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 . . .
Run to the rescue with Love, and Peace will follow.
(River Phoenix, I believe)
Martha’s Vineyard was a favorite getaway for me. Stay safe and well.
So happy to see a blog post from you in my mailbox today! You are balm for my soul, Susan!
Oh My Goodness! Bunny and Lamb cake time!
Your words and art raise my spirits, and I am thankful for that, Thank you
This post inspired me!!! Thanks for being you and making all our lives just a bit better with all the positive, happy simple things to treasure!!! Stay safe!
Your book “Heart of the home”, was the first book I bought of yours n it’s timeless!
Susan,
Absolutely love your blog, whether you are at home or on a trip! However my favorite blogs are the ones from the UK!
Your friend via the blog,
Paula Hettler
I think you are so talented. You have a touch for making the ordinary so special and enchanting.
Beautiful! That’s all. Just beautiful!
You brightened my day! I’m glad things are well on the east coast. Here in Oregon we are on our third week of staying at home. The hardest part is not seeing our family in CA with a little baby or hugging our family here. Having a dishwasher leak as this was starting caused our kitchen to be torn up but not wanting workers in and out we have a “kitchen” set up in the basement. It’s challenging, but we feel blessed to have what we do and wish everyone stays safe. Thank you for brightening our life with your beautiful writing and artwork!
Dear Susan, you are a ray of sunshine for everyone. Have read your 3 books and actually could identify some of my own life with your adventures. When your blog shows up in my mailbox, it is a very good day. You have made every experience that you write about REAL for sure. Keep safe and healthy for you both.
While I’ve been making masks and gowns for a nearby hospice home, I have been using an old sewing machine I found in a thrift store last year and had restored because it looked like my Mama’s. The machine’s hum is soothing, so thinking while sewing, I wished someone would remind people to possibly read The Diary of Anne Frank or Corrie Ten Boom’s The Hiding Place to have courage. I have said prayers while sewing because I have family and friends “ on the front lines,” and then tonight, I read your dear messages, and you said all I thought about: the treasures of home and what we make it, the beauty of flowers and hope, and encouragement to learn or practice skills, and courage in such fear. Once, I learned shuttle tatting from YouTube during a difficult time in my life. It does help. I can’t express it as well as you do, so thank you, thank you for your sweet thoughts and encouragement, especially during this time. Everyone needs those kind words.
You said it perfectly, Paula. Thank you. xoxoxo
Thanks for your warm & inviting Spring ideas. They brighten our days. Stay well. I also appreciate the bookmarks you share with all of us. A delightful gift.
Dear Susan- what a lovely reminder about how wonderful and charming home can be. Puzzles, lots of cooking, exercising, taking walks, reading, crocheting, and working from home keep me busy and occupied. Not bored at all. My daffodils should be open next week and I can’t wait to snip a few to bring indoors. Stay safe!!!
There’s no place like home!
Best to you and Joe and Jack!
Thank you Susan for brightening our days. I love being home! Please select ME for a new cookbook! XO
I love your newsletters Susan. It was especially welcome today. You’ve shared so many ideas to enjoy during this time. I will revist this idea list often. Your talent just amazes me. I want to just jump in and absorb it. Thank you for the light you bring to this world. xo Cheri
ps- looking forward to making potato pancakes tomorrow 🙂
I always love to see your emails in my inbox. You always have something inspiring for me. Books to buy and things that you paint and food !!! Real yummy food !!!
I was thinking when you mentioned that your Birthday is on Easter or Easter is on your Birthday this year, that the 12th is my “half-Birthday”. I was born on October 12th and one of my friends from high school also has a Birthday on April 12th. I said to her that we will always remember each other’s Birthday because they are our “half-Birthday”. So we celebrate friendship on each other’s Birthdays. Lots of years have gone by, but I like the ways you mark the seasons and Holidays. It seems like every day is a special day on your blog. I hope and pray that you and all of your readers stay healthy !
Thank you for the upbeat newsletter. I pray for all concerned, patients, families, medical personnel. May God be with us all.
Susan, I needed a blog post today! Missing my children & grands so. I have cut way back on news & push myself out into my garden to clean up on any sunny day we get. A welcome distraction!
Stay safe & give Jack an extra scritch.
I used to make the same adorable bunny cake when my children were little. I was planning to make it for my almost 2-year old grandson, Henry, this year but under the circumstances my son and his wife will be staying home in Maynard for Easter. My daughter, who lives in Chicago, thinks we should celebrate everything we miss out on now at Thanksgiving and dye eggs, so maybe I’ll make the bunny cake then!
Maybe I could learn to love to cook if I had your book?
Thank you Susan for this sweet blast from the past! Love your stories 💕
Thank you for your lovely post. We are all not alone in this….it has to get better!
Your words and art raise my spirits, and I am thankful for that, Thank you
Texas is finally on full lock-down…just ordered my first grocery order from Walmart and my son will pick it up tomorrow to bring to us….stay safe and keep blogging!
Susan,
Thanks again for your ray of sunshine. Still hanging in as a health care provider in Northern California. Today the weather was beautiful and made myself take a walk. Saw some yards decorated for Easter and others with uplifting messages, another with a bear in the window holding a U.S. flag. I can’t wait to see friends and hug freely! Something I won’t take for granted. Have your photo calender on my wall and just flipped it. Love it, will pre-order next years. All please take care of yourselves and others.
Hang in there Stacey, you have A whole world of gratitude rooting for you. XOXOXO
Hi Susan,
So lovely to hear from you today! Your thoughts are truly day brighteners. I spent this afternoon in the garden. The sun felt warm, the birds were singing, and the Daffodils, Siberian Squill, and Crocuses are in bloom beneath our Magnolia tree. A few hours of ‘garden therapy’ felt so healing. It’s such a comfort to read your words before drifting off to sleep tonight!
Stay healthy, Susan and Joe!
Much love,
💗Dawn (in Illinois)
Home … I must be a homebody, too, because I am enjoying turning off the rest of the world for a while. It’s wonderful to have conversations with family and friends, but the gift I’m enjoying is catching up with all the things I want to do. I took out my sewing machine last week! Your blog is inspirational! Be well. And thanks!
So pleased to hear from you and what a wonderful uplifting blog! We are coping “one day at a time” and with “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” as my British Mother would have said. It was gloriously sunny today and I took advantage and was able to hang laundry out on the line to dry for the first time this year. We try not to worry about our daughter who is a nurse at a family practice, she loves her job, and we are so very proud of her! I agree about turning off the news it all gets a bit repetitive, I do listen to the updates from Ohio governor DeWine because those are the updates because that pertain to us. Thank You for brightening my day! Hoping everyone stay’s safe and healthy!
Thank you Susan for your lovely encouraging blog. I started rereading Martha’s Vineyard Isle of Dreams and have discovered parts that I totally forgotten. I didn’t remember that you burned your stove and then wella you spoke of it in your blog today! Feeling inspired I decided to bake a banana nut bread (Betty Crocker) for a second time. It WASN’T so great the first time so I decided to use real butter instead of Crisco and added the FULL amount of sugar thinking it should taste amazing, but after all that work it did NOT please my hubby. He accused me of NOT following the recipe. 😞Honestly don’t know what went wrong. I’m 66 and not new to baking, but I guess I’m a little rusty🙄😬. Anyway you encouraged me NOT to give up. I will try a different recipe for sure. Thank you for sharing your talent with the world! – Roseann Copeland
P.S. I will never forget your wonderful visit to KC a few years ago. You made a couple of Former Hallmark Artist So happy!😉🌹
As always My eyes light up when i see Susan is in my house…I was feeling sad..But not anymore….My house is homey and i love my front porch.And screened in back porch So many places to bring my tea…Making my quilts and cotton face masks..They can be used over a hospital mask or for average people walking around…I myself haven’t left the house in almost a month…I’m good and praying for a better world…Stay Safe Susan and Joe
Linda from Connecticut
I so agree with you about not listening to the news all day, it terrifies people. I live in the Blue Mountains with husband, mum, daughter, 2 dogs, 2 chickens and 2 budgies, in a small house but large garden, we are truly blessed. Stay well and send your cheering, wonderful messages – thank you, Denise x
I discovered you, Susan, some years ago when I found a Heart of the Home cookbook in a second hand shop. I have been collecting your books ever since and giving them as a special treat to dear friends. My friend Marge is 91 years old and I recently found out that she has always wanted to see England where both of her parents were born, but she said that at this point in her life she has no desire to leave the US. I told her I have a wonderful book to share with her about the English countryside – your “A Fine Romance”. Can’t wait to leave it outside her door. (Must be careful for now!) So happy to hear about your 30th
anniversary edition, Heart of the Home. Take care. Pat that kitty for me.
Memere Diane
Hi,
Love, love, love this post! So cheery and uplifting! Glad to hear you and Joe are doing well. Stay safe!
I’m sending some spring your way. The daffodils are blooming down here and it’s time to plant the “taters.” Wishing you all “stay well wishes.”
Oh thank you, Susan! What a sweet, delightful encouragement to us all! Just what we all needed! You are a dear treasure!
So glad to hear that you and Joe – and so many Girlfriends near and far – are doing well during this challenging time. Blessings of comfort and peace to all.
Birdsong — what a great idea! I have an app going right next to me and it is very calming. Thank you for all your sunny, positive vibes — your posts always give a real lift to my days. I’ve been going through your movie and book lists and finding some wonderful new-to-me possibilities and some old favs, too. Also, from your current England calendar this quote spoke to me: “Tea Time: because being a grown-up is hard”. Amen ! Be well !
Susan, if you need a granny fix (and if your granny sounded like Mrs. Doubtfire) search YouTube for @islaanne 93 year old granny. Oh my word, we all need a granny like this sweet lady. I’ve watched the video ten times and tear up every time. Balm for the soul.
I love reading your blogs. I live in Florida so I love looking at your gorgeous house and decor and the beautiful flowers and yard. Thank you for sharing your life with us!
We enjoyed all of “Brokenwood” – set in a small town in New Zealand – and have just started on “Kingdom” via Acorn; it’s the story of a small town solicitor played by Stephen Fry who solves the legal and social problems of his fellow townspeople with humor, compassion, and warmth. Shots of the landscape and beach nearby are gorgeous! It’s a wonderful escape from life as we are living it now. Thanks for your post, Susan; a total pleasure!
Love your posts, Susan. They are so refreshing. Love to see what you are up to. We are hunkering at home here in western Massachusetts. I keep busy each day, doing chores, cleaning, blah blah….nothing exciting but doing my part to keep the dreaded virus from spreading. THIS, TOO, SHALL PASS.(I hope). Take care. Stay well. Stay home!
Please put my name in for the drawing. Thanks.
It is Spring all over, here in Indiana! Surviving the pandemic, behaving, thankfully only three cases in our county. The temperature tomorrow will climb to 68°, scattered clouds, the birds are singing, My friend has a dozen duck eggs in a nest by her front stoop. Flowers blooming and also trees! Life goes on while we hunker down, as our Governor says daily.Families reconnecting, nesting in our homes.We are all from pioneer stock! Happy April, Happy Spring!
Hi Susan!
I loved the picture of Joe in his scarf. I too ran to the store and put a scarf o to cover my mouth and nose. I also wondered if I looked like I might rob a bank, but the few other folks also had scarves on. It’s quite an interesting look!! Also thinking about your comments regarding WWII – there was a wonderful post on FB that said ‘your parents & grandparents were sent off to war, you are simply being asked to sit on your couch!’ I think we can all do this!! And we will get what ever else is thrown at us!!!! Stay healthy!!!
Thank you Susan for all your ideas and positive messages, much comfort here. Thanks too for the bookmark, I love the ones you’ve offered. I print them out and laminate them and tuck them in cards to friends that read a lot, it’s such a treat to have and receive. Many thanks!!!
Such an encouraging reply….and many others are as well…..very cheery and uplifting….
You are always so uplifting. I don’t mind having to stay home. I’m getting to know my newly adopted dog and having her feel comfortable with us. The news is too upsetting and I worry about my husband going to work and my children being too far away. But I’m happy in my house with my favorite things and my crafts and projects. Praying tragedy doesn’t stop any more of us! Be safe
Dear Susan,
Happy Birthday!
I too am an “April Girl”!
My day is April 10.
In the words of Ognan Nash,
“Always Marry An April Girl”
I have followed you for many years, we carried your books in our store in the 80s!
Can that really be that many years ago!
Adore that poem! Thank you for reminder, perfect timing! Had a hunch and looked up Ogden Nash’s birthday … he was a Leo, just like Joe, a perfect appreciator of the Aries girl!
Thanks for your fun photos & words. May spring sunshine and breezes bring healing and cheer to all of us.
Your latest blog came with perfect timing. Today was the first day I really became weary and a bit fearful. At age 66, I am home but my husband is still running his business, a small manufacturing plant (23 employees) in Iowa making parts for John Deere tractors and considered essential, so he is exposed to many people each day. And here in rural Iowa, many do not believe we will be affected. That attitude is so frustrating. Our daughter and husband (living in France) both have the covid-19 virus, now going on week 4 and we’ve known for weeks how devastating it can be. They are recovering, but its no joke! Who knew laying around on your couch could amount to something – saving the world. #stayhome #staystrong #wewillgetthroughthistogether Thank you for your comfort found in the everyday events of home!
I agree, it’s a terrible attitude. Even our little island, out here in the water, in the middle of winter has been affected. You are so right, we are staying home to save the world. I think I would ask Joe to sleep at work. Prayers for you and yours Debra. 🙏😘
Susan, THANK YOU for bringing sunshine to my day. We live in CA . My husband has had 2 important dr. appts canceled (one was for pre-cancerous treatment on top of radiation burn area. I have a cavity under a crown that was almost filled but now only emergencies are getting done. Both daughters had bad coughs & would not let us go out but worried about having them shop for us. (Luckily one got better when the other got sick.) Your words, pictures & art always lift the spirits and help me forget the anxiety we are all under. Have relatives working w/the public -hoping they each have enough protective gear!! Please keep safe and stay well-you mean so much to all of us!!! Love and hugs (some day we can do that again), Gail PS Zoomed w/our sick daughters-it sure helped to be able to see them getting better! Want to buy your book and make everything in it!!
Be sure to take some time out for breathing, and counting blessings. I’m so happy your daughters are better!
Hi Susan glad you and Joe are safe and well. Loving Home so much right now. I’ve tried your German pancakes and everyone Loved them!! They are a new favorite. Thank you so mush for the inspiration, it helps keep the home fires burning.
Hello Susan — Your message is hopeful and encouraging, as always. So grateful you’re in the world. 🙂
Love the bunny cake. Used to make one at home and for my first graders in my classes…when you were allowed home baked things in school…..that sure dates me. 😉
Would love to win the book!
Stay well and stay home…..
Beautiful weather in Michigan today, so spent some time out doors! Loved it. Thank you for your cheery blog!
Hi Susan, Your blog was “Spring-tacular”. Hope your grocery stores will have flowers soon…I buy mine every 2 weeks at Trader Joe’s. Week four of our sheltering at home. Our Oregon Governor Kate Brown did an early shut down saving lives. Wish all governors had done the same. I’ve been re-reading “Martha’s Vineyard Isle of Dreams” each evening instead of watching the news …and I sleep much better. Made soup and your mashed potato Pancakes for our lunch today, perfect for a cold rainy day. We’ve been watching the British TV series “Rosemary and Thyme”on YouTube. Stay safe and healthy. Love and hugs to you, Joe and Jack……..Sherry
SO agree, I almost feel it’s a macho thing to choose not to shut down, many don’t want to be seen as “weak” against this virus, but we know, we mom-types, that’s now how it works. xoxoxo
This email came at the perfect time. Thank you ❤️
Thank you for taking the time to share so much of your life with your readers.
I have enjoyed collecting and reading your books.! Carol
Thank you, Susan, for your wonderful self. At the age of almost 72, I’m thinking of moving to Maine from California – you are a wonderful example.
Dearest Susan, I am so inspired by your story, I work a booklet about aromatherapy for beginners after my divorce. Joy, hope and art~ thank you🧡
👏👏👏😘
Loved this blog! It cheered me up and gave me hope! Be well you all.
P.S. I wrote a longer post but it disappeared. 🤷🏽♀️🌹
Hi Susan!
Thank you so much for your stories, pictures and encouragement! I always love reading your posts! I think I’ll make pancakes tomorrow or mashed potatoes, so we can try your potato cake recipe. It sound delicious!! ☺️
We have been hunkered down out in the boonies of Florida for 3 months in our Big Black Bus. We thought it would be over and we could high tail it home but it doesn’t look that way.. so we are headed home on Monday.. We are self contained, so we only have to go outside to fill up with diesel, but I would feel safer at home. Please pray for travel safety as we navigate back north. SO glad you and Joe are doing so well.. looks like you have LOTS to keep you busy.
Blessings,
Nan
We will do it . . . travel safely Nan. It’s a long way. touch nothing!!! 😘 xoxoxo
Dearest Susan,
Thanks be. Wisdom and passion in one beautifully creative package!
Alice
Your email came at the perfect time, thanks for writing and publishing it today!!
You always come through with joy for us girlfriends when we need it! I was reading Nella Last’s War when the stay-at-home began. It was so helpful to put things in perspective. How brave those people were – how brave we can be! I loved it. Thanks for cheering us all on. XOXO – Larkin
Just reading your beautiful blog makes me so happy! And looking out the windows at blossoms on the pear trees, even sitting on the sunny porch some days here in Kansas! I’m reminded to take one day at a time. Right now, I get to be home with my dear husband Don and little sweetheart Teddy, our fifteen year old puppy. Being at home is my biggest joy in life, right now, recharging the batteries and thinking of my many loved ones. I feel so blessed, no matter what. We watch the briefings and pray for our dear leaders and scientists who must guide our wonderful country through all of this. Thank you for bringing us beauty in your soulful words and in your pictures and art🌸💖🌺
Jackie P
Thank you, Susan, and Happy Easter Birthday – April 12 – same day as John, my hubby of 54 years. No family visits this year but already have the rack of lamb I’ll prepare using Julia’s recipe from her The Way to Cook, plus eggs Benedict, his favorite, for brunch and lots of hugs for him 💕💕love Zoom and do a weekly reunion with high school pals across the country from Maine, Massachusetts, NY and NJ to NM, California and Oregon..great way to connect 💕
In that book, try Julia’s Apple Mountain (called something like that) … UNBELIEVABLE.
Love, “If you can read, you can cook!” quote! 😁👍. Safe and secure here in Kansas City, MO. A lot of reading, a daily walk in the neighborhood, and a daily “joy ride” to get us briefly out of the house—lots of countryside and no traffic, and then back home! I’ve also done some baking: banana bread, pumpkin bread pudding, and making and freezing casseroles! Thankful for ZOOM and the technology to do virtual church.
Thank you for your blog, Susan! Lovin’ you from KCMO ❤️🙏🙂
Hope, Charity and Love ~
Stay well, Susan and Joe and Jack ~
Thank you for your beautiful
Blog to help take our minds off the craziness outside.
Stephanie
Dearest Susan,
Thanks be for your wisdom and creative passion.
Just the medicine we all need!
Be well, and thank you for being there,
Alice
I always love your blogs, but this one was particularly meaningful. Thank you for reminding me what matters and how much I love my home – and not to watch too much news!
Turned off the TV to read your post. Much more calming. Thank you for making staying at home comfy and relaxing. And thanks for all the little things that make a difference. Stay well.
I was fortunate to be gifted “Heart of the Home” when it first was published. Loved it and loved you ever since. I was a Zoom virgin until 3 days ago and now, with Zoom invites from friends and family for all sorts of get-togethers (wine socials, birthday parties, club meetings, etc), I’m feeling more like a Zoom “tramp”! However, so glad we’re all healthy and staying connected. Thanks for such an uplifting post,
Susan— you cheered me up. I am at home with my hubby and 16 year old amazing son. We have been on lockdown in NJ for weeks as it hit here early and hard. Each day I try to look for the good in the staying home … like you so beautifully captured. Praying and hunkering down is the best thing we can do —so we do what we can (love your Jersey guy Bon Jovi reference!)
Dear Susan,
Reading this tonight was like a feeling of calm midst all the chaos. I’m glad you’re all well.
I’ve read many books that were set in France and England during WW2. By comparison, we are blessed.
Thank you for your spring breath of fresh air.
Patricia
Thank you, Susan, for this wonderful blog post—as so many others said above, it is just what I needed here in northern NJ, where we are inundated with illness—I am headed back to the hospital tomorrow to pitch in in a new role and your cheery words were just what I needed tonight! I am struck by the amazing birdsong this time of year, which my husband and I have been enjoying when walking our Scottie or jogging…somehow it seems even sweeter and more beautiful this year, doesn’t it? Stay well and thanks for your always inspiring blog!
My husband and I are retired so our lives have not changed a lot. The weather has started to warm up here in Mninnesota so we have been taking walks in the afternoon. I made a banana creme pie today from scratch, crust and all! And with meringue! I still use my Better Homes and Garden cook book. Hamburgers on the grill and pie for dessert. Snow is predicted for tomorrow so it maybe pancakes tomorrow night,
Love seeing the pictures of your flowers.
Love all your little quotes and tidbits of info. Your positivity and beauty shines through it all!!
Thank you for always brightening my day.
Best to you, Joe and Jack (what a very special cat).
Was so glad to see your blog today. Beautiful words, art and photos – just what we need! Thank you Susan. 💕
Dear Susan, I too have stopped watching the news and am revisiting your older blogs. Two of my favorites so far are Joe’s run in with the tea bag and the video of Sparky’s Kibble Dancing. They actually made me laugh out loud. Thank you for the distraction from the current situation. Still hoping we will see you sometime soon at the Apple Farm. God bless us all.
You got me giggling again, thinking of Joe with the teabag! Stay safe JoAnn! xoxo
Even though we are staying in our homes, physically apart, somehow there is a greater sense of togetherness, of belonging to the global family. Thank you very much, Susan, for tying us together with your incredibly beautiful, watercolour ribbons of hope. Love 💚, hugs 🤗 and faith to everyone across the world!
Thank you Susan for your wonderful blog post. As I sit alone in my home, anxious, and immunocompromised, with no family, and little contact with the outside world, your post has brought overwhelming peace, comfort, and love. Thank you for coming into my world. Sending loving thoughts your way. Stay safe! By the way, did I mention I have read your beautiful English Countryside book from front to back, a total of 9 times. Now’s a good time to pull it out for the 10th read.
Happy to visit. Yes, a tenth trip is perfect this time of year. Remember the ducklings and the swans … the lambs? Sending love Donna! Look at Zoom, perhaps a friend visit at this time is in order. xoxoxo💞
Dear Susan,
I love your post. It’s so inspiring and homey. I really wish my daughter could enjoy her home as much as I do. I love being home, playing.:) I would love to win your book. Thank you for the opportunity and thanks for sharing your little world!
Hello and thanks for the nice post! Doing well, but still can’t find toilet paper, hand sanitizer, disinfectant, yeast, or flour at the store. Hoping to have better luck finding this weekend! Stay well!!
Go online and see if you can find it. And when it comes, use gloves to bring in the box, and wash everything off with bleach mixed with water. xoxoxo
So happy to see your blog today. Much needed. [email protected]. Your fan Bev
Eagerly anticipate each and every one of your blogs but especially enjoy reading it right now to brighten an otherwise very long 6 weeks. Excited to jump back into my old familiar life when the time comes but doing my part by staying home for now and making the most of all the free time.
Thank you for cheering up my day! Your blogs always take me away to a magical place. I was born in Mass. and lived for 20 years in England, so everything you say is of great interest to me! Be safe and well, and know that you have made the day of many people all over the world. Big (distant) hugs!
Such uplifting words! Thank you!
Grateful for this bit of peace🌷
Loved all your fun ideas for things to do while we are all staying home!
Hi Susan. I saw you in England at the girlfriend picnic. I’m doing well. Working from home. Finding pleasure in small things. Loving my simple daily routine. Exercising. Calling, Facetiming and Zooming with friends. Baby Ruth and Sassifrass my kitty friends are snugglebunnies and giving lots of love. Thanks for reminding us about more trying times.
Diane in Minneapolis
That picnic is where I sometimes go in my imaginary get-a-ways! Ah, that air over the lakes, the winding lanes of Near Sawrey. Glad to hear you are well, hugs to your snuggle bunnies! xoxo
Thanks for your post, it’s like a gentle breath of spring air!
Love your sweet encouraging words… good for the soul, good for the world!❤️❤️❤️ Kim
Susan, You are a breath of fresh Spring air. I’m a widow for almost four years. I’m thankful John is not here to face this. He never would survive it. I keep telling myself…this is temporary
Happy early Birthday!
Virtual hugs to you and Joe
After reading your post I feel better. There is no place like home! Thank you!
Thank you for a respite from all the bad news! 💕 Debra Scharf