Hello Everyone! Look at us! Over 4,600 comments to the last post!!! Impressive, wouldn’t you agree? 💌 So much to celebrate 
today . . . First off, it’s time for our drawing!🎊 Vanna is shuffling around the kitchen, putting Hershey’s chocolate syrup in her coffee (coffee-coffee-buzz-buzz-buzz), I hear the whip cream can fizzing. That girl knows how to start the day! So here we go! Enjoy these last moments of everyone being a winner. My favorite time! MUSICA🎧 
So first let’s do my Pumpkinhead china cup and the Inspiration Notecards! ‘Tis the season! Eeeek. I’m probably more excited than you! Quiver stomach! Heart-throb! Wishing everyone GOOD LUCK!🍀
Vanna is UP, perched on side of my art table, bedroom slippers kicked off, pink-painted toes curled over the edge, 
lime-green rubber body-suit gleaming like snake skin, yellow, daisy-covered swim-cap keeping her red hair in check, she does a high dive into the thousands of names, scissor-kicks to the bottom, round and round, vortex forming, little papers with names spinning up and out, floating and swirling around the room like confetti (and btw, you still have a much better chance of winning than if you played the lottery! Plus no ticket investment. Already a win-win!)👏
So here we go . . . I just pulled a name out of the air, floating right toward me, saying, “Choose Me!” And the lucky winner of this Pumpkinhead cup (and notecards too) is,
PAM LANE❗❗ (the one with the red hair!)
Congratulations Pam! 🎉 I’ll email you so you can send me your address ~ but, as you’ll see later in this blog, we’re going away for a week, (we put FUN on the calendar a few months ago, and here it comes!) ~ I’ll send your cup and notecards first thing when we return.💖
So who will be next? Here we go, this time it’s for the four seasons of cups . . . four English mugs for one lucky winner!
Reaching, reading, and here we go! It’s
KAREN HORRIGAN, a second grade teacher,
Our next winner! Congratulations Karen❗️🍎 I hope you enjoy your cups! I’ll send them in about a week! Say hi to the kids!💓
And next, it’s time to meet the lucky winner of the Martha’s Vineyard cup!
Her name? Another flittering wisp of paper that says:
MARNIE‼️ The Marnie that lives in the Canadian Rockies❗️🇨🇦 (Did you notice how many people commented from foreign countries? Another reason to love the Internet.🌍 We get to connect!)
Congratulations Marnie, I hope you and your girls love it!
❓❓❓❓❓
How about this for planned spontaneity? We celebrated National Read a Book Day on Twitter last week, inspiring me to add just one more giveaway . . .
A book of your choice, signed to either you, or to the person of your choice . . . one of these, or . . .
Or, any of these that I still have! You can choose! I have some hidden away, but not all, so I promise to do my best. You can tell me which one when I email you! And decide who gets it!
PAMELA WELTER❗️❗️ . . . carrot and onion chopper extraordinaire❗️ (I like to clarify WHICH Pamela Welter, just in cases!).
So let’s run away! More escapism! Easiest time of year to do it! We are starting to see colorful leaves in the trees on our morning walk!
Well, we did it, we put fun on our calendar months ago, made plans, got tickets, set dates . . . we’ve been anticipating and TOMORROW is the day!
Tomorrow we leave on the 7 am ferry to go to Boston where we’ll pick up our English friends Rachel and Paul, and off we’ll go for a meandering week falling in love with the NEW England countryside! To undisclosed locations none of us have ever been to! A rented house in a small town we’ve never seen. An Adventure! In the fall!
Old houses, drive-by photography, roadside stands, and perhaps leaves just beginning to turn and drift into the roads . . . crisp air, windows open, music up . . . morning tea around the kitchen table with the newspaper . . .
Staying off the main roads . . .
Finding roots . . .
And filling in the blanks of American history . . . stopping everywhere we want, lunches out, art galleries, a night at the movies with popcorn and Downty! None of us have seen it yet! Seeing this movie with actual English People! You go see it too . . . then we can talk about it next time! Fingers-crossed we love it!
With our dear, long-time, too-far-away friends (in this photo, years back, we’re in Maine), a miracle, when you think of this big earth, that we found each other, thanks to a letter Rachel wrote me when she stumbled on one of my books in England! And yes, I’ll bring home lots of pictures to show you! Running away from normal! This is when I try to slow down time!
If I HAD to break my wrist, I could not have done it at a more perfect time. Monday was exactly eight weeks, the optimum healing time, completed in the nick of time for travel freedom. Although, yes, as you can see, I will be 
bringing the instrument of torture (brace) with me on this trip. I don’t have to wear it, but just in case we decide to climb a mountain, the doctor suggested I bring it along. I’ve been doing my physical therapy and my wrist, and everything connected to it, is SO much better. Every day I can do something I couldn’t before. Like cut an apple in half! I’ve typed all of this so far, and so far, my hand isn’t hurting! Your best-of-luck and prayers did the trick!
On the way home from the doctor, this luv-lee scene was waiting for us at the harbor. Yes, island fairies running ahead, preparing little scenes of beauty! Before I met Joe he was the cook on that schooner. Made forty delicious meals, three times a day, on a wood stove!
Last Friday we had a dinner party for my girlfriend Jaimie . . . it was also the 30th Anniversary of the very day we began moving into our beloved house in 1989.
Here’s the kitchen as it was that first quiet winter, before computers, before blogs . . . with the old fridge that required defrosting! Which I loved and held onto until death us did part. And the old blue linoleum 
floor (you can barely see, for good reason), which we changed to wood. Other than getting a new stove, and changing the hinges, handles, and drawer pulls on cupboards and drawers, it’s all exactly the way we found it! We already had the bird feeders hanging outside those windows, and you can see one of my Beatrix Potter people on the little shelf, Jemima Puddleduck. Making tea in my old heart cup.
This was the dining room as found. My friend Carlton took one look at the house, looked right through that crazy 
turquoise paint and said, “Good bones.” My thoughts exactly. Girl Kitty (the first, from Holly Oak!) was helping me set the table for our first dinner party. Despite the wallpaper. Which clearly (to me) had to go. Thank goodness for candlelight, everything is bearable in candlelight. Anyway . . . one day at a time. . . this was the BEFORE picture . . .
And now, the AFTER. The next people to have this house will probably come in and paint the cupboards turquoise again!
Hello handsome.
Dinner party after dinner party . . . If this dining table could talk! Because this old table was also here when we moved in, and it will stay when we go. Now you know why I love all this old MUSICA I play. This house was made for it. It speaks its language.🎵 This house was built in 1849, only 23 years after John Adams died. It was here before the Civil War. Before Teddy Roosevelt, before cars, before two world wars. Before phones. During the time of letters and the clip clop of horse hooves.
And in between our dinner parties, thirty years of care-taking, we did our job, brought her through the years, all the holidays, filling her with LOVE DNA so she will be wonderful for the next lucky family. Our House of Creativity has become a person.
Only thirty Autumns, seems too few! And look at all the wonderful ways we’ve celebrated it:
Lighting candles on the fireplace mantle for our dinner party . . . flowers from the garden . . .
S L O W D O W N
Don’t forget to put some escapism on YOUR calendar.🍂 The littlest thing keeps us looking forward!🍁 Hope you all have a wonderful day!💞 
I also got a lump in my throat ,thinking you could ever leave that treasure of a home.Seeing Downton next week,can’t wait.Have a lovely trip.Mary Lawrence
Well, someday! But not yet!!! xoxo
Looking forward to Downty!! Here in Spain we’ ll have to wait till the 20 th
Glad to hear that your wrist is ok. And congrats to all the lucky winners!
Greetings from green Spain.
Greetings TO green Spain! Thank you Marime!
love the
GRACE HAPPENS
thanks for ALL the thoughts & smiles!
What a fun time to escape at this time of year and with good friends! I hope you have a simply marvelous time. It’s good to hear your wrist is all better also! I too was afraid that you were thinking of selling your home, I know how people think of downsizing! (We are!) Thank you for sharing all your lovely photos so we feel we are right there with you! Bon Voyage dear Susan, enjoy like I know you will! Hubby and I are going to the DA movie tomorrow and it will be nice to hear everyones take on it!
Loved seems my Jack on the dining room table. A kitty belongs wherever he chooses to land!
Alana
Hi Susan,
Have fun on your escape! Congrats to all the winners!!!! Taking my 88 yr old mom and one of her friends to see Downton Abbey next week. Can’t wait. Looking forward to your comments on the movie. I heard there is talk of a sequel!! How great is that!?! Thanks for posting before pics of your home. I love old houses and yours is particularly charming. Enjoy your day.
How lovely you’ll have a fun break with your English friends! It is a lovely time of year. Congratulations to the winners of cups and books etc. I never seem to win anything but it is fun trying… Glad your wrist is healing or has healed. Enjoy every moment. I know you will, you of all people, and safe travels xoxo
Your tea mugs are lovely, congratulations to all the winners!!! I have one from a few years ago, and it’s my teatime favorite!! So happy to hear that you are feeling better and your wrist is stronger every day. We all enjoy your blog so much, but wouldn’t want you to over do it typing. What a blessing to meet friends for a holiday of rest and exploring Boston, hope you have a wonderful time ❤️. Certainly can’t wait hear all about the adventures!
I just love you. Thank you for the cheer today. I always feel like it comes just in the nick of time in this crazy life! Enjoy your trip.
Just like to say that I love your name!
Oh, what fun! Enjoy your dear friends and time for play.
Blessings…
New England in the fall! It should be lovely! (Although you live in New England, so you already have all those wonderful colors and smells and cooler days!) Here in California, we are still having summer weather, although evenings are a bit cooler and the days shorter. Even saw a few fall leaves on the ground this morning on my walk. You grab fall however you can in CA! Enjoy your trip!
Congrats to the winners!!! Lucky ducks!!
(sits and pouts) sniff, sniff…
Ohhh, poor baby, there will be another time. Fingers crossed! xoxoxo
Hope your vacay will be super special for y’all! I envy the cooler temps you will experience and those stellar and colorful views!
Are you going to The Vermont Country Store? I love that place!
Enjoy all the colors! Have a fabulous trip!
Susan Branch, you could be a one woman show on Broadway, you are so entertaining and uplifting. Hope all of you have a wonderful adventure together!
LOL! Thank you Jean, we will!
Yay I’m the 7th comment! Or so. I had gruesome ankle surgery on June 21 and still am semi-convalescing. Glad your wrist is better! Love from the bunnies and me…..
Oh your beautiful home! So full of Love! So happy for you that you have the love of your life to share it with and travel with. You bring so much happiness to all of us! God Bless you Both!
What a treat to meander around New England. I lived in Massachusetts for 15 years in an old Victorian that we lovingly restored (back in the 80’s). That’s when I first discovered YOU! I miss New England. It’s a charming world there, all its own. Now, I just moved into an apartment in a stone horse barn in Pennsylvania on my son’s property along the Brandywine River. All the buildings were built around 1776! Another magical area for me to abide. I hope you have a wonderful trip. Glad your wrist is doing well. ENJOY!
Sounds like heaven!
AND I am only about 5 miles from Longwood Gardens! Now, that is DEFINITELY a heavenly spot!
Congratulations everyone! How fun to find out you won something special! Have fun Susan and Joe. See on the back side.
Hello Susan!
So glad your wing is improving day by day! Over hill and dale, beautiful New England in the Fall. Could not imagine a more romantical (Anne with an E) setting. And with your bosom buddies from across the pond. DEEEE lightful!
Yes, Yes so important to put a little fun on the calendar! No matter how small the event. Picnic for one on the porch, craft day, movie night, a concert…like little stepping stones over the river of life!
As always the post was a spirit lifter! What a joy that your in the world.
Safe travels!
Love “stepping stones over the river of life” ~ perfect!
Enjoy your trip. The Northeast is gorgeous year round but fall is so special.Woodstock Vermont is lovely and I think your kind of town. Visit Billings farm if you can. It’s magical. Safe travels to all of you.
Susan, your posts are so uplifting!!! We both agree, our favorite trip ever was the first time we saw New England in the fall!!! My favorite season. Six of us are going to our local theatre to see the new Downton Abbey Movie this Friday and then to dinner so we can discuss it. I’m sure it will be fabulous! Enjoy your trip with your English friends. I know you will! Looking forward to your pictures!!! Donna (Idaho) 🍂🎃💜
What fun! Six friends! I hope we’re seeing it Friday too!
As I daily live the hectic lifestyle of the city of Los Angeles,with our traffic laden streets and highways, and concrete “jungles”, I live vicariously through your pictures and narratives on life where you are. Thank you for bringing peace, joy, and beauty into our lives. You make us appreciate Earth’s beautiful bounties by sharing celebrations and changing seasons. God Bless.
Have a wonderful week of fun! I love the story of your home–more than just a house.
I live vicariously through your emails, blogs, books and products! Thank you for making me a very happy beach baby (native Californian).
It was thrill in the air as “pulling of the names” commenced to see who became the caretakers of your artwork; thanks for the fun. OH! Your New England adventures wait to be written for all of us to read; like a postcard as you share the details with us. Thank you for all you do to add those sprinkles of delight to our days.
Have a lovely, restful trip!! I just pulled out your Autumn cookbook today!
My scheduled day of fun was yesterday when my husband, dog Buddy and I went to San Diego Bay. We always go to the same spot on Harbor Island, spread our picnic blanket under a tree and watch all the different types of boats coming and going. Weather was delightfully cool. We came home refreshed after a long, hot summer.
Hello Susan. Your description of Vanna’s deep dive into the contest names was marvelous!
😘 xoxo
Hello! After quite a grueling day, your blog post once again hit the spot! Hurray, you are healed and going away on a magical journey. As you say, perfect timing! (Of course, your boy Jack will miss you, but it’s not for so long this time.) Autumn wonders await you…Enjoy them thoroughly! Thanks for the lovely blog!
Hi Susan, The other day I was thinking of your blog just a year ago about Shadows. The Fall Shadows made me think there would be a blog soon from you and voila there it appeared. Have a wonderful few days away. Lovely time to travel in the fall.
My daughter, her mother-in-law, her friend, my husband and myself are off to watch Downton Abbey on Friday night. Soooooooooo EXCITED!!!!
Thrilled, everyone seeing Downton Abbey … I can’t wait to hash it over when I get home!
Another beautiful piece, Sue. So glad you’re healing so very well. I had a small tear to the tendon in my left foot and I recall the wonderful feeling of freedom when I didn’t have to wear the brace anymore. Grateful to have had medical help, PT and the little brace to help me heal but oh the shoe adventures I’ve had! You’re always so generous about taking us along on your road trips so I hope we can share even just little parts of it. Sounds like heaven! Enjoy a safe, fun and enriching time with this beautiful country with Joe and beloved friends.
Susan, thanks for the quote about men who cook! My son is one of those and definitely a generous soul (and best friend to me!). I will pass it along😊
Loving the miracle of Fall…🌻🍁🍂
Enjoy your friends and your holiday. Will think of you all on Friday when my friends and I are going to Downton the Movie.
Happy Autumn! What a lovely post! I saw Downton Abbey last week and loved it even more than I expected. Have a wonderful trip with your dear friends!
Enjoy your trip with good friends! Wonderful timing for wrist healing…and, hopefully, a bit of fall. Cannot wait for Downton Abbey film!!!!! Have fun.
You are just the best! Your words make me realize just how
blessed I am to live in New England..especially this time
of year. Sounds like you have a wonderful time coming
your way! Enjoy! 🌻🍂🌻🍂
How wonderful – you are all mended and ready to travel with friends. Do they know that 4000+ of us blog people are welcoming them and hoping you all have a lovely time? A nice thought anyhow. Loved the pictures of your great old house and being reminded of how long its been there and all that has happened during its life. Causes me to renew my vow to collect and arrange pictures of the house I grew up in, about 50 years younger than yours, and write my recollections about it and the original owners, my grandparents, and subsequent generations who lived there. The picture of your house in the snow is especially gorgeous. Congratulations to the lucky winners.
Oh, I am so looking forward to your pictures from New England! I grew up there, but am now living in the Pacific Northwest. You know we always leave a piece of our heart where our first home was.
So glad your hand healed well! 😘🙌. I am still having pt for whiplash…🙄.
Happy Autumn 🍂🍁🍎
Margot
That hurts! Get better soon Margot!
Thanks I will. Then I am heading back East. People to see.
You wear your brace. I messed up my wrist last Fall lifting a ladder. The brace helps. I doctored myself, the office was closed. 🤪
Say Hi to Rach from me and have fun!!
🤗 Margot
Congratulations to your winners. I still anticipate winning. It’s fun.
We are on our annual 2 week stay at Lake Tahoe. At this elevation there was snow already. We have come for 27 years to celebrate our wedding anniversary. This is our fabulous getaway, like yours. I have looked forward to it for months. That is half the fun.
I am so happy you followed doctor’s orders and now you have healed. Years ago I fell and my wrist did hurt. My husband said, “That’s not broken.” I didn’t find out until recently it had been broken and arthritis has settled in. Grrr.
Take extra good care. We are depending on you to “Carry On”.
Never fear! Onward and upward! xoxoxo
Dear Susan, you are so generous with your prizes and congratulations to the lucky winners! In February 2018, I was blessed to have Vanna select my name for the England mug and A Fine Romance book! They have been displayed, re-re-read and treasured. Wishing you safe travels full of happy adventures.
Love hearing from you Lynn! Yay!
Enjoy your visit and escape to the unknown places. The season is beautiful!!
Oh Susan! I just love your before and after pics, and the historical aspect to your house and lovely furniture, especially the dining room table! I started following your blog when Girl Kitty was still with us in the fur and seeing her on the chair was so sweet! And, of course, Jack! What a kitty! He clearly owns the place, as it should be! ;-D Have a wonderful time, Susan, and I look forward to seeing and hearing all about it in your upcoming post. Thank you xoxo
Glad you’re healing and have some freedom! Yaay for Fall, road trips, being with friends, and Downton! Enjoying a week with friends in their lovely home near the Sawtooth mountains in Idaho! Can’t wait to revisit Downton then relive it here with the girlfriends! XOXO
Lovely blog – as usual! Congratulations to the winners! Dear, sweet Sue, the piece over the fireplace is spelled “mantel” not “mantle.” I thought you would like to know that. Have fun on your trip and take lots of pictures to share with us.
Oh yes, I actually do know that, one of those their-they’re moments! Bad editing on my part! xoxo
Dearest Susan,
Thank you for taking me along the path with you. When my children were tiny and money tight, I would grab snippets of time with your books and Victoria magazines in a pile on my bed and feel the cold wind kiss my face as leaves swirled around me when it was 103 degrees outside my Texas home. My teacher friends and I gifted your books and calendars to each other delightedly through the years. We shared your advice on making Christmas magical with perplexed overworked parents encouraging them to buy your books, too. Your art, recipes, and voice helped raise two strong daughters striking out on their own paths now. What a blessing you are to have been so brave—painting your geranium, writing your first cookbook, filming your first video, sharing your travels and personal story. When I see your emails, I feel like a gift has arrived. Now, here I am, back to dreaming with your books and blogs feeling the cool air as the wind heaves heat outside my door.
Oh, you are making me cry! Thank you Cindy! It’s so lovely to share lives with my dearest girlfriends! It’s been such a gift for me. xoxo
Hi Susan (Susan bo busan, banana fanna foe fusan, fee fie mo musan, Susan),
So very happy to hear that you are free from the torture chamber and able to type and live carefree once again. You do realize that you got the 4000 plus comments because people care about you (not the freebies) and wanted to wish you well.
I now have 2 people to live vicariously through, you going to bee-you-tea-full New England and my friend going to Great Britain in October for a month. Lots and lots of pictures please and I told her the same thing. I hope Brexit doesn’t muck up England too much. Can’t say I really understand it all but so many nations seem to be in a state of flux and not always for the better. I try to say my “gratitudes” everyday and besides my personal ones, I include our beautiful planet and all of the creatures in it and pray that we catch climate change before it is too late. We have sooooo much to lose and we ALL need to double down and do what we need to do to save it. Do you remember the Twilight Zone (or Rod Serling Presents,I can’t remember which or if his name is Serling or Sterling – oh well, I digress) program where the planet was moving closer and closer to the sun and was going to burn up and then the woman woke up and realized she had had a bad dream but THEN realized that the planet was going into another ice age? Just saying.
Loved the before and after of your house but I have to say that I am a wallpaper person and you had the most gorgeous wallpaper in your dining room before. That of course is just my own little (in a vast ocean of opinions) opinion which is to say everyone must follow their own sheep (WHAT? I mean do we really know if the sheep followed Mary or if possibly, Mary followed the sheep?)
Also good to hear that Joe knows his way around the kitchen. My dad was the cook in our family and did it well. My mom said that in her family of 10, her other 4 sisters were the bakers/cooks and she was the cleaner. Lucky my dad “knew a thing or two about” cooking or we might have starved (0r lived on McDonalds and Chicken Delight. Having lived in Reseda, did you ever get takeout from Chicken Delight on Saticoy and Parthenia?
Well, I’ve been running off at the mouth so better bring it to an end and wish you, Joe and Jack good health from Olivia, Bixby and moi.
Always fun to hear from you Patricia! I’ve been studying Brexit a bit. Will get all my questions answered this next week! Yes, of course, Chicken Delight! Forgot about that! xoxo
Continuation of my previous post: Could you please provide an autumn book mark in the Free Stuff section?…and a Christmas book mark, too? THANK YOU!
Oh Susan, So nice to put FUN on the calendar!
Congratulations to the lucky winners, and sending lots of joy your way for this upcoming adventure! I know it will be a wonderful time for you all. It is the perfect time of year, isn’t it? I love all the colors and someday hope to get to New England to enjoy it. Even here in California we are experiencing the beginnings of fall and my class and I are going to Oak Glen in a few weeks to drink it all in.
Have great fun seeing Downton Abbey. I can hardly wait! I am loving every preview at this point!
Marsha
Thanks for a little time that feels like I “went away.”! Have a lovely trip! Sending greetings from Southern California.
Dear Susan,
I love your home. It is so charming. That’s what I loved to see, homes like yours on our visit to New England in June. You have truly given your home 30 years of caring and love and it shows. It looks like a very happy house. We’ve lived in our home for 54 years and it has gone through many changes as has our family. My pride, passion and joy is my garden. I’m sure you feel the same way about yours. It is so rewarding and fulfilling. May you and Joe live there at least another 30❣️ Enjoy your trip with your lovely English friends.
Fifty four! It will always be your house! Thank you Kay, another 30 suits me just fine!
Susan, it’s been so long since I’ve read an issue of Willard. I used to get them on paper…boy, how I miss those days! So much has changed. I didn’t know you broke your wrist. So glad to hear it’s on the mend! The photos of your house in Martha’s Vineyard are beautiful, along with the Musica you’ve chosen for this “issue” of Willard (is that even the proper term anymore?). In any event, after reading this, I need to ask one very important question: you’re not getting ready to sell the house, are you?!?!? I’m holding my breath, not because I would be in the position to buy it, but because I cannot imagine anyone else living there but you! And Joe and the kitties, of course 🙂
I hope you enjoy your trip with your friends. I have been a loyal fan since purchasing my first calendar in 1993. Hard to believe it’s been that long. Take care and I look forward to future Willards!
We aren’t selling it, just celebrating it. We will sell it one day . . . it’s what people do as they get on in years, and it will be with much joy and gratitude that I pay it forward! I think I’ll offer it first to my blog Girlfriends. Just in cases there is someone out there who would want it. Thank you Janet!
Your autumn trip sounds delightful. Normally, I am so ready for fall by this time, but this year, I have been hesitant to let go of summer. Thanks to all of the inspiration you provided, I am getting more excited about autumn, which is really is one of my favorite seasons. Thank you!
Susan
have a wonderful time o your trip! So try about your wrist! Glad that it is healing!
joy the wonderful fall!! Doom we will be totally on the mend!
Best
Elyse
LOL, this blog is changing everyone’s words . . . Doom! ha ha ha! xoxoxo
We too will be visiting NE…
Rented a cottage on the Cape for 3 weeks with the plan to visit York, ME and even venture to your little island. Crazy Californians drinking cross country to get some beautiful NE color!
LOL, I know it was auto-correct, but “drinking cross country” made me burst out laughing! Have a wonderful time Nadine!
Yes, my dear, escapism! On Sunday I leave for 8 days in Italy, mostly in a hill town in Umbria, Trevi, to a watercolor class….you are an encouragement for me, to be in the world….I mean, I was just in London in April and now…already already….Italy? To sketch, to learn Travel Journaling with Watercolors?
oh yes…..then a return to October, and the lovely colors here, the soup parties, the fires in the fireplace, the escapes to Whidbey Island…..you have been an encouragement…thank you, m’dear….and oh! on YouTube there are episodes of “Garden Rescue” from the UK – you would love this show…..escape escape…..
love to you, and really good soup, too….enjoy New England dear,
Regina
You GO girl!!! Makes me so happy to hear that! Sending love and Bon Voyage dear Regina!
Wonderful! Please post pictures of Umbria on Twitter, if you can. My Tom and I loved camping on Whidbey Island, and walking the shingle beach, whit its colorful star “fish” and drift wood.
Debbie in beeutiful Maine, colors starting to pop, ripe apples for pies and apple butter, and me with two bum hands. But Tom is a good chopper-upper.
Congratulations to all the lovely winners! The east coast, especially in the fall, is on my bucket list. How lovely to have your friends stateside to travel with and enjoy. Have a wonderful FUN time!!
So glad to hear your wrist is better. Don’t overdo too soon!
Happy Autumn, dear Susan and Joe!
Kathi S is right on the money. I saw Downton last night and it was wonderful. Like seeing long-time, comfortable friends. So glad the wrist is healing so well. A testament to you following orders, perhaps? Have a wonderful trip. The colours of New England was a favourite trip for my parents. Missing them – I had given my Dad your book on England and he loved it. We lost him at 91 years old this past June – peacefully and at home. My sister encouraged me to take his Susan book home with me. It was a Fine Romance for him and is now one for me as well. The link gives me comfort. Have a great time with your friends.
My dad also went at 91, not an easy thing, I’m so sorry, and yet, I feel the love. Thank you Katiexoxoxo
I put a day on our calendar, it is Friday Sept. 20,2019 we are escaping at 10:30 AM to be the first to see Downton Abby, then English high tea afterwards.
Perfect!
Have a lovely time leaf peeping, Susan! So glad you are healing well!
The world is a lovelier place because of you and your stunning art work!
Thank you so much Jean. xoxo
New England in autumn is the most glorious place on the planet. Enjoy every moment of your week of FUN. I just got off the plane from an amazing and long dreamed of trip to the north coast of Spain, beautiful beyond words, but I must be home in New England for this special time of year. Your photos have me looking forward to it already.
Dear Susan, I can’t believe I met you almost a year ago in SLO!! Apple Farm 🍎What a delightful blog post!!🌻 Tell the Londoners hello!! I definitely did plan fun too!! I am going to Apple country to a lovely tea with friends!! I can’t wait to hear about your travels to New England!! A place I have never been but heard so much about. My son is traveling where he is interning in Thailand and he saw beautiful Elephants and met a friend from Massachusetts also working at the UN and they went kayaking and saw beautiful shrines!! Adventure time!!! 🍁 Happy September!!🍁 I love my new calendar set and shop items!!❤️🍎 Gratefully yours, Karen Baron
Thanks Susan, just love this blog. . . .a change of seasons is upon us all! Have a grand trip, make many memories. . . . . . .
P.S. So nice to hear you are healing !!!!
Congratulations to the lucky winners! Have a wonderful trip! In Maine right now and the leaves are just getting warmed up to put on a show! The apples are on display, warm cider is heating, apple pie a la mode is waiting and antique store doors are propped open for all the tourists to get a peek at their wares. Enjoy! PS. The little stove display with the tiny dog and hedgehog slays me!
Makes me happy when you are happy!!! xoxo
Have a great trip! Your blogs always show up at the very right time.
I’m so hApPy you played this Dinah Washington song in your musica
selection, dearest Susan. I remember listening to this as a little girl but
Never knew her name. I loved her sexy voice!
All these years have gone by and VOILA!!! You solved
the mystery!!! I’m going to listen to her again and again and again… ❤️
You’re grand in so many ways!
Hugs.
Hooray! Beautiful voice, beautiful song!
You’re free! Your arm is free at last. Have a lovely ramble down New England back roads. We look forward to the memories you will bring us, so real they will seem our very own. Seeing Downty on Saturday, oh the suspense! (Will Mary and Edith be friendly? Will Mosely find happiness? Will MATTHEW come back in a dream?!?!) Happy belated birthday September’s child Shelly (and Prince Harry)! -your September friend, Laura
Dear Susan and Joe,
Have a terrific road trip through the back roads of New England, enjoying
friendship and foliage! Your itinerary sounds cozy and wonderful!
Pam Wilson
So happy your wrist is healing and you are starting to be able to do more things. I wish you a happy, healthy journey with Joe and your dear English friends. Enjoy the beautiful autumn leaves (not turning just yet here in Port Jefferson) and treat yourselves to the delicious food of New England.
Thank you for another beautiful post. Congratulations to the winners, and happy fall to all!
Love all the seasons but FALL… excites all the senses. Enjoy everything!
Hi dear sweet Susan! Oh, New England! We live on Whidbey Island off the coast of Washington but have come to New England in the fall many, many times. AND, I leave in two weeks for time in London with a darling girlfriend and we will see Downton Abbey there. How fun is that! My question: Do you still subscribe to Acorn TV? If so, do you love it? Doc Martin is coming back soon and more Midsomer Mysteries. Do they show old Christmas movies during the holidays? I have to stop watch politics and sports with my husband! Have a lovely holiday away. Keep in touch. So glad your hand is better!!!
I’m not the right person to ask about Acorn, for some reason we haven’t watched it lately, more watching Amazon. But there are LOTS of British things there, how could you help but like it!
I love to see pictures before and after of your graceful home. It’s fun to see the changes a house goes through when you put your own touch on it to make it your home.
Rachel and Paul to visit!!! Oh what fun that will be. I know you all will have a great time. Yes, it’s a good thing your wrist is in better shape than several weeks ago. Go and have a super time with your wonderful friends and darling husband. Cheers.
So glad you’ve healed. Have a wonderful trip and tons of fun. It’s Autumn, my favorite season and the title of my favorite of all your books. Time to cook yummy foods and enjoy everything. Life is good.
Congratulations to all the lucky winners! I am glad that your wrist has healed and that physical therapy has been helping. Do enjoy your trip with your English friends! I love New England and exploring it so much. I live along the border of the Berkshires and upstate New York. There is such a beautiful natural wealth to this region. I have yet to venture to Martha’s Vineyard, but I hope to someday!
All gorgeous!
♥️♥️
Have a lovely time!🍁🍂🌻
Have a wonderful time on your New England vacation. The colors are starting to form on the trees. Susan, have you ever visited Rockport? If you haven’t, you should make that one of your stops. It’s beautiful and lots of shops and great restaurants. Also, Woodstock Vermont is a very quaint village. Very picturesque. Wherever you go, I hope you enjoy every minute. So glad your wrist is on the mend. Until next time, Enjoy, Donna from Framingham, Ma.
Hello Susan
I remember when I purchased my first book that you wrote in 1990 “Christmas From The Heart Of The Home” I was with my Mom at the time and she purchased one as well. I fell in
love with your artwork and the quotes and of course your awesome recipes. I have quite a collection now of your books, now that Fall is approaching I put the Summer book away and bring out the Autumn book and start to plan the recipes I want to make. I so enjoy looking at all the pages filled with inspiration. Thank you for your blog I look forward to receiving it. Being the Anglophile and lover of everything English, I have two very dear friends that reside in England in North Yorkshire. I have traveled to England to visit with them and that was my trip of a lifetime. Glad to know your wrist is better, enjoy your time with friends and riding through New England it is truly a beauty this time of year, the pumpkins (you can never have enough pumpkins you know), the apples and the brilliant colour of the leaves, and the smell of Fall. I reside in New Hampshire on the coast and also love Vermont especially Woodstock, well I hope you get to wander in New Hampshire and Vermont. Have a great time, and I look forward to hearing all about it in your next blog.
Dear Susan,
What a wonderful autumn post! Prompted me to get out your Autumn book and look through all the beautiful pages and yummy recipes. And how great that you, Joe, Rachel and Paul get to run away to New England! Will be sending up hopes for just the right kind of fall weather.
If I knew you were going to run away close to me (you must have been to Concord and/or Lexington, so probably not), I’d find a restaurant and drop off a jar with your name on it of the applesauce I make the years when our little tree chooses to bless us with fruit. Chunky, skins on, white and brown sugar, lemon juice, nutmeg and cinnamon. and raisins and cherries for an extra treat, all smooshed up and quite tasty. All the fruit trees in our area produced bumper crops this year, and I made 16 quarts (I think) before the fruit and I finally gave out!
In any case, I’ll send my best wishes for a memorable trip (so very glad you’ve healed!): long wandering drives and walks; great food; sweet sleep in soft beds; cool and funky shopping; and best of all, precious time spent with dear friends. Take pictures! Tell us stories! Enjoy!!
Hugs, Rosemary
Happy travels, Susan. Friends and adventures are two precious parts of life … even better when they are combined. Escapism for me will be reading about your travels. It’s been a long time since I have been in New England. We have visited all 50 states, all ten of our provinces and one of our territories. Enough travel? Never.
Stop in Boston and see the Downton Abby exhibit. It was FANTASTIC! A great prelude to the movie, which I hear will have a sequel…
Vanna does her job so elegantly! Congratulations to the winners!
I love 💗 the pink dining room. I hope the pink is pleasing to you too. ☺️
Oh Autumn! The most glorious time of year and how delightful to spend it in an old house full of grand memories. Enjoy your road trip with your friends and I hope the wrist is healed up soon.
Thank you for ending my day with a smile on my face. I really, really need your blogs in these days when things are so chaotic in our country. Have a wonderful trip.
If we could bottle all of the loving energy on your blog and in the comments, and send it out into the cosmos so it would sprinkle all of the world with its fairy dust…the world would be cured of heart ache and grief! You bring such joy to my heart each time I read your words and the words of all of your girlfriends. Sending so much love back to you, Susan! xoxo
That would be lovely Kari! Thank you!
Congratulations to all your winners. What a blessing you are!! Love your house and what fun and amazing times it has had there. And you guys have decorated it beautifully (much better than the turquoise! Ha Ha) Have fun on your trip, and tell Rachel Hi for me. So glad your wrist is doing so much better. (My eye is improving too. ) Stay safe!!
Blessings,
Gert
I’ll do it Gert . . . in fact, she’s right HERE! Sending love! xoxo
I loved reading about the history of the 30 past years of your house, and seeing before/after pictures of it. It is such a lovely place, and it suits you both so perfectly. I appreciate every little bit of this beautiful place you share with us.
Enjoy your trip around New England. Hopefully some of the trees will have some of their pretty autumn colors showing! Here, up in the north, it is just starting. We’re seeing some yellows and touches of oranges… And the light is yellower and the apple trees are generous with beautiful red fruits!
You made announcing the winners absolute FUN, I was smiling the whole time I read it. It was a lovely win to enjoy this post. Two days ago I finished reading A Fine Romance for the third time, it’s always a tiny bit sad when I come to the end, so this was lovely to get another Willard so soon afterward.
Glad you are healing, I am as well! Have fun on your adventure- we had our’s last week on the Oregon coast. Love it!
So happy you are healing!
My girlfriends and I have a (secret, SHHHH!!) “We Love England” Club and we have reserved seats to see DA on Friday. I can’t wait to read your post about it… your insightful blog was always almost better than watching the show.
I also hope (so badly) that you post about your little New England trip before I come up your way from Texas on Oct. 10th. It would be great to have some autumn inspiration to enhance our adventures.
The house is sooo beautiful now. Dining room explides with coziness, candlelight. And love. Like the original kitchen but you made it come alive with changes. I dont write as lovely as many. Yet i love your newzletters, photos and appreciate you two sharing your lives with us all. Warmly
Fall is my favorite season with all its beautiful colors. Enjoy your escape adventure! I can’t wait to see your amazing fall pictures. I’d really like to visit New England in the fall.
Thirty years certainly makes a house a home! Thanks so much for sharing it with me. I think it the loveliest ever!! Love the pumpkins over the door. So thankful I am that your wrist has healed and you can do the things you enjoy. Have a pleasant & peaceful adventure. I envy you!
I just got out your beautiful Autumn mugs. Will have my tea in them in the morning. Congratulations to all the winners of the mugs and a book! So happy your wrist is healing. You, Joe, Rachel and Paul have a wonderful trip!
When I get the email that there’s a new post from you, my lips curve up in a smile and I think, “oh goody, goody” – it doesn’t really matter that Vanna didnt pick my name because each post is a prize! Congrats to those whose name’s Vanna DID choose.
So glad your wrist is healing nicely. Your home is full of warmth and charm and I MUCH prefer the dining room the way it is now. Enjoy your escape! Downty comes out a little later here in Canada, but no matter when, I’ll be going to see it with my 2 daughters and daughter-in-law, all of us fans.
Your blogs are always wonderful and wonderfilled and a respite in these times. Love the musica too as we are old movie buffs especially musicals. Have a great trip.
Such a lovely respite from today’s news. I’m slowly going through your blog and have made it to 2015, and I love every word. It’s fun to jump to the current blog because it matches the seasons, and fall is my favorite. May your New England adventures be filled with love, leaves, laughter, cider, and pumpkins. Thank you and happy healing!
Hi Susan!
I’m glad to hear your wrist is healing so well!! Makes my heart happy! Thank you for the give aways! Such a sweet and generous thing to do! Congratulations to all the happy winners!! As always, thank you for sharing yourself with us! We love you! Enjoy your trip and your friends! We all need to stop and smell the roses every once in a while!!
xoxo
Enjoy your trip! I so miss New England Autumns, I grew up in Maine and now I love Florida except for these few weeks when I wish I were up North for sweaters, candles gorgeous leaves and Fall foods! Enjoy every minute