Hiiii! We’re home!! MUSICA? Yes! It’s great to be here, and we had a WONDERFUL time in California! It was soooo good to see everyone. And I did bring home that special giveaway I promised ~ you’ll find it at the bottom of this post . . . but W A I T, don’t go yet . . . because getting home was the BEST. Here we are racing toward New England in our train room with awesome view . . .
. . . Hoping the whole way that we might still have some leaves on our trees. It was the end of October and normally by then they’re gone. But the way things were looking, we were thinking m a y b e . . . 🍂 🍁🍂🍁
Speeding through upstate New York, I was heartened by the color! Nothing like leaf-peeping from a train window.
We got off the train on Sunday in Albany, rented a car (so we could make the last ferry to the Island that same night) and drove through the gorgeous Berkshires, feeling more and more positive there would still be leaves on our trees at home.
We made the last boat but didn’t get home until after 10, so we couldn’t SEE the trees! Sleeping that night, when we finally got in our very own bed for the first time in a month, was as exciting as the night before Christmas! Would there still be fall when we woke up?
Dawn, from our bedroom window, assurance, and every dream come true.
I raced from window to window upstairs . . .
And down . . .
Then out to the side garden . . .
And around the house to the back . . . soooo
Then all the way back for the long view! Fall waited for us! Leaves blowing down, chill in the air, smell of the sea, sound of the ferry horn, church spire to the sky, sturdy house that has seen it all, everything that says Home. Thank you God. Ommmmm.
My own kitchen, and no noise or rocking, just me and the benevolent ghosts of time gone by. And since I’d done a lot of decorating before we left, we were pretty much ready!
AHHHHHHHH…. Home ~ our bed is pure heaven, cold rooms at night, snuggled under covers, mooshing the comforters around my ears, dragging my cozy flanneled legs out in the morning, stuffing my feet into wool slippers, throwing on an old sweater, padding down the stairs, Jack leading the way, tail high in the air, filling the tea kettle, deciding which cup. We are sitting, and we are staying. So this was Monday, our first day home. On Tuesday the dining room curtains came. On Wednesday it was Halloween. So let’s start with the curtains! Ready?
And of course, I know what you’re waiting for, in the category of “everything that says Home,” Jack, furry soft petty-pet and perfect decor. He seemed really happy to see us. Presented himself upside-down, in wiggle formation, for belly rubs, and gave me a very Loooooong forehead butt, a meeting of the minds, the brain exchange. So here are the new curtains for the dining room. And where does Jack choose to sit?
On them. And why not. King of the World can do no wrong. Reunited and it feels so goooood! 🎶 He’s still my shadow, he still brings back the hair ties, he still cuddles next to me when I read. Now Joe and I aren’t going anywhere for the next year and a half, we are 
I peeled Jack off and we hung the new curtains . . . (Jessica, who made them, with Lowely, my darling friend and neighbor)
And so voila, here they are! What do you think? I’m thinking the flowers make up for the ones we lost when we took the wallpaper down.💞
I’ve wanted “real” English curtains for sooooo long! They make you feel like you live on the inside of a marshmallow! We are now padded head to toe. I couldn’t wait for dark so I could light the candles!
They’re extra cozy because they’re completely lined in heavy flannel (just like the ones in England). They keep your house warm too.
Okay. So here was the problem and the reason I waited so long to show you the living room. I know you won’t think of this as a “problem.” With problems like this who needs enemies? Or whatever that phrase is. These are the curtains we got before we left and I’ve been pondering ever since. They are also very beautiful, thick and cozy, but for me, for the House of Creativity, for US? They feel a little much.
A wee bit too Duchess of Devonshire. I adore the fabric and love the pillows Jessica made to match, and I love the curtains too, they are glorious, but I was afraid after a while I might start doing the circular queen’s wave when I leave the house.
So we tried to tone it down (ps, they look pink in this photo, but they are really a soft beige with pink hydrangeas) . . . the first thing we did was take the decorative trim off the hems of the valances. Which softened things a little and took away some of the formality. This old house is your basic farmhouse with a barn and uninsulated pantry, the bathroom used to be a “three-holer,” and there are rooms you have to walk through to get to other rooms (i.e., no hall). It’s not a fancy house. It has “good bones,” as a dear friend said a long time ago, and also that New England simplicity I love. You have to give a house what it wants. And I try. But I think my imagination was bigger than my stomach, or what ever that saying is.
So next we tried removing the valances all the way. And I liked it SO MUCH BETTER. Back and forth we went, throwing out ideas, me, Joe, Jessica, and Lowely, with the tape 
measure, up the ladder, down the ladder, measure and pin and hold it up, stand back to see what it looks like, what if we get rid of the floral chairs? What if we change the lampshades? No stone was left unturned . . . and what we sort of decided is to keep the valances but bring them down so they aren’t all the way up to the ceiling, and then shorten the valance skirt by about 6 inches so it just covers the wood trim at the top of the window, to the first panes of glass. Make the valances lower and shorter is basically what we decided. And the other end of the room?
Here they are, the same fabric, but these are simpler and quieter.
Maybe I’m just bad at change! But I have to say, we’ve now been living with them for six days, and they’re growing on me. Most of my life I’ve made my curtains, so I’m used to unlined, crooked, half finished, a bit wrinkled, mostly made out of tablecloths, which is probably the problem! These are too good!
Jessica also made me a curtain for the guest room . . . Which I LOVE. Just a simple little thing, and pillows to match with a tiny blue and white stripe piping.
Just sweet and simple.
So then it was time to get ready for our Halloween party!
It was a pot-luck Halloween neighborhood Open House we were having, after the trick-or-treaters had gone home. Lowely brought cold slaw, Martha made a big pan of Corn Pudding, Carol brought a bowl of Dry Bones, Jaime came with a big green salad, and Barbara brought Brownies. I made Touchdown Chili and
A Pumpkin Trifle
Broken up chocolate cake on the bottom, then pumpkin mousse, then crushed oreo cookies, whipped cream, more chocolate cake, and more pumpkin mousse with a Hershey’s Syrup spiderweb on top!
While I was doing that, my boyfriend for life was outside in the driveway on that perfect fall day, carving away!
Making my favorite star pumpkins for our front porch.
offering me pumpkin seeds . . .
I came back in and did the dishes . . .
. . . then watered plants to stuff into baskets for arrangements for the house, swept the leaves off the porches . . . made sure all the votives and candle holders were filled . . . put Jack’s food and toys upstairs and locked him in our bedroom where no Halloween Cat thieves could find him . . .
We lit the fire,
And lit our ghost in the upstairs window . . . Casper is our “neighborhood watch,” he has a great view all the way up the street.
Bowls were filled with candy ~ We had hot spiced-cider for the moms and dads. We were READY! Bring on those kids! And here they come!
I love this tradition. Parents bringing their kids, waiting behind them, most of them in costume too … Look at this pink princess . . . Adorable or what?
We have friends who live so far out in the country they don’t get any trick-or-treaters ~we invite them to our house to give out candy at our door ~ we share the wealth ~ because, we definitely get kids! From all over the island . . . we are one of the few neighborhoods where the houses are close enough together for kids to get to without walking a mile in the dark! Halloween is huge on our island.
Is it ever! Early in the evening, at dusk, they’re very young, some even babies, in the cutest costumes, cows, and trees and bunnies, oh my!
As the night gets darker, the kids get older . . .
We stop them to take their picture, and they put up with our 10,000 questions!
By 6:30 our neighborhood is in full Halloween mode. The police close down the streets to cars. It’s not just us, up and down our street and around the corner, its a mad house! 🍁
I got my camera and came around out front to take photos of the door … loved the tree shadows on our house from across the street, whoooo! To see the pumpkins Joe made, I had to wait until the everyone moved aside . . .
Which took a little while . . . everyone running in the dark, superheroes and angels, clowns and unicorns, with bags of loot, laughing, chewing tootsie rolls and eating M&Ms!
Other than the one partially finished pumpkin I saw when Joe was doing them, I hadn’t seen what he’d done. I looked at that one in the middle! Whaaat?
And I got closer, laughing all the time. Went inside and Joe got a big KISS for this good surprise! Doing his part to make a cuter neighborhood, and a better world!
We had about thirty people for Chili dinner, and I was so busy eating and talking (receiving compliments on my new curtains!!!) I forgot to take pictures, but it was wonderful seeing everyone (remember, we just got back!) and it ended in the living room, where a girlfriend with a ukulele played while the dregs of the party (which would be us and some neighbors), had a sing-along. 🎃 It was a wonderful ending. And since it’s party season, here are a few ideas to make giving a party a bit easier. No matter if it’s a small party or large, formal or casual, Thanksgiving, tea party, book club, or election night party.
And, speaking of election night parties . . . Here are some delicious recipes, all tried and true, perfect for a roller coaster ride which this night is bound to be. Won’t it be FUN when
it’s over? Then we’ll all live with the results and can stop thinking about it for a while. And then we’ll get to do it all over again in two years! Politics seems to be America’s newest sport! I remember when I was in high school, I didn’t even know what I was! Or anyone else. I think my mom was a Republican and my dad was a Democrat, but they never argued and they both LIKED IKE! ‘Course the two political parties were 100% different then, and we didn’t have as much to worry about as kids do now, we were safe at school. It was a simpler and I would say a rather happier time. One of the many, many things on which we are all in perfect agreement, we all LOVE to eat . . . so let’s start HERE:
Yummy, from my Autumn Book . . . in case you have it at home, otherwise you can print this out!
These recipes are from Heart of the Home . . .
Wonderful spiced nuts from my Autumn Book . . .
. . . which I just made! I use them all season long!
Deliciousness from Heart of the Home. We’re going to my girlfriend Lowely’s house on Tuesday night to watch the results come in, I’m bringing Cheese Bites!
Opened my eyes from meditation, and across from where I was sitting, Jack was asleep on the sofa. 
I got the evil eye when I put the camera close . . . I SEE YOU, it says in green technicolor.
When we were in California, I picked up a box of my mom’s papers to bring home ~ I went through some of it this morning ~ it was a treasure trove! Saved birthday cards, old letters my grandma wrote, yellowed birth certificates and fancy engraved marriage licenses, hand-written report cards, and certificates of baptism, priceless to my mom, and priceless to me. Above, is a 91-year-old brushed LEATHER ribbon-tied folder with gold lettering, four pages of names and this . . .
. . . my Grandma’s Sioux City, Central High School Diploma from 1927. That’s her, below, on the left. Her class graduated only three weeks after Lindbergh flew the Atlantic non-stop to France! Those 
kids must have felt like their generation was going to own the world! Just a few days after they graduated, Lindbergh’s ticker tape parade was held in New York, which they listened to as a family on a radio the size of a refrigerator. I’m sure my grandma and all her 18-year-old girlfriends shortened their skirts, bobbed their hair, and danced the “Lindy,” . . . they were teenagers during the Roaring Twenties, Calvin Coolidge was president, F. Scott Fitzgerald was the literary star, The Jazz Singer came out in 1927, the first movie with sound! Only two years later, when she was 20, the Great Depression started. She’d already had one World War to deal with as a child. The cards were being dealt. Life was unfolding. And before she fell asleep in her house with a music room on the 3rd floor and nine brothers & sisters, she listened to the most popular song of 1927. I love history, and picturing people in their times. My Grandma shared the planet with Mark Twain for two years. She shared it with Anne Frank, and then she shared Anne Frank with me.💞 Now I have her diploma.
And this! It’s my great grandmother’s 1925 application to join the Martha Washington 
Chapter of the Daughters of the American 
Revolution in Washington, DC. Four pages of family names, births, and deaths back to 1710, all in her lovely handwriting … with “Ancestor’s Services” that tells that her 5th great grandfather (and I guess my 7th), Captain Asa Foster of Andover, Massachusetts, was appointed in 1765 to “oppose the arbitrary measures of the British Government.” Eeeek. My grandma had given me a copy of this when I was in my 20s (part of my dreamscape for New England before I’d ever been here), but it was very different to hold the real thing in my hands. After recently reading a biography of George Washington (Ron Chernow), I 
realized just how dangerous it was to come out against your government back then. If they’d lost (and there was no reason on EARTH they should have believed they could win against the British Empire!), they would have all been hanged! But hey, ya gotta do what ya gotta do and he believed in his cause. His son Abiel graduated from Harvard in 1756, was a minister who represented New Hampshire in the first Congress. I could write a book about these people! We found both of their graves, in Old North Parish Burying Ground in North Andover and in the Canterbury Cemetery in New Hampshire.
And this little slip of paper was in there too, written in my great grandfather’s hand, showing the 
dates of birth for his parents (my great, great grandparents), and their children. I met Merrill James 
Orr, born in 1871, the man who wrote this, the father of my grandma ~ that’s him holding me, my mom’s on the right, my grandma’s on the left. I feel the generations behind me, and I see younger members of my family going on into the future. Such a connection. And the threads of that connection go on and on, out in all directions. Pretty soon, as you research your family tree, you start thinking you’re related to EVERYONE. Then you get your DNA done and find out you absolutely are!
And now it’s my turn to save little old pieces of paper, tiny fragments of a lifetime of memories. I guess I got that from them! 💞 Like here, in the England diary I’m now illustrating and rewriting in my “good 
handwriting.” You can just imagine how much I revel in the magic I feel when I write, spellbound in the dream of it (hours and clocks mean nothing), about the history we found in Enchanted England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. My pages will be peopled by spirits of the past, Winston Churchill, Beatrix Potter, Jane Austen, hill forts, stone circles, and fairy winds . . . all that and Rachel too! I’ll do it as the leaves blow, as the snow flies, as the cat naps, and when the daffodils come again, I’ll still be here in my old house, fireplace glowing, shawl pulled tight, pen noises scratching, paint brush ringing on the side of the water dish I bought in Disneyland before I knew I could paint, Jack at my side, living the dream with my boyfriend for life, loving the road, because
I kept Joe’s pumpkin for our front window . . . like keeping a light on! Never forget our fathers and grandfathers fought for this right, so that today, no matter how we came to this country, we get a say in the kind of government 
we want. It was EVERYTHING to them, their lives were on the line, and there’s nothing quite like it in the world. The right to vote. Honor our ancestors. Go vote, and take someone with you. Don’t think you don’t know what you’re doing, because believe me, you probably know more than most! The world has fought for civility since time began, fought to overcome human nature prone to barbarism, it hasn’t been easy, but despite all, we keep bringing it forward, so families everywhere can live in peace and prosperity. They’ve told us that we have nothing to fear but fear itself, and proved it time and time again. Because we can solve all problems when we come together. I know they’ve made it hard to tell truth from 
lies, the water has been muddied, even on Facebook, where we put our family photos, and share recipes! But it’s not impossible. No source is perfect but we can find a balance. When I have specific questions, I go to websites like Politifact, a Pulitzer Prize-winning fact-finding website. They can answer almost any question, “Did such and such REALLY happen, Did he REALLY say that, Does America have open borders, What is the Caravan made up of, Which members of Congress take money from the NRA, Who IS (fill in the blank)” ~ even old questions, like “Did Iraq have weapons of mass destruction, what was the Fairness Doctrine, what happened when the banks failed?” On and on, they have researched it all. Huge help for lovers of history like me.
“All shall be well, all shall be well, all manner of thing shall be well.” 💞Julian of Norwich, the first woman in recorded history to write a book. And aren’t they the perfect words!
SO, we’re going off for a walk to the water, but before we go, as promised, last but not least, NEXT Saturday, Joe and I hop on the ferry to the Mainland for the day, where I’ll be at the West Falmouth Library answering questions, signing books, and reading the first chapter of Enchanted, just like I did at the Apple Farm in California. If you’re coming, or even if you’re not, click here and please print out this name tag/bookmark. Write your name on the bottom so we’ll know each other! And yes, for everyone who’s going to be there, you each will be getting a copy of your own first chapter. I’m sorry tickets for this event are sold out, but I promise I’ll be out again in the future, and we can try again. And if you remember, waaaaaaay back when I started this post, I promised YOU a giveaway! So here she is! To win, just leave a comment at the bottom of this post (you’ll see tiny gray words that say, “comment” ~ click there and say hello, and you will automatically be entered. And if your name is chosen, you will receive your very own signed copy of the first chapter my new book!
In fact, Kellee made me FIVE 23-page booklets, all just for you💞 . . . so, this time, there will be five winners! Yay!!! I hope one of them is YOU!
I wanted to start at The Beginning with a love story, like I did with A Fine Romance, so I did! I hope you enjoy it!
That’s it for today darling girlfriends. I shall return! Have a luv-lee evening. Keep the home fires burning!
I always enjoy reading your blog and looking at your photos. Here’s hoping and a wishing I can be one of your five lucky winners! Have a great day!
Hi
Really having trouble getting post to go through to you.
Love your whole blog. Just had shoulder replacement surgery…hard to type.
Please enter me in contest… My pastime is reading a lot …painting , yarn work and gardening are on hold for now.
Have a great Autumn and Thanksgiving… Glad you are back safe form your trip.
Kathie from Limerick
Hope you feel better soon Kathie! Lots of comments from you this morning, just want to make sure you’re seeing them! It’s taken me a while to get them all up! xoxoxoxo Thank you!
Blessings for a speedy recovery, Kathie from Limerick!
Hope the Autumn colors are ablaze in Ireland!
Kuhny from Chicago
It’s always a warm feeling to read a new blog :). Thank you!
It’s always a warm feeling to read a new blog :). Thank you!
I’ve tried to post a comment twice now, but nothing seems to happen for me 🙁 so I hope this one posts OK. I just wanted to say that I enjoy reading your warm, cozy blogs :). Thank you so much!
Hi
What is the problem with the blog…. been trying to post for days and it won’t go through.loved the blog. Please enter me in the giveaway
Kathie from Limerick
Love how uplifting your posts are!loretta Guzman
Hello Susan – I’m loving my new Christmas cup! Thank you so much
Hooray!!! xoxo
I’m so glad the leaves hung on for you! I’m from the Northeast, and went to college in Houston, TX, where there was no color change (green to brown, but that doesn’t really count. No red, no gold, no yellow, no orange). I couldn’t imagine living an entire lifetime with no color change. I’m a Northeast girl, for sure! Glad you’re home and comfy and back with Jack. It’s nice to travel and see new things, and it’s doubly nice to come home.
Once you know, it’s hard to forget! xoxo
Hello!
Hello, Susan!
I always look forward to reading your blog and books and trying your scrumptious recipes. You bring so much light and love. Happy fall from the Florida Panhandle.
Rita
;Lovely~!~
Glad you and Joe are back home in time for a beautiful fall and Halloween!
Was thinking of you as I’ve been having my morning coffee in my new Pumpkinhead cup which I absolutely love. I also made your Touchdown Chili for Halloween, along with my own pumpkin bread, and it was delicious.
Looking forward to future blogs and books. Always enjoyable and full of good ideas 🙂
What a treat. Autumn waited for you and Joe to return home. Just in time for all your Halloween/Autumn activities.
Dearly loving your new curtains and pillows. As my sweet farm home is in need of the same sprucing, I have enjoyed new ideas and wonderful fabric patterns.
Love the first chapter idea and Kellee making those copies. Cant wait for the entire book. Exciting!
Happy days and cozy nights to you, dear Susan.
xo Sydney from Michigan
Loved this read , a bit long , enjoyed part
and left the rest for a evening pleasure.
SuzAnne Reber
I know, I go on too long sometimes!
They’re never too long….I enjoy every word and pic! xoxoxo
Never EVER
No never too long
I have many of your books, and have read them over and over. I so enjoy your blog – your gentle, inspiring words and lovely artwork. My husband and I enjoyed meeting both you and Joe here in Memphis several years ago.
Thank you Lori . . . hope to get back there one of these days! xoxo
Susan,
SO looking forward to meeting you! My sister, Diane, and my best friend, Maureen and I will be joining you on Saturday. A fun girls weekend……meeting you, going for dinner and cocktails later……..what could be more fun?? I am going through a huge life transition right now (empty nesting and divorce)……….and I have to say that reading your blog always helps. It centers me and reminds me of what is important. So, thank you. Every little thing is gonna be alright! 🙂
If you haven’t already, read Martha’s Vineyard Isle of Dreams, it’s a whole book of starting over! It’s gonna be alright! See you Saturday!!!
Hope I’m not too late to enter!
You’re right on time Jill!
I love your art for the cover of the booklet, the girl in the boots. I think it’s the colors you used. Makes me think Spring!
It was when we saw her, sitting on a step in a doorway!
I loved this blog! So much wonderful family information!
Hi, Susan and Joe, I enjoy your blog very much! Thank you for sharing the beauty of your home and New England and all your travels. Thank you for sharing the first chapter in your new book, maybe I’ll be the first to get to read it 🙂
I love the drapes I agree the valance is a little much cutting them down my opinion will be a lot better You mentioned the lampshades I think I would go with plain lampshades just my thoughts. I love the drapes and the chairs. I also agree taking the tassels off the drapes the drapes are just so pretty by themselves. Once I found out your home was a farmhouse I agreed the valancs were just too much. It’s a beautiful room. I know it’s difficult and you don’t know how it will turn out until you actually see the finished product. I bought two flower chairs that I think are almost identical to yours and I just love them. Best of luck with your decisions.
Hi Susan,
The week you first posted about flannel lined curtains, I was able to use this information in a house I was showing (in my new career moving from market research consultant to real estate agent) that had flannel lined curtains! It was like a hug from you to me or me to you, with that information in my brain, actually using it for business. So crazy how the world works in rhythms. I’m glad your nesting for a while and I bet Jack is too. And I’m glad we’ve got that election behind us so we can focus on all things pretty for the holidays!
Blessings to you, Joe and Jack!
Diane (the one who bumped into you in the cafe in Carpinteria March 2017)
Making a house a home! xoxo Hey DIANE! xoxo
Hope my comments go thru.
Hi Susan!
Welcome home! It’s wonderful to travel and see the world, but it’s true, there is no place like home! My sister and I love your tea cups and we both ordered them. We start each day with our morning phone call and cup of tea in our special SB Mugs! We just returned from a trip to Italy (where I surprised her with a set of your luggage tags). I had been waiting forever for them to be back in stock! So happy they arrived in time for our trip. Can’t wait to read your new book!
Enjoy “nesting” for the next little while. 🙂
Sisters on the phone, and a trip to Italy! How wonderful for you two to have such a nice relationship!
Hi Susan, Happy Halloween! I’m so happy that the elections are over with! I don’t know what is happening to our country, but it’s so sad.
I really like your new curtains. They are so pretty with the large flowers on them. I think I like them the best with you way ended up having them. I love the color of the curtains in your guest bedroom.
Thanksgiving is so early this year! I don’t know about back East, but here they have totally forgotten Thanksgiving. The day after Halloween, they started on the Christmas ads on TV. Costco already had all their Christmas toys, etc out before Halloween. But, regardless, we can be very thankful for our families and friends.
Not here, it’s all quiet, no lights, no halloween stuff, just the quiet before the storm! I’ve seen a couple of Christmas commercials, of course, media has no manners! XOXOXOXO
Where are you going in a year and a half? England again?
Probably we’ll drive across country, visit bookstores and meet Girlfriends!
Welcome home and thank you so much for sharing your trip and home!
Hi Susan and welcome home! I think your new drapes and curtains are pretty and fit your home perfectly. I would love to live in your neighborhood. It sounds like Halloween was fun for both the kids and the adults. Please tell Joe his pumpkin was perfect (my husband also appreciated it as well!).
Love reading your blog! I am enjoying drinking out of your pumpkin cup,makes my coffee taste so much better!
I hope I’m not too late to enter. I love your travels.
YOU are America for me – the best of the best. With love from one of your friends ind Denmark
The dearest possible thing you could say to me! xoxoxo
Today, I had a doctor’s appointment, then lots of errand running. On my way home, I was thinking that I could sure use one of your posts as a way to sit and relax with a cup of coffee when I got home. I decided to check, just in case, and YAY, there it was; a new post. I’m not sure how I’d missed the e-mail about it, but think it was sent to my promotions tab, instead of my regular inbox. Anyway, thank you, thank you, thank you. A perfect way to unwind. I love all your new curtains, by the way.
Can’t wait to see how the valences turned out. My Grandmother and her two Sisters supported their families with their curtain, upholstery and slipcover business after their husbands passed.We all have Rooms filled with examples of their talented flair. They are our family Jewels, miss them so.
Looking forward to your new book.
Hi Susan, always enjoy your posts and pics! Loved the “VOTE” pumpkin! Joe is talented!
I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE your blog, Susan! We are in a winter weather advisory, which just “might” mean we get a dusting of SNOW this afternoon, but more than likely, the snow will stay away until tonight and overnight. I’ve so enjoyed reading your blog today. I need to dig out my Autumn cup and put a teakettle of water on to boil for some hot tea.
New book wheeeee!
Hi Susan: so good to read another blog from you and see the photos. I love your new dining room curtains. Had no idea about lining curtains in flannel! Great idea to keep windy draughts away. Thank you for sharing your heritage and photos of your family. They are very special. And thank you, Susan, for being such a sharing person. Connie from Michigan.where we might get some snow tomorrow.
Castle Cottage! Did you get snow?
Susan I can’t wait for your new book ! When you were in Ohio last year at a book store I met you (I gave you the magazine with a Gladys Taber article in it )that was my request then for you to PLEASE write another book. I used your book “A fine Romance “ on our trip to England last year as a travel guide and did most of the things in your book including taking the Queen Mary over
. I had a fabulous time !
Yay! I’m writing another, Sandi, so get ready to go back!
So looking forward to seeing you in West Falmouth!
I always get excited when I see a new blog post and I slowly savor the reading of it. I can’t wait for the new book!
Welcome Home!!! What fun to see the transformation of your home with your new curtains!! I did the same thing in my kitchen/dining room when we got new lights and curtains! It’s good to know I’m not alone when it comes to getting everything just right. And that’s why your books are just right too. You must spend alot of time getting just the perfect picture or sketch for each page…for the books are always perfect!! Thanks for all your work, Pauline
I can say one thing for sure, for me, books are a LOT easier than curtains. 😆
Thanks for all you do to get everything just right!!
Love, Love your blog!
WOW so many comments! Love the Halloween!
I truly appreciate the way in which you promote good citizenship and caring for our common life. Thank you.
I’m not sure if I am too late. Either way, must let you know what a blessing you are to me!!
I would love to be in your neighborhood for Halloween, it sounds perfect. I’m one of those people who live too far out in the country for trick-or-treaters, and it was rainy and cold up here in the north county. But everything had a warm orange glow inside my little house, so it was all good.
Hello Susan! Lovely living room and dining room!
Thank you for always capturing the essence of the season! I so look forward to your posts, photos, calendars, books! Happy Fall!
Someday I’d love to visit Martha’s Vineyard. It looks so lovely! Thank you for the chance to win. I am looking forward to your book!
Such a lovely post-thank you!
I love, love, LOVE the family history!!!! 😍😍 Such a blessing to have our family’s things of the past 😊❤
Oh my! Over 2000 comments! I am so happy others are discovering you!
Welcome home! I love the excitement and beauty you share from your cozy home. Due to our wild, new puppy, we will have abbreviated holiday decor around our house. I look forward to your beautiful Christmas Home! Thanks for sharing- Teri
LOL, good luck this Christmas with your table top tree! 😆 I’m sure the puppy is worth all the tree bottoms in the world!
Hi Susan! Love all your posts. When are you coming back to Texas? We enjoyed seeing you in Austin! Sign me up for the drawing and pick me! 🙂
I hope as soon as this book is done! We loved it but didn’t get to see enough!!!
So glad you and Joe arrived home safely…in time to see the colors and pet kitty Jack! I grew up just West of Albany…Scotia, NY…you would have passed it…wish the line from Albany to Boston would be restored…just love trains! I love you curtains and pillows…have ALWAYS loved your floral chairs! Welcome home!💞🍀💞 Anne in NH.
Susan you have made Fall my favorite!
This is my first comment on your blog, but I have been enjoying each post so full of pictures, and living your adventures through them. I believe we are kindred spirits in many things. I have read your books multiple times and look forward to the next, which I will add to my collection. Happy Autumn!
Anne Marie
Happy Thanksgiving! We had to wait along time for the trees to display their colors but oh my ~ how beautiful they are!! For some reason I feel like the colors are more intense this year. The reds are redder and the golds are are brighter.Has definitely been worth the wait! Glad autumn waited for your return!
Happy Thanksgiving! We had to wait along time for the trees to display their colors but oh my ~ how beautiful they are!! For some reason I feel like the colors are more intense this year. The reds are redder and the golds are brighter.Has definitely been worth the wait! Glad autumn waited for your return!
Another enjoyable blog to read! It makes me appreciate the simple things! Thank you so much!
Love your blog! I am a fellow New Englander for generations back (1630’s). Would love to win one of the giveaway gifts.
Hi Susan. Just dawned on me this afternoon that I had not checked in with you for quite some time. I finished some outdoor stuff making ready for our first predicted snowstorm tomorrow morning. Brought in a nice pile of lovage to dry. Planning to make soup tomorrow. Thinking about making your spiced pecans and artichoke dip. Love your lovely upbeat creative blog. Now I’m ready to grab my blanket and go watch “This Old House” from my favorite chair.
Love the new paint & window coverings in the dining room ! Would love to have a large dining room like that !!
Home again, home again, jiggedy jig. 🐷
Love your Halloween pics. I was working so didn’t see many kids.
There’s always next year. In the meantime, I celebrated vicariously through you!!
Oh how much I love your perspective on things! I can always rely on you to be sensible!
Best,
Jenny
Once again, you have made my evening. So enjoy the work you do for all of us fans. I am loving the curtains. Very cozy ambiamce. Beautiful work by the seamstress. I am partial to the blues and absolutely LOVE the guest room.
I do have to admit the first thing I look for is pictures of Jack. He is so stickin’ cute.
Hello. Just wanted to say that we do get some fall color here in Houston from the Chinese tallow trees and crepe myrtles, but the best part of November is planting bluebonnets for spring!
Love reading your blog!
I made the Autumn Leaves Pear Salad for a group of ladies. We loved it and ate the whole thing!
I love how you embrace each holiday. I always think the day that I no longer love decorating for the different holidays will be the day I hope they let me decorate in our Father’s home above. I can’t wait for your new book and to relive the journey with you and your handsome “Honey.” I have enjoyed your blog and books. Your books make great gifts for “Girlfriends.”
Hello!
Hi Susan & Joe too…I simply LOVE, LOVE, LOVE reading and re-reading your blogs, especially once home from school. I can finally get into my jammies settle into my cozy love seat where I can forget about paper work,report cards & the kiddos until the next day. It’s so very nice to stroll down memory lane with you. I ABSOLUTELY LOVE the fall! I’m glad I live in a world with October as it’s my b-day month. I get to enjoy “falling back” and putting all my window lights on for my neighbors to see. It makes my Heart smile. Thank you for your beautiful art work in each post and letting me tag along on each of your adventures. Have a wonderful happy Thanksgiving Holiday.
Warm regards from NJ
Andrea J.
Lights in the window! So warming and welcoming. Hope you had a wonderful birthday!
Hi Susan, thank you for sharing bits of fun & loveliness from your island life. And love the curtains! 🙋🏻♀️🍁🧡
Thanks for a wonderful post, Susan!
Hello My Dear Susan,
It’s almost midnight and I’m only partly caught up on emails; my church’s annual holiday fair is in two days (Nov. 10) and I’ve been slightly crazed getting everything ready: Unbelievable White Elephant sale in the basement with china, lace, vintage Christmas ornaments and more, then tomorrow I bake for the Cookie bar. Wish you could come, it’s a True, Old-Fashioned Holiday Faire. I’ve not been able to comment on your posts for some time as family life with great travel (Scotland! Six family members driving around the Highlands in a 9-passenger van–Egads and outrageously beautiful!), trickier travel (son back to Afghanistan for 10 days–drek but back safe & sound, thank God), and weddings (a beautiful out-of-doors in foliaged Maine, smiling happy tears for our older son and his perfect fit of a new wife); followed by a 50-yr. HS class reunion (aakk!), then cataract surgery for my 11-yr old diabetic dog (successful, thank goodness), and now The Fair which has taken over my life. But I read each of your posts all the way through, and then back again, for the beauty, the thoughts, the art, the humor, and on and on. Good to have you back, I’ll keep reading your posts, and I’ll be breathlessly waiting (along with all the other ladies) for your next book of memories. Give scratches to the Kitty, and a welcome home hug to your boyfriend for life from me! Much love, Rosemary
It sounds absolutely wonderful! Everything! The Holiday Fair, AND your Scotland trip. And class reunion. No wonder we haven’t heard from you! You need a nap! xoxoxo
Hello Susan! Absolutely love your blog, your art, and of course Jack!
Lovely to read your post.
Did you see this: pbs.org/newshour/show/songwriter-gabe-kahane-on-trains-and-radical-empathy ? It’s a YOU!
Wonderful! xoxo
Love your blog and I can hardly wait for your new book to be published. I hope I am one of your five winners of the first chapter!
I love everything about this post, except for the politics. Love, love, love that kitty belly! Smooches!!!
Oh, Susan~This was absolutely “scrumptious “ to read and savor! What a treasure all of that personal history on the yellowed paper is. I love the way both men’s and women’s handwriting was art~so graceful and flowing, a joy to behold and read. Thank you for sharing so much about your family history. You are right, you could write a book~ and you may!! I am so pleased with you that you were able to enjoy the colored leaves 🍁 upon your return home. I could go on and on , but you have other things to do besides read long comments! With lots of love, Paula from Bend, Oregon
P. S. Burnell & I are expecting our 48th grand baby next March!
We met a man on the train who had 63 grandchildren and he had all their names in tiny little writing on a card in the pocket of his shirt! And you have (almost) 48, how wonderful Paula!!! My goodness what a Thanksgiving you must have!
Susan, your words just jump out of the pages you write. Though we are miles apart, somehow I always feel we are entwined together. You running from window to window looking at the color of Fall before you, circling the house on Halloween to see what the front view was like and discovering the cutest pumpkin sitting on your front steps. That would be me. And the curtains and decisions and changing things up, yep, me too! Just can’t wait to get your email and sit with coffee, comfy chair and lit fireplace and read, laugh, and soak up every bit of enjoyable read. Thank you for making our days bright with enjoyment. Keep it coming. Oh, and the curtains….Love them….I would take the curtains down come Spring and Summer just keeping the valances up. Let the sunshine in!!! And Fall and Winter…bring those wonderful cozy curtains back out and up!!
Kindred spirits Peggy! That’s exactly the plan. It might be some trouble since they weigh about a thousand pounds, but it will make the change even more festive!
As always, loved your words and messages. I read this post over a few days, and than this morning re-read the whole wonderfulness of it. I especially liked the family history, my grand folks are also from way back, hey, maybe we are related.😜. Anyway, thank you once again for sharing so much. Have a very happy Thanksgiving to you and Joe and Jack too.
Wow what a treat! I got up early this morning to sub for a first grade teacher. I looked out to find we had our first snow of the season and I decovered your latest blog. It shall be a great day! Thank you for a grand start to the week end and a beautiful blog.
I just love your books and train travel!!!
Welcome home Susan! Good to have you back in New England!
Loved seeing your inspirational train trip! Thank you for taking the girlfriends along! Peace be with you and yours in all the cozy😊
Hello Susan! It’s snowing in Michigan!!! The blanket of white is covering all of my unraked leaves and pretty Mums blooming in the flower beds! Bundle up Susan, as it might be coming your way to Martha’s Vineyard!!!! Happy November!❄️🍁❄️🍂❄️🍁❄️
Rained all day, would have been a perfect snow storm, except for the 50 degrees! xoxo
I’ve missed reading your blog and am glad you are back. I love the new curtains and pink walls. happy fall, now on to Thanksgiving.
Love everything you do. Thank you for sharing your life with the world!
Susan and Joe Welcome Home! Since forever, I’ve bought your books, and have found them a piece of heaven. Now, I enjoy your blog, such a treat in the middle of my busy days.
Hoping I’m a winner on this one!
No luck posting for 3 days..try again. Welcome home.
Thanks for the lovely post, I spread out reading it over several days to make it last longer. Your new curtains are lovely! Glad you enjoyed the leaves, here in PA we still have a few bright reds, but they are going fast.
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
Marjorie in PA
Hello Susan, Received our wedding cups. I order them for are 5oth Anniversary. The Love birds are my favorite. Thank-you for sharing your art with and wisdom with us.
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY! How wonderful! xoxoxo
Thank you for your inspiration. Love your books and can’t wait for the new one!
Hello. Glad you had a great time in California. We will be there for Thanksgiving with our daughter (whose first belly bump I will get to rub). I love your guest room curtains. So peaceful. Also, good call on shortening the valance in the living room. When you put up the picture of Jessica hanging the first one in your last post, I thought, “Oh, no. They’re covering the ceiling molding and the beautiful window trim!” This way you are only covering one. I always stick up for beautiful wood. Plus, you are saving the dingle-ball trim at the other end. Hooray! You inspired me (as usual) to do a few projects around my house, too. Curtains and paint for laundry room, pillows for living room. You know. Happy November!
A little bit goes a long way! xoxo
Thank you, Susan for your blog and books. They are a bright spot in a troubled world . . .
Hi Susan,
Thank you for your wonderful blog! I just got back from a long train ride to Virginia for my niece’s wedding. It was a lovely trip with the fall leaves flying by as I was rocked to sleep.
Love the photo of your gran! I see the resemblance.
Happy Fall Y’all! Maureen