Hi Everyone! Between WILLARD (which starts going out this morning and finishes Wednesday night) and this post, I think I’m going to wear you out! But in the Willard I promised you a recipe, I promised “make-up gifts.” (Too long since last Willard, should call them welcome-back gifts). But first, we need MUSICA . . . and I need to show you what my dad, better known as “Blog Daddy” and his darling wife Jeannie sent us for Easter.
Is that cute or what? I get the bunny with the bow and I’m seven again. It’s got green peeps, it’s filled with those 
little chocolate eggs with the thin crispy crust and my favorite dark chocolate-covered coconut bars. Thanks Dad, thanks Jeannie! There’s me and Blog Daddy → . . . Such a cute surprise! (We were so young!)
I hope Easter weekend was as beautiful where you are as it was here! We’ve been getting amazing doses (as in medicine) of spring, drinking it in, making it almost impossible to stay inside, stay home, stay down. We want OUT! We pop this music into the player and off we go…
The island is coming alive and it’s fun to drive around and look at it. You can see we are still waiting for leaves on the trees, but the air is filled with the sweet smell of thawing earth, the light is new, and the sailboats are coming back. It’s perfect timing . . . Happy Earth Day! It’s today! Pretty smart of the powers-that-be to tuck Earth Day into this beautiful time of year! For extra enjoyment, for frosting on the spring cake . . . Check out the Washington DC Cherry Trees in bloom! They will put a song in your heart.
And now, here’s the recipe for the cake I wrote about in Willard, an old-fashioned lemon-filled sponge cake, soft as a baby’s hiney, perfect for spring birthdays, and gorgeous as a Mother’s Day Tea Cake.
And since I made this cake for Easter, I thought I’d show you just how easy it is to put together. Making this roll is much easier than you might think if you haven’t done it before.
So set your oven for 375° and here we go . . .
Butter a 10″ x 15″ cookie sheet that has a rim (jelly roll pan), then lay down a piece of waxed paper (allowing it to go over edge), smooth it into the corners and into the butter, and then butter the paper too.
Put the yolks of three eggs in one bowl and the whites in another.
Beat egg yolks a little bit then add a cup of sugar and . . .
Beat them until they’re thick and lemon colored . . .
Sift a cup of flour together with salt and baking powder . . . (don’t worry I’ll give measurements at the end)…
And stir it in to your batter along with six tablespoons of hot water . . .
Beat the egg whites until stiff and glossy.
While you’re doing that take a peek outside . . . oh, my, what a DAY!
And LOOK!!! I begin calling for Joe . . . we have robins by the herds, we have gaggles of cardinals, whole families ~ (not that I will ever take them for granted), but see that bird on the right? We never see that bird. ever. Got out the bird book where we find out it usually likes woods and thickets. This is our driveway . . . he is a “rose-breasted grosbeak.”
We ooh and aaah over him for a few minutes . . . He must have spring fever, coming over for some dessert seeds.
OK, that was nice, but back to “work” ~ folding in the egg whites . . .
And then the zest of one lemon . . . Now spread the batter evenly on your well-buttered cookie sheet and put into oven for 12 to 15 minutes.
While it’s baking, lay out a clean dishtowel and sift over a sprinkling of powdered sugar.
When the cake is done, and wafting fresh cake fragrance to the neighborhood, bring it out of the oven and use the edges of the waxed paper to turn it out onto your powdered-sugar covered cloth . . .
Voila! While still hot, carefully peel off the paper. Then take a pair of sharp scissors and cut off the crispy edges of the cake all the way around . . .
You can eat those crispy edges immediately, but from experience, if you eat them all now, you’ll have nothing to dip in the lemon filling you’re about to make. Just sayin’ . . .
Now, using the dishtowel begin to roll up the cake. It’s fairly malleable while it’s hot so you can make a nice roll, just pull out the towel as you go . . .
Once it’s all rolled, just leave it there and let it cool while you make the filling. Essentially it’s in training now to be a roll.
LEMON FILLING: In the top part of a double boiler, put two whole eggs, a cup of sugar, the grated rind of two lemons . . .
The fresh juice of two lemons and two tablespoons of melted butter.
Pour the juice into the double boiler through a fine sieve if your lemons are like mine and filled with seeds. Stir over simmering water for fifteen minutes until the filling is thick. Cool slightly. (Más MUSICA Girlfriends?)
Then it’s time to unroll your cake; carefully peel it open until it’s flat ~ it goes very easily . . .
Pour over the lemon filling and spread it almost to the edges, but leave it thick in the middle. (Don’t forget to save a little bit of filling to dip your cake clippings in if you have any left.)
Roll the cake back up, not TOO tightly, because you want the lemon filling to stay inside. I roll and lift the cake a bit as I go so as to keep the lemon from squeezing out the sides. Move the cake to an oval serving plate.
Sift over a little more powdered sugar ~ the cake is beautiful, but I decide it needs a little Easter decoration . . . so I run outside to pick some of my pretty yellow (non-toxic) forsythia flowers . . . any excuse to go outside is a good thing.
And voila! Like little butterflies. Your cake would be just as pretty with wild violets, pansies, johnny jump-ups, or roses . .
Now, soak the dishes, while you’re at it, notice the guy in the garden . . . that really good guy in the garden? Doing the aphrodisiac-thing women love?
Mulching and getting everything ready . . .♥
Go ask him if he would like a piece of Lemon Cake . . . Tell him you will bring it and he can eat it in the garden.
He deserves this . . . tender soft sugary cake with the most lemony of lemon fillings . . .
And while you’re out there, find reasons to stay . . . Hang up your bird houses . . . because you LOVE the serenade of birds in love . . .
Go take a picture of your old bunny crossing sign … take note of good mulchy dirt . . .
Give up looking for more to do and go on a walk! Such an amazingly gorgeous weekend.
Remember these Jingle Shells I found on the beach . . .?
. . . and then arranged on my window sill?
Well, one of our Girlfriends mentioned how much she would like to have some of these genuine Martha’s Vineyard jingle shells . . . so yesterday, out on our walk, I collected these . . .
And I put them in this Emma Bridgewater tin as a surprise . . . because I thought they might be a fun giveaway for spring, to celebrate the change of season, a box from the sea.♥
Jack agreed. I tied the box up in a little bag. Then I thought maybe not everyone wants shells, but I bet everyone would love an original 1900 copy of the wonderful “Elizabeth and Her German Garden,” the first book written by one of my favorite authors, Elizabeth von Arnim (she also wrote “Enchanted April” which you would love if you haven’t already read it). So I added that . . . Look at the beautiful raggedy edges on the pages of this old book . . . (Of course, If I’m doing anything different at all, Jack is immediately involved. He has an inquiring mind that wants to KNOW.)
So I put them together and thought, that looks nice, but something is missing . . .
A Fine Romance! Yes, must have that in the package. I hope you like it! I’ll sign my book and the Elizabeth book to whomever wins the drawing . . . All you have to do to be entered is leave a comment; right here at the bottom of this post you’ll see the tiny letters “comment” ~ click there and say anything sweet and you’ll be entered.
But is that enough when it’s been almost a year since your last Willard? Don’t you owe the Girlfriends something else? Maybe not “owe” but “wish to give?” Oui! I think so! So Vanna will choose TWO names this time, and the second name drawn will get these two Keepsake books (guided “life story” journals with lined paper, places for photos, sewn-in ribbon bookmarks ~ and lots of fun questions to be answered in their own handwriting by mom’s, grandma’s, aunts, sisters), more Mother’s Day festivities! xoxo We are starting early because we know that the best way to remember Mother’s Day is to forget it once, but we never want that to happen!♥
Here’s the recipe Girlfriends!
CAKE:
- 3 eggs, separated in two lg. bowls
- 1 c. sugar
- 6 Tbsp. hot water
- 1 c. sifted unbleached flour
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- grated rind of one lemon (zest)
- sifted powdered sugar
Preheat oven to 375°. Butter a 10″ x 15″ cookie sheet or jelly roll pan, one with a rim. Line it with waxed paper leaving some to hang over edges (an inch is fine). Set pan aside. Separate eggs into two large bowls. Beat egg yolks, add sugar and beat until thick and lemon-colored. Stir in hot water and dry ingredients. Beat egg whites with electric beater until stiff; gently fold into egg batter. Fold in grated rind. Pour batter into prepared pan, spreading evenly. Bake 12-15 min.
Immediately turn finished cake onto clean dishtowel lightly covered with sifted powdered 
sugar. Carefully peel off waxed paper. With sharp scissors, cut off the crisp edges of the cake. Using the cloth, roll up cake pulling out cloth as you go. Leave it covered and rolled, set it aside to cool while you make the filling.
FILLING
- 2 whole eggs
- 1 c. sugar
- 2 Tbsp. butter, melted
- zest and juice of 2 lemons (strained if necessary, no seeds please)
Put all ingredients into top part of double boiler. Beat well and stir til thick, approx. 15-20 min. Cool slightly.
FINISH
Unroll the cake, spread on the filling, and roll back up. Cool completely. Transfer to serving dish. Sift over a tiny bit more powdered sugar. Add flowers if you like, edible and unsprayed, violets, pansies, roses, johnny jump ups. Here’s a list of edible flowers.
Now something everyone needs the week after Easter, a delicious recipe for:
These make the most delicious just-home-from-work treat, on the porch while you watch the green things growing. Which is what I hope you’re all doing these days, just as crazy with spring fever as we are. ♥ Deep breaths of the gorgeous outdoors, that’s the only “cure.”
Happy Spring, Girlfriends . . . I’m off to work on my book, my new addiction, a few hours every morning, trying to figure out what our heroine is going to do next (she seems to have a mind 
of her own) . . . housekeeping, gardening, normal life in the afternoon. Don’t forget to leave a comment for the seashells and books. Also, if you have any trouble with WILLARD, be sure to let me know. He goes to lots of addresses now, it takes a couple of days for them all to go out, but if you haven’t received him by Thursday morning, check your spam box (because I’ve heard he can take a detour) and then let me know . . . you can write either here, or on Twitter, or on FOSB (Facebook), and we will be paying attention!
XOXO
Thank you for the lovely post to read and recipe! I am going to make it for my daughter when her finals are finished – to celebrate! We love lemon! have a beautiful day.
I will be making the lemon cake
Oh, this is such a beautiful post! I love all the different parts. I can’t wait to try the lemon cake recipe, and the step by step directions are lovely. It felt like I was making it! So much fun, thank you. I have my fingers double crossed this time.
Hearing from you always brightens my day! You are a gift!
Lovely Susan! You certainly can perk up a dull day:) Thanks for all you do! xoxox
Shelagh in Nova Scotia
Your blog always cheers me up and inspires me and makes me smile. We collected jingle shells in SC., it was a great family adventure. Thanks
Planning a trip to England after reading your darling book….cannot wait!
Still have chocolate bunnies in my basket and left over cheesecake in the ‘frig, but I do believe I will be making the lemon cake today. It sounds delicious and I have johnny-jump-ups to decorate it with. Thank you for a wonderful recipe to continue celebrating spring.
Happy Spring my friend! As always,any communication from you brings joy-thank you!
Happy Days are here again…oh, happy days are here again… Could this be the best Spring yet after this brutal Winter? And, what a way to celebrate! Lemon, delicious lemon sponge cake! It looks so good I could EAT it off the page! Thanks, Susan!
What a nice treat to read on this cloudy morning before heading out. I love jingle shells – and having a visit with you via your post.
Thank you dear Susan! xxo
Your post like literary candy in my email box!! I love making what I called jelly roll cakes. I haven’t made one in years, and I hope to make this one. I actually made them in half sheet cake pans for a group of senior citizens I served years ago and with my heart in my throat I laid out two large flour sack towels overlapping, complete with confectioners sugar and turned over the commercial pan!! Hope that gives you a fun picture!
Scary! 🙂
Thank you for the springy post! We are a couple of weeks behind you here in MN, but enjoyed a GLORIOUS Easter Sunday and got reaquainted with all the loveliest coming up in the garden! 🙂
I started watercoloring, and I found your blog, love the details of your paintings, stories, and all the love you pour into the blog. You make me smile!
Thank you for the beautiful post to read with my morning coffee. Looking forward to Willard!
Your blog, your books always put a smile on my face. They make me feel happy! Thank you!
Susan, your photos and words are like a spring breeze chasing away the remnants of winter from our hearts and homes. Reading your inspirational and cheerful posts makes us all feel a connection with you, even though we’ve never met. That’s your magic. Thanks for the recipe. I now know that when life hands me lemons, I can make… lemon cake!!
Your cake looks delicious! Can’t wait to make it after my Easter candy is all gone…. I don’t want to beef up all at once.
Yes, we need to spread out our beefing up! 🙂
Susan,
The chirping bird sound in your blog fit perfectly with your pictures of the grosbeak. Thank you for the yummy cake recipe.
Chris
What a super recipe ~ I will be making it next weekend. I have a chocolate roll that I make on occasion. I know this will be another family favorite.
Is comment #1204 a lucky number?! Willard was great. Also love the little charms. I would esp. love one that said “Mom” or “Sister” etc. …great family gifts. Thanks!
Hi Susan!
Happy Spring, just loved your post as it’s always sweet, pretty, and just full of love. I am definitely trying your lemon cake for my mum for Mother’s day, it looks so light and airy and super lemony, she will love it!
I’m so looking forward to Willard, thank you for taking the time out of your busy day to write one for us, it’s always such a simple pleasure to receive.
I wanted to let you know how much I love your apricot tea, omg it’s so good, and it smells divine. I also bought the cute red kitchen clock for my on going kitchen renovations, I’d love to send you pictures when its finally done.
Hope you had a lovely Easter, (love the baskets) and enjoy this wonderful springtime weather. ~ East Longmeadow, MA.
Oh I’m so glad to hear you like the tea — me too, the way the smell gets to you before you even take a sip!
Happy Spring, indeed! I am looking forward to my Willard and in the meantime we all can imagine we are winners. What a wonderful and generous give away – thank you!
A childhood friend mails me a box of Meyer lemons every year (I grew up in California eating them off the tree.) and I still have one left this year. I think your lemon roll would be the perfect use for it! Thanks for sharing the recipe.
We have a lemon tree in California and every so often we get a surprise box filled with them too!
That cake looks irresistible! And your yard looks so spring-y with the daffodils and the bunny crossing sign. I’m sure you’re enjoying every minute of the new season. Thanks for sharing!
Susan, I love the life that you create and that you share it with all of us. That lemon cake looks delicious and I love that you photograph each step. I stop by here often because it reminds me to enjoy the beautiful things in life and you always present them in such a lovely way. Have a beautiful day. It’s raining here in Hopkinton MA but a lovely Spring rain. A cup of coffee and your blog started my morning off to a great start!
Karen
The sun just broke through our rain, and everything is SO green!
Dear Susan, I am writing to you from Lyon in France.
What a blessing that I discovered your blog several months ago !. You are such a sweet heart and your art is so enjoyable. I particularly admire your “joie de vivre” which is so rare nowadays. Your enthusiasm is infectious and you make me feel good.
I have begun to read all your past posts since 2010 and I still have a lot of marvellous moments to spend with you. I have also bought your last book. I am sure that I will love it. Like you, I am fond of lovely English gardens.
I hope that some day you will come to France to visit our beautiful country.
P.S. : Please forgive me, my English is far from beeing perfect !.
Your English looks pretty perfect to me Sylvie! Thank you so much for saying hello . . . I’m sure we will come to France one day, we love your beautiful country but have not seen enough of it! xoxo Have a wonderful day!
So excited, I am leaving on a month-long trip to France on Saturday and so looking forward to visiting this beautiful country. First some time in Paris…and then a train rode down to Nice…then back to Paris for a few weeks. Bliss!
Heaven!
Oh dear, what a lovely collection of gifts…I’d like to be included in the drawing, please. Fingers crossed.
Happy spring to you Susan. Rose breasted gross beaks are regulars here but still too early for them this year!
I’m a recent visitor to your blog Susan, been following it for about four months.It always amazes me how full your life seems to be and how you seem to savour every minute of it.It’s a great attitude to have and one that I’m trying hard to emulate rather than focusing on the negative (which is a hard habit to shake off in my case). I know you love baking so I’m posting a link to another blog I follow in the hope that you’ll enjoy some of the English recipes there.She’s a woman on a mission….spreading the cake love! thecakedcrusader.blogspot.co.uk I look forward to your next blog post, they really do cheer me up Yvonne.
Love seeing spring where you are as it hasn’t quite made it here in the mid-west yet. Your world is technicolor and ours is black and white or maybe we are still snow blind from record breaking snow this winter. But, your lovely pictures encourage us to believe spring will come to us eventually. Thank you Susan for inspiring us to to put more HAPPY in our lives.
The pictures are beautiful! I love those beautiful yellow shells and all the birds in your yard. I live off a busy highway so we don’t get much of a variety of birds or many birds that stop in our trees.
How lovely that so many write from all over the world!
Have a wonderful spring everyone!!
Spring has sprung (finally)! Thanks for sharing all the lovelies -recipe, cat, grosbeak,etc.
What a lovely post and giveaway! You are always so generous.
I just began planning Mother’s Day (had to get through Easter first) because I know I’ll be just a little preoccupied this year–yesterday we found out our newest daughter will in all likelihood be in our arms come May 11. Such joy in the springtime!
Susan,,what a wonderful surprise to wake up to, didn’t read this yesterday .recuperating from back surgery, coming along fine but can’t get out in the garden yet and that’s worse than the surgery was. Have a beautiful herb garden right outside the window that needs cleaned up and it’s killing me….my grandson brought dinner the other night( hubby had a dinner meeting) that was sweet enough to last a while but he says “grandma the boys are all going to come for Mother’s Day and work in the garden and get mulch for you” I almost melted on the spot.(almost as good as meeting you which has been on the bucket list for awhile) so enough of this meandering. Pick my name that would help cheer me up and make up for the weeds in the garden
Pat from Cincinnati ohio
I love the Mother’s Day books. Just lovely!
Susan, I love sipping a cup of tea and reading your posts. They are a simple pleasure that I cherish. Have been following and reading your books for a long time and I have delighted in sharing your work with friends. Thank you for sharing your life with all of us!
Dear Susan, Woke up a little depressed this morning. After reading your wonderful blog I have a new outlook on life. Instead of stressing about the rain, i am enjoying the beautiful cherry tree in full bloom outside my window in Sandwich. Cant wait to try your lemon roll. I am going to take one of my best girlfriends out for lunch. It’s going to be a good day! Thanks so much. P.S. My husband stood in line to get your book in Titcoombs for me. Best present I ever got! Next time you are in Sandwich I will take you to lunch!
Hi Susan, spring is late here but finally arriving – all the crocus bulbs I planted last November are in full bloom and the fellow at the garden store who sold them to me was so right when he said, Just you wait, it will be worth it!
I thought of you last weekend when my husband Ryan and I were at a huge antiques mall here in Maine and in an Easter-themed display I saw Mr. Benjamin Bunny, the Beatrix Potter figurine, for $20… such a deal and I had to bring him home so he could keep company with Lady Mouse on the bookshelf where she resides. ;O)
So glad to hear you are working away at your book. It’s thrilling to think about, from the reader’s side of things! Best wishes and thanks for the chance to win some lovely books and the shells too, I’d like to paint those.
Can hardly wait to make the lemon cake roll!
You do have the sweetest blog posts! It’s like having sunshine and birdsong and sweet violets making musica in my heart! Thank you, susan Branch!
Hi Susan,
This is a wonderful post, so springy!!! Here in Ohio we are FINALLY starting to see just a peeping of spring. I popped over to your store the other day and I saw two items I wanted to buy and one (the gold crown) was your weekly special sale item. How perfect is that, I have been eyeing it for awhile now because I happen to collect gold crowns! I think it might just arrive today. The other item was the Mom tell me your story book. I hope Vanna picks me for the book because I know my mom would love to sit down and pour her past down on paper. She is fairly new to the girlfriends. I bought her A Fine Romance for her birthday last year and I think this is her 3rd time going through it, “just to make sure I don’t miss anything”. Have a wonderful day, love the shells also, they are so unique! Kathy from Ohio
And sorry for not putting the capital “S” in Susan….Oh, my slippery fingers.
You, our dear Susan, continue to inspire and nurture me through your wonderfully uplifting “happy” writings and simple beauty of your photos!
Hello Susan, Another lovely post–thank you! We (my little cocker spaniel Lily and I) have also been jumping into our garden. As luck would have it, we just planted a little lemon tree here in our Druid Hills (an old neighborhood in Atlanta) backyard. No lemons yet–but maybe this summer so we can try out your recipe. Best, Lisa
I will definitely be making the lemon roll! I have waited and waited and waited for a new Willard …… thank you SO much. You’ve made me want to sit down this morning with a cup of tea and write to my Mother. She is 85 years young and has often said exactly what you mentioned – that when she gets a nice fat letter in the mail, the first thing she does is put on the kettle. So that’s what I’m going to do for her today …… write her a big fat letter ….. thank you Susan for your wonderful books. They stay in my heart.
I would love a little piece of Marthas Vineyard on my windowsill this spring! A cup of tea and some wonderful reading. So good.
I will definitely be making this lemon cake soon! I have never seen jingle shells, but have spent hours upon hours at different beaches collecting sea glass. The shells look amazing! I didn’t know what I have been missing! Thanks for a special relaxing morning with my coffee and your Willard and blog! My daughter and I loved meeting you and Joe at your book signing in Downers Grove, IL.
Love,
Jennifer
Happy Spring! Your latest post arrived just in time. We had a beautiful Easter Sunday and Monday. Then the gloomy,cold weather arrived! Our 3 year old grandson Ted is staying with us for a few days and it has been fun and hectic. So it was a treat to sit back and relax and read about life on the island. I can almost smell the delicious lemon cake. Maybe my little “baker” will help me in the kitchen. Have a great day!
You have so much energy; reading your blogs lift my spirit thank you.
Susan thank you so much for the beautiful post. I can almost smell the fresh spring air here in Florida. Everything looks so fresh and new as it comes alive again. The lemon cake sounds yummy and what a great idea cutting the edges off, I never would have thought of doing that! Those Easter baskets from Blog Daddy and Jeannie are totally adorable, what sweethearts they are! Enjoy this marvelous time of year – and I’m hoping I’ll get lucky this time and Vannah will pick me for one of your gifts! A big hug from me! XXXOOO Sharon
Love lemon desserts and will try adapting this with gluten free flours today! Spring is definitely inspiring!
What a lovely post to welcome Spring. Here in Indiana, the Bradford Pear trees have blossomed even though we had 30 degree weather last night. Lady Winter just doesn’t seem to want to leave…but it’s time for the merry maids of Spring to take over the season’s dance! Thanks for the sunshine you bring with your post! This is my first time commenting–hoping for good luck in the drawing! Happy, Happy Spring blessings to all!
I’m loving your recent post, and Willard, and wishing I could have also read that three-letter page your grandma wrote about her childhood! What did it say? Mothers and grandmothers are such a gift! Thanks for sharing about yours!
🙂
What a precious gift to receive. The shells remind me when I’d take my three girls to the beach in FL. All sort of treasures could be found. But that was back in the ’60’s when there were no condos and you could have the beach to yourself. Many happy memories.
Shell collector here………have never seen jingle shells in person, but I’d love to win that box filled with them!!!!!! The lemon cake looks divine……..THANK YOU for sharing the recipe! Lemon is my favorite after chocolate!!!
I’ve never attempted a jelly roll because they always looked so difficult. I do cheesecakes because they’re easy peasy. You make everything look possible, so thank you! And what’s not to like about lemon? So nice to see Willard back in my inbox. Thank you so much! Cheers, Pam in Montreal
Love your comments and thank you for the Lemon Roll recipe. Going to try this one soon! Your blog is so pretty and so is Willard. My question if you get a chance to answer, is where do you find such pretty wall paper for the sides and how to change a font to much. If I could make my blog as fun as yours to read, I think I would blog more. 🙂 Have a great day!
Thank you so much for your charming and uplifting blog! I feel “rested” and “happy” after reading one of your posts—because of your art and your words. Love it all!!
Good Wednesday morning, Susan!
This post has it all! A rose-breasted grosbeak! Luscious Lemon Cake Roll! Perfect customized Easter baskets! A wonderful giveaway! Count me in!
I’m told the kitty charm is out of stock when I try to order. I hope there are plans to have more available!
Sunshine here today, though it is a bit chilly. I’m off to the kitchen to bake bread!
xo Nellie
What a wonderful way to start out a day ~ enjoyed the reading so very much!
Thank you for all you do. You have a beautiful colorful mind and heart
Spring, spring, beautiful spring! Your blog was certainly all things spring. It sure makes us feel good. Thank you, Cindy
How very nice of you to share not only your life with others but your home and surroundings as well. Thank you for such special treats as the Peter Rabbit room and other details of your home. It makes me feel as though I am a visitor in your home and you are bustling around, sharing your thoughts and your life with me. What a gift to all of us out here who can enjoy “long distance” your special way of doing things. Many thanks!
It’s a lovely day to read a Willard and spend a moment in your world with you. I hope you have a wonderful rest of the week.
Dear Susan–I have made “jelly rolled” cakes many times, but your helpful hint using wax paper is something I’ll add to the process. Thanks for the recipe, I’ll make it for my Mother, she’ll love it! Pam
This is my first time to read your blog! I just loved it and I have never seen those shells either! Lots of goodies here! I will be back! Write soon!
Dear Susan – You brighten my day each time I read your blog. Happiness is a new posting from you! Thanks so much for making life sweeter and inspiring!
Joanie W.
I’ve always wanted to make a rolled cake but never had the courage. Thanks to your explicit instructions I’m going to give it a try. Your words always bring a touch of happiness to the day.
Happy Spring. What a great way to start the day… a new Willard and a recipe for the lemon cake. Can’t wait to make the cake. Spring always seems to bring out in me, the desire for anything with lemon. Thank you, Thank you.
Those are the cutest Easter Baskets I have ever seen and there is Lambie Pie stuck right in between them. Like all your girlfriends, I always enjoy your blog so much! It is such a wonderful treat each and every time I get your email and I always open it first. I remember seeing in one of your posts (and maybe I have seen it in one of your books too) the saying “THINK CHARM – Try To Make Each Page: Charming, Fascinating, Pleasing, Attractive, Delightful, Irresistible, Alluring, and Magical.” You always make each and every one of your posts ALL THESE THINGS!!! You really have managed to do something that, to the best of my knowledge, no one else ever has by relating your life history, your interests, your art, gardening, cooking, and total delight in all things that each and every day brings AND create a following of all these things and every tidbit of information about you that is unmatched. All of your girlfriends want to share with you parts of our lives that are similar to the ones that you have so generously shared with us about yours. I am reading A FINE ROMANCE for the second time and making notes about my favorite parts. I have always wanted to take a trip like that, but I doubt I will ever get to and I could not leave Daisy for that long anyway. I think I will have to send my notes in a letter though as it is going to be too long to add as a comment. I cannot wait to receive my WILLARD . . .
What an uplifting blog entry, a burst of Spring. Thank you for brightening my day.
Hi Susan-
While I was reading your post I was thinking I wanted to leave a comment about how much I appreciate your “joie de vivre” but I was afraid I would spell or say it wrong. How delighted I was when I saw the comment before mine was an actual French lady saying it, so I will just second it, haha! (And thanks Sylvie for authentically saying what I was trying to!) Have a wonderful day!
It’s a lovely compliment! xoxo Thank you Julie.
I’m going to make the stuffed egg recipe!! We call them devilled eggs. So glad to have a Willard again!
The teas look lovely, I may have to order the Earl Grey with rose petals! Really want to read A Fine romance too. Have a great day! <3
I just love your blog, I just love everything about it and reading it makes my day.
Your writing takes me into another world. Keep up the great work!
Susan Branch – I just adore you ! You have such an amazing gift of sharing with us! I hope Vanna plucks me from the hat. A perfect spring day under a tree with picnic and a Susan Branch book in hand 🙂
Susan, You make every season special for us all!! Thank you for that blessings!
Kim
Oh, your spring looks beautiful! I so enjoy reading and LOOKING at your blog!
Love love lemon, so will be making this cake for sure….. and love love seashells, I am green for your beach and walking!
Hi Jack!
The lemon cake looks too pretty to eat! Looking forward to the new Willard.
Lemon cake sound delicious and I’m looking forward to receiving my Willard. Thank you Susan
Ohhh! What a lovely treat! I would so love to win the shells. I collect shells from the Outer Banks in North Carolina…would love to add the elegant Martha’s Vineyard ones to my display collection. And of course, the books would bring me pure joy, especially personalized by you! Please, Vanna, pick me!!!!
So much news you give us today and Willard too! So many things to savor. Isn’t Spring grand? My favorite time of year, hands down. Headed to a quilt fair in Amish country this weekend in Kalona, Iowa. (Not far from Iowa City.) Every year I plan the daytrip with my sisters, my niece, and my mother’s forever friend, since they were girls, Wilma. Mom used to go too every year and we’d visit her and Wilma’s childhood hometown of Riverside, Iowa. Still do, but without mom, as she passed away in 2006. But we know she still goes with us, sitting in the back seat enjoying all of our “bad” jokes. Thank you for your blog and Willard. Things have been quite hectic and busy as of late. You pointed my week in the right direction!
What a lovely visit through words to MV in the spring. I’ve loved your A Fine Romance Book, and have passed it on to my mother. Best wishes for a productive spring.
Kathie L
Thank you for the delightful start to my morning! Everything about this post is so “me” and so lovely. I wish you were my neighbor. I would love to go on walks with you…alas, I am across the nation…seeking my own joy and the beauty in my sweet little corner out on our farm. Bless your heart. Bethie
So happy to find Willard in my email this morning. A great way to start the day! Love, Love, Love every bit of it!
What an enchanted April on your wonderful Island. Did I mention I also live on an Island. It’s an island that has a road across the marsh. It’s my husbands great grandfathers island. We love living out on the Ware River enjoying all the wildlife and shell seeking. I would love those Jingle shells to add to my collection. I’m off to bake your cake, can’t wait. Mary Elizabeth {Mi Mi]
Great blog! Happy spring. Hoping my Willard comes through today. Always love reading anything that you write.
Dearest Susan,
Thank-you for a wonderful, much awaited for, Willard My week is filled with Susan Branch!
What a Joy! Love the Lemon Cake Recipe and cannot wait to bake it! Lemon is my favorite.
Enjoy the Springtime weather…although today it is rather cold and windy here! Soon it will be warmer day and night.
Have a great day!
Kathie from Limerick, Pa
What wonderful giveaways! Would love to win either of those! Thankful for a new Willard too! Blessings
A lovely post all the way around. The lemon cake looks sooo good!
Hi Susan,
Thanks so much for the wonderful recipes! I will be making the lemon cake but it will be a Stepmother’s cake because we are Mom’s too! 🙂 I saw the tin said “Snipe” on the top. I thought “Snipe” were imaginary. As kids you always get fooled by Dad talking about Snipe hunting while camping! Maybe they are real after all!
Hugs,
Lisa Hay from Texas
What a lovely post! I sure enjoy your beautiful photos in each of your posts.. Will definitely be making the lemon roll cake ! Loved the step by step photos too!! Thank you for the beautiful post, they’re always like a vacation for my eyes!! Have a great day :0}
Susan, your blog is a delightful place to visit. It has a calming effect on me…makes me slow down and appreciate life’s wonders and blessings. Thanks for sharing your many talents. You are such an inspiration! Sincerely, Sandy
Hi!
My message has seemed to be erased…always have problems when I post from my IPad.
Thanks for a wonderful post and Willard..all within a day of each other…what a joy
Enjoy your Spring day!
Kathie from Limerick
Happy Spring, Susan! Your writing brings such delight and inspiration! Thank you for your delicious update and blessed wishes to you for continued success in these upcoming endeavors. Your passion for joy and bringing happiness to others is a natural gift, I dare to even say, infectious. To tell you I enjoy reading your beautiful words and looking at your whimsically creative drawings is such an understatement; all so lovely and utterly charming! Thank you for sharing and bringing love and beauty to an otherwise sometimes not so pretty world. Hugs! xxxxxx
Hi, Susan! #waving
I can’t believe I finally have a second to respond and there are well over 1,000 messages on here! However do you keep up with all you do and then all of us on top of all that?! 🙂 Life’s been oh so busy that I’ve hardly had time to check in but loving the breathe of spring air that was awaiting on your blog and in your Willard! We are heading to the Cape for a few days and I cannot, cannot, cannot wait to get there!!! First trip of the year …it sure has been a very long winter. Last time, our jaunt there was warmed by seeing/meeting you! 🙂 You’ve been a busy beaver for sure….tending to things that will continue to delight and feed our souls! You are a gift that keeps on giving! xo
Sorry for my IPad glitch again…I am too lazy to go to the house computer. Sometimes there is a few minutes lapse when I post. I apologize for the problem!
Kathie from Limerick
Beautiful blog and the pictures of the cake making makes me want to go home and start a cake right now. Looks yummy. I have some of your cookbooks and I must go reread them now. Back to work for now.