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 . . .
I so enjoy your newsletter. It’s so sunny. Stay safe.
Greetings from Kansas! Comforting to read your post during these unusual times.
Dear Susan,
I did the welcome on our Zoom church service this morning and I used the Masahide quote from your this blog. It is true, look the good even in a bad situation. Fingers crossed my name is drawn for your cookbook. Every time I buy one, I end up giving it away. I love the feeling I get from your blogs and artwork – I think cozy is the word! Thank you so much.
I also loved, “Nella Last’s War,” and agree if they could endure all they did during WW11, we can certainly endure staying inside for an indefinite period. I suppose it’s easier for me as I’m a homebody as well. There is just too much to entertain, stimulate, educate you in your own home!! Thanks for your uplifting words!!
Thank you, Susan, for your encouraging words.
We are all in this together!
I’m keeping busy doing jigsaw puzzles, cleaning, and baking a lot of goodies!
My husband is afraid we are going to come out of this with some extra “luggage in our trunks!”
Stay safe!
Learned how to ZOOM last week so I could see my sister ,she lives in a memory care facility,have not been allowed to see her since beginning of Feb,can’t wait to be able to give her a big hug.Happy Birthday!
Thank you for your wonderful words during this trying time for the world!
Your blog always reminds me there is so much to be grateful for. Sometimes I think being forced to slow down and stay home is something that needed to happen for so many of us!! It certainly has made me realize how lucky and blessed I am ❤️
Thank you…I feel better already🥰. I work for a citrus company here in Florida, and looked forward to making your Orange Marmalade Cake, and now with time on my hands, I have baked it and all I can say is WOW! 😋 Delicious!!
👏👏👏👏👏
Blessings to you and Joe! Thank you all for your Spring inspiration. There is nothing like a day working in your gardens, cleaning them out and seeing all the new growth…..life’s budding joy.
I cling to your posts as an island of sanity, wellness, and bliss. I feel about HOME just the way you do. We will make it through whole and better. Bless you.
Thank you for a wonderful, comforting post. We think it is so bad to be at home for a few weeks but compared to what our English cousins had to endure during war, it is a sweet gift. Take care
Thank you for the new bookmark and cute photos of Jack.
Such a lifting commentary, Susan. Thank you for the encouragements and list of activities. You are an inspiration!
Thank you, thank you, thank you. Needed this uplifting post.
hello…i have so loved this book for 30 years now… i feel in love with it after reading that you tiptoed downstairs to make your breakfast so”as not to wake yourself up” before bringing your breakfast back to bed…lovely visual image…of course it would be fun to win another one… put me in the drawing please…😘❤️
Good to hear your words today, I have been slowly going down the depression rabbit hole. We have been self confined to home for the last four weeks. My big joy of spring — seeing my grand daughter at all of her dance competitions, wearing the expensive costumes we pay for her instead of her Christmas gift each year—they have all gone by the wayside! Heart broken. Yesterday our city cancelled July fourth, one of the biggest in the country. At first, I was full of positivity; I’m a senior, used to being home most of the time, no big deal. But as things started closing down, I felt panic start to build in my soul. Stopped watching the news, avoiding the computer more, but still need to search for good news. I don’t know what the future holds. Worried for my girls and their families .Hope this is over soon!
Thank you, Susan for your wonderful blog. It made me happy. 🤗
Happy Easter and Happy Birthday! Love the bunny cake.
Thanks Susan for your cheerful post! As always, you are a light! Our church is inviting everyone in the world to join with us this coming Friday, Good Friday, to fast and pray together for an end to this pandemic and all the hardship and heartache it is causing throughout the world. I hope everyone can join together to fast and pray for a miracle. If, for health reasons, a person can’t fast…we can still pray together, worldwide.
I really enjoy your blogs. We are staying safe and enjoying our time at home. Lots of sewing and craft projects to keep us busy.
Very uplifting Susan! Thank you. Love and treasure
all of your books. ❤️
thanks for blog
Thank you for the inspiration and your example to look inward at home. The comfort and beauty of your and Joe’s home centered me to focus on my own with gratitude. Thanks again.
Thank you once again for the perfect message for this difficult time. I, like you, love my home. There is no place I would rather be, but of course miss my friends and family. We are fortunate to have many ways to communicate with them though. I so appreciate your uplifting messages!
I already have a copy of your book, but would give this copy to my friend.
I love the bathroom photo wall Susan! What a great idea!
It’s been up for years and people STILL go in there and never come out!!!😂
Thank you so much for what you write! You lift my spirits !
Thanks for your always uplifting stories and suggestions.
We will all get through this by moments such as the one you just gave me.
Thanks!
I am armchair traveling thru your England book. It reminds me that there is a world out there waiting to be explored when we are able to. But for now you are right there is no place like home. Take care of yourself, Joe and your kitties.
My comments keep getting lost. Boo
Got the way this works now, sorry. An Easter birthday! A spring birthday is wonderful anyway but Easter is doubly blessed. Some years my Dad’s birthday would fall on Thanksgiving. Holiday birthdays are extra special I think. My anniversary is on the traditional Columbus Day. Didn’t do it on purpose but it helped my husband remember what day it was. He was always good at remembering things like that though. *S*
We did the same thing, married on Joe’s Birthday . . . can’t forget THAT! But more to us in some ways, is the February 6 anniversary of our first date. We always celebrate! Interesting thing about your Dad’s birthday sometimes falling on a holiday and mine, sometimes falling on a holiday, is the “sometimes.” Makes it special because it’s not every time! xoxo
Your bunny cake recipe inspired me to think about Easter Dinner. And menu for it.
Also, took me briefly out of this funk we’re living in at this unthinkable time.
Be well.
I needed your words today. I’m also in my third week of isolation and seeing you liken it to England during WW2 made sense to me. I read a lot of historical fiction based during that time period. It’s filled with heroes, just like what is happening now. Thank you for reminding me. God Bless You!
I haven’t seen my other comment so just to be sure I’m entered, I thought I would send another comment. .
Thank you for your blog…
I fell in love with your books after I left the comfort of home and moved away to teach in Texas. I have no idea anymore where my books are but this blog it takes me back to warm high school and college days and I thank you for that.
Thanks so much for the pep talk!! My husband works at our small town hospital. He worked 96 hours last week, and that is just getting prepared for what may come. My heart aches for all those out of work, and anxious about the future. If we reach out to our neighbors, and give generously to help each other during these hard times we will all be richer in the end. xo
OH My, please give him a hug for us, 96 hours! 😥 Blessings on you and yours Kathleen.
Thank you for warming my heart with your uplifting words. Stay safe at home.
Blessings too to youJoe and Jack
Thank you Susan for light and love! You are a true blessing
Thank you for waarming my heart with your uplifting blog.
Blessings too to you, Joe and Jack
Lovely blog post for these crazy times, thank you!
A stay-home splurge, I ordered the new book, Victoria (magazine); Our Hearts are in England, by Jordan Marxer. A lovely surprise to see your quote on p. 43… about the love of dishes. Swoon! (Will I find more SB quotes?) We are remodeling our kitchen, inconveniently, and, of course, stalled, and I have had to touch, clean, move, evaluate, adore, and decide to keep every last one of my treasures and antique sets. Where will they go in the new kitchen… or maybe dining room buffet or family room hutch? In the meantime looking forward to setting a table for two for Easter.
Yes, so very blessed to have a home to stay in!
Stay safe.
Thanks Susan , just want we all needed a new blog from you! I agree turn off the news and media and just try to really enjoy spring!
I just today got back on line and found your as always wonderful, warm, and homey writings. What a help to read these friendly lines after losing my most precious husband two weeks ago following an illness of many months….and in the very midst of a world-wide pandemic.
Thank you for your help and kindness even though you and I have never met……it seems to me that I know you!
Oh dear, Nell, I’m so sorry. I hope you’re okay. You must be reeling. Sending love and every best wish for peace in your heart. xoxoxo
Dear Nell, I am sorry about the loss of your husband. When I read that I said a prayer for you, that God would give you strength and peace during this difficult time. xo
I always love how your blogs make me feel! I too LOVE my home.. love being here and enjoy hunkering down with no reason to feel guilty about it! I’m doing a little more baking, organizing cupboards, and may even go out next week (when the sun is supposed to warm us to 70 degrees!) and putter in the (dead) flower beds! Our lilac bush is leafing out! hurray for that. Your words are so comforting and home is definitely where MY heart is! xoxo Marilyn (Oregon)
So glad you and Joe are well and happy. Reading your blog is such a joy, we are so blessed even in all the craziness. And I do agree do not listen to the news updates on a daily. A cyber HUG from rural Indiana!
Hello from Texas,
It’s another cool, cloudy day here and seems like it’s been raining for weeks. Our forecast calls for sunny weather mid week, perfect for wine on the patio, and a sense of normal. I was thinking about our trip to the Cotswolds in March 2017, then I thought about yours the following year. Timing is everything, isn’t it? We’re planning our next trip, it gives us something happy to focus on. I look forward to your blog, thank you!
Ps. My daughter and I both ordered your Come, Sit, Stay sewing kit, and I can’t wait to get back to doing cross stitch!
I couldn’t have said it better than the comment I see above…your blog is so much like reading a Gladys Taber book. So comforting, homey and also wise. Thank you, Susan!
Glanced out of my porch window today and what should I see but an Easter lily with four blooms which had nat been there the day before! I had not planted it but there it was in a garden spot that is just waiting for spring flowers. A true serendipity ! I consider it to be a good omen that, in spite of our present turmoil. God’s in his heaven and all shall be well.
Thank you for your comforting words during this stressful time.
Ok Susan –
To make a little joy come into the lives of other during this crisis I am painting
rocks. Big rocks, small rocks, rocks of all shapes, rocks with funny faces, rocks with polka dots, rocks that look like Easter eggs. On my walk everyday around
the track I toss the rocks on a rock pile there for others to find. I write little
uplifting messages on the back of each or if I paint a face I give the rock a name on the back. I agree with you there is so much one can do to make each day a bit brighter not just for us but for others too.
Excellent words. Lovely thoughts. Stay well, Susan & Joe!!
Hello, Susan! Thank you for your uplifting words. Lots of people need those kinds of kind things being said and I am one of them. Sadly, just as this pandemic was all getting going good…my brother had a massive stroke and did not live. We could not go to be with him and it is still not real. I can find some things to be thankful for in this heartbreaking event. ON another note, I have been making a quilt and I guess a name for it is the Corona quilt….I do love the quilt, though, so maybe not. Our children and their families are safe and well and using their heads and of course, we wish we could see them…in North Carolina and San Antonio….6 hours from us. One day soon. And…today is our 51st anniversary. Thank goodness we did it up brown last year…by all going to Paris. Our days are pretty much like all of the rest and we have food and HOME and so are doing alright. You have a safe and healthy spring.
I’m so sorry about your brother Rosemary. I understand, I lost my brother in 2016, and it still doesn’t feel real. Your comment is full of everything, ups and downs, but mostly gratitude, and real life. Wishing you a Happy Anniversary, blessings on you both. xoxoxo
So good to read your story of normality. We are feeling very fortunate to be retired, our freezer is full, we own our house and have enough money to live on. Life is good and very precious, I hope to travel again one day but most I hope my children and their children come through this together. Sending love and safe wishes to your home.
So good to read your blog, so heart warming and peaceful. I haven’t read in awhile but I am back. Many blessings to you and joe during this time.
PS-I’m with you, the news is off and we are so loving watching spring come to form before our eyes. Also enjoying the time not stressed out running our children everywhere on to busy scheduled lives.
Thank you for your lovely blog. Have been following you for years. I’m always so excited to see in my mail there is a post from you. I even go back and re-read your old posts. I never get tired of them. My husband loves cast iron molds so he surprised me with a lamb mold, we plan in making the lamb cake for Easter. ❤️
Thank for the encouragement! Just knowing that nature goes on helps. Spring flowers, busy birds. I am so grateful for all we have.
Thanks for the sweet encouragement through this difficult time. Rereading your books has certainly helped too.
In my opinion the words and pictures and encouragement you wrote above just made this 70 year old feel such encouragement and understanding. It made me feel like everything will be okay and to just take it one day at a time and enjoy the moments of joy we have and can experience. Sunday dinner is my passion and to have friends and family at my table is my personal joy. We have improvised and to go plates full of good food and love have been delivered in the driveway but we we’re all together in love even if eating in separate houses!!
Thank you for the cheer Susan! 🌸🌈💛
You are such a kindred spirit. I am a teacher who is working from home during this pandemic. I am learning new things each day. I love being home…safe in our little farmhouse in the countryside. I commute to an urban school district 30 minutes from home each way. It has been wonderful to know that Spring is on it’s way. I usually have so much to do that I don’t get to see the daily changes that occur. I love that we have soooooo much in common. I love old stoves, red lidded jars, buttons, cookie cutters, mohair bears and a host of many other common everyday items. .Your blog continues to be a source of inspiration and a soft place to land. Thank you for making all of that possible.
I’m happy you’re home Debra… we all needed a bit of a slow down. 💞 We’ll be back at it soon enough! xoxoxo
Good Evening, Susan! As a lot of churches are doing, we are live streaming with just a few people doing the service. This month of April I have a hosting duty so I am going to church physically. It was SO good to be around 6 others (staying our required 6 feet apart) and laughing before the service began. A holy Palm Sunday service with communion. Life goes on in our altered way. We are well, although I went through a major GI bleeding episode in February with a transfusion, and last Monday my brother went to the hospital with a blocked artery and had a stent put in. My almost 95-yr-old Mom is in a senior living place where we can’t go in and she can’t come out to protect all the seniors. Luckily we live in the cell phone and electronic communication times. I, too, have been thinking of England and America in the WWII days and what they went through. I am also humbled when I complain when I think of Anne Frank and her family all hiding out in an attic, hiding for their lives. And the slaves on the railroad being shuttled and hidden from one place to another. We have safe homes to hunker down in and many entertainments and the outdoors if we want fresh air in our own yards. Stay safe and well and pray often! I would love your cookbook, Susan. I am not a good cook. During this quarantine I have made split pea and ham soup (2nd time for me) and 1st time to make Bourbon Chicken. Baking is my expertise. I like your homey, comfort food recipes. Thank you for all the beauty and loveliness you send into the world!
I love that you are keeping your sunny side up through it all Connie. Blessings and prayers for you and your family.🙏💞
Thanks so much for this lovely post. You have a way of brightening any day. We will indeed get through this and will again thrive. We are 73 and 68 with health issues and will do what it takes to stay healthy. Everyone take care and check on each other.
My daughter shares your birthday – we were fortunate to meet you in Charleston, SC and you signed her recipe book. Her birthday cake is always the Coconut Layer cake, although we may have to delay it a few weeks.
Have a Happy Birthday and thank you for your positive spirit.
Happy Birthday to your daughter. 🎂 xoxoxo
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I LOVE your books, calendars, artwork, blog! Everything! You brighten my day!
I’ve been saving up all your blogs since January, since before I knew I might need a ‘Susan Branch Marathon Sanity Binge’ at some point, for an escape from the realities in the world. Here in Colorado, we’ve been having warm sunny days with intermediate snow storms…typical Colorado! On the warm snowy days, we’ve been having afternoon tea with home-made cake on our patio in the afternoon, and on the snowy days having tea in front of the fire. We’ve been walking on the trails at the back of our house, getting some much needed fresh air too. Today we got a call from our granddaughter to ‘come outside the front door!’, which we did, to see that she had decorated the path and driveway up to our house with sidewalk chalk. ‘Hello! Follow the signs’…‘Hop Like a Bunny’ it said, so we did…’Spin in a circle’…’Stomp and roar like a dinosaur’ so we did those too, then ‘We love you, you are amazing’ and big pink and yellow hearts all in chalk, and all the while she is watching us, waving from her Moms car parked at a safe distance across the street. We made hearts with our hands and blew lots of kisses and found a package of fresh baked banana bread and little notes, one for ‘Nanny Lynda’ and one for ‘Papa’ waiting for us on the porch too. In return, we had left them hand-made ‘quarantine journals’ and some more fabric for mask-making (they have made 150 masks so far!). It brightened our day so much, and after that I had a nice cup of tea, some more cake, and some lovely Susan Branch escapeism with my hoarded blogs 🙂
If you look to the home page of my blog, in the column on the right, you’ll find the archives of years of blog posts that would last you through probably TWO pandemics (God forbid).💖 Your granddaughter!!!!! How adorable is that!🐰 Your perfect day. All of it even more of a gift in this crazy time. xoxo
So enjoy this
Thank you for bringing a bright spot of cheer to our email. When I see one has arrived, I save it for a day when I need a boost, and then savor it knowing it will bring comfort. Stay safe and well–we need you.
So happy to have a new post from you! Thank you for your encouraging words. We are in the midst of it here in the New York. Staying home, walking early with the puppy (and a mask). Please stay safe and healthy.
Enjoyed your post. We’ve been here for over three weeks and son has been laid off…tough times. I think it’ll last for months….
This blog is wonderful company on a cold, dreary, afternoon – but snug and warm in home sweet home, listening to music, jotting down a few recommended books, and listening to some cheery musica!
Thank you for your generosity. My husband is in law enforcement and my daughter in law is a nurse. I pray for their safety every day as well as every one else that is on the front lines during this trying time. My granddaughters are also feeling the stress. They are used to spending every other weekend with my husband and I and one thing we love to do is cook and bake.
You can do a lot to spread calm to your granddaughters through Zoom, you probably know that. Please thank your beloveds for the gift they share with the world. We could not do this without them.💖
Is that Jack peeking at the baked goods in the last picture? Hi Jack!
Thank you!! Beautiful as always ❤️
Very special blog to help us thru these trying days and I thank you
for sharing your wisdom and faith in the future.
I just love reading your blog – it is so uplifting. Thank you!!!
Wonderful, uplifting post. Thank you for bringing happy thoughts and inspiring ideas to so many! Love all your books.
I am grateful for SO much – where I am, what I have and who I’m with. (The who is the MOST important.) Praying for the vulnerable at this time and always. Thanks for being YOU, Susan Branch and best to Joe. xo
Always a smile and love when your newsletter arrives. Thank you. <3
love your pictures, books, bookmarks, blog and recipes! Thanks for all the love you shine on the world.
Thank for the cheery post! I’m enjoying having my family home instead of scattered to all their various activities! The birds are still singing, the flowers blooming, we can still find so much to be grateful for!
I so enjoy your blog! I have one of your pretty recipe bins and would so love to have a cookbook!
More new things to try while we are snug as bug at home!
Thank you for brightening my day, Susan. Your cheery letters to all of us are treasures!
Thank you for the blog post. It always brightens my day to see what you have to share. Thinking how glad I am that I was able to visit the Vineyard last summer, when this year travel plans have been cancelled. Looking at photos of the painted houses and remembering the great ice cream on the island. Perfect time to catch up on my quilting, knitting and reading.
I love your post! I am so so so blessed to have found you recently and have been reading your books (and Gladys’!!) as much as I can. The world needs more people like you two…now more than ever. Thank you so much!!!! ❤️❤️
Love reading your posts and they make my heart lighter every time. Thank you for the opportunity to win a book; I’ll buy one regardless and maybe two! Stay well and be safe! <3
Too funny, I was just looking at my earlier version cookbook! A treasure for sure!! That squirrel made me giggle! Thanks for your blog Susan! Such a wonderful treat!!! Oh how I live spring even more since we are home bound. Sadly I caught pneumonia but not Covid. Its nice to be helped off tge merry-go-round. For a season . Just take good care!!!
In the midst of this sea of crazy your book, Fairy Tale Girl, has been my life raft, keeping my afloat with hope and joy. Now that I have found your blog too, I feel as though I’ve found a long lost friend. How wonderful! Thank you for sharing your wisdom and joy. You are a blessing!
So nice to meet you LeeAnn! Welcome to the world of Kindred Spirits.💞 xoxoxo
Isn’t it a good thing that this challenge happens to catch us in the spring, when anything seems possible and there’s so much fresh beauty?
Could not agree more, one huge silver-lining, Mother Nature.🌸
Oh my gosh, Susan! I’ve never seen so many responses to your blog! Thank goodness people are staying at home & writing! Letter writing is one of my favorite pastimes. Thank you so much for this cozy(as always) message to all of us “shut-ins.” It is so nice to read something positive after being bombarded by terrible news day after day. My heart goes out to those families that have lost loved ones. These are very scary times but we are all in this together & will get through this together. I can only hope that there are some silver linings to what is happening on our Earth… less air pollution, and less noise are 2 of them. It is so much more quiet outside; the birds are singing! And with no cruise ships, so are the whales!
I do think it’s the entrapment that is bringing people to the blog! They finally have time! Me too, right with you on the silver linings. It would make me so HAPPY if the President came out today with a brand new idea to SOLVE the climate emergency, for all of us, to make it a priority to save our beautiful earth. Slow down the progress and strength of these natural disasters that have been bedeviling us. Imagine a Pandemic and a natural disaster happening at the same time?😳 I would love to see more planning-ahead in this country. That would be so wonderful. Look for the silver linings …🎶 Living smaller is not living worse 💞 as we can already see. When a leader calls his people to arms, they show up gladly.👏😘
A number of years ago, when I decided to learn more about Asia, and China in particular, one thing stood out. They look way, way ahead in planning. As for China, I was reading that history before Communist takeover. One author noted that we in the US do a poor job of advance planing. Of course that changes from time to time, but it’s generally true.
Debbie in sunny today Maine
We are too busy overspending, borrowing, subsidizing billionaires (sorry but we are), using our tax money to help the rich get richer, can’t “waste” a dime on our healthcare, education, infrastructure, or a stockpile of needs for a pandemic, which everyone has talked about coming for years. I can’t help thinking that a normal mom-type woman with heart and soul would do something different.😢 It is not in my nature to give up hope.💞
Well here I go again. I posted a comment on my phone the day this was sent but have realized you never received it. I should know better as last time I used my phone to post a comment I sent more than one. I guess I am a little bit challenged when using my phone for commenting We are fine here in Oregon. I have no problem being a home body so the staying at home and only going out to walk is fine with me. We decided to stop going out to buy groceries so I just ordered a huge amount of things from Costco on Saturday. We will see how that works as I noticed that the other grocery stores are behind several days on getting orders out. One store had no times until the 12th.
Our son and daughter are both considered essential so are still working. Our daughter works in the food industry and could do some of her work at home but has people that need to be there so feels she should go also. Our son is on the front lines in the ER and assures me that they stay as safe as possible. I hope that you are able to get everything that you need on your island and that you and Joe stay well and healthy.
I’m pretty sure I did see another from you Judy ~ it’s just when they all come in at once, it takes me a little time to catch up! Just don’t want you to think you’re challenged in any way!😄 Thank your wonderful children for what they are doing, and yes, stay home, don’t let them in, wave gaily through the window, and be safe. xoxoxo
Susan, Thanks again for your words of comfort and cheer! As some of your fans, I’m retired and at home most of the time. I’m a retired nurse so my special project is praying for those in the medical profession. I can’t imagine what they are going through. I was a floor nurse during the early days of HIV but it was nothing as perilous as today. God bless them all!
Thank you for your years of service Barbara . . . whether now or then, nurses have always been, will always be our heroes. What I feel sorriest for with this virus, is that they must be covered head to toe. Nurturing is their special gift, the voice of calm, the cool hand on a forehead, all so comforting. It must be a special hurt for them to be denied these sympathetic touches in such a time of need. My prayers along with millions of others, are with them every day. 🙏
Dear Susan, thank you so much for spreading joy through your delightful blog! I look forward to each and every one! Bless you and Joe and Jack too. Thank you for another giveaway. 😊 Joanie
Needed this to read today and look at all the pictures. Spring holds a lot of promise this year. Thanks for sharing your cozy home with us! Home really is where the heart is. Stay safe and cozy!
Hi, Susan! This blog post really cheered me up and made me quit feeling sorry for myself. I live alone and not being able to see my family has really got me down in the dumps. However, you have reminded me how much I have to be thankful for. Tomorrow I will definitely love on my house and hope for better days ahead! You and Joe take care and stay safe!
Just read your blog before heading into work (and my Bible). Definitely NOT the news. I work in a medical office, not a hospital, and we are still open for the benefit of our patients and receiving calls and performing appointments via Facetime and phone calls ( front door is locked, however) Your words are good for my soul! Thank you for sharing your happy musings and daily rituals. They are medicine for weary hearts and anxiety-riddled minds. Happy Spring and also Happy Easter!
Thank you Katlyn, and thank you for what you are doing. Good that the door is locked, we are figuring out new ways to connect and that’s a good thing. Blessings on you for a wonderful Easter. Here’s to new beginnings!💖
Another dose of wonderfulness! Thank you, Susan, for your lovely, comforting post. Happy Spring from SE Michigan!🌷🌸🌼
Thank you for all of this. I went through your blog and copied chunks to save on my desktop for re-reading when I need a kick in the rear. You said things I have been thinking. My motto for the last three years has been, “if the Brits can survive WWII, we can survive Trump.” Now, we know we can survive this, even those of us in the elderly category. Thank you again for all you do and one of these days I am going to share how your England adventures affected my life.
I’ve gotten kicks in the rear over my years, and always appreciate them so much, it’s fun to be the kicker too! Thank you Sue! Keep on keeping on! 💞
Finishing your trilogy. SO glad I found you!!! ❤️ I’m even giving watercolor painting a try 😉. Thanks for these lovely reminders!
My pleasure, I’m so happy you like them! Happy painting!
Wow ! What a joy to read and listen to your blog. Sometimes I am amazed at the things you say and do. It’s as if I were writing this blog! Right down to the love of classic movies and Acorn tv! Even the music! When I click on the musica link I just have to chuckle and I do as I am working alone in the office at work everyday!
Thank you so much for this blog…I can’t tell you what a bright spot and wonderful blessing it is to read. I so look forward to it and have shared it with many friends who fall in love too!
Now tell that pesky squirrel to get the heck outta’ there and off that feeder!
That’s why I call us kindred spirits, so MUCH in common! 👏
Thank you for a lovely reminder to appreciate the simple joys of home!
A question: what kind of pen do you use for your hand lettering?
Go to the home page of my blog, click at the top where it says “About Me” — then click on “My Art Studio” ~ information about my art is there, including pens and brushes and all of that.💖
Susan, I love “dropping by” your sweet home, via your blog. It always inspires me to get up and get creative within my 4 walls. We are spending our time with our two 20 somethings who have returned home to shelter in place. Life is good, except for the challenge of keeping the two young men fed 😁 Thanks again for the cheer and coziness.
We do not have a family celebration without making your Twice Baked Potatoes. They are my family’s favorite!! Of course, they are so easy to make, we have them plenty of other times during the year too.
YUM! We need to make those!
Your last post was just the best post ever! and so needed full of joy, happiness and hope. Thank you Thank you Thank you. We will get through this.