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 . . .
Hi Susan, Joe, and Jack!
It just occurred to me that I left my English Countryside Calendar in my classroom! We went to shelter in place on March 13th, thanks to the foresight of Governor Gavin Newsom (I SO appreciate his early action to mitigate the spread). I’ve been back in the room 2 times since getting supplies and arranging a curbside pick up for kids to get items they left behind, but I DIDN’T think about my calendar until I read this post!
Must add it to my list.
Thank you so much for your constant beacon of hope (unlike the Eye of Sauron/Empire State Building) your beacon evokes warmth and love. I reminded my students that we need to stay home and support our healthcare workers, first responders, farmers, delivery personnel, gas station attendees, grocery store workers, sanitation workers, caregivers, and everyone else deemed ESSENTIAL while so many of us work from home or were laid off.
I hope you and your loved ones are safe, and I look forward to the next post.
Till then, see you on Twitter and Instagram.
Governor Newsom did an amazing job with California . . . thank God. Stay safe Susan! 💞
HappyBirthday Susan! Sending you wishes for a day filled with love and joy and a year of bright surprises! Happy Easter, too!
It does bring a peaceful feeling reading your blogs. Thank you for being you!
Happy birthday, Susan! Mine is April 10!! Love seeing the crocus blooming on my daily walks here in Michigan!
You too Wendy, Happy Birthday!🎂
Dear Heart ❤️ Susan … I love April: my birthday (the 1st) and your birthday (Easter this year🐰)…have acquired your Lenox Tea Plates a week ago and it completes the cake stand and cookie plate … SWEETNESS🎂❤️🎂…Alo-ha-ha, Evie in San Diego CA
Happy Birthday week Evie!🎉
your blog is just the ticket we all need right now. Beauty and the comfort of HOME. thank you!
My comments just disappear. Third attempt. Testing, testing. Thank you for a lovely writing with so many happy pictures, lots of fun, encouragement and, as always, uddles of love. Good cheer abounds in all you give. My other communications said so much more, keeping this one short and sweet.
Happy Birthday Susan and a wonderful Easter to you and Joe.
Enjoy reading your blog, lots of positivity. Each day is a bit of a challenge for all of us. Your words are comforting. You and Joe stay well and thank you for what you do.
Hi from rural Montana and we are also enjoying the “stay at home” order…although like you I’m a homebody anyway and my life has not really changed. Loved your uplifting post and am passing it on to all my friends! Nice to enjoy every phase and experience of our lives…it is better to focus on the wonderful instead of the negative! God Bless!
Thank you for giving me some peace in this crazy world.Trully enjoyed your blog. I to am a homebody and enjoy my home,cooking reading and scrapbooking!I feel blessed to be safe in my home and have food.I would really love a copy of your book to help pass the time! Thank you!
Hi Susan…you are so uplifting!!! Thank you !
You are so inspiring and a voice of reason in these turbulent times. Stay well.
Love the bunny cake!
As we wait it is amazing that Mother Nature continues to do her thing – spring flowers are blooming, peonies are poking up. The moon continues to wax and wane; the sun greets us each morning. (Well, I can see the sun through the clouds!) We will survive.
SUSAN!
This retired Iowa Critical Care RN/Director of Nursing wants to thank you for encouraging people to STAY HOME. It is such a common sense, effective way to help control the Coronavirus and it protect so many people. Not to mention, by hunkering down, we are lifting some of the horrendous burden from my friends and colleagues who are on the front lines. Honestly, this is a war! Nothing in comparison to WWII, but it is definitely a WAR. And, due to the current idiots in Washington DC, it is much harder than it should be. Thank the Goddess for smart Governors and Mayors who are saving so many people by utilizing the facilities, supplies, and ingenuity of good people across this country who are stepping up and helping in the face of total failure by the federal government. Although there are many discouraging aspects to our fight against this virus, I believe that there are many more good people out there than bad and that WE WILL come out on the other side with knowledge and wisdom to lead us into the future.
At present, I’m taking care of my sweet hubbie, who has a bacterial infection on his replaced aortic valve. 24-hour IV continuous antibiotic with another antibiotic given IV push at 12-hour intervals. I am very thankful that I can administer these meds and make sure all care meets my very high standards. He is halfway through the six week treatment. I’ve got my fingers crossed that all will be well at the end of this.
So, you see, my favorite motto, “It could be worse”… always fits most situations.
Bless your heart, Susan … as my darling Mother would have said. I was really looking forward to your April blog. It truly lefts my spirits.
I know, the Governors and Mayors are coming to the rescue! Who ever heard of a WAR run by governors, but they have filled a void with leadership and have saved so many lives by doing what they’re doing ~ making people STOP. It’s our hospital workers I save my biggest fears for, them and the grocery store people … so brave. To stay despite the threat to their own health. Amazing that you are able to help your husband with his meds . . . life is what happens to us when we are busy doing something else. Blessings on you both, sending love. 💞
Oh, Davi, I know this must be so hard for you, knowing what all your cohorts are going through. On the other hand, so lucky for you and your husband that you can care for him at home.
My Tom, now 80, had an aortic valve replacement 2 1/2 years ago. I understand that Corona is a virus, quite different from bacteria, but I worry about a secondary infection. Probably silly, but still……Please let us know how all is going, Dear Heart!
Debbie in Maine
Hello Susan,
Once again you have provided me with many smiles. Thank you so much for this lovely post. Here in Washington state, spring is slowly appearing. The daffodils and tulips in our garden are a beautiful reminder of what is coming. A walk in our neighborhood, where everyone is hunkering down, was refreshing. I am a nurse at a nursing home, and these days are scary. I am thankful that we are safe where I work, but my heart hurts for our residents, who have had no visitors for about four weeks. This get-away into your daily life is just what I needed today. Thank you!
Hi, Susan! How very much your cheerful words are needed at this unprecedented time! I’ve found it necessary to pause my Twitter scrolling as the news there was becoming quite too much for us here. I miss some of the good times, but check in with certain Tweethearts often. Today marks Day #23 for us to be in self-imposed isolation. We’re blessed in that Instacart will make grocery deliveries to us here from our favorite markets, and we’ve been out minimal times for curbside pickup of items not qualified as grocery.
What a very generous giveaway you have! Someone will be very lucky!
Yes, this is as very special birthday month for several of us! I anticipated celebrating daily, and that begins tomorrow when I’ve determined to drink from that special birthday cup every day! Sending you good wishes! Take care! Be safe! Stay well!
Thank you for taking the time to write a new blog post. Your home is lovely.
One of my daughters is a nurse at a local hospital. She is at work right taking care of covid patients. It’s a scary time. Many prayers are being said for so many people.
Have a beautiful spring!
I am adding you and your daughter to my list Robin, blessings on you, prayers for your safe deliverance to the other side of this. Thank your daughter for her courage. Such a hero you raised. 💖
Every bit of this post was so soothing to my soul… so I have got to share ONE of our quarantine activities… and that is filling out FOUR of your To My Daughter cookbooks for my daughters! I had this dream to do so for them for Christmas… but being new to being a working mom, let’s just say that didn’t happen. Then I thought maybe I could get it done for their Easter baskets (they are 20, 18, 17, 13 and still get them 🙂 )… but see above reference to the J-O-B… still wasn’t happening. So then I had an A-ha moment- why not fill them out TOGETHER?! And goodness, this had been the absolute best of gift of time spent together. Not only do I have their input of recipes they’d like, we are all filling it out, so each of their keepsake books will have the handwriting of me, themselves, their sisters, and as of tonight, their dad will be contributing as well. It is such a pleasant memory we will have from these history-in-the-making days we are living out. And I may have placed an order for them tonight for your new cookbooks- what an added treasure for their Easter baskets. Anyway, clearly I’m missing human interaction by adding such a long comment, but I just wanted to say thank you for seeing and writing about so much beauty in this world. 🙂
Perfect timing Jill!!! Your children are blessed! 💞
I feel joy when I see a message that you have a new post. This time, your post brought sunshine and joy on a rainy weekend here on the northcoast of CA. I’m trying very hard to watch just enough news to stay informed of important updates, then turn it off and stay busy with cooking, embroidery, and checking on family, friends and neighbors when I’m off work. It’s difficult, because I’m a nurse, not to go down the rabbit hole of fear. I Just need to remember we are all in this together, and as Brene Brown says, “It’s ok to be brave and afraid at the same time.”
You are truly a gift to the World!
You are the gift dear Kristi. Thank you for what you are doing. 🙏 😘😘😘😘
Just checking. . . Am I missing the large blotter calendar? Always my favorite!
The blotter is printed somewhere different from the others, we’re sure we’ll have enough . . . so we didn’t put it or the purse calendar on presale, it’s the others we’re worried about. Blotter is coming along as always!
Happy Birthday Susan,
My oldest son’s birthday is also on Easter this year. He is buried at the Sacred Heart cemetery in Oak Bluffs. MV was his happy place. 🙁
Love your blog, enjoyed sitting down and reading your words of encouragement in this crazy time we find ourselves in .
Thanks for posting! Am always so thrilled when I see you have a bpnew one! Thank you. So looking forward to Enchanted! Will read other three while quarantined in anticipation! Hurry!
Thanks so much for your uplifting words, your photos are wonderful too, especially Jack, I have my Sammy & Cheddar & they make me laugh every day , pets really help get us through hard times as well as faith in God. I am very blessed too to have a lovely garden to spend my days in, just seeing new growth & hearing the birds singing their hearts out can make one’s day & give us hope. Take care Susan, I have your British calendar on my fridge & those sheep make me smile every time I see them. I was suppose to be on a plane tonight to Paris for a 2 wk. trip with my daughter & family who live in the U.K. but God willing we will all get through this & be able to go in the fall or next April. I have been thinking also of what everyone went through during WW2 & I think we are so blessed that we aren’t going thought that terror for 6 yrs.! God bless, Sara from southern On. Canada
With Susan Branch lifting ones spirits we can get through anything. I have known that for let’s see,…….30 years or more. Oh Susan where have all the years gone? Life is upsetting right now, so thank you for all your great words as usual. And yes with people like you we will get through this. Love as always a long time freind 💐🐣 Gayle Hall
I know where the years have gone, but I did think it would take a lot longer to get here!😂😘
Susan, You do so much to keep us feeling safe and warm! I am loving this staying sheltered in place. I have so often longed for a week or two at home and now I have it!! Plus even more! Projects that have been on the “List” for years are getting done. Being here with my sweetie is such a pleasure. Even found myself taking pictures around the house Susan Branch style! Bouquets, morning sun on my little hutch full of ironstone dishes,etc.etc.
Always look forward to your encouraging words. We’re hanging in here in northern New Jersey. Scary times. Books, puzzles, Zumba, walking, cooking, Netflix binging, raking leaves, bird watching, connecting by phone with family. All you can do.
Stay well:)
Susan N.
It’s happy time when I read your lovely blog.
Here in Kentucky, forsythia and daffodils are in their way out, but lilac, viburnums and tulips are on their way in! Budding early iris. Hope you have a Happy Birthday and Easter. We are having a virtual pancake fundraiser for a young man with cancer, so it’s pancakes on Easter Sunday in our home.
My birthday falls on or around the Kentucky Derby, so I feel like my birthday has been canceled this year, when I’ll be 64.
I love to be home, so I’ll be ok. We have the best governor here, so that helps.
As always, a breath of fresh air!
There is so much wisdom in this post…thank you for putting it into words we can understand & love. Home is my favorite word as well.
Anita ~ the cabin on the creek
…all is grace!
Thank you for your beautiful encouragement! Today hasn’t been easy, but this helped, a lot.
I’m a home body and agree that if I have to ride this thing out anywhere I’m so glad it’s home. I’m a quilter and I’ve been busy quilting and trying not to listen to the daily drone. And I’ve had to do way more cooking than I usually do, which hasn’t been so bad lol.
👏👏
Love to you, Susan. Glad you and Joe are staying safe.
How lovely to read your latest post and to feel tranquility and peace within. Thank you for lifting us up with your words and your wisdom! So much appreciated in this time of frenzy and panic.
Susan,
I thank God for you. When I see an email from you I stop what i am doing and read and reread. Your letters bring JOY to my heart. Thank you for being a part of my life.
We are blessed to live in the USA.
During this pandemic I have been blessed to met so many kind souls who are trying their best to keep putting one foot in from of the other. Politics don’t matter what does is “Love thy neighbor as thyself!”
Be safe and God bless you & Joe and of course Jack,
So very true. Kind hearts are everywhere. xoxoxo
You are filled with hope and inspiration. Thanks for sharing. Today we made your split pea soup. I then saw your 30 year anniversary book was signed and on sale. I ordered it to be sent to my Son and his very serious girlfriend. I think they will enjoy cooking together from the cookbook, like my Husband and I.
Sweet gift during a stay at home order. xoxoxo
Hi Susan!!! Loved your post as I was relaxing in the bath tub with a tall glass of ice water and lemon slices. Hmmm… goes so well with a steamy bath! Wonder where I got this from? Hmmm! Thanks for all your goodness towards mankind. Very well written and spoken. Remembering you and Joe at book signing in Denver maybe three years ago? Good memories! I’ll have my hubby dress like yours next time he has to go out! Thanks for modeling Joe!!! Love you.marilyn
Joe is my lifeline to the outside, I need him to stay healthy so I stay healthy so neither of us has to take up one speck of space in our tiny hospital!
Waiting for Spring and for families to be together in the same room and not talking from front door to the car at the curb!
A cheery note from you is just what the “Doctor ordered”. Thank you Susan!
This was a sad day for me, so now it’s later in the evening and I just finished reading your blog. It’s always uplifting, but especially so right now. Bless you for spreading your sunshine!
Susan, wrote earlier, but forgot to wish you a ‘Happy Easter Birthday’! My birthday is April 15th. I imagine us celebrating together.
Happy Birthday!
Hello Susan, Here in Maine we are all doing our part to stay safe. We are all in our state Gov. orders to stay home unless you are a worker in medical or important jobs to go to. If you do not abide by the rules fined $1000.00 and jailed. We can go out to walk or exicise but have to stay way from others. It true and real. So we are doing what is needed to get rid of this bad virus. I wish all well. I have pnumonia. Not related at all ,Thank God cause I am high risk. I have an immune disease,Sjogrens, 65, and had Loss my upper right lob of my lung, gone due to cancer in 2016. I never smoked. Second hand smoke was the cause. So I hope all is well and everyone helps to get rid of this. Love all your books. Keep up the great work. Love to You and Joe. Stay Safe….Linda T.
You too Linda, stay safe. 🙏
Susan – and everyone else! ~ You can see Isabel Allende in conversation with Don George on Sunday, April 5, at 7 p.m. Eastern time. You have to register at
bookpassage.extendedsession.com/
Book Passage is a bookstore just north of San Francisco. They’re hosting a series called Conversations with Authors online over the next couple of weekends. Today’s author was Anne Lamott. Somewhere on their site you should be able to find all of the conversations archived. Enjoy!
Susan, thanks for all the great fun & hopeful insights and some really good laughs! And you do know that Laughter is the BEST Medicine! We LOVE Jack & how he appears in all the right places in his home! He is King of his Castle! Happy Birthday, in advance! We hope you all stay well & enjoy all of the beauty that this optimistic season has to offer! The better it gets, the better it gets!
I’ve never seen so many comments in my life! We must all be home for some reason lol. Yes, your newsletters are a welcome discovery in my otherwise dreaded email inbox. Love all the birds, food and good thoughts. Keep them up, as we need them desperately!
What would we do if we didn’t have your inspirational words to help us through this turbulent time? Many others have said this but you truly are my happy place. Thank you.
Lovely. Once again your post is sweet, comforting and cheerful, like sunshine. Just what I needed tonite.❤
I so enjoy your posts. You always have focused on the joy of having a happy home, and that is especially important now. Are people on Martha’s Vineyard putting teddy bears in the windows so kids who are on walks can find them? It’s based on the children’s book “ We’re Going on a Bear Hunt”. I have seen a few in house windows in my town.
You always put a positive spin on things and I love that!
Stay well Susan! Was refreshing to read new blog post – something besides gloomy news blasts. Thank you.
Well, I finally figured out how to leave a message here! I had wanted to enter so many of your other drawings but couldn’t find the comment button. I didn’t know you had to scroll clear to the bottom of all the other comments. So ta da! Here I am for the first time!!
Loved this post!Thank you for encouraging us. Getting ready to make my lambie cake this week. I’ve used your tips for the last 2 years and they come out perfect. I hope you and Joe and Jack have a Happy Easter!
The sun came out for a bit this afternoon and the 50 degree temp felt so good. I picked some daffodils from my garden and brought them into the house too. I miss being able to get them at the grocery store. Thanks for your messages of hope and home.
Thank you for your beautiful blog and the homey, delicious character of your books!
As always…thank you, dear Susan…for the comfort you bring. Home. Truly, we must do that for the well-being of all of us. God help us all. Take care & keep well.
Thank you for your blogs. I let someone borrow my original cookbook and I sadly never got it back. I keep thinking someone will remember, but it probably their favorite at this point. Tomorrow I will make a couple more masks, maybe out of some of your Spoonflower fabric!
Susan,
I can’t begin to explain how much I needed your blog today. Let’s just say you brought the sunshine into some very dark corners. Thank You.
You are just what we all need at just the right time.
I love your blog. Makes me feel like we are 2 friends getting together for a chat. I have read all your books and loved them. I also get your calendar for my daughter every year, kind of like a family tradition she and I have.
Thank you for being you, sunshine in our lives!
Thank you for sharing your Heart in our Homes. 💝
Your words are a comfort and offer a balm of calm in these anxious times. Thank you, Susan. Stay well.
This post was such a bright spot in my day, dear Susan! Thank you for seeking (and succeeding!) to bring beauty to the world amidst such fearful and strange times. It was such a comfort and pure delight to read your words and admire your lovely pictures this early, early Sunday morning. Blessings be upon you ♥ Stay well and enjoy all the homey comforts, which there are so many, indeed!
~Elizabeth from TN
Thanks for the reminder, Home is a good place to be! We’ve been sharing favorite hymns with friends & family over Facebook live videos, something I never would have done without a pandemic. Going to try some baking today – Orange Polenta cake.
I opened your blog today to reread this post for about the third time. Your words and photos are a source of comfort and inspiration during these troubling times, so thank you for taking the time to share a little bit of brightness.
My best friend and I have been fans of yours for a long time and have often gifted each other items from your shop. We had the opportunity to attend one of your book signings with our daughters a few years ago, and even had the chance to speak with Joe. Needless to say, your words and artwork have always been a great topic of conversation for us as we both treasure the blessings that a cozy home brings, and your work so perfectly exemplifies all the things that we hold dear. This most recent post made me smile when I read it for the first time (as well as each subsequent time) as that friend and I have been texting photos of the plants that our sprouting up in our yards to each other almost daily. It has been our little way of trying to focus on the beauty and hope that still resides amidst all the sadness that is going on in the world. Reading this post was as if our kindred spirit from Martha’s Vineyard was joining in with us on those daily texts with garden updates.
My daughter-in-law’s grandmother lost her battle to COVID-19 yesterday, so this pandemic is hitting our family really close to home. I can’t thank you enough for the little ray of sunshine that your words, photos and watercolors always provide, but especially for me today and for the world right now. Thank you for “doing what you can” to keep your readers focused on the simple blessings that surround us daily.
Sending wishes for continued health and safety to you and Joe from NJ.
Oh noooo, I’m so sorry. Terrible for your family. Please take good care of yourselves.🙏 Prayers for us all. xoxoxo
Agapanthus, Agapanthus, Agapanthus…perhaps less flowy off the toungue than pansy but just as lovely in your window, I shall look it up. Loved the Thomas Moore quote. Dug out my mom’s old Singer and tried making masks yesterday and after one day, one very imperfect mask is almost made but the learning curve
has been flattened successfully. I love the idea of the arts at home and looking for more ideas to do things that do not involve screens. Reading actual books, or google ( which involves a screen) anything about the history of Clara Driscoll and Candace Wheeler and the fine arts of women at home, or not, has been inspiring.
So excited for the possibility of winning your cookbook- I have one but would love to give this one to my daughter Samantha who at 28 just bought her first house ! I am so proud and excited for her! Thanks for the inspiration during this time ! Bless you
Thank you for all you share with us and for such encouraging words. I live in California and all my tulips, ranunculus and even the sweet peas are blooming.I can’t believe how many times I look out my back window and truly enjoy the Spring flowers and all their colors. In someway it brings hope that life will go on just as it always does. God Bless.
Your grace and beauty are so evident in every post!
I am so lucky to have seen you in Madison,Ct a few years ago and we feel so blessed to have you in this world.
Thank you for your lovely words and works!!!
😮❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️Thank you Cori. xoxo
I love being home so apart from really missing seeing our children and grandchildren it’s not terribly difficult. I have so many enjoyable things to do…. reading, quilting, gardening, talking with my husband, puzzles , movies etc….certainly no time to be bored.
My husband has made a couple of videos for the littlest grandies, of him reading a picture book in a different funny voice each time and I’ve been doing a zoom call with the older ones before bed, reading a chapter book. It’s been a fun way to keep in touch when we can’t physically hug and kiss them.
Susan,
I LOVE your blog! Your blog is so uplifting and inspires it my creativity! I love to cook and create. Every time I visit your blog, especially when under stress, I find a HAVEN of bliss, comfort, peace, and joy! Thank you so much for your “Medicine for the Soul”! You help me to shift my perspective to one of positivity. One which is sorely needed, as I am also experiencing a very stressful time to due a family conflict. To take one’s mind away from anything troubling and place it on something hopeful and refreshing can require an outside perspective. I am so grateful to you, Susan. So grateful! Thank you for being the angel that you are. Truly an angel on earth!
What a welcome surprise to see a post from you! So uplifting during this difficult time. Thank you for blessing my day with beauty.
Love your blog! Nice to stop and think of all the good there is to believe in!
Having lambs here on the farm…..keeps us busy…our safe little haven in this unsettling world. New life..new beginnings!
Lambs!!!👏🌸😘
Thank you for your post! Yes! We need flowers, the songs of birds, to see the buds of new life and most important, breaks from the news. While work for me has continued at home and left me with long days, I’ve enjoyed the new daily ceremonies of cooking, eating meals together, reading books, and thanks to Zoom, joining a newly formed COVD-19 Book Club where the author has offered to join us!! (Authors are quarantined too, so how perfect!) My two most favorite things so far is having made homemade blueberry donuts (thanks to your apple cider donut inspiration, I’m now a donut maker), and being able to have pajama days! and I mustn’t forget that I’m now making my own elderberry syrup and taking it daily!
I read Martha’s Vineyard, Isle of Dreams, last year and what a perfect book to read whilst we shelter-at-home. Thank you for inspiring us and reminding us to focus on our home and hearts as we make it through these days together.
Once again you have brightened my day and filled my mind with all
sorts of goodness.
Thank you
Julie H
Saved reading your post till an early cold rainy morning when I needed some inspiration and a cheerleader! Celebrating my shelter in place birthday this Thursday (same year as you). Iwas part of Beatrix Potter tour with Mandy-Betsy and group, lovely memories.
Home is a good place to be, planning garden, sprouting seeds, cleaning garden tools, sewing, zooming, baking, and using up ALL freezer raspberries to jam
Thanks for cheering us on💃Lorreen
Good Day Ms. Susan~ My residence is in southeastern Louisiana and we are halfway through “Spring” (some days we’ve had temperatures in the middle 80’s). A few years ago I wrote to you asking if you had ever heard of a “rose-scented geranium”. You kindly replied no and I continued my search. Guess what? In late February, I came across not one, but four of the plants at our local farmer’s market. They are called “Alter of Roses”. The scent from the leaves is everything I had hoped it would be and it produces small lovely pink flowers. I am going to try and email you a picture of the plant. My wish is that you’ll be able to find one too. Wishing you, your family and all of your followers a very Happy Easter!
Wonderful time for us introverts! Take care Susan & Joe!
Does make life a little easier!
Home is truly where your heart is! I’m renewing my love and appreciation of mine throughout this period. May it continue when life resumes it frenetic pace.
Day twenty-four in and alone but for my sweet beagle, as husband passed away six years ago. Thank you for your words this morning. A balm for the soul. Gosh remember making that bunny cake seeming in another life time. Stay well. And just thank you…
Try zoom if you have friends or family you’d like to see, it’s very close to the real thing. xoxoxoxo😘
Thank you for bringing beauty into our lives and for reminders to be grateful for the things we often take for granted.
Ok, Susan. I’ve been trying not to ask this, but I’m dying to know; are you still working on “Enchanted?” I haven’t heard it mentioned in a long time, and I’ve been waiting so patiently. Inquiring minds want to know. Ha ha.
Kind of all fell apart when I broke my wrist. It’s still sitting right here, so full of wonderful things I’m dying to share. I can’t IMAGINE not getting back to it, but between my wrist, Christmas, the flu all of January, 2 months of calendar-making, I ran out of time. Now I just want to get my Christmas Story ready for this Christmas. I have a story, and I think we need a story right now. ❤️
Ahh, a Christmas Story. Definitely, something to look forward to. We need something to look forward to. Thank you. Hopefully, you will eventually get back to Enchanted, too. I understand how life gets in the way sometimes.
I will try with all my heart. I touch the diary, see all my saved bits that go with it, think of the stories it holds, and can’t wait!
I would love to win in rainy Ohio. Grateful to God for any rain as a former gardener (back issues). I love looking at your flower and any garden pictures. Thank you, Jessica Porterfield
Thank you for this wonderful, cozy post! I feel refreshed and inspired by your words. Love your books! Going to reread Isle of Dreams for the third time. Counting my blessings for my home, my big back yard, cooking, books, documentaries, technology, my creative daughters and our Westie puppy and peachy cat. Constant prayers for medical personnel, grocery employees, farmers, police, garbage collectors, delivery people, Dr. Fauci and the true leaders during this time. All keeping our country going. May God bless and heal the world.
Thank you Susan for always inspiring us to be our very best selves! My life lesson from these crazy times is to never take a normal day for granted again! Just to drive to town, buy some groceries, get a new book from the library and have a cup of coffee with a friend are more precious that we have realized. Always a silver lining behind the darkest cloud. Hugs to you and we’ll make it through to the other side.
Warm wishes for a wonderful birthday. Thank you for spreading so much positivity in our troubled world. Stay well.
So nice to have spent over an hour (and 2 cuppas) reading some more of the comments. Isn’t it wonderful how our lives are interwoven through experiences or even directly…as some of you know?
It was just Gawjus yesterday. Not even cold. The Lovely Tom worked along the road, clearing culverts, trenching so things can drain. But he knows that he should Never interfere with “my” own vernal pool,,,really just a puddle. But it has the most fascinating critters in spring. Years ago when the kids on our road were small and interested in just about everything, we’d lie on our tummies, legs sticking out in the road, gazing into the mucky water. It was safe, as you could hear any car coming down the gravel way. We’d collect samples and take them back to our house where we’d make slides and see the microscopic life twizzeling around in what amounted to an ocean for them. Then the Spring Peepers used it as a mating place, then the salamanders would emerge. An ancient progression, so comforting. Many lovely memories, not too long ago, actually. But all of those kids are adults. Most still in Maine, but one flew away to Utah, where he is trying every new thing, loving living in the Mountains. Don’t tell, but he was my favorite. Little snuggle bunny, all grown up.
Today, more clouds, rain coming, and then another beautiful coating of snow on Thursday….hope we down here near the coast get some. Mainers can now enjoy the snow, and not worry too much about how to get out to work!! A silver lining to this “thing” called Corona!
Looking forward to reading more comments. What a fabulous group your are!!
Thank you, Dear Lady, for providing this space and much, much more,
Debbie on the very tip top of Frenchman Bay, Maine
I always feel better after I read your letter – and I also feel hungry!
Another breath of Spring air, Susan!
I do so appreciate your blogs (and books and calendars and mugs…etc)
I like that you chose a Thomas More quote for your book mark. I respect him as an author and this quote goes perfectly with your blog.
Dear Susan..
You always find just the right things to say to encourage and uplift. May God bless you and Joe!! You are appreciated! Pauline from Wisconsin
Thank you, Susan! What a joy it is to sit and read your messages each month, but especially this one! In this time of worry and stress, it’s so wonderful to have friends like you! Bless all the hard workers–the nurses doctors, janitors, truck drivers, police, fire fighters, EMTs. We are so very lucky in do many ways, just as you pointed out! 💜
Thank you Susan for bringing light to my day. English roses are also words to live by! Take care dear friend!
Always go to your blog to get encouragement. Thank you for your blog and the caring that you send out to all of us ❤️💕met you once in Asheville NC at malapropism book store…
Thank you for another fantastic post! You have such a way with words, they actually lift up my heart and soul. You are a blessing to all of us and I am so thankful you a part of my life. ♥ ♥ ♥
Thank you!
Thank you for your comforting words. Your blog is like reading a Gladys Taber book.
Love, love, love your agapanthus! We used to grow them in the ground in California and I miss them so. Did not know that one could grow them in pots indoors …
Love your books; am the proud owner of 9! And sure would love to add to my collection.
Happy Easter to you and your beau – stay safe, healthy and happy.
What a comforting blog to read during a time of anxiety! Thank you and happy birthday a little bit early!
Thank you also for the reminder to folks to stay home. Yesterday here in California there was an advisory to wear face coverings when going outside. I am a pharmacist and have to go to work every day and it seems that yesterday many people took this advisory to mean “go shop for non-essential items because now your face is covered”! Please stay home everyone so that we can ALL stay healthy!
❤️❤️❤️
So nice to read and feel comforted by your words and photos and drawings. Just what I needed today. thank-you
Blessings to you and yours.