which I had loved so long, from her books.
.
Gladys was not there. But her daughter and grand daughters were there. Connie saw the *glow* on my face :-), and invited us in, to see Still Meadow for ourselves. And she autographed the book of her mother, which I brought with me.
.
A Joy. A wonderful Memory. I will never forget Connie’s kindness, and this visit.
.
Gentle hugs,
Tessa~
Lovely serendipity!
Happy Birthday, Susan! Sounds like you are going to have a splendid day! Will be watching for “Willard”. Enjoy the springtime, as it sounds like your are, ours is bursting forth here in Indiana. So Happy Birthday, Happy Spring, and Happy Easter!
Kellie
I told a friend yesterday that I just knew you were deep into your new book and did not want to break your train of thought to stop and blog and I don’t blame you, so I was very happy to see your new post today. So glad to hear that Girl Kitty is playing with Jack and maybe allowing him to lead her into a little mischief. Your description of Spring on MV is so vivid that I can hear the waves lapping on the shore, smell the sea air and see the dew drops on the daffodils. You are an inspiration. I know you will have a very Happy Birthday surrounded by so many people that you love and who love you.
And that includes my Blog Girlfriends . . . thank you Ann!
Hope your birthday is filled with laughter, Susan! You and your blog are truly a blessing.
~Vicki~
First, I want to wish you a very Happy Birthday! Second, I also love to read by myself in a restaurant, cafeteria, anywhere – all by my lonesome. In fact, I get a little PO’d when someone wants to sit down next to me and talk! Happy Spring everyone!
Wishing you a very Happy Birthday! Hope you have a great day & a wonderful year!
Hi Susan. Happy, happy birthday. Wishing you lots of birthday blessings. Loved your new blog. So happy to hear that Girl and Jack are playing together. I’m a happy girl, too, as I found another Beatrix Potter figurine of little Benjamin Bunny. He’s a little different from the one you offer in your shop but cute, cute, cute and wait…I also found a Beatrix Potter Enesco music box with Foxy Whiskered Gentleman and it plays “Oh What a Beautiful Morning”. Your book sounds absolutely wonderful so don’t you worry about the girlfriends. We’re a patient bunch and we’ll be here whenever you have the time to connect. Have fun tomorrow at lunch and at the nursery. Hope tomorrow is full of sweet surprises and that you are surrounded with people who love you.
Thank you Elaine! Happy weekend to you too!
Happy Birthday. Will be thinking of you tomorrow enjoying your day.
Nothing better than a Spring birthday. Will be singing to my grandson and husband this weekend. We’ll add your name in there too!
All the best. Sandy
Have a birthday full of blessings, Susan! How great to use the time to be grateful. Mentioning your get together with your high school buddies, my group of friends has been doing this annually for years … decades actually … and although we have invited a few extras into our group, most of us go back to kindergarten together in 1961! Friends = bliss.
I’m so far away from “the action” (California) — I’ve been to a couple of reunions with them, but the fact that they are all traveling out here just makes me so happy!
Happy Birthday Susan! My friends and I like to stretch it out to a birthday “month” — so much to look forward to (and thankful for). I only have a few crocus coming up so far but I’ve heard the peepers, so Spring is definitely on the way!…cant’s WAIT! My lab puppy, Ellie, and I have graduated from puppy kindergarten and are now in Basic Obedience. Yesterday was a “red letter” day for her — she’s now fully trained on our “Invisible Fence” and can run free with her best buddy, Dandy. SHE LOVES IT! I can’t wait to sit with a hot cup of coffee on my Adirondack chairs and watch and hear the morning happen around me — the hummers should be back by the end of this month — YEA!
Have a wonderful birthday and I’m looking forward to receiving Willard.
JoAnne from rural northwest N.J.
Happy birthday to someone I would love to meet. Hope it is the very best one yet. Love, Debby
P.S. I sent a pic of the lamb cake to your email, wondering if you saw it?
Oh yes, I saw it! I just haven’t left the zone long enough to reply to emails! I’m terrible right now. But I loved it!!!
Happy for real bday. Can’t wait for the book. Kiss those sweet kitties for me. Girl kitty likes Jack!
Dearest Susan,
I hope that you have a wonderful birthday filled with all of the best that life has to offer you! I hope that the coming year brings you much health, happiness and all the love your heart can hold! Happy Happy Birthday! 🙂 Enjoy each and every minute!! Much Love, Hugs and Prayers, Tricia B. XOXOXOXOXO
Happy Birthday with much love from an admirer of YOU and of how you LOOK at LIFE – and of how you help to make it so much BRIGHTER for others! Thanks for sharing that with us in so many ways!
Katherine
Happy Birthday Susan! I hope you have a great of a day as you are always giving us 🙂
Happy Springtime Birthday! Have a wonderful day and a wonderful me-myself-and I luncheon with your magazines. Vanessa the Corgi and I are reveling in the springtime temperatures and smells as well.
You know how much I adore Corgis — just thinking about them makes me happy!
Happy, happy birthday to you ! Looking forward to this new book. You’ll have to let us know if/how much those English gardens influenced your planting this year 🙂 I enjoy A Fine Romance over and over as I see new things in it all the time and just go back to enjoy them once again. Thanks.
I really do have a “plan” for my garden this year. I’m excited. Hopefully it will work and I can show you later on!
Happy Birthday Susan!! Was so happy to see your post today! Have a wonderful day and year ahead. Looking forward to hearing all about your book and adventures! Big Hugs!!
((Susan))
Wishing you a very happy birthday! And I love the idea of going to a nursery to celebrate. What could be better?
Have a Very Blessed Day… Cannot wait until your next book is out…..
Happy Birthday Hugs!!!
Happy Birthday, Susan. May it be a year full of dreams come true.
Happy Birthday Susan! Oh how I’ve missed you! Everyday I have checked to see if you have posted, and today I was so pleasantly surprised! I hope you have a wonderful birthday tomorrow and just a sparkling day. I am so excited about the book you are writing; can’t wait, I know it will be just wonderful.
I think I am going to pick up some daffodils at the store on my way home from work today to put on my kitchen table, you so inspired me!
Enjoy!!! ~ East Longmeadow, MA
Happy Happy Birthday dear Susan! I pray you have many more. Thank you for the wonderful things you do for us girlfriends! Hope you receive 10 fold of the joy you bring! <3
Oh and P.S. What about that Girl-Kitty playing hard-to-get for 2 1/2 yrs. She sure didn’t give up easy did she? I bet Jack is over-the-moon with joy at this turn of events!!!
Celebrate, celebrate and dance to birthday music, laugh with the girls and have a wonderful day. Happy birthday to you! Happy Spring! It’s my favorite time of year. -r-
Here’s hoping you have the Hap-Hap-Happiest Birthday ever!! {{{HUG}}}
“The Zone” is a familiar place to me. Maybe someday we’ll cross paths in there! It’d be nice to meet a friendly face!
Hard to imagine crossing paths with anyone while actually IN the zone, maybe if we are both walking past the outside of the zone at the same time? 🙂 (too much zone talk?)
Happy, HAPPY Birthday dear Sue! Have a wonderful day! ♥ peg
Thank you dear Peg! xoxo
Happy Birthday, dear friend! Heading to the lake shortly (yes, the ice finally went out about a week ago!) with Gladys in hand — time to read about Spring — and of course I’ll be thinking about your special day. It’s also the birthday of my dear lake neighbor, now in his mid 80s, who suffered a stroke a few years ago and is wheelchair bound. I share so many stories with him — and I’ll let him know that Lucy and Ethel “made the blog”! He knows all about our shenanigans and the road trip to north Chicago for the signing, etc. I wish he had the patience to read A Fine Romance, but that’s quite tough for him now. He is a real naturalist and I often try to get him Hal Borland’s books because the pictures are so big and beautiful. Have fun working on your new book (which will be OUR reward!) and getting ready for your June company. I’m still higher than a kite over our newest grandchild — and time flies — our next is due one month from today.!! You are so right that life is grand! And we sure have plenty of blessings to count. Happy day! Love, Ethel
Nice to hear from you Ethel! Happy new babies, hugs for your lake neighbor and hello to Lucy!
Happy Birthday Dear GF! Sounds to me like a wonderful birthday celebration tomorrow! Friends, food & flowers, all favorites! Love it that soon you’ll be seeing your old school GFs, we do that here too but we only have one who’s long distance – Canada! So happy you could come out to play for a bit…but love that you’ll soon be celebrating the completion of another beautiful book! Blessings to you my dear! xoxo & ♥
Have a joyous Birthday filled with laughter and your good friends. Nothing that can be purchased will be as satisfying as those two things…along with family and pets who are family. I have a Gladys Taber book that belonged to my mother-in-law, and I am reminded to get it out and reread it.
Lovely spring is popping out all over Texas, too. I am also off to the nursery to start the flower beds blooming.
Best wishes for your Birthday.
Well, we are so glad that you took a breather from what will be a wonderful book to smell the flowers and celebrate your Birthday. We will have the lights on The Empire State Building in NYC and you can just assume that they are for you. (they certainly should be!)
Have a wonderful birthday weekend- save some time of it for your precious Joe and the kitties. I really can’t wish more for you than this year has brought–just keep it rolling ,as the love and kindness that we spread always returns in so many ways. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
With great affection and gratitude that you were born and that you made a connection with so many of us, Marty
Best of Birthday’s to you Susan, have a wonderful time when your friends visit.
Hi Susan
Happy Birthday!!! I just love birthdays they are the best. You bring us such sunshine sweet Susan. I hope your day is filled with nothing but Happy, joyful, fabulous, Magic!!! you sure do deserve it
deezie
Ha, for a moment I wondered why Joe was posing with Ron Paul 🙂
I always thought my dad looked like Johnny Carson. When he was really young he looked a little like Frank Sinatra.
Blog Dad is much more handsome than any of the
folks mentioned. I’m thinking more like Cary Grant.
Just sayin’ ………….
Susan~
May all your birthday-candle wishes come true!
Bliss!
Marie xo
I’ll have to make them good!
Wishing you a Happy Birthday today, ’cause tomorrow you’ll be out & about !! Have you ever had such a momentum with the other books ? Seems like it’s pouring out as fast as you can write it ! Love how it’s bringing such Joy to you !!!
It’s funny how each book has been written. For so many years my own words were few and far between. Mostly I was writing recipes. This one will have recipes too of course, but it’s a story, so that makes it different. I think this one is something that has been in the works for a very long time.
So glad you were born, Susan!
I big thank you to both your Dad and Mom for that!
Can’t imagine life without you or tea in it!
Wishing you bouquets of daffodils and sunshine for your special day!!!
Happy Birthday, Susan! Enjoy the day, the weekend, the celebration! My dear Mom’s birthday would be later this month. I miss her so much but I’ll have a picnic in her memory. She loved picnics and so do I. May you have a year full of smiles and more blessings than you can count!
And P.S. ….did you know you can get Peter Rabbit jewelry made from broken china? It’s so cute…necklaces, broaches…Vintage Belle Broken China Jewelry. I found it on FaceBook!
How lovely of you to have a picnic for your mom. Perfect!
Happy Birthday Susan! So honored to share the birthday with you. I always felt a connection and then a couple years ago found out we share the same birthday! I hope that you enjoy every minute. I am sure Joe and your furry kids will celebrate you as all of the girlfriends will too. Happy Birthday <3
Happy Birthday Sue!!
Happy Birthday Dear Susan! Boy, did your blog post pick me up today. I was feeling kind of…blech…and after reading your enthusiastic words I have a much better attitude. Thank you!
Happy Birthday dear Susan, Happy Birthday to you!
I am busy baking for Our big Family party tomorrow, celebrating the birthdays of my son, daughter and husband- Three birthdays in 2 weeks make for a super special party! Hope the sunshines on your birthday- and the rain falls on ours, so that my husband can come indoors from the fields and enjoy his day!
Happy Birthday, Susan! What a blessing you are to all of us. I was reading A Fine Romance (for the umpteenth time) before bed last night and love, love, loved it as much as the first time I opened it up. In time we’ll be blessed with another of your books. How lucky are we?! Thanks for the Girl and Jack update. What fun for them to have a feline pal to romp with.
All the best to you on your birthday weekend! xo
Have a wonderful birthday. I wish you the VERY best. You surely have provided e with many, many hours of super entertainment. I’m so grateful to YOU ! My wishes to you for many blessings of the day !
Happy, happy Birthday dear Susan. You were born on my parent’s wedding anniversary! They were married in 1933 which means this would have been their 81st anniversary – or course they have both “gone home” – but the date reminds me how blessed I was.
See the picture of you in San Luis Obispo with the little girls reminds me what a gorgeous day it was – and how special.
Thank you for such a lovely post. Have a wonderful birthday!
Happy Birthday Susan! Thank you for reminding us of all the blessings we have in life, keeping us focused on what matters and your enthusiasm for the little things….like a good magazine. Enjoy the celebration with all your friends! One of my dear friends was just diagnosed with Ovarian Cancer and it is my goal to bring sunshine to her in some way every day.
All my best to you and your friend, Betsy xoxo
I hope you have an amazing birthday with lots of lovely gifts, dance all night and eat lashings of cake without gaining a pound!! Happy Birthday.
A birthday wish and prayer for you that you will have another marvelous
year ahead to be counted as a blessing next year! I will be going to
England this summer (already paid for!) and I will have your book with me
and I will drink a cuppa and a peah-cida for you. So happy the kitty bro
and sis are playing. I have Pinky Lee and Pearlie Mae, both feral, who
have never been affectionate. Well………..last week Pinky Lee jumped up
into my lap as I sat in the rocking chair! We both almost had a heart
attack! They are about 7 years old. They are finally deciding that I am
o.k. Thanks for the sweet post. Think I’ll go to the nursery tomorrow!
It takes a while doesn’t it. You must have held your breath! Thank you for the cuppa and cida! Have a wonderful trip!
Hi Susan,
Happy Birthday, and thank you for your inspiration. I love your blog and enjoy reading all about your activities with friends and family. Yes, life is grand.
Forever a follower,
Betty @ My Cozy Corner
Susan wishing you a wonderful Birthday. And a big thank you from for all that you give and share with us!!!
HaPpY BiRtHdAy, SUSAN! So thankful for all the things you mentioned in this Birthday Post because…they bring YOU the happiness you share so generously with us! I turned 65 last week! Hubby and I spent the day antiquing in the historic center of Orange, California. On the way, my elder son (the professor) called to wish me a happy birthday and closed with this teaser…”Don’t stand still too long, Mom! They might put a price tag on you!” LOL!!! 😀 Still laughing, days later! 😀
Too funny, there is nothing like humor in families!
Happy 65th Charlene! Loved your son’s comment about you and the price tag…priceless! And what better way to spend the day than to go antiquing.
You uplift spirits, make us smile, warm our hearts… and you deserve the happiest of birthdays. Your plans sound perfect! Enjoy it all, as we enjoy you!
Happy Birthday, Susan! Thanks for being our muse!
Thanks for letting me! 🙂
Happy Birthday Wishes, Susan…Your inspiration is infectious!!!! Thanks for such another
delightful blog, it is your birthday wish for us!!
happiest of birthdays, dear susan! wishing you a wonderful new year of life! and THANKING YOU for soooo much inspiration and joy!
by the way, the central coast is beeeutiful right now…everything is green and blooming and the birds are singing their hearts out. i’m sure your garden here is just amazing….
enjoy your day:)
heidi
Our gardens are barely beginning ~ Kellee sent me a photo of the Studio garden filled with roses, so I know it’s beautiful out there right now!
Gladys Taber is not the only person who was a light in the world. You, Sue, are a HUGE light in the world! Happy, happy birthday girlfriend. ♥
So sweet!
First off, I do wish you a rainbow and a star and any other thing your heart desires because to me (and so many others) YOU are our shining star and brightest rainbow of all! When I click on your blog and there it is “a new one”, omgosh, my heart takes a leap and I can’t help but smile (and I don’t even know what you posted about)!. Your day with your BFF sounds like so much fun. I love going to nurseries any time, they are magical. And they look like such a fun and happy group too. I also could hear those little kitty paws running up the stairs, so glad they are having some fun together. (at last) lol. Your letter from Alex made me smile, it looks a lot like a grocery list my 6 year old granddaughter wrote for me. It took awhile to figure out some of the items! But was so precious. So many good things to comment on too, like you and Gladys Tabor having the same birthday! And I always thought you two were true sisters of the heart. OH and OMGOSH that picture of your dad and Joe just the “BEST PICTURE EVER”, but don’t tell them I said that if you know what I mean. lol (as in man’s head size grows)! Happy happy birthday to you. xo
Best picture ever! 🙂
Happiest of birthdays to you tomorrow, Sue! After a few days without a new post, I figured you must have been deep in the midst of a writing spell, a nice solid drenching downpour of ideas. And that’s what you have to do in those wonderful times – the writing must be tended to or before you know it, things get dry again. Such good news that Girl and Jack are finally friends. I must say after a year had gone by and she still hadn’t really warmed up to all that Jack cuteness, I had my doubts. But it looks like she decided to make it a birthday present for you. Leave it to cats! They can always surprise us. Again, have a wonderful day tomorrow – hope Joe is baking you an Orange Cake [best birthday cake ever].
It is the best one ever. I totally agree. I also love the Pineapple upside down cake with that sauce. It’s really good too, but not as much of a birthday cake. (I guess) 🙂
PS – I went to famousbirthdays.com and guess what? You also share your birthday with David Letterman. You were both born on the same day and year – PSYCH! Also – for fun – here is an astrological interpretation for April 12 from the Famous Birthdays site: http://www.famousbirthdays.com/horoscope/april12.html
That was fun Janet!
Susan…..that was amazingly spot on! Nice find Janet.
Wonderful birthday joyful post! Enjoy your very special Happy Birthday tomorrow 🙂 I also was a little worried when the Quinoa post kept coming up =:-O, but now I know what has you so busy and looking forward to all things Spring! Spring has definitely finally sprung here in central Virginia, and we’re enjoying our new home and surroundings immensely. Gardened all morning in our tiny backyard, all cleaned up, new bird bath joins the feeder, and we continue to receive guests in the guise of birdies, squirrels and bunnies – watch before you mow in Spring! 🙂 Thanks for the joyful post – isn’t Spring fever grand??? HAPPY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!