First, MUSICA, and second… Hello All💞, and third, I thought I would talk about this thing that’s very popular in Europe (and probably all over) right now called Hygge ~ While we were traveling I would walk into a bookstore in Great 
(great and wonderful) Britain, and invariably, on the front table would be six different books, all with some cozy atmospheric picture of H💟ME on the cover and called some variation of “HYGGE,” which makes sense when you find out Hygge is Danish for “cozy.” So I checked it out and it’s pronounced “HYU-gah,” but I like to pronounce it “HUG,” since the word embraces (so to speak) the entire spirit of Hygge. We’ve had Hygge for a long time around here too, but we’ve called it other things … the way my mom said it was,
And sometimes it’s known as Living the Dream; or Having it All; or Living Large; or The Pursuit of Happiness; and let’s not forget . . .
Oh yeah. It’s all about making a world of Contentment in your own
Unfortunately, we can’t control what goes on in the outside world, which seems to get more ridiculously uncontrollable every day, but we CAN control what goes on in our own homes ~ whether it’s one room, an apartment, or a mansion. Hygge has nothing to do with money, it’s an equal opportunity bringer of joy.
Hygge is a state of mind and a recognizing that what you seek, you already have. I’ve perfected my Hygge in rented rooms and tiny apartments when I was younger. I make it every time we travel in a small train compartment when I bring along my feather pillow, my comfy slippers, a new wonderful book to read, my electric kettle, my favorite cup, my favorite tea, and some homemade cucumber sandwiches. That’s Traveling Hygge, there’s more to it, but today we’re talking bout Hygge In-House. In YOUR house to be exact!
There are a thousand ways to Hygge yourself, and if you’ve been hanging around this Blog long enough, you know that’s mostly what we love to talk about. How to make a Homemade Happy Life . . .
Over the years, I’ve recognized that most of the little things that make life wonderful are found in the same basic framework I use when I give a party: They always seem to appeal to one of the five senses, plus that magical sixth sense, the highly personal one called 
“imagination.” Because the senses are kind of your everything. If they are constantly fed a diet of car exhaust, too many people at the mall, the dentist’s drill, fast food cheeseburgers, news of starving children, killer germs on the loose, and culture collapse, staring into your phone for hours on end, and perhaps a quick frisking at the airport, you are just not going to be happy! SO simple. You might have to go out and experience all of that, but then you can come home, where YOU are in charge. Whew. Look around your home. How does it feel? How does it sound? How does it look? How does it smell? How does it taste? Are there flowers, candles, a cozy throw for you, books, teacups? Is there toast and cheese? Are there pancakes? Is there pretty music that sends you to the moon? Now for number six: see any whimsy, anything that only says YOU in all caps? The question is, does your house FEED you from the well of sweetness?
Hygge thyself!
When it’s all rainy and gray outside . . .
Make a fire or light a candle . . . light many candles!
Lots of you know how much I love houses ~ I have one room where there are only paintings of houses on the walls. Over the years, when I’m out and about, I might see a little candle house, the one with the green roof is my newest in this long slow-growing collection. I found it in Scotland where so many of the real houses are white stucco. What could be more Hygge than a candle IN a house? It’s the Hyggiest! And long, and slow-growing? That’s Hygge too.
Light the candles and then go make yourself a cup of tea, and cuddle up to watch an old movie . . .
This is Audrey Hepburn and Gregory adorable Peck in Roman Holiday. Five Stars! I have a wonderful list of old movies that could keep a person busy and in Hygge City for a whole winter if they wanted!
This is the June page from my new 2017 wall-calendar and just a reminder, because the main thing about Hygge, as you can probably tell by just reading about it, it’s so HEALTHY! It doesn’t weigh you down, it makes you buoyant, up and ready to go! It’s priceless, and it’s a gift you can give yourself because it’s FREE!
Read a book that will light your soul, send your heart to the moon, make tears flow down your cheeks, and inspire you to greatness. Read biographies about your heroes. I love reading about the life of Beatrix Potter because she makes me want to be a better person.💞
I think it’s very Hygge to put dried flowers in her books . . .
Even housekeeping and doing laundry can be Hygge, if you wait a moment and let yourself SEE the before and afters . . . and just how pretty wrinkles and patterns can be, smell the cleanness, feel how organized you must be as you are hanging things to dry, there in the Village of Hygge, where you are in charge of your environment, and your environment is not in charge of you.
And how lovely it is to have your hands slippery in warm water caring for your things, washing them, loving them, making them last forever. You can sing while you do it, and that will make the other people in the house happy too. Really, it will.🎵
Luv-lee bubble baths, where all tensions rooooolllll away in the water . . . play the MUSICA! Because guess who’s in charge? You are!
It’s hard to find words for how wonderful a little petty-pet can be, but I tried.
Put something fun on the calendar, something to look forward to! Hygge is having a dream, and making it come true, even if it takes ten years!
Make a picture wall in your bathroom. It’s zen. No one wants to come out of my bathroom now! See HERE.
Have a Jane Austen tea party and Celebrate her birthday on December 16th, use her books as centerpieces, tell everyone to wear a hat … I have lots of recipes for delicious tea party food! (Just click on which recipe you’d like to have.)
There is also Doing Nothing that is totally Hygge, especially if you find you are doing too much: sleep in! Do it in the coziest flannel jammies you can find. Keep the room cold so you are cuddled under the covers. Moosh the pillow around your ears to keep them warm. Don’t laugh. This can be done! As my mother said, “Where there’s a will, there’s a way!” Put it on your calendar if you have to!
This is Joe (look close to see him), enjoying the Hygginess of it all!
This was the sky over our house this morning, after a few grey days and even some rain. How heavenly is that?
When I was little I used to go outside at night before bed, to look at the stars, and fill my lungs with a big breath of fresh night air to take back to my cozy (Hyggie like crazy) bed with me. I still do it sometimes. The stars, they have secrets, and if you put your ear down close, and listen hard, they will tell you.❤️
My dad used to say, “Be an Elf,” and to me, that’s the same exact same thing as Hygge. It’s a hug. Kind of virtual, but you definitely still feel it. Christmas can be a lonely time for some of us, especially if we’ve dreamed of a certain kind of magical Christmas but have never quite gotten it. I say, this year, think about how you can give it to yourself … a nice big Hygge box of jammies and candles just cannot hurt, with a card signed, “Te Adoro, with all my heart, 💞 your darling Santa, who loves you.” You can wake up, find it all wrapped up under the tree along with the cashmere sweater he left for you, smell the roast chicken he put in the oven, drink the hot chocolate he made for you, count your blessings and be very surprised and thrilled.💝
And another thing this season: Be sure to Shop Small and Buy Local. Because most of the money you spend when you do that, STAYS in your community. That’s a very good thing. Very Hygge. Wear a cute hat when you do it, spread some sunshine. Send love to Tennessee, if you have a little extra, to help the families affected by the terrible wildfires. Send them a little Hygge. And that’s it, oh no, it’s not, I forgot, one other surprise I have left for you! Pretty Hygge too.
This is the Giveaway we have from the new Willard (which just started going out today, it takes about four days for it all to go, so be patient, and if you’re not on our mailing list, you can still sign up) . . . Anyway the prize is a signed copy of the new Heart of the Home, a bird in a gilded cage for your tree, and two dream charms, one is Christmas Joy, and the other (the red one) is Heart of the Home…and all you have to do is leave a comment and you’ll be entered for the drawing! BUT, there’s something else, because Hey, it’s Christmas, and Hey, we’re Hygging today!
Oh yeah, It’s Heart of the Home AGAIN, signed, like the first one, and also, the now out-of-print A Fine Romance, also signed ~ and there’s a little dream charm too, “Girlfriends,” plus, yes, 
it’s the teapot that we bought in an antique store in the Peak District in England that I wrote about in A Fine Romance … I thought, because I have enough teapots, that I would get quadruple the pleasure from this one. First I got to use it, then write about it, then I got to paint it, and now I get to share it. How much more Hygge can you get? Te Adoro, with all my heart, 💞 your darling Santa, who loves you.
So there will be two drawings! Two winners! Just leave a comment, and I’ll announce the winners here on the blog in a week or so, when everyone’s had a chance to enter, and I’ll email them too.
I’m home.🏡 Feeling so lucky! Happy to be here. Sending love to you all.💝
You’re a BLESSING to all of us!!!!!!!!
XOXO Dee!
Thank you for reminding us of the simple joys of life and the importance of respect for one another even though we may disagree. God bless.
Glad you are back safe and sound.
So wonderful to read all your special moments about your visit here..I wish I could have met you both ,but look forward to reading more in a book. Thank you for your lovely words and photos..for the way your drawings make us feel….loved and special as you to are to us.
Happy advent Susan and Joe..many blessings be yours..
Susan,
I recently read a blog that spoke of Hygge, but no explanation was provided, so thank you for this post. It is something we all can use more of. Also, I love your little candle houses.
Susan in PA
So many comments, so much love – it’s making the world go ’round – I can feel it. I just ordered my first Susan Branch book, but I’m a long-time admirer from afar. Eagerly awaiting its arrival. Seasons Greetings to all.
Gosh, the blog and Willard are wonderful enough. To have such a contest is beYOND icing on the cake. Thank you so much!
So cozy and soul nourishing.
Merry Christmas to you, Susan! Thanks for the lovely post and your latest Willard – charming and warm and beautiful as always!
I LOVE the word Hygge! It does feel like hugs! I also especially loved your greeting from Jack when you returned home. How beautiful! Thank you for the wonderful Willard and blog as we enter the holiday season. My daughter comes home from college next week, so we will be making some of your delicious recipes. I loved seeing bits of your calendar…..I am holding out on opening mine until after Christmas! Anyway……HAPPY HOLIDAYS! Xoxoxo
Same to you and yours Diane!
Susan, you are such a blessing! My bestie and i just can’t get enough of you. We are SB wanna-be’s! Well, i do suppose we do pretty well just being who we are. 😉
Thank you for your blog, your books, your inspiration!!
Barbara
Yes, LOL, I’m sure you do!!
So glad you’re back safely and had a wonderful time. I love England . . . and the Vineyard too!
I always look forward to reading Willard….and it never disappoints! Merry Christmas!
Welcome home! So happy to sit inside and smell my freshly cut Christmas tree (this morning!) while reading Willard with Joy tea. Blessings to you this Christmas!
Hello Susan, your Willards and blogs always make me happy!
Thank you for all the inspiration and Hygge! xx
Welcome Home
We are so glad you are back; it wasn’t the same without you🎄
Thank you so much Susan for your sweetness & having a way of showing us what’s really important – it truly is the simple things in life. Welcome home!
Welcome home, it’s love-lee to have you home for the holidays!
Nothing makes me happier than reading your tales of trips to and in England and now Scotland as well. I vote for another travel with Joe book – regardless of where you go!
Just beautiful! Makes me happy to read your blog!
oh, Susan!! what a wonderful visit!!!! and, the Willard…just tooooo wonderful as well. I had made a comment when this visit first came, but now I can’t “find” it, sooooo, here I am again. always hopeful, yeah? lots to say, but, suffice it to be a BIG thank you!! oh!! thank you!!….for, being you. all love. xoxoxo
Love you dear. I haven’t gotten through them all yet, as usual, so perhaps a little further down. xoxo
I have always felt as though I was getting a hug (hygge!) reading your books, blogs and – of course, the Willard. Thank You! Hope you have a wonderful holiday season!
Hello Susan! Welcome home for the Holidays! Loved the blog! Another word for hug? Who would have thought? We just recently moved from S. California to be here in Cat Spring, Texas near our daughter, Lisa Hay, one of the lollipop girls! One of the give aways, especially the little bird in the gilded cage would make a most welcome house warming gift! I would really love either one, but that bird in the cage ornament is to die for! It is cold and rainy here, a perfect day to read your blog. Best wishes and Merry Christmas to you, Joe and the kitties!
OH Lisa! What a ball of energy and fun you have for a daughter. Good Job! Nice to meet you Gloria!
So glad that you are home for holidays! Thank you for your heart warming thoughts.
Welcome back to Martha’s Vineyard. I loved all of your blogs and have been to both England and Scotland. Have a wonderful Christmas Laurie, from Cape Cod
Love this post! I’m a fellow Queen of Cozy! <3
Dear Susan.
Your blogs and your books are such a joy.
Definitely “hygge’s”
I just decided to read one of your older books I have
Since I just decorated our tree. Christmas Joy is title
Looking forward to asking some of your
Wonderful recipes for Christmas.
I’m so happy to have had the opportunity to
Meet you twice.
I am originally from New England.
It has a special place in my heart
I am from English parents so I am very familiar
With a lot of foods etc. that you mentioned
From your trip.
I also just finished reading everything I could find on Beatrix
Potter.
Thank you for always brightening my day.
Hygge’s. Gail
Welcome home…safe and sound…diana
Thanks for the opportunity to win one of the two prizes. Would love the teapot!!! I commented earlier, but don’t see my comment. I’m afraid I messed up sending it on my computer, so I’m commenting again. Hope that is okay. Have a Merry Christmas!
Yes, no problem, Vanna knows to only include one of each address! xoxo
I got my Hygee last night when hubs and I went to a Johnny Mathis 60th Anniversary Christmas concert! It made my day, month, year, decade…
Thanks for all of your sweet inspiration!
That must have been Hygge-o’Rama to the nth degree!
Thanks for thinking about us in England/Scotland with the giveaway. Hope you have the Merriest CHRISTmas and a Wonder-ful New Year!
Thank you, Susan! You are inspiring!
Your beautiful blog put a big, smile on my face”:-)” Thank you for the sunshine you spread to us all! Reading your blogs takes me away to a happy, magical land. Wishing you and yours a Beautiful, Happy, and Magical Christmas, and a Happy, Healthy, and Blessed New Year!!!
Namaste…
Thank you Janice, and back to you!
This may just be my favorite one of your (all pretty wonderful) posts! And thank you for including my dearly departed “husband” 😉 Gregory. <3
Thank you for sharing your life and your adventures with us! I am “new” to you and just love you to pieces!
So great to have you back safe and sound. Have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Thank you!
I love you.
Thank you.
Welcome home. I’d love to meet you some day and sit down for a nice long chat. Hugs!
Welcome back and please, please do write a new book about your trip! I enjoyed reading A Fine Romance so much! England and Scotland are in my bucket list for so long… I wish you a very happy and peaceful Christmas.
And to you too, Paula!
Happy you both are home safe and sound! Loved the Willard. Hygge – what a wonderful idea! Merry Christmas & best wishes for the New Year! 2017, can you believe it?
Susan, Hygge to you and Joe! You’re being so generous again with your giveaways and thank you for that: you have three giveaways – hope you give them away to three lucky people instead of two! 😀
Welcome back. Looking forward to reading your remembrances. Thank you for sharing them with us.
Welcome back! What a beautiful post this was – and so timely for me. Thank you!
As a real danish girl I’m smilling. I think that because of the dark and cold season here in the North we need some HYGGE. Love your blog. And wonderful give away.
Hugs from Lina
Thanks for letting us share in it! We love it! xoxo
Sure enjoy your very happy blog! I’ve read all your books and have your very first cookbook, and the other too!
Dear Susan, You always inspire me, make me feel happy just to be alive, I have every book you have written and given more than a few to friends, they love them too! I feel grateful you are in my life. Blessings, Barbara
Thank you Barbara!
Love all the hygge in your blog post today! Welcome home and hope you have a wonderful Christmas!
So glad you are both home safely. I can’t even begin to imagine all you haveseen, tasted, sensed. Welcome back and happiest of holidays!
Hygge! That’s what my house needs! How nice to read your post about it. Hopefully one day my home will be just as hygge to me as your home is for you.
Fingers crossed that you will write a book about your trip. I’m especially curious about Scotland since devouring the Outlander series. I’m glad y’all are home safe and sound. Hugs!!
Outlander taught me to be careful of stones! xoxo
Enjoying your blog from the coziness inside our house on this wintry day!
So glad you are home safe and sound with encouraging words for us all!!!
Thank you for all the beauty you share and your innocent heart. I just got three of your books from the library, plus had to buy your delicious desk set. I love it. Please get those 8 arms of yours to write 8 new books! Love & blessings, Christina
I’ll try! I wish!
So very glad you are home – the sane seems to be returning and I crave the quiet moments with all my wonderful Chrisrmas treasures around. Husband and I will be alone this year and it is okay because we enjoy each other so much and we always continue with our own traditions – oyster stew, country ham biscuits and fried apples for Christmas brunch and beef tenderloin Christmas Eve before candlelight service. We will miss having the six children home with us, but know they will be enjoying their own families and making their own memories now. Happiest of all JudyC
Enjoy your quiet, because if you continue with lovely traditions like that, I have no doubt they will be back! And there won’t be just six. xoxo
Looking forward to the Willard and loving that little bird!
Glad your home for the holidays! Thanks for a lovely post – always excited to read a new one. Merry, merry Christmas and a happy and healthy 2017
Welcome home! Love the pic of Jack stretched out next to the tub-is he feeling the warmth? So good to have a wonderful post again! Enjoy a most marvelous December!
Wow I think this was my favorite blog post yet! Your words are so true! Let us have ears to hear. Peace and Joy this Christmas season Susan & Joe and all the girlfriends out there!
May contentment of heart be ours this Christmas and always!
P.S. I didn’t really see Joe but I saw his feet 🙂
That was him!
When I read your blog or Willard it makes me feel like I’m one of your truly best friends! (I’m sure others feel this way as well!) Glad to know you’re home and sounds like you definitely have Christmas Spirit! Thanks for all the wonderful ideas. 🙂 Please do consider writing a book about this trip! I adore all your books but especially the trilogy. Merry Christmas!
Thank you Tricia!
You know just what we need out here in Christmas crazy. Thank you and I am sending this to my daughter who said today, “Mom, I wish I could escape for the month of December.” Susan, thank you again!
Yes, escape inward! Where real Christmas lives, in our hearts. xoxo
Dear Susan,
It’s me again. This is my second comment…i don’t mean to be a pest…BUT… I was wondering if you have ever seen HARDROCK COCOA & JOE?…. also, SUZY SNOWFLAKE? I grew up in Northwest Indiana in the 1950s, and WGN TV ( Chicago ) would show these puppet-animated cartoons every year at Christmas time. I LIVED to watch them and I still do! If you have never seen them, please check them out on You-Tube! They are precious!! The Santa on HARDROCK COCOA & JOE is a little creepy looking compaired to the Santas of today, but none the less to me he was magical! And SUZY SNOWFLAKE……. I actually would LOOK for her out of our window as a child. I just KNEW that I saw her several times because I BELIEVED SO VERY HARD!!! I hope that you enjoy them!!! Love, “Herself the Elf “❌⭕️
No, I’ve never heard of them. We had Engineer Bill on TV where I lived! I’ll look for them. Thank you Kathiellen!
How funny, Susan! One of the local TV shows for children in Seattle in the 50s and early 60s featured “Brakeman Bill”. (Must be the PNW cousin to your Engineer Bill The other stations had Stan Boreson and his dog NoMo (large Scandinavian community in Seattle); Captain Puget on his boat in Puget Sound, and good old JP Patches, The clown. We loved our after school programs almost as much as Saturday morning cartoons .
Did your shows do a milk drinking game called Red Light-Green Light?
Not that I remember…but sounds like a brilliant way to promote the local dairy and encourage children to drink their milk 🙂 I do remember the milk deliveries to the little box on our side porch and the sound the bottles made when they were delivered.
We loved that game!
My home was full of Hygge today as my sister and I gathered my aunt and cousins together to celebrate our family. My sister and I cooked all day yesterday and sang Christmas carols as we worked. We have done this every year since my grandmother passed away to make sure that we keep our family in touch with each other and share sweet memories of our wonderful Christmas celebrations of the past.
You passed your Hygge to me this summer and fall when I got to spend time with you and your friends. Thank you, thank you.
You and your sister are the glue! xoxo
Thank you, dear Susan, for the December Willard. I can’t wait for more updates from your travels! I enjoyed the Wm. H.H.Murray poem. Happy holiday decorating!
Welcome home!
Thank you so much for the inspiration, Susan! Happy holidays to all!
Your posts are always so fun to read! Thank you for sharing. =)
Love
Just lovely! Oddly enough I had just gone through my original copy of “Heart of the Home” for holiday inspiration!
What a nice blog post! I had my cup of tea and enjoyed it so much! I’m glad you and Joe are back home and getting ready for the holidays. I hope you have a white Christmas but not too much to shovel 😉 I just ordered my best girlfriend of 32 years the “girlfriend” charm. It was difficult not to get anything for me this year ha ha. I’m on much stricter budget so I can’t indulge quite as much as I’d like. Have a lovely weekend Susan!
Charlene from CA
You’re a sweetheart Charlene!
So happy you are safely home! I need to bring more Hygge into my home. That will be my focus I think for awhile! I envy you the beautiful view of the stars. I love stars and the night sky! We live just outside of Dallas and the city lights make it difficult to see the stars. But we just got back from the Big Bend area of Texas where the stars are so bright you could almost pick them from the sky!
Lovely Peggy!
Dear Susan,
I love Hygge, and I’ve been doing it for years and didn’t know it! I too have pictures in my bathroom. I prefer looking at them than reading the newspaper. So do my family and friends. LOL. We must love ourselves before we can love one another. I say Hygge like crazy and then share it.
Susan, welcome back from across the pond. I wish you and Joe a very hygge Christmas. Thank you for your Willard. It’s always a joy to read.
You are blessed, and a true blessing to many.
A great big Hygge to you.
Love
Nancy
Thank you and a very Merry Christmas to you and yours!
So happy you are home safely. And sorry you lost your dad this year, that’s so painful. Wonderful writings by you to enjoy, thank you for that and thank you for the drawing. I hope to win, but will be thrilled for who ever does. I loved the little story of the tea party for three. So awesome. I have them often.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
Me too!
Thank you Dear Susan for all the hygges❤️😊❤️😊❤️
So happy that you are home safe and sound.Merry Christmas to you and your Joe,You are a dear soul and I look forward to your lovely art and words.Thank You❤
Love the “Willards”! Thank you. So happy to hear a little about your wonderful trip. Love the shared! You make the world a better place. Sending love~~~
So nice to hear that Patti! xoxo
Love you, love your blog! Merry Christmas and Welcome home!
So happy you are home safe and sound.Merry Christmas to you and Joe.You are a dear soul and I look forward yo your art and lovley words.Thank You❤
I had such fun reading Willard and now the dessert course of your blog post as I relax after a busy day. I am so looking forward to reading your stories from your Great Britain trip all winter. I know they will keep me warm while I wait for Spring and my garden!
Thank you for sharing your glorious trip with us! 🙂 Merry Christmas!
Welcome back Susan and Joe! Your adventures across the pond sound like so much fun. I can’t wait to read more about them. I’ve been hearing a lot about hygge lately and I just love it. It’s something I’ve been doing in my own home without even knowing the word! I love this time of year, perfect for hygge. The last two years I’ve hosted a cookie party for both sides of our family the day after Christmas. I made 7 different kinds of cookies (last year it totaled around 280 cookies! My Norwegian side gets the best of me ;)) plus chili, sandwiches and hot cocoa. The prep is long but it’s so much fun to have everyone over. I thought I’d share the recipe I use for hot cocoa. It’s made in the crock pot and SO good.
1.5 cups heavy whipping cream
1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk
6 cups milk (I use whole milk)
1.5 tsp vanilla
2 cups chocolate chips
Put all ingredients into a crock pot and whisk together until well combined. Cover and cook on low for 2 hours, stirring occasionally until chocolate chips are melted. Give it one last good whisk before serving and top with marshmallows or whipped cream.
I prefer milk chocolate chips but you can also use semi-sweet, white chocolate, butterscotch or even mint chocolate chips! The possibilities are endless. Hope you like it. Let me know if you decide to make it. 🙂
WOWOWOWOWOWOWOW! That looks fabulous!
H appy Christmas and much Hygge!
Oh sweet Susan . . . you bring such joy to my day. Thank you for taking the time to share your life and your wisdom with us! ♥
Oh my goodness! You come up with the most wonderful give always! Bless your sweet heart!
Welcome home you two. I love that you and Joe love to do things together.
It makes for a lot of Hygge to enjoy whatever you do, as you do it .
So maybe good hygge is living in the moment and being grateful for the moments:)
thanks so much for your wonderful blog.
And lots and lots of nature! Thank you Laura!
Thank you for the gift of this blog and your newsletter. They remind me of the things that are important to me and they make me smile.
So glad you are home safely. I’m sure Jack is very happy to have you home also. I loved the sheep dog video from your trip. Our dog is a Border Collie and I’m sure she had her day herding sheep but now she is older 10 or 11 (not sure since we rescued her) and she is just the right speed for a couple of 70 + owners. Ivy is so sweet and smart. Hope that she is with us for many more years.
Kisses and tickles to Jack.
Such wonderfully loyal doggies!
Welcome home, glad your trip was another success!
Welcome home! I said a prayer for calm seas, no horrid waves while you were sailing home. So missed your posting, and wondered how the kitty babes were doing without you.
Girl Kitty went to heaven before we left, just in case you didn’t hear, she is very much missed, and now Jack has crowned himself king of the house, and all is well. xoxoxo
Susan-I found you last summer through your book that I bought at Bunch of Grapes bookstore in Vineyard Haven. I feel like I’ve always known you. So glad to have a new friend. Thanks for taking me on your journeys and for the inspiration. Maybe I will meet you on the beach next summer!
Nice to meet you Martha!
Welcome home for the holidays!
Love reading your sweet words and letting my imagination take me to a tea party or taste of Britain trip again. Today was spent stitching with my quilter friends, taking supper to a church friend going thru chemo, now reading and listening to 50s music on PBS. Thank you Susan !
Sounds like the perfect day Marty!
What a precious and fun blog! Its relaxing but makes me want to take that trip across the pond too!
Good! It’s even better than I can say!
I needed that blog..my birthday is on Christmas and for the past couple of years I have been alone and trying not to feel that way. Friends help but sometimes we have to depend on being our own friend. Thank you for this encouragement with this message from you. Enjoy your Christmas and the stars overhead.
Thank you Sandy, and the same to you. xoxo
Welcome home!! Love your pictures.
Love, Love, Love your comment in the latest Willard about the things we do to make ourselves memorable. So many times we want to be like everyone else instead of ourselves. Being ourselves makes us stand out and that is what will be remembered about us long after we are gone! Quite a bit to digest sometimes, but it is true!
It’s so true, as different as all of our noses are, as different as our fingerprints, we are each a very interesting, very original character. xoxo
So glad you’re back home safe and sound. Love and Blessings from Oregon.
Oh, Thank you, I so enjoy everything. Williard, the Blog all your drawing. Thank for the joy in my day today.
Martha
Splendid!
Oh Susan,
I am a Cape Cod, Chatham native girl (well still girlish at heart).
Had my first art exhibit on MV many years ago. Currently marooned in Hartford where I do my best to survive away from the sea and clear view of the stars… Thank you
so much for your creativity and creations. They inspire me and give me hope that perhaps one day my prince will come. Until then, I’ll keep drinking tea, lighting candles and making art.
Christmas blessings to you and yours
Mark Twain’s house is there…. I know you’ve been. I think I would sit on the lawn and write if I lived there. But Chatham is heaven on earth, so I know you must miss it. Fingers crossed for your prince charming. xoxo