Well, for the first time, I finally sort of have everyone where I want them! Home! MUSICA
There’s my hero off to rob the grocery store! We are doing fine here, so far so good. On our third week of staying home, doing our part to protect ourselves and the brave health workers at our little hospital. Joe doesn’t LOVE going out dressed like this, but he does it for me.💞
Still dark and quiet this morning . 
. . I finished the new calendars yesterday! DONE💃! Yay! Now I get to write my Christmas Story! So excited! I put everything away and cleaned the studio to get ready ~ and now the house is smooth and quiet. Behind a chair on the floor of this room is a little machine I got many years ago … a recording of birdsong on a constant loop. Because it’s still too cold, we can’t open our windows yet, but it’s April and I, personally, am ready, READY, READY for spring. Recorded birdsong works for me till the real thing comes along. Makes me happy!
It’s getting a little lighter, a little warmer every day . . . Which is perfect because for some reason our supermarket decided the one thing they could live without during this pandemic was, wait for it, yes . . . F L O W E R S. Totally nutty. So good for the soul. They’ve been #1 on my shopping list the two times Joe has gone. But, no.
So here we are, in the NICK of time! Spring, the season of hope and rebirth.
And it’s purr-fect here! Just ask Jack!
So out comes the yellow . . . Easter is on my birthday this year! I love it when Easter’s on my birthday! And by the 12th, we’ll already be almost halfway through April. This time with pandemic feels like forever, but it will pass much faster than we think. I’ve been thinking about what I’ll have to show for it. (Besides, of course, a hundred thousand prayers.🙏)
I’m such a homebody, as you all know, that if I “HAD” to be “quarantined” ~ “stuck” on a desert island so to speak, I could not think of a better place than Home! Where all my best things are. Tea, candles, dishes in soap suds, clean dishtowels on the stove, jars with red lids, peanut butter cookies in the oven, Beatrix Potter people on the window sill, Jack in my drawer, Joe at my side. All the good stuff happens here anyway. It’s trouble out there. Home is the only place we are in charge! 
Was “Zooming” with my English Girlfriend Rachel the other day (*see Zooming below) . . . we were comparing what we’re going through to what the Brits went through during WWII, when their “pandemic” fell out of the sky and blew up houses while people were sleeping ~ which they lived through every day for SIX years. How DID they sleep? No sugar, butter, eggs, coffee. No gas. Everyone like sitting ducks. Sons and husbands in danger, far from home, not heard from in months. Ray gave me a book called Nella’s War, an actual diary of an everyday English woman during the war and what I learned: we are so lucky, even now. Staying home? Lucky us. Whatever happens, we’ll figure it out. If they could, so can we.
What if, the way this went, we were all quarantined in a 
dentist’s chair? Right? Way worse! Or a highly air-conditioned department-store bathroom, locked in with a bunch of strangers and only two plastic chairs? There is no nicer place than home especially when bombs aren’t falling. We LOVE our own beds, we LOVE the musica that plays here! No strange dentist-chair music in THIS house. I’m stealing daffodils from the garden, and forced a tiny stem of cherry tree. If I didn’t have a garden, I might dress like Joe and take a walk on our deserted street with my scissors.
We are like this. We go out to stare at the garden before we go for our walk and holler to each other. “Joe, over here!”
SO exciting! (Norman Rockwell was clearly one of us!)
SEE? Happening all over. New life. Isn’t it thrilling?
I’m so proud of everyone. The whole world is on a mission. We’re in it together. “If you can’t do what you do,” said Bon Jovi, “do what you can.” And so we do.
If we want to have breakfast for dinner, we can and we do! There is something so cozy and comforting about pancakes for dinner. Then we watch two series on Acorn, Brokenwood Mysteries, and 800 Words. We are loving the creative art of cooking more than ever. Dinner is like an event, what are we making? Let’s have PANCAKES, let’s put bacon in them … yaaaay!
I wasn’t always a good cook ~ no one is BORN that way, not even Julia Child, who said, “Before I was 32 all I did was eat.” And as you know if you’ve read my books Fairy Tale Girl and Martha’s Vineyard Isle of Dreams, I didn’t just burn up one stove, I burnt up two.😱 But cooking was right smack in the middle of the road I took searching to find my passions and the things that would make me happy in life. Cooking was like a secret way of giving. I could make people happy when I did it.❤️
It was my own little pandemic that brought me to this cottage in the woods on Martha’s Vineyard. When my life was 
suddenly thrown into reverse, I went inside, in more ways than one. And it was in that quiet where I learned most everything else that’s brought me to now. Sometimes we need a little pandemic in our lives to help us see the road. It’s awful when it’s happening, you fight it in the beginning, but later, if you survive, if you aren’t allowed out too soon, you think, Oh, thank God.💖
What helps the fear? Little things. Naps with kitties, tomato soup, scrambled eggs, a good book, bubble baths, MEDITATION, finding new recipes, cleaning out a closet, 
maybe writing that book you’ve promised yourself you would do. Are you homeschooling? You could teach history the fun way. Watch with them: Darkest Hour, Schindler’s List, Amistad, Lincoln, Amadeus, or Chaplin. Show them where on the map these heroes were born, or where the story took place. Make it all real for them. Google “Best Silent Movies” and show them the world of their great grandparents. Check out my Movie List ~ maybe you have a budding vintage-movie buff in the family. Have a Family Book Club: read out loud every night: The Diary of Anne Frank or To Kill a Mockingbird. Take questions. I have a Book List too, tried and true, guaranteed to bring a laugh
or a tear. Get online and fill out the Census. Teach good citizenship and explain how doing this makes your community strong. Teach them how the stock market works (😳I’m still trying to figure it out!). Paint a bedroom. Check out TED TALKS, so much genius free for the taking (watch Isabel Allende speak passionately, brilliantly, about Passion). Create a photo wall in your bathroom. Make a homemade pie crust. Teach kids how to iron, knit, watercolor, embroider. There are lots of embroidery kits and fill-in family cookbooks in our web store (make Christmas presents). Get out that hammer and nails and Google How To Make a Bird House. Every lesson for everything you’ve ever wanted to learn is on Youtube. Things you never thought of, things you hardly ever have time for, you do now. Who knows? You might stir up some passions!
My own personal divorce-pandemic took me here. From California to a small island and this little house . . .
Where I cried myself to sleep and healed with kittens and Potato Pancakes.
A recipe I then put in a cookbook I wrote at my dining room table . . . 
. . . that changed my life and gave me a future and made my pandemic worthwhile, all six years of it.
I never imagined this book would turn 30! But it did. And it got a makeover, not just the cover, but there are lots of new recipes. I’m thinking you or a friend or a relative may 
be needing a little extra TLC right now, a little bit of vintage charm in a topsy-turvy world ~ so I’m putting this watercolored, hand-written book full of homey recipes, 176 pages of how-to’s, and family stories, on sale ~ each with a signed bookplate inside.❤️ For the whole month. And don’t worry, I am living proof . . .
None of us know what the future will bring, we have lots of these books in stock right now, it would be better not to have them lounging in a warehouse somewhere, they should be out there, spreading their homey goodness, doing what they do best, inspiring family togetherness with potato pancake, carrot cupcakes, linguine in clam sauce, Gazpacho, my dad’s garlic bread, stuffed pork chops, enchiladas, rainbow jell-O, onion pudding, German pancake ⬇️ . . .
. . . the way to fry an egg so the yolk is
still soft, bubbled up with crispy edges . . . bean soup, cranberry tea cake, caesar salad, twice-baked potatoes, lemon chicken, bread and butter pudding, chocolate eclairs . . . and so much more…
As my parents did and taught us, if you want something bad enough, you just make it. 
I just checked my cupboard, I have three Heart of the Home’s here on the Island, which I’m going to give away to YOU. All you 
have to do to win one of these books is scroll to the bottom of this post where you’ll see a bunch of tiny little words, including the word “comments” … click there, leave a comment (anything, so the blog registers you there), and you’ll be automatically entered in the drawing which we’ll do next week. ❤️ I’ll email the winners and personalize each book before it goes out. Little something to look forward to.
Here’s another small treat you can make yourself ~ extra simple made with boxed mix, but outstanding for kids ~ and you’ll feel pretty proud too.
One of our Girlfriends sent us her version!
What else . . . Oh yes . . 
No doubt you have figured this out, but just in cases, our Mother’s Day Tea Parties in Duxbury have both been canceled, until, we think (and hope), September. I’ve been saving my old paintbrushes and pencil stubs and making bookmarks to hand out at the signing . . . which means there will be more by the time this happens! See? It’s all good. I’ll announce the new dates when I get them.
Another 2021 Calendar preview, it’s April! Just a reminder, we will be placing our calendar order with the manufacturer on Monday. Hopefully you have yours on order . . . but if not, if you are going to want either the 2021 Photo Wall-Calendar or the regular Heart of the Home wall-calendar, now is the time to get them. Nobody knows WHAT is going to happen to the stores that usually sell them, our manufacturer may make HALF as many this year as last, we just want to make sure our Girlfriends get one if they want one.💞
I’m sure you’ve heard of ZOOM, but if you haven’t let me tell you . . . it’s like an on-line conference call . . . I 
have used it twice now . . . once with seven girlfriends here on the island, (we had our TGIF, with cocktails, via Zoom) … and the other with Rachel and Paul with us here and them in England (and more cocktails). It’s free! It’s easy! If I can do it, anyone can. And it’s highly satisfying. A safe way to reach out and say I’m still here and I love you, you can see the love-light in their eyes. You can even kiss the screen. You’ll see. Excellent invention.💞 
Another especially fun family project is Ancestry.com … get your DNA done and start working on your family tree . . . my sister and I do it over the phone together . . . it’s wonderful to feel your family connected to the world, puts a new sort of foundation under you, deeper roots in a world of curiosity and investigation! Shelly finds a name from 1736, and I’m practically screaming the WOW-ness of it into the phone! We get totally tangled sometimes saying such lunatic things as this, “No that’s Irene’s DAD’S father’s brother’s OTHER son!”
Well, look! It’s light out. Blustery and cold, leafless ~ once again, have to say, right now real world is isn’t quite as wonderful as it is in this cozy house . . . look, my agapanthus are blooming in my studio window! Birds and squirrels are feeding outside the kitchen window ~
It’s as good as it can get. One last thing before I go . . . one thing you must do. Turn off the news. Do not listen to daily numbers. Don’t hear strident voices all day. If you’re at home, following the rules, and staying inside, you’re already doing EXACTLY what you’re supposed to do to protect your medical centers and your amazing healthcare workers (under so much stress it’s unfathomable), from YOU. Blessings and prayers for them, and also, for our first responders, grocery-store people, volunteers and delivery people, who put themselves on the line for us every day. Social distancing is working! Too much negativity will make us as sick as the virus does. Just keep praying, and go World-War-Twoing through to the other side. Think of magical words like delphinium (say them out loud, pure poetry), hollyhock and foxglove. Lily. Pansy. Because it won’t be long.
💞
Don’t forget to leave a comment for the book! Would love to hear how you’re doing!💞 Oh yes, I have a new bookmark for you! You can see it below. Just click HERE and print it out either on card stock, or do it double thickness. From me to you . . .
As always, you are a bright spot in challenging times. Thank you for this post. I am so grateful for all the people who are the helpers (as Mr. Rogers said) who are putting themselves at risk so we can stay at home and safe. Our routine has changed a bit but we are lucky to be able to work/school from home. Our kids can talk to their friends by computer (like the Jetson’s :D) and I can putter around taking care of our little cottage and making things homey. Take care of yourself, and Joe and Jack!
Happy Birthday and Happy Easter 💐. I love yellow, too, and plan to get out my Spring and Easter decorations today. Thanks for your uplifting words. Stay safe 🌞.
You certainly made my day even more beautiful. Living in Florida you sometimes forget spring hasn’t sprung in many many other places!
Being a northerner I sure miss the seasons and your wonderful email and pictures brought all those memories back of glorious springtime!
Thank you for sharing your thoughts.
Have a happy day
I love your blog Susan with all the added watercolors….it always brightens my day in this time of unknown. I was fortunate to visit my son in SLO this past fall and insisted on going to the Apple Farm to see all your beautiful cups in person! It was a wonderful place FULL of Christmas! Keep your blog and wonderful tips a recipes coming!
So glad you, Joe and Jack are doing well. My family is as well here is eastern Iowa. The days are warming up, the ground is thawing out and little by little we see signs of spring.
I placed an order and received it this week. I ordered a few items including pre ordering my calendar. The 2 items I really love are the Champagne Hearts and Bella Luna mugs. I especially like the bottom of the Champagne Hearts mug. The words “Courage Dear Heart” are very relevant these days. I have a brother who tested positive for Covid 19. He’s self quarantining at home. He is at one end of the house, his dear wife at the other. I’m scared for him as he has asthma and this could be devastating.
I pray for him and all who are having to deal with this, including everyone doing their best to help others.
Thank you for your continued blogs. It helps to make this very frightening time more bearable.
I see from a comment above that we share a birthday! Do you suppose that our shared love of Beatrix Potter has something to do with our birthdays falling on Easter from time to time? Thank you for this post. I feel renewed and happy to be in my home…goodness, I have enough projects I want to do to last a year. (Chores aside….)
Thanks for spreading so much sunshine and hope through your writings and artwork. What a delight to read this. I just ran into the kitchen and replaced my dishtowels with yellow ones. It’s amazing how small things like that can lift our spirits. Thanks for reminding us of the blessings of small pleasures.
Good Morning Susan,
What a wonderful way to start my morning, coffee with Susan. Thank you for putting this crazy world we live in into perspective. All we are asked to do is sit on our couches. Safer at home. Yes, bless and prayers to our medical workers, groceries clerks and all the people who are out in the world making it run smooth for us while we are safe in our homes. Hold tight…a new bright sunrise will be here soon.
Such a comforting and inspirational post!! Thank you Susan.
Thanks for all that you do for us!
It is wonderful to read your blogs. You tell the most interesting things. I want to tell you that my son was born on April 12, 1970. He is 50 this year and I do not know where the time went.
I am loving staying home and doing a lot of those things you talked about. I am alone but not lonely. I have a gaggle of girlfriends and a wonderful family around me. I call my friends and they call me and if I feel brave, I might try ZOOM. I am going to take your suggestion and NOT listen to so much news. It is very scary and worrisome. Continue to take care of yourself, your husband and of course, Jack. Until next time, Janet
Thanks for the uplifting blog! Counting my blessings….nature beginning to bloom in every corner making our walks incredibly beautiful. I’m hoping when this is over that everything just doesn’t “go back to normal” Of course I hope the virus, sickness and sadness it brings will quickly flee, but, I really hope families will continue to do things together, people will slow down and really appreciate all that they have…all that’s truly important, that neighbors will still check on and help neighbors….you get the idea. Susan, stay safe and know you bring joy with your sweet words and pictures!
Thank You! Thank You! What a ray of sunshine your giving to us. I look forward to each project you come up with. And we are so blessed to be living in these times. Blessings to us all💞
Thanks for your brightness you send us!
Happy Birthday to you Susan! I knew you were someone special with a birthday in April too. We are just a few days apart. Thank you for all of the lovely thoughts, beautiful pictures and bits of joy you share with us each month.
You are a joy! Thank you for such a wonderful, uplifting post.
Spring is my favorite season-so full of hope & especially this year when we all need it. My spouse’s birthday is one day before yours – April is such a lovely month to enter our world. Happy Birthday Susan!
I have a sampler that I did years ago,discolored with age, but I love it!
“DEAR HOUSE, you’re really very small, just big enough for LOVE, that’s all.”
Enjoy your day – every single minute of it.
Thank you Susan and happy birthday. We have 6 grandchildrens’ birthdays between April 8 – 15 (one set of triplets). I am enjoying every minute of isolation with my husband. We are finally getting weather warm enough to work outside in northern Indiana. God Bless!
Thank you, Susan for a great post. My daughter is a nurse in MA and my son and DIL work in a nursing home. I worry about them and pray constantly for their safety and for all people in this war against the “invisible enemy”. I’m glad you and Joe and Jack are safe at home. God bless you all.
Happy Birthday on the 12th. Love your books and can’t wait for 2021 desk blotter. Stay safe.
Your post is a breath of fresh air during this trying time. Thank~you for your uplifting thoughts and words of encouragement. (and the music) (and the recipes) (and the artwork)
I can’t tell you what a comfort rereading your three books has been. I’m now on
A Fine Romance and will be sad when I’m finished. So looking forward to your next book. Thank you for all you do to cheer us up. XOXO
Thank you Susan for your note of happiness, I think we ALL need more of those kind of distractions right now. Like you, I enjoy HOME; however, I feel so bad for those that thrive on being so busy and just go, go, go. I have a few friends and family members like that and they are having a harder time than I am in staying home. GOD Bless you, Joe and all of our girlfriends here. Sending hugs to all!!
Dear Sue!
Thank you so much for your perfect blog post! In these uncertain times, we can always depend on you and your wonderful upbeat inspiration! Love Joe’s ensemble…tres chique! (sp?!).
Stay safe, stay strong and stay happy! ❤️
Susan…just the ‘medicine’ I needed this morning! I’m hoping all our girlfriends stay healthy and we get to the other side of this difficult time, maybe having learned a thing or two in the process. I’ve also stopped watching the news and turn to the Hallmark Channel or Food Network for entertainment so I don’t have to worry about getting upset about something that I’m helpless to do much about. My daughter, granddaughter and I are keeping busy planting outside and making an area where we can get outside and enjoy the lovely Florida weather. We’re expecting a lemon tree to be planted soon and that will bring sunshine for sure! Sophie will be 10 on the 15th and we’ve had to cancel her birthday party plans, but she said she’d do a virtual party so that should be fun. Hope you have a lovely birthday, Susan, and a blessed Easter.
You always chose the perfect words to make us all feel better.
I was just thinking of you the other day and Voila a blog! Thank for for your calmness, recipes and most of all love. I pray that you and Joe and all the girlfriends across the globe are safe and snug during this uncertain time. God Bless❤️🌷🌈
As always you have comforted us with your words.
Hello dear Susan…. greetings from the mainland! I’m sharing the dreariness of this New England spring with you! I have pulled out all your books as they are 100% coziness and comfort…. which is what the world needs. I have enjoyed your “heart of the Home” cookbook for 30 years…. I received a copy as a wedding shower gift! Thank you front bringing joy to my home!
Dear Susan, Joe, Jack and friends,
Thank you for the uplifting (as always) blog post. We are staying home and doing our part to isolate. I have been working from home for more than 10 years so not much about that is different here.
I love my home so much and do not get cabin fever at all. <3
We had a 5.7 earthquake on 3/18 which greatly added to our anxiety. We woke as our whole brick bungalow shook violently in the quake and continued to shake enough for me to dive under my desk several times for many days afterwards. The kits were full of woe. Poirot hid and would come out running with wild eyes at an aftershock and Miss Marple wanted to be held constantly.
We're doing much better now.
Please stay safe out there and cozy up in the warmth of your homes.
xoxox
Gabi
PS my nephew who lives in Seattle shares your birthday so I will send out extra special birthday energy to you both on the 12th. And I will make a lamb (birthday) cake for Easter too and lift a glass to your continued health and happiness.
Susan, you are always just what the doctor orders! Thank you for such a heartening and cheery post! I’ve homeschooled for 14 years and love your advice to new homeschoolers–spot on! It’s not “school at home,” it’s the opportunity to explore passions and interests in a way that makes kids come alive! We are snuggling in, enjoying all the comforts of home, and savoring having our teens home every night instead of running to and from activities! Blessings to you and Joe and Jack!! xo
Your words, your pictures, your attitude inspire me immensely! Thank you from the bottom of my heart!
Dear Susan,
Thank you so much for publishing your blog. I always look forward to receiving them. To you and your family and everyone else’s family, please remain healthy, safe and encouraged!
Take Care,
Sebrena
Your posts and books are the perfect accompaniment to quarantine. What’s more cozy and comforting than home baked bread and cakes, watercolors, and well placed intention and attention on what we surround ourselves with?
Thank you for your beautiful posts and reminder that if we’re home the news won’t add anything but anxiety – that we don’t need!
I think I’ll be making that bunny cake this afternoon…..😊
Thank you for the cheer and serenity that your post brings. Have you ever attempted teaching a few simple water color classes/posts on YouTube? I have always been intimidated by painting and feel that my prior attempts have been just plain UGLY. But, I just got in an order of watercolors and paper yesterday and am wanting to pluck up the courage to try again. I would dearly love to have your calming demeanor and hear your experienced painting tips in a video form. So, please consider YouTube and announce it far and wide when you decide to do it!! Yes, I’ve issued a challenge! Until then continue enjoying to rebirth of spring and all things colorfully floral to help us get by during this time of unrest. Happy Springing!! ~Karen
I live alone, but I’m used to going out to meet friends. I’ve been weaving and now I’ll see a quilt a few days before dressing the loom again. We must stop this disease. I would love you’re book for my daughter-in-law. She cooks a lot with 5 kids and my son at home. Happy birthday. Mine is April 8, but I have a couple of years on you. I’ll be 72!
Happy Birthday!💖 (But I will be 73!)
Dear Susan. Maybe this time we are living in now is Gods way of telling us to appreciate all our blessings. Hopefully the world will change for the better when this is over and we will be kinder to our fellow man.
Thank you for your lovely words, Susan. I wish everyone in the world could read them and feel the ‘calm’ that your posts always inspire. I’m glad you and Joe are safe and sound on the vineyard. An early Happy Birthday and Happy Easter to you.
Happy Spring and early Happy Birthday, Susan. My hostas are just peeking up and in a week or so will be ready for me to divide them, hopefully before the bunnies do their own division on them. Having all of this rebirth going on makes me a little more hopeful, as does your blog and your story. Take care.
Hello Susan! Loved your kind, caring, positive thoughts, photos and drawings! It’s always a pleasure (as it was on April 1) to turn the page on my SB wall calendar and tear off the page on the SB desk calendar and see new quotes and paintings. I cut out your paintings from the torn off page and tape them up or enclose them in a card for someone…so they are the “gift that keeps on giving”!
In order to keep busy I have re-read Fairy Tale Girl and Martha’s Vineyard Isle of Dreams. A Fine Romance is out on loan, making a friend happy! I’ve also brought out all of your cookbooks and placed a shop order which just arrived!
Thank you for giving us the upbeat spin on how to weather this storm!
Happy Friday !! So good to read all your positive thoughts! Sure sign of spring I live near Grassy Pond in Harwich on Cape Cod and heard Peepers the other night when I had my patio door open !! Hurray !
I was so happy to see a new post today! Your thoughts always are so positively cheering – thank you many times over. I live alone since my hubby passed away just over two years ago – no, that’s not right – I have my little cat boy and he is good company. But people have been kind, thoughtful, and with Zoom, video calls, FB, it’s been fine. Lots of reading, cross stitching, going for walks far apart from other people, and writing, it’s ok. As an introvert, it’s actually kind of nice to have no expectations about being out and about.
Thanks again for your post, and sending you and Joe best wishes,
Mary
You are a lifesaver, Susan! I can always count on you for comfort and encouragement. I remember Gladys Taber; she had a house here in Orleans.
Happy Birthday!
Thank you for your continued inspiration! Love to you!
Your blog post is just what I needed today! Beautiful! Take care and stay safe!
Thank you for your joy and encouraging words!
Thank you for a lovely post. My family has been saying out parents saw worse things like the flu for the 1st time, polio, the 29 crash, world wars ect. we can survive and maybe find our own families again. The world of tech and running everyday to activities isn’t the complete answer. We’ve been cooking up a storm and enjoying life. Adding your book to our shelf would be great and an honor. We are holding firm to have our daughter finalize her freshmen year online and grow as a nursing student. Be well my friends. many prayers to all our kindred souls thru you. Enjoy all those little blessing coming our way. a simple call to a friend will change their day.
You are an inspiration! Thank you for reminding us to turn off toxic TV, open the Windows and nap with our cats! 💙
Susie Q….It’s a cold and dreary day in New England but you have brought a breath of fresh air to my closed up home as if I had all the windows open. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. You’re the very best. I loved your post and you!
Crossing my fingers to win a copy! Also simultaneously planning a trip to Duxbury in September with my Mum and sisters 🙂 🙂
Great message today to make us feel better. Have a Happy Birthday and comforting Easter.
Dear SusanBranch,
Your website is such a bright spot in all my days. I read daily…when you don’t have new posts, I go to the archives.
Thank you! Thank you for sharing your lovely insights, joy, and true love for life!
MariaSager
I always look forward to your blogs! They feed my heart and soul AND I would love to have one of your books since I am an avid reader. Thank you for being YOU and sharing yourself with all of us.
Thank you for your post. I love being at home with my hubby, but I’m missing my family, especially our grandkids. But, we are following the rules, and finding new ways to stay in communication with each other. We are all in this together, and I’m finding strength in family and community. Staying in place has allowed reflection, and a great opportunity to knit from my elephantine stash! Stay well and safe.
Your birthday is on Easter this year? I just looked at my calendar and noticed that I have dear Gladys Taber’s birthday written down on Easter!
This post is so full of comforting words, pictures, and ideas for such a time as this. Thank you for it! I just pre-ordered the 2021 calendar, along with 2 books that I’ve wanted for a long time and decided to treat myself with now. Will also treat myself to NOT watching the news more than just the morning news. I can’t take another sleepless night of my husband’s cable news playing until bedtime. Thankfully he agreed to this only this morning–before I read your post but now I’m even more determined.
Stay well and write that Christmas story, pretty please!
Happy Birthday Dear Heart!
Thank you for this wonderful uplifting post!
I went to the Post Office dressed like Joe this morning to mail my darling granddaughter her birthday present. We were going to have a party tomorrow for her. But, when we can resume our daily life again, we will have a huge party with the whole world!
Love to you, Joe and Jack, Thanks for being here! Love, Wendy-Louise xxoo
Happy early Birthday! So enjoy your posts, books and just everything! Stay safe as we all are trying to.
Hi Susan, Thank you for the encouragement. We are all in this together even if we are apart. My husband turned 70 on Tuesday and we had a FaceTime party with our kids and grandkids… thinking a Zoom party for you is in the works!! Happy Birthday! Thank you for this blog as always.. ❤️❤️ Stay home and carry on.. a little different from the British saying, but fits better now.. Love, Beverlee
Here in CA, it will be a beautiful day, with rain expected over the weekend. The hills are green, it is cool in the morning, and working from home is good. I have dogs to snuggle and feed treats, and a wonderful husband. We have a daughter close by, and FaceTime for everyone else.
Also remember that England, and most of Europe, faced the Spanish Influenza of 1918 – a truly devastating epidemic midst World War I. This is not that! We have all that we need, if every one will just STAY CALM! I sewed face masks for our local hospital and some for friends.
I love the LOOK of Spring, and all the bunnies on our lawns!
Made homemade lemon donuts for my husband today; it is his birthday and he loves LEMON everything! Thank you for the inspirations every day. I have The Heart of the Home – Tenth Printing!
Thank you Susan. This was just what we all needed. Positivity in such a negative time. Flowers and Jack are much needed sweetness.
Wish you could be down South right now! Currently blooming are forsythia, tulip trees, dogwood trees, azaleas, hydrangea and more. I go early in the morning to walk in the many acres of gardens near our home and whisper a thank you to the family who donated it to our city. As soon as I walk in, any anxiety about the current circumstances falls away and I listen to the birds chirping and watch the squirrels play. I can walk any of the trails or sit on a bench and watch the sun shimmering on the lake or the geese flying in to smoothly glide on the lake. Ahhh. Such beauty. Such peace.
Hi Susan, I’m in Virginia and lucky enough to have a farm. Like you I’m longing for the weather to be a little warmer, but the bird feeders are full of colorful friends and daffodils, tulips and even my lilacs are blooming. Potatoes, spinach, onions and broccoli have been planted in my raised beds. When I’m not outdoors I read and paint watercolors. Thanks for your uplifting posts, Love, Karin
Thank you for the uplifting message. As usual, your posts cheer me up and inspire me. Thank you!
You made this day a day of hope and love. I so appreciate your blog and have your books which I am re-reading! Daffodils are blooming here in NE Ohio as is the Forsythia and Hellebores and that helps a lot as well as the beautiful sunshine. God Bless You, Susan and everyone stay safe until this passes.
Hi Susan, so good to hear from you! I agree totally that home is the coziest place to be. Stay safe! ❤️🐾❤️ Deborah
Dear Susan, What a delightful enlightening message this is. I love it. Luella Frisbee
Thank you, Susan, for the uplifting words of comfort. Really needed this blog 👍here in NewJersey. Where the pandemic is striking us hard. Stay safe and sending 💖 back.😙
We are going to have a “Zoom” Easter breakfast with the kids/grandkids. Being apart is tough medicine to take but we are all doing it creatively. This is going into a second month of quarantine for us as we are in the Washington area where first affected by the virus.
We, too, are into Brokenwood on Acorn. Another great series on Acorn is Good Karma Hosptal. I think I’ve watched it through twice. Blessings and Stay healthy!
Amazing things happening in the midst of the virus crisis. Loved this read and all the great pictures and recipes. Stay safe friends and tackle some of the things Susan mentioned.
Cottagelu
Dear Susan,
You are a balm for my soul. Thank you for your kind words of wisdom and lovely pictures. Hope your Easter birthday will be special for you!
Tina in New Hampshire
Thank you being the calm in the storm !
Your blog is always so positive and uplifting !! 🥰
Happy 🧁Birthday !!!
Kris from Maine
Your blogs are such a wonderful distraction from all the virus chatter. I know that’s all necessary, but… I am feeling really emotional reading your blog this morning. I’m guessing that being stuck in the house has a bit to do with it, but just reading your lovely words, seeing your pictures and trying to find my passion/purpose is helping greatly. I would love to receive one of your books to help me get through this!
Susan,
Just what we need! Positive thoughts at this unprecedented time. Thank you. In your next post can you update us on the progress of your book in the works about your last trip to the UK? I know we are all looking forward to it.
Stay well.
Darlene
Thank you for your cheerfulness! We love you!
Thank you for brightening our day!!! Happy early Birthday to you!!!!!!!
Miss Susan, you gave the BEST homeschooling advice! That is what our life looked like for the 20+ years we “officially” homeschooled. Life was the curriculum. It still is and always will be because we each have the gifts of the capacity and resources to discover something new every day. Just this week, in the midst of social spacing (as my husband prefers to call it), one of our homeschool graduates blessed us with a new grandson. Another said “YESSIREE!” to a most romantic marriage proposal. No pandemic can stop LOVE and the LIFE it brings!
Here’s a song my grandma taught me when I was a little girl. I sing it when I’m gathering freesia bouquets and giving the geraniums a pinch. “English Country Garden” sung by Jimmie Rodgers:
http://youtu.be/EUyxCP5Rvco
Your writing and encouragement are balm for my soul. Thank you for keeping us going during this pandemic. Like you, I like home so problem with me staying in. I was so looking forward to “attempting” to get tickets for the Mother’s Day Tea…..looking forward to a future date.
Thank
You Susan Branch….You truly are a GIFT to us all !
I worked 45 yrs in the health care field as a EKG/cardiac-technician. First in a hospital than in a doctor office. I am retired now. I pray for all the healthcare worker and first responders daily. I also pray for my friends and family that are still working in the hospitals.
Love the picture of the squirrel and Jack too of course. We have a family of red tailed gray squirrels. Mom or Dad must have been a red squirrel. crazy! Little joys to past the day.
Stay safe Susan and Joe
P.S. Happy Birthday
I have been making masks for everyone in my family. Now I have orders from friends. Will soon run out of fabric as I am not a quilter. Had a few random small pieces of fabric I was going to use to make handmade books. We are all in this together! Love Zoom, have used it many times now to get “together” with family and friends. FaceTime works too but not when it is a big group.
Hello Susan! It was still dark this morning about 6 when I sat down by the fire with a cup of coffee and opened my email… tada! Your blog was the first thing I opened and I spent almost an hour reading it and enjoying all the little quotes and tiny paintings. Your directions for the bunny cake reminded me that I could make it for my little one-year-old granddaughter- just like I made it for her daddy 30 years ago.
I save your blogs and reread them many times. Thank you for bringing cheer and coziness to my day.
Hello from California. The sun is out and I’m eager to get out for a bit.
I’m gearing up for a walk to the flower fields with my granddaughter. We walked out there a couple days ago and a kind man asked us if we wanted some flowers.
He cut us the prettiest Calla Lillies I’ve ever seen. Such a kind gesture that I’m sure I’ll remember forever!
Be safe everyone!
Your post today Susan was just what I needed and I am sure sooooo many other folks. Thanks for all the inspiration you give us all. Your pictures today were just exceptional. Looking for real Spring to come, want some flowers so badly. The daffodils are up in our yard so that is wonderful. Have a wonderful birthday, as we all huddle in our homes. No family this year for us, just Husband and myself.
Oh well, there will be other Easters, we hope. Thank you!!!!
Oh, what a different world we have now. Love the shot of Joe in his mask. Quite dapper, really. I made some masks for us and when my husband wore one to go to the pharmacy the other day, he said he hoped they wouldn’t think he was going to “hold them up”!
Thank you, Susan, as always, for another inspirational, from the heart message, so needed at this most emotional yet inspirational time in all of our lives. And along with all of your wonderful suggestions and pictures (which I simply adore…most especially Jack!), thank you for the link to the Isabel Allende TED talk. It stirs the soul and needs to be heard by everyone. I also can’t help but think and pray that we will all come out us this even better than when we went in……
Happy Birthday Susan! (on Easter!) And blessings to you, Joe and sweet Jack!! It’s always fun to revisit your lovely books, which I have read twice and shared with friends! One of my friends belongs to a book club and she has chosen your books for the group to read this month! She decided they all needed a “Susan Branch fix”!! These are difficult times, but I truly believe there will be good that follows….maybe people will slow down, enjoy the simple things in life and cherish their families and friends more. Prayers to all for safety and health! Thank you so much for sharing “the simple things” and reminding us all that we truly have so many blessings! Lin
Thank you Susan for these wonderful ideas and beautiful photos of spring on your island!
Loved the memories of my first introduction to Susan Branch via a book list recommend of your Martha’s Vineyard story. As many before, I have laughed and cried remembering my own Corvair convertible trips and beach pastimes with girlfriends in FL. I too met my soulmate unexpectedly and we are still together at year 51 and counting! Keep safe and keep writing! Kisses!
Thank you for your uplifting blog post. Happy Birthday! Stay safe.
We have new lil lily of the valley buds pushing up!
The neighborhood flowers have been such inspiration on our morning walks…
blessings to you and yours
Susan, you really lift my spirits. Those of us who are homebodies truly embrace this time at home with the hopes that those who aren’t will realize that all heaven is in our homes. I loved seeing the bunny cake. I made this cake when I was in college and dating my husband. We will have our 43rd anniversary in May. I was so proud of that cake. Being at home brings out the baker in me. My only problem is that I’m having problems finding yeast. I have ordered a bulk pack, but they aren’t shipping it. Get with it, King Arthur’s Flour. I just feel the need to bake. Love to you. In Texas we are warm, the trees are green, and our spring flowers are past, but the rain and grey skies are way too common. You are my sunshine on a cloudy day.
Although this is hard, I really believe we will all be better people for having experienced it.
I firmly believe that . . . especially because history tells us it is true. ❤️
I feel so lucky to be safe at home, but that doesn’t mean I don’t get stressed out and anxious. Your post was just what I needed today–thank you!
So uplifting to read your blog and see your photographs and drawings. I have been housebound since February, while awaiting abdominal surgery, which fortunately was performed March 17th. As I recover I have been watching spring arrive outside the family room window. I have a bird house where a pair of chickadees are nesting. The star magnolia is blooming, as are the daffodils, epimedium, blood root, and chionodoxa. Spring truly is a time of rebirth and hope. Enjoy staying at home, and remember to keep a safe distance. Continue praying for all who are on the front lines, taking care of the rest of us. Happy early birthday!
Hi, Susan!
Thank you for this wonderful post! It has put a spring in my step and and song in my heart. As a fellow homebody, I’m taking each day as a gift to focus on the things that really matter. My fiance and I had to postpone our wedding until further notice due to the pandemic, but we’re both incredible grateful for our health and the opportunity to spend more time together. I’m glad to hear you, Joe, and Jack are well, too! I truly appreciate your positive outlook, encouragement, and wonderful art. It has done so much for me, and it’s a joy to share with my mom and girlfriends. Take care and be well!
Oh Susan….your heart and words soothe my soul in these challenging times! I look forward to your post each time and find your way of life and the peace you bring to the pages something I yearn for. You always give me hope and love. My best always, Connie
THANK YOU SUSAN,
I needed your positive, uplifting words.
After 3 weeks alone with nothing but doom and gloom
on tv, you came to my rescue.
Hugs❤️
YAY, turn off that little devil . . . so many wonderful things you can watch. It might take 3 days for the anxiety to totally leave you, but it will!💞
This blog made me cry. In gratitude, in joy, in seeing home in your eyes. Thank you Susan Branch for making our world better because you know how to explain the treasure of HOME.
We are surrounded by the very best and most important things – thank you for the reminder! Life is still sweet, and we will come through this. Things will eventually right themselves, and maybe we will remember all that we learn during this time. We have a lot to look forward to. One thing I am hoping to see this coming year is your newest book. I have a place saved just for it on my shelf! Have a happy, happy birthday ; I know you will find ways to make it special. 💕
I’m sure we will. Thank you Susan!💖
Susan, dear, I adore you as much as ever I did. ❤ Your calendars and artwork adorn my home 🏠 as always, ever since my mama introduced me to you by gifting me an illustrated poem, Prayer for a Little Home 🎁 many years ago. I spent probably two weeks wages💰 in those days to have it beautifully framed, and so glad I did! It has moved with me twice and now takes center stage in my dream kitchen, adorned at the top with a little bluebird🐦, so content in her tiny nest of a home. I cherish the photos I have of when hubby dear and I met you and Joe at a book signing📚 while we were on a vacation in New Jersey, far from our home in the great PNW. Especially the hilarious pic hubby captured, where Joe and I were simply moving in to hug, but one or both of us turned our cheek at the last second, so it looks as if we are about to exchange a passionate kiss, lol! Do you remember? You have introduced me to so many wonderful people, like Gladys Taber, old movies, recipes, lovely English countryside, the list goes on and on…So how do I tell you this in the most loving way so that you understand? Like a little bird who has flown the nest, I find that I am not following your blog as closely as I once did, because I am too involved in making my own dreams come true within my own cozy nest, and in my gardens🌹 surrounding this 120 year old farmhouse that was built for me, 58 years before I arrived on the planet. I am cooking, and writing my book, a memoir for my mama, and organizing 100 years of family photos for posterity, and caring for my pet and my people within these old walls, and my friends and neighbors without. My life is so full with the things I love. And I am grateful beyond words, but yet I attempt to thank God every day the best I can. Thank you too, dear Susan, for helping to give me wings. I do not need to live through you vicariously like I once did. I am now soaring on my own! Love and hugs 😉 and blessings to you and Joe from your one in a millionth girlfriend! ❤
Nothing could make me happier to hear dear Julie. That is what it is all about. Sending love, fly high dear one, life is such a joy. xoxoxo💞
No words except “Thank You” for all of you kind and inspiring words. Happy to know you are there thinking of us and we are thinking of you!