I’ve got some good things for you Girlfriends!!! MUSICA
Oh, how I’m loving October! 🍂 Weather has totally changed on the island, summer is a thing of the distant past. We’ve had two Nor’easters recently, wild wind and rain out of nowhere . . . ferry boat was stopped, we’ve been cut off, out here alone, leaves flying by the windows. My favorite. Light the candles, make a fire, cook, and cozy-in to the quiet. With Jack. And Joe.💞
Look at me! After three months of an out-of-order broken wrist, I’m painting again!
I wasn’t sure I’d still know how! I’ve started working on the 2021 calendars (yes, 2021 😜, try not to think about it). As you can see Jack has been lending support. I’m still going to Occupational Therapy once a week, working to get all that luv-lee flexibility back. But I’m sooo much better. Lifting little weights! See that writing up there? Now look at this:
This is a shopping list I wrote with my left hand a couple of months ago! I told my brain, “MAKE A ‘G'”, but my brain said, “Is that a right turn or a left?” This took HUGE concentration! I kind of liked it!
Still eating healthy, and still loving it. Doesn’t that look delicious? Well, it was! Best words I ever told myself about losing weight? “I don’t care how long it takes, I’m doing it.” Very powerful. As they say in the Biz, “It’s a Lifestyle Change.”
Here’s a wonderful little healthy snack. If you are a homey cottage-cheese lover like I am (and many aren’t for good reason ➡️), there is nothing nastier than the milky wet cottage cheese you find in so many grocery stores. So I have something new for you to try. Look for Friendly Farms Cottage Cheese. It’s heavenly. Sturdy and creamy. Not drowning in milky wetness!! Available in tons of places. Perfect to put on crackers, or, like above, on buttered, toasted Ezekiel Bread, sprinkled with seeds, nuts, salt and pepper! Sprouts taste good on it too. It’s a treat!😋
Yes, it’s that time of year for Carrot Cake! Lots of Birthday’s around here lately . . . and Saturday is Rachel’s Birthday! 😘😘😘 Sending love to you Ray ~ I really wish you could help yourself (all of you!) to a piece of this! I won’t be a bit surprised if they figure out how to do that someday! Wish they’d hurry! You can wish Rachel a Happy Birthday here in the comment section, OR, write her on Twitter, HERE!❤️
You’ll recognize the recipe for the three-layer carrot cake I took to Jaime’s house for a birthday party . . . I forgot how good it is! Everyone loved it!
If you’ve never tried to make a carrot cake, you really should! It comes together so easily, and it’s filled with fruit and nuts! Right, Jack? Right!
Here I am at the party, sitting on the floor in front of the fire, among my oldest and dearest, toasting Joe through the crowd as he takes a nicely blurry photo of me!
In this one, I have the camera, so you can see what my view was from my floor position. People putting their rings around the candles, so everyone gets to make a wish.
My cake came in last and I was too busy cutting it to take pictures! I’ve made it lots of times, but usually, I just 
put frosting between layers and on top. This time I made extra frosting and did the sides. Decorated with chopped (green) pistachio nuts, a marigold from the garden, and strips of carrot peel I rounded at top with a knife, and made pointed at bottom. Isn’t it cute? I thought it looked like a happy circus cake! There were zero leftovers, no crumb went unattacked! You could do this!!!😘
The fans would love it! This recipe also makes amazing cupcakes. You can tint the cream-cheese frosting if you like.
All home-sweet-home this time of year. Hovering between 50º and 60º most days now. See our wisteria, so insidious, sneaking its way around everything, will crawl under a window and into the house if we aren’t careful! But very gracefully!
I love being a homebody. Garden is changing so fast . . . but we still have a few herbs, some nasturtiums, kale, lettuce, and a couple of tomatoes growing. A few rose buds and marigolds. No freeze yet, so we’re milking the garden for all it’s worth.
The wind blew our yard full of leaves . . .
And, btw, that Carrot cake recipe (and cupcakes) is in the book on the table! (Heart of the Home 30th Anniversary Edition.) If you make it, cool the cake before you put the frosting on!
Look at this! Fun with food! Joe cut into this radish and look what he found! Good enough to sell on eBay! (No, we won’t😅) Had to take a picture of it! Love the tail! Crazy radish bug!
And yes, Casper is back in his high spot, in the guest room on the second floor . . . looking out . . .
Over the neighborhood . . . he’s become a tradition, lighting up this window every October for years.
Cheering a stormy day, a harbinger of Halloween . . . he’s got a perfect view.
I wob him. When we go into downsize mode someday and sell this house, I hope the people who buy it will want Casper too! Because I know he will want to stay.🎃
There is something in October . . .🍂🍁🍂
Out on our walk, the bittersweet is wild!
Such a magical vine . . . invasive, they say, but what a way to go! We’ll be decorating around our front door with it!
The woods are prettier every day . . . we’ve had lots of sunny, crisp, and breezy days . . .
And the rainy days just make it better!
We just make a fire! Last night, girlfriends came over after Mahjong, we sat on the sofa and talked in the quiet, listened to the fire popping, clock ticking, wind blowing outside . . . 🍂🍁🍂
What’s up at the Studio? We’re getting new things all the time, I can’t quite keep up. Doing our best to make our web store one-stop shopping where you’ll find lots of little special things filled with ❤️ ~ with the holidays coming up so fast, it’s that time again!
Just in ~ our brand new Winter Dream Charm ~ like any starry night, you can make a wish for dreams come true.
And these too, precious house cut-outs ~ one of which is now sitting on my stove shelf. I tried it all over the house, on a window sill with my rusty birds, on the mantle with a candle behind it, there’s no bad place! It’s going to be gorgeous with my white Christmas trees!
SO, something else . . . There’s a new article featuring guess who? Me! in Edible Vineyard (the 2019 Harvest Issue), a wonderful island food magazine produced through the Martha’s Vineyard Times. It’s available everywhere here on the island . . . and I have to say, every article in it is interesting! Really well-written. Kind of like the New Yorker of food! I don’t know if the paper is selling them, but I’m sure you could ask.
On October 26, I’ll be speaking and signing books at the 
newly renovated and beautifully restored Carnegie Library on North Water Street in Edgartown, MA, from 2-3 pm, sponsored by the Vineyard Trust and Edgartown Books. It’s free! And they have a gift shop! 😜 I’ll bring signed copies of Edible Vineyard to give out! Come join us! And guess what? Kellee and Sheri will be there (Joe too!). They’re coming to stay with us for a few days next week, to get a little taste of New England fall!🍁 💃
The Edible article was beautifully written by Alisun Armstrong, photos by Lexi Pline. Quotes from the Fairy Tale Girl and Martha’s Vineyard Isle of Dreams. Recipes from the 30th Anniversary version of Heart of the Home and my Autumn Book.❤️
No reason for this photo, just loved the colors!
This too! I told you it was a huge Birthday Month . . . I also had a Birthday Party for Martha . . . this was the table setting. Very simple, purple flowers (Johnson Brothers WindsorWare plates) and plaid napkins on old bedspread, with hydrangeas from the garden.
Colorful! Girl Party! This whole lunch was scarily done without a recipe. When we were in Hudson, I tasted some fantastic things, spicy 
sweet-potato fingers with minted lemon sauce and a Coconut Cilantro Chutney (with hot peppers and garlic and ginger). I wrote down what I could, so I could try making it at home. I was nervous, realizing too late that this might not be the smartest way to do a birthday lunch, but it turned out GOOD. I served it with deviled eggs, minced red onion, and smoked salmon, and toasted walnut bread ~ with homemade Basil Ice Cream and Lemon Polenta Cake for dessert. My wrist allowed me to do everything except Joe chopped the onion and got that pretty green ice cream out of the freezer container! Pretty darn good!
And then there’s this! Because I couldn’t find them on the Island, I had to make them. Since they’re not here, I imagine you may not be able to find them either, so I thought this recipe could come in handy, for Apple Cider Donuts! They’re easy! They bake in the oven like a cake! You have to have them!🍁
So Here’s what I did . . . first off, on the stove, out of sight, is a pan filled with Apple Cider (the plain, non-alcoholic kind) boiling down to a syrup (don’t worry, I’ll put the recipe at the end of the post). Then I buttered the donut pans with melted butter and set them aside. Don’t have donut pans? Stay tuned . . .
I lightened the flour by stirring it with a whisk so I wouldn’t have to sift it. Then I measured it out lightly and put it in a medium bowl . . .
and whisked it together with baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, and salt.
In another large bowl, I whisked together egg, milk, vanilla, brown sugar, and granulated sugar.
whisking . . .
. . . adding in the reduced cider . . . whisking until it was blended.
Then, because it’s too difficult to get the dough neatly into the tiny donut pans with a spoon, I poured the batter into a plastic bag …
. . . then squeezed the messy thing down to get most of the batter in the bottom of the bag,
then I twisted it up at the top, and cut off a tiny bit of corner, so the batter would come out in a controllable manner.
. . . and Voila . . . into the oven they go!
While they baked, I melted some butter and mixed together sugar, pumpkin pie spice, and cinnamon for coating the donuts when they were done.
And here they are, hot from the oven. I slipped a tiny spatula around them and they came out like buttah.
I dipped them, tops and bottoms in melted butter, and laid them into bowl with the sugar and spice . . .
Spooned over sugar, pressed it in, until they were well coated. Pushing Joe, get away. no touching. Oh, poor baby, okay, eat one. Gimmie a bite.💋
I wrapped the rest of them in an old linen bridge-table tablecloth, put them in a basket and walked over to lowely’s for Mahjong . . . we start with tea, and yesterday, with donuts still warm from the oven!
The recipe made six large donuts and ten small ones. So, who wants to make donuts? Leave a comment, we’ll have a drawing, and the winner will receive the exact tins I baked these donuts in! Two tins, used once only, they’re festive, they have red bottoms, together they make six large donuts and a dozen little ones . . . there are more in our web store, just in cases. And I’m including a package of holiday recipe cards!
I’ll toss in a signed copy of Edible Magazine too…
So that’s it . . . sunshine through blowing leaves, through kitchen windows, sliding across the stove, weaves through sugar-donut fragrance, skips along the floor, over the table, dancing fairy-like over a bowl of apples, and shimmers onto our walls.
Our world sometimes feels upside-down, we can feel overwhelmed by daily happenings, making ends meet, meeting the needs of our beloveds, drains energy, there’s no rest for the weary or the worried! Dreaming of a better tomorrow? Let it show in everything you do. Let the things you value in life shine through, home, family, friends, the little things that make life sweet. Do stop and smell the flowers, run and catch a leaf in mid air. Watch an old movie with your petty pet. You’ll feel better, I promise. Kisses and blessings on you and yours. Take a deep breath . . . ahhhhh.
Don’t forget to leave your comment for the drawing! HERE is a little chart that shows you how to sign up to get this BLOG delivered to your email address.❤️
A P P L E C I D E R D O N U T S
Makes six large donuts and ten small ones.
Set out 1/2 c. whole milk and one egg to come to room temp. Slowly melt 1 1/2 c. (12 TB. or 1 1/2 sticks) butter (you’ll ned some to grease the pans, some for donut batter, and some for the topping). Put 1 1/2 c. non-alcoholic apple cider in small saucepan. Bring to boil, then simmer until liquid reduces to one-half cup. 👀 Watch it. Takes about 15 min. Set aside to cool. Use a pastry brush, butter the donut cups.
Preheat oven to 350º
- 2 c. all purpose flour, whisked to lighten, then measured
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 1/2 tsp. baking powder
- 1 tsp. cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp. nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp. cloves
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 1 egg, room temp.
- 1/2 c. whole milk, room temp
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 2 TB. melted butter
- 1/2 c. reduced apple cider
- 1/2 c. dark brown sugar
- 1/3 c. granulated sugar
T O P P I N G
- 1 c. granulated sugar
- 3/4 tsp. pumpkin pie spice*
- 1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
- the rest of the butter, put in shallow wide dish.
Preheat oven to 350º. In a med bowl, whisk together first 7 ingredients. Set aside. In large bowl, whisk the egg, then whisk in the rest of the ingredients. Add dry ingredients to wet and whisk until smooth. Fill a large plastic bag with batter. This is messy. Once filled, hold it at top and squeeze batter down, twist the top so batter is pushed into bottom. With scissors cut a tiny corner off the bottom of the bag (not too much, you can always cut it bigger). Squeeze the batter into the donut cavities, filling about 2/3 full. Bake 10-12 min until they spring back when you poke them (I baked the small donuts slightly less time). Let cool 5 min in pans, Use a small spatula to loosen each one and turn them out onto tea-towel-covered cooling rack. While they are baking, make TOPPING: in a small bowl, mix together first 3 topping ingredients. Put the rest of the melted butter in a shallow dish. When donuts are cool enough to handle, dip tops and bottoms in melted butter, put them in the sugar mixture and spoon over generously, patting them so the mixture will hold on. Eat! Lovely in a cloth covered basket to bring to tea! Excellent with a cup of coffee!
*You can make your own PUMPKIN PIE SPICE for the topping, just add 1/2 tsp.nutmeg, 1/4 tsp.ground ginger, and 1/4 tsp. ground cloves to the cinnamon.
Oh my goodess! Apple Cider Donuts are my FAVORITE!!!! I will definitely be trying your recipe, as I have never made them.
So glad to see that your wrist is healing nicely.
Happy Autumn! My FAVORITE season here in upstate NY.
Glad to hear your wrist is mending. And I agree fall is the most delightful of seasons. Your posts are always a delight.
Thank you for cider donut recipe….I can’t wait to try it!
Love apple cider donuts! We have them in the stores here but they’re fried. Delicious but I like to bake them to be a little healthier.
First, I’m ashamed to say this is the first I’ve read about your wrist. (I’m retired now and so far behind on the leisurely activities I love – you!) Sitting here with a “summer” cold, it’s 93 out and the Santa Annas are blowing, and fires glowing. Now, I’m going to have to commit to catching up on the blog to find out what happened. Sounds like your are healing well. Love from Ventura. (and I’d enjoy getting my hands on the Edible Vineyard article to add to my Susan collection.
Happy Autumn dear Susan, and to Joe and Jack too!… what a fairytale post this is… a bit of everything October, my favorite month of all and favorite time of the year… you make it all sooo beautiful and welcoming… cozy and lovely… can’t get enough of your photos… and Jack!… I love that kitty so!… give him some kitty kisses for me please… my Autumn book has been out since August… and so has my Autumn cup and my Pumpkin cup… my favs… and of course I love Casper… can you really leave him behind if you ever move???… I have two little ghosts I bought years ago at a little local Boo~tique that sit out at my home every year for the past, gosh, almost thirty years!… they remind me of Casper!… love you !… xoxo Julie Marie
I am so glad you are doing better. I miss your pictures, words and recipes. Hope to have more blogs as I don’t do twitter. Yum, carrot cake and those donuts!! Just bought the desk calendar for my mom who is in assisted living. She uses it daily. Happy fall to you and your ghost is so cute. Reminded me that instructions can be found in one of the old blogs.
I love everything Susan Branch has in her shop
I love your blog and would love to win the drawing! ❤️
I love apple cider donuts and cant wait to try your recipe!
Hello Susan~Happy fall to you and yours…in northern Michigan our trees are gorgeous-colorful just like your art…it will be in the 50*’s this weekend, but that “S” word ❄️ Is in the forecast for this coming week🙈
I would love to have this! I bought your “For My Daughter” recipe book to give to my older daughter for Christmas this year, along with some basic kitchen tools, and this would be a lovely addition! Thank you!
Yum yum yum! So many beautiful colors and goodies.
Michigan is beautiful this time of year as well. Turned down my daughter’s road today and it was an amazing tunnel of blazing trees.
So glad to hear you are healing well.
Yum yum yum! So many beautiful colors and goodies.
Michigan is beautiful this time of year as well. Turned down my daughter’s road today and it was an amazing tunnel of blazing trees.
So glad to hear you are healing well.
I I Absolutely Love apple cider donuts !!! I would really like to make them, I’ve never tried that before. I adore your blog. Thanks for this great contest, I would love to win 🍁🍂🍁
Hi Susan,
Just a little note to say it’s good to hear you are feeling better.
Thanks for your new blog… those donuts look yummy!
There is a farm near my house that uses their own cider for the donuts they sell at the farm.
I love Edible magazine… always try to find one when I travel if available from that place… Congrats on your article.
Happy Halloween to you and Joe
Kathie from Limerick
Dear Susan,
Fingers crossed for the drawing!!! I love each blog post and this one is chock full of ideas and seasonal fun. Thanks for the recipe, too!
You are a girl after my own heart. Painting, cooking, rainy days..
Dearest Susan,
Thank you for the wonderful blog, as always! Autumn makes me feel euphoric after the heat of summer here in Fresno, CA. Reading about your wisteria made me remember how enchanted I was with all the wisteria in England – it grew everywhere!! So gorgeous! xoxox
Lots of love from Mary S. in Fresno, CA
HI Susan
I love Apple Cider donuts. We can get them around here but yours look delish and I would love to try. Glad your wrist is almost 100%.
Fall is my favorite time of the year. I love all the colors, smells, foods and well all of it.
Thanks from me!
Lynda Schneider in Maryland
Hi Susan,
Hope this post goes through this time…#3. Glad you are feeling better… It takes time and determination… But can be really frustrating.
Congrats on your article in Edible Magazine… Love that magazine… Try to get them from the places I travel to… If available from that place.
Those donuts look yummy… There is a farm near my house that make their own donuts using their cider produced at the farm.
Have a good Halloween
Kathie from Limerick
Hi Kathie, just so you know, they are going through. I think they changed the format and no longer say, “waiting for publication.” Throws everyone off, but they are coming through!
Hi Susan,
Just a short note since I have typed 3 longer notes that would not post.
Guess the Gremlins are pulling Halloween pranks.
Glad you are better… Love the blog
Have a great Halloween!!!!
Love Edible magazine… I collect them from my travels… Those donuts look yummy!
Kathie from Limerick, Pa
Hi Susan,
Glad you are feeling better. Thanks for the great blog. Those donuts look yummy!!!
Hope you and Joe have a great Halloween!
Kathie from Limerick, Pa
I love the edible magazines! I wish our town published one. Was in Traverse City MI while checking out leaf color “ up north” and found a copy of edible Traverse.
The cider donuts look heavenly! I don’t have a donut pan, but wonder how this would work in bar form? I would love to try it, especially at this time of year.
Your carrot cake and apple cider donuts look delish and I look forward to trying those recipes….Fall on MV must be very cozy and your words describe it so well that I can picture it in my mind! Happy Autumn!
Hi Susan,
Glad you are feeling better. Thanks for the new blog… donuts look yummy! Love Edible magazine… congrats on your article.
Happy Halloween.
Kathie from Limerick
So sorry for clogging the post place… was having trouble with posting…
Oh our amazing Autumn treats. Just so special to make donuts and all the goodness of fall.
Take care and I love your blog.
Yay! I love cider doughnuts! Happy Autumn Susan ❤️
Thank you for your lovely travel sites. Even if for now we “armchair” travel, one day hope to do more, and you give many good tips along the way! Bless you for your heart to give, to cheer with heartfelt words
!!
I’m glad to hear that your wrist is healing up Susan. Thank you for this blog post, there are so many good things here! I love how you decorate your carrot cake, I need to try that and the Apple Cider Doughnuts sound wonderful. We just pressed 30 gallons of cider with a neighbor and I look forward to trying this recipe 🙂
Always love to read a new blog……interesting…fun…..xo..love the recipes….xo
xo
So happy to see that you are back to painting and that you are healing. Thank you for sharing your wonderful photos of your home and the pictures of your activities. I always enjoy reading your blog. Wishing you the best.
Wow — it’s really crowded in here today! Happy birthday, Rachel and all the October birthday people! We’re having an autumn full of sickness and hospitals, but it IS lovely outside!
Love your blog posts!
The ONE AND ONLY local donut shop – one that has been in business for over 30 is closing for good on Halloween. Oh how I would LOVE to win these and make some friends some donuts once in awhile!
Autumn treats look yummy ! Going to try and get a copy of edible magazine. ! Thank you
So glad to hear that your wrist is almost 100%!!! Imagine my surprise when I read your last blog and saw you pictured in front of Upstate Films- my absolute favorite movie theatre. I hope you had a chance to see a movie there. You would love it! Old fashioned popcorn, homemade cookies, hot apple cider. It’s the best. If not, you will have to visit our area again.
I noticed an earlier comment from someone who lives in Hudson and works in Rhinebeck. Would love to meet her. I feel that we are kindred spirits. Maybe she buys yarn in Chatham at the Warm Ewe or in Saugerties at A Perfect Blend. I missed the Sheep and Wool Festival, since I went to the Alabama-Tennessee game. Fifty years since I graduated! Hard to believe, as I felt so at home (although so much has changed).
While you were in my area, I was in England on a walking vacation in North Cornwall. Such a wonderful vacation- in spite of the weather. I hope to do another next year- maybe I’ll even be able to attend a picnic to celebrate your new book when it is published (keeping my fingers crossed).
I love cider donuts, but often find them too greasy for my taste. I’d like to try to make them at home, since I now have to drive a distance to get the ones I like. I’d also love a copy of that magazine. I unfortunately have to work this weekend, so I can’t drive to Woods Hole and hop on the ferry. I can, however, enjoy the lovely Fall weather and bake some gingerbread.
Best wishes to you and Joe. Enjoy those Trick or Treaters this coming week and your gathering after
If you find that earlier comment, you can reply to her and maybe you two WILL meet! xoxo Happy Halloween!
I’m a Midwest autumn girl! Can’t wait for the Apple cider to make their appearance & the pumpkin spice too. It’s the only time I eat donuts! Congrats on being featured in the Edible magazine too.
Glad your wrist is getting stronger! I went through that a few years ago. You probably know how difficult it is to pump gas left handed, when you’re right handed! I remember standing there crying! 😭 Thank God for physical therapy 💕
I just closed the car door with my right hand for the first time the other day. As you do each “new” thing it feels soooo gooooood!
OOOh just lovely!! So much to add to my collections!!
What a fun giveaway! The donuts look delicious. Count me in!
Thank you for all your wonderful fall ideas. I love this time of year. Do you do all of your beautiful lettering free hand?
Yes … xo
This post was such a sweet reminder of my childhood—thank you! In the fall, my mom would make doughnuts (in our electric wok!) which we would shake in separate paper bags with cinnamon sugar and powdered sugar and share with our neighbors. 😀
Happy to read that your wrist is healing and that you are enjoying a colorful, happy fall!
Your description of autumn in your part of the world is perfect! It is my favorite season! Love taking my walk every day outside, feet crunching through the leaves. And have been able to get some pretty pictures of it almost every day as the scenery changes in an instant. Absolutely delicious! And a big happy birthday to Rachel!
Thank you for providing moments of beauty through your words, your artistry captured in your handiwork and through the lens of a camera. I love FALL! Thanks, too, for sweet sounds and sweet treats like cider doughnuts. Bless you!
I feel like I am in your nice warm cozy kitchen! Thank you! I would love a copy of “Edible Vineyard”.
Hi Susan – Happy Saturday! Reading your blog is sweet inspiration – a wonderful start to the weekend 🙂 Glad to hear your wrist is healing. I’ve added cider to the grocery list. Wonder if these could be mini muffins?
Fall is the best season!
Susan,
Happy Fall to you! It is the best time for baking, and these donuts look delicious. Enjoy your crisp morning walks.
Can’t wait for your next entry.
Happy Autumn, Susan! Yea for Apple Cider Doughnuts! Trying these very soon! Wonderful giveaway, too! Enjoy this weekend!
How wonderful these donuts sound.
Funny I just made Pumpkin Spice Baked donuts last week for
a garden club gathering. While i was looking for the recipe I
ran across apply cider donut recipes… I have never had one.
The only reason I didn’t try to bake them, no apple cider.
It is on my shopping list, your recipe sounds like the one to try.
Thanks for sharing your life with us. Hugs
Can’t wait to try the recipe. I have never seen such cute tins as these doughnut ones:) just adorable!
So glad your wrist is getting better. Love this time of year, your posts bring back great memories of my growing up in ?RIGHT. Those donuts look heavenly! When we moved to Indiana, the only thing I did not get was a fireplace, love them. Happy Fall!💕
Thank you for another wonderful newsletter! Reading Your newsletters always make me feel like I’m. chatting with a friend over a cup of tea. 🍂🍂
As always, Susan, your posts are a reminder that beautiful things and loving people still exist. And baked apple cider donuts? Yes, please.
Computers been broken for awhile but have new one now. I love the Cape in the fall. I imagine the Island is wonderful. Love cider donuts but its the carrot cake I am dying to try. Would love to win the donut pan.
So happy to have a new blog post to enjoy while I watch the leaves fall. Happy your wrist is healing…a long process for you. The cider donuts look so yummy! I’m baking pumpkin bread today and decided to toss in a few walnuts and chocolate chips. Take care, sweet Susan!
Donuts! What’s not to love and they’re baked not fried! Even better! Bring it!
How awesome! You are doing great.
I would love to own this set,
The doughnuts look delicious.
So glad your feeling better and getting over your wrist accident. Love following your tales of all your seeing and doing! Convelesing at home after a broken bone and brings cheer to my day.
The donuts look really yummy!
Dearest Susan,
I want to thank you on behalf of myself and my beloved mother for your blog, your wonderful books and being such a positive light in so many lives !
I stumbled across your blog a few years ago and immediately phoned my mother so that she too could enjoy the sweetness and beauty of all that you share. I ordered your latest books for myself and my mother and we spent endless hours conversing about them, Last May she was diagnosed with late stage Pancreatic Cancer. I ordered your special tea and one of your beautiful mugs for her to enjoy it in. She treasured these beautiful things. During her last days on earth I orally read to her from Fairytale Girl. Her eyes would light up as I read and we when looked at the pictures! My mother had many things in common with you. She also collected heart shaped rocks, loved to cook, garden, and lived close to the ocean. She loved her beautiful friends, my father and her family.
Her wishes were finish out her life in the home she loved so much and that is exactly how her life played out. My parents have a Cranberry Bog and have grown cranberries for Ocean Spray for 55 years. She loved living on the farm and the simple things in life. Thank you again for sharing your beautiful life with us and some many others. It has made our lives so much richer!
Oh Julie, that was so sweet, thank you so much. Your mom! I feel honored, she was a true kindred spirit. How wonderful she had you to go through life with, to be with her, and share things with. Beautiful mother-daughter love story. Thank you. xoxoxoxoxoxoxox
Susan, I’m so glad your wrist is almost back 100%. A good friend of mine fell and broke her wrist, and had to have surgery to put the bones back in place, poor thing! Carrot cake and apple cider donuts — all so yummy and I’m trying to diet! And all the Halloween candy in the stores. I will buy some “just in case” some kids come (haven’t had any trick-or-treaters in several years, but ya gotta be ready if some show up). The next day I will donate the candy to the Library staff, to get it out of the house. Happy Halloween to all !!
Thank you for the new blog! Makes Fall an even nicer time of year!
What a delicious give away!!
Dear Susan,
I am back writing to you once again! I will be baking your Apple Cider Donuts today ! Not terribly long ago I would be phoning my mother and we would be talking all about your blog and the baking! Since her voice is now forever silenced , I will take great comfort in continuing on with these wonderful activities that you have always brought into our lives! Thank you once again for sharing your light with so many !
Awww Julie, I’m so sorry to hear about your mother. I’m so glad to see you here, we’ll keep going in her memory! xoxo
Love those fall cinnamon-y donuts 🍩! So delicious with cider at a local farm on a beautiful fall day!
Love your blog…and donuts!
Pick me, pick me! : )
I love the beauty you share!!
I’m rereading your Autumn book-I wish there were Winter and Spring ones too! To go with Autumn and Summer! The donuts sound delish. Do people live in those cute cottages by the water, the ones you see on your walks? I’m always wondering about that.
Only in the summer … they aren’t insulated and very basic inside. Old fishing shacks, slightly beautified, definitely electrified, for modern life.
We had apple cider doughnuts at a birthday party in Massachusetts earlier this month. They were so good! My grandson ate his doughnut and half of mine too! I think they would be fun to make. Thank you for the recipe. Also, I was impressed with your grocery list!
I have just discovered your amazing blog and I am totally enchanted! Love eveything about it and I look forward to reading your books. Thank-you for your warm heart and joy of life, so refreshing. I look forward to a long and very enjoyable relationship. Happy Autumn to you and yours!
A joyful Joyce from the Okanagan in Canada.
How nice to meet you Joyce! See you again soon!
Please pick me as your winner!
You have a never-give-up attitude, don’t you? Your left-handed grocery list was kind of cute, but your lovely printing, and, of course, the words you print out speak to our souls. My cabbage steaks for supper tonight were good, but I know I’d prefer baked apple cider donuts.
Apparently I do have a never give up attitude!
Hi Susan! So happy that your wrist is lots better! We are having the most amazing gorgeous Fall in West Virginia! Favorite time of the year for me too! Thanks for making us all feel so cozy! Kaila
Thanks for the recipes! The eggs and peas looked great too! Have a fun Halloween 🎃
Hi Susan Glad to see your wrist is healing well. I just re-read Isle of Dreams as I took my daughter for a get away from wedding planning and busy job to New England for a long weekend. We had two days on Martha’s Vineyard and had so much fun; I had been once before and showed her all the sights that I had enjoyed. I wish I had seen the magazine, I would have bought one!! After re-reading Isle of Dreams, I read “A Fine Romance” again and my side is still hurting from laughing! I could so identify with you and the roads there… we lived in England 3 different times for a total of 8 years, my first time driving was very much what you experienced!! Soooo looking forward to the new book!!!
Thank you Annette, I reread it sometimes, and make myself laugh at the driving parts! xoxo
Thank you for the cider doughnut recipe and sharing all your wonderful October moments.
I am so inspired and hungry for donuts!
I love you dear heart.
x Suzanne
😘
Those apple cider donuts look yummy, and I love that the recipe is included.
Must make those soon.
Pat
My dear neighbor sees hearts EVERYWHERE in all kinds of things. She regards them as signs from her late Mother. I’ll be sure to show her the radish edition. What a fun giveaway! xo
Apple cider donuts are the best donuts.
I’ve never had apple cider donuts. They sound delicious! Thank you for sharing them with us.
I have made 3 apple cider bundt cakes and finally had some for myself..deliciousness. Your house looks so cozy …Happy Halloween!
Hi Susan,
I just got back from Charlottesville, VA a week ago and had cider donuts twice. Very good with hot cider or coffee too. Would like to try your recipe.
I am glad your wrists are coming along. Some chores will still be hard even after several months. It has almost been a year since I broke both my wrists and they still are stiff and ache at night.
Happy fall to you and Joe and little Jack too.
Mine isn’t aching so far, been pretty good, although I’ve heard it will take a year for full healing. Every day I can do some silly small thing I’ve always taken for granted, like closing the car door or turning the key in the ignition, and cheered myself like the world series! I can’t put weight on hand on floor, to do some exercises, but I’m now lifting 2 lb weights with wrist… happy for small favors! You broke both at same time? I can NOT even imagine!!!
You have captured the true Autumn/Fall New England spirit. I love it ALL 🎃👻🍁🍂
So glad your wrist is on the mend and your painting to boot! So enjoy the blog
but this was a nice escape as we enter week #3 of the CPS teacher strike and a moody
Teenager at home – phew…
Yes, phew, good luck!!! Hope your side wins, and secret, non-showing, hugs to your teenager.
Happy Autumn! Up until today on the Central Coast of California it has been wonderful “summer” weather! Today it finally feels like fall. We went to our Granddaughters beautiful wedding this weekend. What a whirlwind of activity. Instead of serving wedding cake to the guests, a cute little trailer arrived and served DONUTS!! Warm and full of cinnamon and sugar! They did have a small wedding cake for the cake cutting and tasting! Fun weekend with lots of family.
Glad your arm is finally feeling well. Broken bones are never fun!!! Happy Halloween!
Sounds just perfect, Margaret!
More good things from Susan! I love it❣️ So glad your wrist is healing well!
I found the Friendly Farms cottage cheese and love it. Try it sometime with apple chunks and cinnamon. So Good.
I love it with applesauce with cinnamon on it! We are on the same page!
Oh my gosh, my father went through a doughnut making phase in the 1970s, which we loved while it lasted. And every fall we are at the orchards getting apples for pie and of course, purchasing apple cider doughnuts. So excited to have a recipe, so we can make our own doughnut traditions!
I am going to be making these apple cider donuts this week! Thank you for always brightening my day with your words and recipes. You are a blessing! xo
I’m so happy you got that pesky cast off and your wrist is doing okay now. We are expecting our first snow flurries later this afternoon, the weather man said we should only get a “dusting”. I hope he is right. Well, you take care and thanks for the cider doughnut recipe too!!
Pesky is exactly the right word. Pain in the neck, casts, and anything that slows us down! Enjoy your dusting!
Susan – You really are the most delightful, lovely, creative person. You bring so many amazing things to all of us to cheer up our lives! Thank you for all you do!!
I think you are a mind reader! I have been wanting a delicious cider donut recipe!
Thank you, thank you, thank you!! xo
Another one of your yummy recipes! I’ve put this one in my rotation fall recipe file.
Thank You!
I love autumn! Thank you for reminding us of the beauty in every day!