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 . . .
Thank you, Susan…just what I needed to read today…❤️
My mother made bunny cakes for my girls each Easter when they were growing up. Then, I made bunny cakes for my grandchildren. I’m afraid no one will bake one this year since we can’t be together for the family dinner. But the bunny cake will come back next year better than ever!
Hello, dear Susan…thank you for your positive blog…yellow is my favorite color…wash your hands…don’t touch your face❤️
Thank you Susan for your encouraging words of hope!
Thank you for your wonderful suggestions to help us remain positive.
Thank you for all the beauty you share with us.
Thank you for challenging us to look for the good around us.
I live in SE PA, not far from the famous Longwood Gardens. Longwood is closed right now and I really miss walking through the outside gardens and viewing the beautiful displays of gorgeous spring blossoms both in trees and on the ground.
This year the spring bulb flowers I’ve planted at home through the years, are so beautiful. Every day I pick a fresh bouquet of daffodils of different varieties, blue bells (grape hyacinths), and golden forsythia with long arching branches.
I am reminded there will be other springs to enjoy, but we must stay strong now.
Praying for hope and courage and safety for all during this difficult time.
Wonderful to hear happy and not doom and gloom. Pray everyone stays safe. Thank you Susan for a wonderful post.
God bless you and Joe, Susan Branch. Your happiness gene has done it again! Thank you for the little shot of happiness booster serum…It’s so nice to hear the voice of sanity and soul. You are so right…what better place to be than home! ❤️
Hi Susan,
2 things, all the grocery stores here are not selling flowers. I think it has something to do with the Pandemic. Also thanks for the book mention of Nella’s War, I ordered it on Amazon.
Lastly thank you for all you do for we ladies and gents. You have a happy gene for which I am truly grateful. Prayers that you, Joe and Jack will be well♥️🙏🏻
Well, as is often the norm when I read one of your posts (when I EXACTLY need it; you always know the right thing to say), I’m blubbering as I write this now, but it’s a good cry (pent-up stress). My husband and I are mentally worn out (eyes are weary, too, from too much screen time with it) trying to find food and supplies online in an attempt to stay out of the grocery store if we can possibly help it (although we thought we’d prepared fairly well, but never for as long as is now projected); Instacart ultimately came thru for us when our own grocery store with home delivery option failed on us so many/too many times, even when we were up at midnight trying to ‘dial in’ as first in line/online (ready to roll, then they say no reservation; can’t get a ‘slot’; day after day of this reduced my husband to tears, and it takes a lot for him to get to that point; he’s trying so hard to keep me safe, as is Joe for you).
“Too much negativity will make us as sick as the virus does.” Susan, it is so true; how can it not get to the news anchors/reporters who have to keep delivering the dire predictions each day; they’re human, too.
Thank you for reminding us about home-as-shelter, not home-as-prison; find our hope as Spring approaches (we don’t need to miss it; just look at the sky; if need be, find a book with seasonal illustrations [I love the time-honored IDEALS magazine for this {I have stacks of them from my past, including from my childhood}] or photos of flowers even if you have none in your yard or on your balcony or porch; find nature programs on TV, etc. [I’m so sad I’ll miss SoCalif wildflower season; I understand it’s awesome out there right now, and we even have more rain on the way to help & further extend the bloom, but it’s not a sacrifice or even an inconvenience that I can’t see it in the hills and canyons this year; what I’ve got going on in my life is NOTHING compared to hardships others are facing with contagion, job loss, etc.]).
So many good suggestions from you for keeping ourselves busy; thank you. Ah, the cooking…where did I read that yesterday, was it WSJ online(?); can’t remember the source…but about how we’re a people who have to figure out how to cook. BIG percentage of people just don’t (busy lives; on the run). Now, google ‘cooking in a pandemic’ (or the like) and lots of tips; too many of us didn’t stock up on the basic stuff to do basic cooking! (But I was reading that if you can’t even get flour[we haven’t been able to] for baking, you can make flour out of pulverized oatmeal; that sort of brilliant idea. No breadcrumbs? Use this. No buttermilk? Try that.) Figure it out we will ([some of us] ‘instant food’ peeps, so quick to just get cookies out of a store bag [I raise my own hand here!], when remember instead how much fun it was to bake cookies with Mom the old-fashioned way when we were kids and had to stand on a little stool to be able to reach the counter and stir the bowl with a spoon…so easy to forget; now so comforting to remember [and implement!]).
Continued healthful and happy wishes to you and Joe both; love his face covering (he looks stylish!!). Mayor Garcetti in L.A. just revealed yesterday that he wants all Los Angelenos to wear a mask or bandana; so, WILL DO. (I continue to hang onto his words, also Gov Newsom’s [and Andrew Cuomo who I think I’ve fallen a little in love with…].)
Thanks for the reminder about TV. It’s been almost too easy to watch minute by minute every day the news on repeat but I know it’s not healthy. Wishing you health, happiness and sunshine!
Your blog posts are like a ray of sunshine on a cloudy day! We live in a 112 year old farmhouse in the Columbia River Gorge and I just so relate to your home. Mine is more rudimentary but it’s home. ((hugs)), Teresa 🙂
Thank you for another beautiful blog post reminding us of just how lucky we are compared to all those who experienced WWII. The worry is real for loved ones who are older or have underlying health conditions. Heck, just the apparent randomness of the severe symptoms of this awful virus are enough to send me over the edge so I have begun to limit my news intake to just once a day. It’s just so painful to see & hear about the lost loved ones & our valiant health care workers who are trying to help so many under these conditions, breaks my heart & I feel for them deeply. Thanks for all the comforting ideas & Love to all you who may be on the front lines of this ❤️
Doing our best to stay safe and healthy. Waiting to start tomatoes seeds, flowers seeds and early planting of peas. Have a very beautiful Easter birthday Susan!
Dear Susan,
I would like to please be entered to win the book. If it weren’t for the undercurrent of anxiety and uncertainty, I’d swear we were living our dream life. Our three school-age kids are home; my husband still has a job and is working from a desk in our bedroom; the dog isn’t sure what’s happened to cause her to have so much non-stop attention, and she’s not questioning it. Our prayer life is what we’d always aimed for it to be but could never, for various reasons, make happen. I only wish I could hug and kiss my parents (elderly). Visiting at a 6-foot distance is not the same. We are nervous; they are nervous (we live in lower NY). On the other hand, I’m ashamed to realize now all that I’ve taken for granted for so long.
God Bless, and stay safe. Your blog is a wonderful escape.
Susan, I am reading your Isle of Dreams book right now. I’ve had it for awhile, but I guess I was “saving” it for a special time to read it. Well, that special time is now! I can’t tell you what comfort and peace it brings to me as I read it before going to bed at night. I’ve been watching too much news and making myself a nervous wreck, and I’m no good to my husband (a delivery driver) and daughter in that state of mind. So thank you for your sweet book; it’s been a balm for my soul!
I’ve recently re-read two of your books and am working on the third. Also waiting for your new book when will it be ready?
We live in Texas so it has been fairly warm here. My azaleas, viburnum and clematis are blooming and gorgeous!! Whenever it all gets to be too much, I go look at my flowers, pull a few weeds, fill the bird feeders. That helps. Have you read The Splendid and The Vile? It’s a wonderful new book about England and Churchill during WWII. Also, my grandfather had the Spanish influenza. He survived but it weakened him so much, it took a year for him to recover his strength. He lost his farm. He then went through the Great Depression and WWII. But he managed to come through and give me love, smiles and candy as a child. I never heard him complain. So I am trying to be that way and looking for the good. Make him proud. Grandpa Leo.
Susan, thank you for a second chance on an Isle of dreams mug. I bought one when they first came out and was not as careful as I thought I was being and caused a tiny crack. Your special pricing allowed me to order another one plus the tiny “courage” pitcher I have been longing for. They arrived the other day and what fun it was to open my little box of treasures. Having cut my cable cord a couple of years ago, I do not miss the news. I can get what I need online. I too am a homebody and looking within is a favorite pastime. Sending all good wishes for health and safety to you and everyone out there!♥️
Thank you for the wonderful post! You are a ray of sunshine!
Thank you for continuing to validate the importance of simple home pleasures. Your writing – books and blog – are my favorite escape reading. Just finished “A Fine Romance” (3rd time) as an antidote to our current scary world. Keep safe Susan, we need you!
Thank you Susan for your wisdom and suggestions. I have been cooking up a storm (forgot how much I enjoy it) and feel more rested than I have been in years. I did get your bunny kit and was disappointed at first because it was hard for me to see but sunny afternoons are helping out a lot and it looks like I will be able to complete the project. Counting your blessings is the way to go for sure. I am so grateful to all the people who are helping and paying it forward which is exactly what I intend to do if I win your book.
Wonderful encouraging blog! Just what we need! Love the Norman Rockwell picture too.
Be well. We will all keep those prayers going up❤️
THANK YOU FOR TAKING TIME FOR US! I loved your blog….reading your heart – felt words and your lovely photos made me feel happy and hopeful. Take care! Susan Thompson ( Upper Peninsula of Michigan)
Wishing you a happy Easter birthday..my birthday is April 12th also( 74 yrs). My parents named me Barbara, but always called me “Bunny”, because I was born on Easter. It will be very strange for our Easter and birthday..but we have decided to get dressed up at home and my husband will make me a coconut creme pie for my birthday dessert. Hope you will have a blessed day and wonderful year to come.
It is always a joyto read a new post from you. My crocus are in full bloom and the daffodils just need a couple more days of sunshine before they too will bloom,
Thanks Susan for always brightening my day!
Be safe. Be brave. This too shall pass.
Just like you, I love to be home!
Your blog calms my nerves as I a RN is nervous about what is in store here in North Carolina with each passing day the numbers are climbing,Please pray for us nurses , our patients, and the patients families.
I am praying every day for people caught in this awful pandemic. I marvel at the devotion of our healthcare workers. What would our world be without them. The way nurses have of smoothing away fears is a gift without words to tell. Thank you for being there, God bless you, and please stay healthy. 🙏💞
Hi to Susan and Joe—nice to escape to your posts during this horrible virus. I only watch the news briefly to keep informed and to see some positive signs. Was so glad to hear that Prince Charles is getting better and Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip are safely secluded. The Royal family has endured such stress recently and certainly need to be mindful of their health. Our family was stationed in England at Burtonwood AFB near Liverpool during the time Elizabeth was crowned Queen and I remember going to the neighbors to watch it on TV– how beautiful it was! I was just a little girl and I thought the carriage was surely Cinderella’s! The English people were so kind to our family during our years there and that is where I was introduced to the delightful custom of afternoon tea! Even though I was very young, they included me in the gatherings. And I have loved tea and England ever since! Love to you both from Bev
What a beautiful memory, loved your story Bev. I’m so glad to hear Prince Charles is getting better!!!
I enjoy looking for the International Space Station in the sky. The website can tell you when it will be flying over your neighborhood. Fun to do in your own backyard!
Love your supportive words and beautiful pictures! That bunny cake brings back lots of memories!
As always, love reading your posts and seeing the pictures. Am keeping busy doing distance learning with my middle school math and science students. I’m actually enjoying staying home – have been so on the go for way too long. Have had time to go for a walk, start a jigsaw puzzle, and even do some spring cleaning. I’ve also done Zoom and FaceTime meetings with friends and family. Great way to keep up. Stay well and safe and as I say about a lot of things, it is what is.
Thank you Susan, you have cheered me up!! Stay well
Truly enjoyed your blog post. Hoping we will be on the other side soon!
Happy Easter! Happy Spring! Happy Birthday!
I love being at home–yes, there’s no better place
to get to be! Stay safe and well yourself! Prayers!
~~Jane~~
Susan, Thank you for your delightful attitude & perspective. Just what we needed to hear !
Love your Lilly of the Nile !!
What a perfectly uplifting post! Thank you, Susan!❤️ We are safe here in Texas. Take care!!
Hi Susan 🙂 First, may I suggest The English Game on Netflix. A Julian Fellows creation. A trip to England is always a comfort. Second, Happy April Birthday !!!!!
Much 💕 Scarlet from Texas
Thank you, thank you, Susan! What a mood lifter! I’m family caregiving for my daughter’s four kids as she is a nurse, so just go home on weekends to see hubby…and the ( very) occasional grocery trips for the family, so miss not having my everyday things close at hand. It helped reading about yours! And we do the best we can. Hand in there…we so love you and Joe!
Digging in the dirt has never been so theraputic. Stay well!
I would love to win a book. We just received the news today that Michigan schools are closed for the rest of the year. So I’ll need a little something!
Glad to hear you and Joe are both well. Thanks for another encouraging, uplifting blog. Miss the squirrels and counting my blessings that we visited America and Martha’s Vineyard last year. In lockdown from New Zealand.
This tragic time could not have come at a better time for me. On March 6 I somehow slipped in my kitchen while washing dishes and sustained a displaced spiral fracture of my humerus (not humorous). After surgery a week later, I have been ensconced in a chair of pillows waiting for healing. My precious grandchildren are home with their mothers who are tending to them while teaching in virtual classrooms and I have discovered two things: how to have groceries safely delivered to my front porch and that my husband is a wonderful nursing assistant. Signs of spring are signs of hope. And hoping that the world will soon heal.
We stay here for you- please stay home for us
British mysteries are the best! This pandemic thing is not pleasant, but it does make a person slow down and do things that were put off because of “no time.” Now is the time to take advantage of that, and besides, it does give you a sense of comfort and accomplishment. Let’s pray that a vaccine will be found, because this virus is a bit frightening…
Sharon in Houston
Was so excited to see the email linking to this post. Your words of gratitude and contentment are just what the world needs now. I’m reading Nella Last’s Peace – based on your earlier recommendation – and it is reminding me how good we have it. This is inconvenient, yes, but we can do this.
Your birthday is three days after mine! YAY happy birthday!!!!! 🙂 I almost NEVER get to have my birthday on Easter but I get Palm Sunday, Holy Thursday, and Good Friday a LOT.
Happy Birthday!💖
May God bless you us all.
Thank you, Susan You are always just what I need. You make me happy and calm my anxiety and make me think only good thing. Tom and I hv been ill but recovered. No way to know what it was for sure but we we hv been sheltering in place for a moth now and are now over quarantining ourselves from each other. YAAAY. I hv autoimmune diseases so we are being extra careful for us and for everyone. Going to bake cookies and make the house smell wonderful and think of you and Joe and Jack. SOOO glad you all are healthy. Then i will read this post like 5 more times:) THANK YOU SO MUCH XOXOXO LUV YOU❤️❤️❤️❤️
Take extra care Charissa! 🙏💖😘😘😘
I’m doing neighborhood walks with Little Free Library boxes as my destinations. (like i need more books!!)
What heaven on earth you are surrounded by!
Best wishes and keep smiling – Peggy (Peigi when talking to Outlander folks
Absolutely loving season 5!)
Thank you, Susan! Stay safe and well!
I am taking your advice to heart, and watching as little of the news as possible. We shall move through this, without all the negativity added! Reading your posts…..you make me want to be a better cook!
A Perfect Post. Bless you. Thank you for warming my heart.
It’s always a great day when your email shows up!
In the midst of all this chaos, I am re-reading Isle of Dreams. Your story brings me happiness and a sense of peace. This time at home is a blessing for me, but I am so sorry for those situations where being at home creates stress and strife. My prayers are for them and for all.
For me, this time is a guilty pleasure. I love working, and just living, from home!
Your blogs are so comforting in this time of uncertainty. Like wrapping up in an old soft quilt with a cup of hot tea.
Thanks for your cheerful posts!
Thank you so much for making this craziness so much better for all of us! I feel like I’ve drawn in my first lungful of fresh air since reading your blog! You are remarkable!
Thank you for giving me a little peace in this stressful time. You are so right about turning off the news for a bit.
So good to receive this in my email this evening. Thank to hear you and Joe are well and safe. Those fried eggs look yummy!
I recommend the movie, “All Passion Spent” based on the book by Vita Sackville West for pure escapism and enjoying Dame Wendy Hillers’ performance!!
All of your illustrations are so cute. You are so creative and artistic. I enjoy reading your blog.
Dear Susan ,
My granddaughter usually makes that bunny cake every Easter up in Chatham. This year they will stay in NY. We will do Easter bunny bake off and facetime my dog doing Easter egg hunt, he jumps on egg to pop it and get his treat. This will be year for the scrapbook.
Stay safe wash often.
You are so right, if we have to be quarantined I’m happy I am home! Love your blog and everything you write and do. Take care and you two stay safe……
It was a treat to read the blog today. I loved Nella Last’s diary and many others that were part of the UK’s effort to get ordinary people to record their lives during WWII. You are right, their lives were so difficult during that time and we can get through this if we stay home as much as we can. I am planting veggies, baking, cooking, reading and am grateful to talk to friends and family daily. Every Day is a Gift.
Lovely, uplifting words.
I smiled just seeing your email in my “inbox” 🙂 And then I smiled even more and shed a few tears reading your encouraging and oh, so wise words. I needed to be reminded to not watch too much news – and do what I know I should be doing. I even gave blood last week and am sewing masks. And staying home! I am so fortunate to be able to do that.
I am going to share your email with everyone I know that needs a smile in their day too.
Thank you, Susan, for all you do to brighten our lives!
I have turned to your site several times during these weeks staying home enjoy the warmth and cheer of your posts. We will get through this. Doing a lot of baking (mastered sourdough starter and busily working on the King Arthur Flour recipe site to keep everyone happy and well fed), working in the garden (our daffodils bloomed a few weeks ago), biking, walking, sewing, reading, spending time with family in person in our house and dearly loved others by text and phone calls. Thank you for focusing on the positive in this time of Pandemic. Stay safe with Joe at home for now.
Thank you!
Thank you for these moments of calm and joy. 💕
Would love the new version to go with my original one. A friend said this week we aren’t “stuck” in our homes. We are safely harbored in our homes, warm protected and loved.
Hi Susan, Glad to hear you are well. I am as well a d staying home except for my firays to the grocery and pharmacy. I am using Zoom for meetings and fun. The meetings are for my nonprofit arts organization, I am on the Board, , the Sandwich Arts Alliance. Artists, writers, musicians and performers as well as the organizations supporting them are all taking a huge hit during this time as well.
Keep us cosy and be well!
Susan, I loved this blog, it’s just what I needed to read. Thank you for providing some calm in the storm ! I’m drinking tea tonight from my Love Birds mug, with candles lit. It’s peaceful and calm !
Love the Norman Rockwell reference and pictures!
Your beautiful perspective on our current situation is like a flowering hedge of forsythia on a cloudy day, uplifting for spirit and soul. Thank you for the brilliant suggestion of saying those magical words of spring out loud : delphiniums, hollyhocks, jonquils, lilacs, the poetry of the garden. Sigh…spirts lifting already. ❤️❤️❤️
Home with my best friend of 41 years……can do this!👍🌼🌸🌺
Thanks to you (and Ray!) I have enjoyed all the books that were written from Nella Last’s diaries. I love the agapanthus blooming in your window! When did you plant the bulbs? I want to do that!
Virtual hugs to you, Jack, and the burglar!
I found the plants at a nursery here on the island. Was the first time I’ve ever seen agapanthus here. So of course I had to have them! Put them in the garden and they did fine all summer. So I thought I’d try them indoors, and they are doing so well! They will get to spend another summer in our garden!
Oh, thank you Susan! I needed your sweet newsletter today. 😳 I’m going to check out your book and movie list and get a calendar ordered. Nothing like looking ahead to the future to give you hope!
This was going to be the summer that I would try growing vegetables again, now everyone will want to do that. Do you have any recommendations for a novice? Whatever easy? How do you take care of tomatoes? I have lots of flower beds, so I know a little about gardening. Thank goodness for gardens that need weeding, mulching and fertilizing to give me something constructive to do! Thank you again for the lovely newsletter. ❤️
Susan, you have always been a “cook to copy!”
Thank you for sharing your many talents with us!
Beautiful blog as always. 💕💕💕
Thank you for making my day!!
Practicing social distancing in Guanajuato, Mexico. We are respectful and cautious, but not fearful. We are Happy and Healthy!
Stay safe, happy and healthy to all!
I keep comparing this to WWII, also, at a much smaller degree, of course. But the shortages (certainly much fewer now) and the sheltering in place. As you said, being able to do so, and not being forced out of our homes due to bombings in the middle of the night puts it much into perspective. BTW, I LOVE 800 Words. So fun!!
I am 70 yrs old and we just had our first grandchild 12 days ago. Of course we weren’t allowed into the hospital, and once she got home, we did go for a very brief visit just to see and hold her to make sure she was real!! Now we live via Facetime and FB Messenger visits and lots and lots of daily pictures. I am so sad. I have an Easter Basket ready, but it will have to wait til possibly sometime in May. I guess she won’t know the difference, but we do. But we must do what is right for everyone. I pray that everyone is doing that and staying home. Please!!!!!
Thank you so much for your uplifting post today. I needed that.
What a nice surprise to read your blog today which made me feel uplifted. Thanks so much. Will start baking soon and have been inspired by you.
Thanks for the encouraging words, Susan! I have been watching the delightful episodes of “Escape To The Country” on Dabl Network weekdays. Hunting for my favorite cottage in the verdant British countryside with soothing background music is always calming.
Gratitude for healthcare workers, doctors, and nurses. Bless you.
Thank you, Susan, for the happy rays of sunshine which you bring to many of us through your blog.
The past few days have been very difficult, as I lost my brother on March 30th. He had been ill with cancer for the past 18 mos. Then he suffered a massive stroke. He had to be admitted to Queen of the Valley Hospital in Napa, where he passed 2 days later. Now I understand that many people are going to pass away alone, in hospital, during these very dark days. This is very sad, but as a former nurse, I applaud those brave souls who sacrifice their own safety to provide the best of care. They are the unsung heroes of our time.
I’m so sorry Jan. Very dark times we’re living right now. Sending all my love … 💞
Love the Martha’s Vineyard Isle of Dreams. Now reading it for the third time. Wishing you a very happy birthday. Thanks for your blogs too.
Peace and Love,
Beth
You’re a Susan, and I’m a Susan. And we were both born in April, close to Easter! The year I was born, my birthday was Good Friday. Enjoy your Easter birthday and stay safe and healthy. I am hunkered down at home, with my kitty Kona, and waiting to hear the birds, just like you.
Great to hear from you again and to know all is well with you and Joe. However… I don’t think it’s a good time to be sending our “spit” out for dna testing. I wouldn’t want to be the poor guy who opens the “deposit” at the laboratory from someone who was later determined to test positive for the virus. But, a great idea to sign back in with Ancestry.com. So far, I’ve gone back to multi-great-grandparents in 15th century Dorset! Last spring, I was able to visit the churchyard where they were buried! All thanks to Ancestry!
Excellent point! 😂I imagine they aren’t taking deposits at this time! But the good news, as you know, is you don’t have to do your DNA to enjoy Ancestry! SO fun, you found your 15th century ancestor’s graves. Amazing!
You always put a smile on my face! 🙂
I so agree about Brokenwood Mysteries and 800 Words. They are my absolute favorites.
Thank you, Susan, you have always been
a “cook to copy!”
Love your blog! I’ve been home for the last week as I work at a bank and my branch is currently closed. Next week I’ll be working at the closed branch calling clients and trying to take care of things for them over the phone. It’s been nice to stay home and do some (not on much) cleaning and sewing! Stay safe!
I love the colorful photos! We have blooms, many trees bloomed out, daffodils and hyacinths. We also have “free” bunnies (someone released them in the neighborhood) who have been eating the buds from tulips and other spring bulbs. So who knows what will come up from those! I love watching them, but I am going to turn into Farmer McGregor when they start eating my garden. Just kidding. We keep chasing them away. And try to catch them in a live trap. They are too wiley. We know several people who will adopt…Happy Spring and thanks for sharing some sunshine.
I so enjoy reading you blog! Excellent to lift the spirits!
Glad everyone is well in your home. Stay safe and healthy.
Thank you, Susan, for sending ray’s of sunshine our way. 🌞
Love all your products! I’ve been a fan for years.