The month for
And guess what? YES! They’re here!
Blessing #1: The new cups started shipping out to you guys last week! If you haven’t gotten yours yet, they are on the way!!! They crossed the pond using every form of transport, plane, ship, train, truck, and slow boat to China … we don’t know how because no one would tell us, but the miracle is, all the way from the luv-lee potteries in Staffordshire, England, to Arroyo Grande, California, they have arrived! And for the most part, in one piece! Thank you for your never-ending patience! Reward? MUSICA!
The color turned out great! Here’s what the backs look like. As you can probably guess by the slow pace of the all-of-a-sudden infamous “supply chain” … unfortunately we will not be getting more of them before Christmas!! I THOUGHT we’d get these by September!!! If you were waiting until you saw the whites of their eyes, your time has come. They are here! And if this is the first time you’re seeing them, you can read more about them and see other designs we still have in stock HERE.
Blessing #2: Fall has come on very slowly this year.👏 A long fall is what I hoped for, and a long fall is what we’re getting! Usually, by this time, the leaves have turned and fallen and we’re raking them up . . . but right now the colors are at their best, and when you look out the window you see them, orange and yellow sparks twirling past in the wind. This was our walk in the middle of October! Green as green can be. Note the smooth and leafless road…
Then came a wild nor’easter! Worst winds I’ve experienced since I moved here! Wind gust was clocked at 96 MPH in Edgartown on the other side of the Island! This was our walk the day after … lot’s of visible wildness!
Tattered and torn leaves, branches, and pine needles carpet the dirt road to the sea ….
And a lot of missing sand, carved out and taken away . . .
I noticed this leaf on the ground, stepped right over it, but after a few more steps I felt I HAD to turn back and get a better look. WHAT was that? And take this picture. Right? The perfect cut-out “eyes” in the leaf were enough, but it wasn’t until I enlarged it that I saw the eyes had EYEBALLS!!! I’ve been saving it to show you. A wee note from nature!🍁
Storm was raging when I woke up and came downstairs in the dark, flashlight flickering around the kitchen like a lighthouse beam … the wildest of winds knocked out electricity for a lot of the island, including us … but our good old gas stove saved the day! The kitchen was warm and smelled like last night’s pot roast.
I lit myself a path through the wood room, flickering flames into the living room to my studio beyond … time to paint. It was a storm, but it was cozy and like a step back in time. No TV, no computer, a moment to just BE. Just like Gladys Taber said it should be!
Threw on a jacket and went outside to check on things the next day … at first I thought the wind had chipped the paint off the arbor! But those marks are tattered leaves plastered to almost everything, the arbor, the house, the car. The storm prematurely blew lots of leaves right off the trees! But our house stayed strong, as she has done since 1849. Knock on wood. These new type of storms we’re getting pack a wallop!
Lost one big tree behind the arbor … which was kind of good ~ it didn’t hurt anything, not even the picket fence, and it had shaded-out the roses on the arbor for years, so now, I get to grow roses again! A win-win! Blessing #4.
This is over our back fence behind the barn to the neighbor’s yard. They lost a tree too. This one is actually schmooshed right up against the windows of the house, but still no damage. Lots of huge old trees down all over the island…but we were lucky, no injuries that I’ve heard of, and all is back to normal. Blessing #5. Blessings galore.
And now? Thank goodness the storm didn’t take ALL the leaves! And they’ve finally turned color . . .
I took this picture of the back garden from an upstairs window… when the sun comes up and goes through the trees, we get warm gold light inside the house… Blessings just too many to number…but I think you can see them!
And here we are out walking in the woods …
Which are now ablaze . . .
Even the beach grass is on fire!
Lots of wild bittersweet . . . Mother Nature decorating earth. Just for us! How blessed are we?! I’m losing track!
This was today . . . the crows are having a field day!
Leaves coat the bottom of this puddle on the road, and trees reflect in the water. Isn’t it gorgeous?
This is the reward at the end of our walk . . . this little sandy salty windy beach…
We are listening to the book The Overstory right now, one ear-pod in Joe’s ear, one in mine, so we can listen together … it’s a Pulitzer-Prize winning novel and love story to Nature. Could NOT be in a better place to hear it . . . had to stop and smell a tree at one point, put my nose right ON it . . . so inspiring! Did anyone read A Gentleman in Moscow? That was our last read. I’m still not over it! My sister is reading it now; she calls me and we become the tiniest bookclub in the world hashing everything over!
When we got back to the car this was waiting. I PROMISE with all my heart we did not put that leaf there. It came on it’s own, just like you see it. Another blessing. 
Madly in love with nature . . .
Today it’s only about 48 degrees! Cold. Joe (Blessing extraordinaire) made us a fire, and now he’s outside putting on the storm windows . . .
While Jack investigates the mantle. All is well!
For those of you who read Fairy Tale Girl or Martha’s Vineyard Isle of Dreams, you might remember Elaine? She had the dog called Boxcar, was my boss at the record store, and fired me too? (Not her fault, she had to, I had become useless which you know was NOT MY FAULT!) She’s been my dear darling friend since 1971. She lived here on the island for 10 years, moved back to California 20 years ago but kept her house here ~ and now she has retired from working at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo and moved back here two weeks ago!!! I couldn’t be happier. She was born in Boston, so New England is really her happy place.
Elaine drove across country with her darling Westie, Ripper! He’s standing on his back legs in order to get a better look at Jack. Isn’t he adorable?
So, we now have Jack and the Ripper. But I have to say Jack is not that fond of the Ripper. Ripper would just like to lick Jack all over. But Jack is saying,
“Don’t even think about it.”
I’m just happy to have a cat that goes so well with the decor! Would hate it if he clashed!
But how could you go wrong. This is the secret to decorating. It’s like a movie set. Plain and unadorned. That way when the season changes . . .
I take the summer decorations upstairs and put then away until next year. . .
Then all I have to do is stick in different pillows, some fall flowers, quilts, and voila! It’s fall! Same thing and suddenly it’s Christmas!
Joe, Elaine, Ripper and I went off-island a few days ago. The first time any of us had seriously gone into stores for three years. We went to Pottery Barn. OMG. 
Every Christmas thing was out, sparkly, red and white, candles, and fluffy throws, perfect pillows, glass chandeliers … everything to set your heart on fire. The whole thing went to the happy zippy part of the brain. I was as excited as Ripper when he goes after Jack! We threw money at the cash register, bought tiny end tables, white felt and red sequin Christmas trees, napkins, candles, and star shaped pillows came home with us.
And this appliqué tablecloth! Needs to be ironed, but I wanted to see it on the table the minute I got home. I am going to LOVE Christmas this year, and I think I’ll just start now and have Thanksgiving and Christmas be a dynamic duo! Lights Camera Action!
We got our greeting cards back in!!
William Morris would be proud, recipes make them useful!
All about love . . .
Feeling the blessings! Especially when you think that this year we are going to be together. Fingers crossed it stays this way!
What else? I’ve been painting! Heading for my studio with Jack and my tea in the morning. . . listening to old movies while I do my watercolors …
Practicing people ~ I love painting people, but I’m still so nervous, I do the drawing, but putting on the first bit of paint is scary! The cup, you ask? I have that cup in real life only the shoes are blue. Isn’t it funny? Had to paint it.
This is my newest one… I love her … she hasn’t been scanned yet which is why the picture is so dark, it’s only a photograph. The book? My 8-year-old niece was reading it; she was OVER THE MOON about this series of books ~ so I thought, in her honor, I should include it in the new calendar.🧡 Normally I don’t have to turn in calendars until the first of March, but due to “supply chain” issues, the fact that everything is taking so much longer, they need them this year by January 1. So that’s what I’ve been doing. 2023! Eeek.
Something lovely happened. Erin, bottom left, called me out of the blue … she said her book club was reading my book Martha’s Vineyard Isle of Dreams and said they loved it so much would I would come to one of their meetings so they could talk about it … I’d never met any of these girls, and yet they all live here on the island! So of course I said yes… And here we are!
Look at Erin’s table! Isn’t it gorgeous? I wanted you to see it for possible Thanksgiving inspiration! That blue and orange together was spectacular! I didn’t even know it was going to be dinner! They all brought recipes from my cookbooks! I was so honored I was almost (stressing on that word) speechless! I got to hear about how they met! You know I have this closeness too with my girlfriends, but it was wonderful to be in the bosom of that same thing with a whole different group!
I love seeing other people’s houses! Erin’s house was wonderful. I loved how they put their library of great books all in colors!! Cute! And yes, Joe was there too, along with Erin’s husband, they ate in the kitchen and only came out to pour wine and wait on us! Men can be so adorable!💞
Yes! Second printing of Home for Christmas has arrived!!! In the Saint-Nick of time … considering the “supply chain” ~ we got lucky! Big help that we had it printed in the good old US of A!
If you need to be taken back in time to a 1956 Christmas, this true story will do it for you … in detail!
I had a wonderful time writing this book. It was especially good during the time I was losing my mother, my first and forever best girlfriend, to be immersed in the warmth of her love every day as I wrote and painted this memory. Definitely a blessing. Like a dream. ♥️
And speaking of home and the generosity of girlfriends . . . I got the best thing in the mail the other day… and it wasn’t even for me, it’s for you!!! Yes!
You’ve seen my autumn decorating for years now . . . and something almost everyone comments on that you can see in this picture is…
my Pilgrim candlesticks! They come out every year . . . I found them in an antique store about a thousand years ago and have never seen another set.
They are just perfect this time of year!
Aren’t they wonderful? The black is the best! But guess what? These aren’t mine! These are going to one of you!!! Yes, our girlfriend Bunny Perkins from 
Ohio spotted them on Ebay and sent them to me to give to you! Wasn’t that just the sweetest thing?! You know Joe hates having to stand in line to pick up packages at the Post Office, but this one, he forgave me for! Leave a comment at the bottom of this post (you’ll see a whole bunch of tiny words and near the end, click on “comments.” Just a word or two is all you need to leave in order to be entered for this giveaway!) Thank you Bunny! You’re a blessing, so very kind and thoughtful of you!
Have you guys seen the pictures of families reuniting at the 
airport now that they can come into America from other countries again?😥 It’s just like Love Actually (best movie ever made). After all these months, people are throwing themselves into each others arms and sobbing with joy. Sisters hugging sisters, couples hugging grandchildren. Makes you cry … makes your heart soar.
We get to have Thanksgiving at our house this year! I’m so excited! I was just reminded by one of our girlfriends that it’s the 400th anniversary of the first Thanksgiving!!!!🍁 The chicken stuffed with my grandma’s dressing was delicious last year because of course it was just us. But this year we get to have the real thing, with good old friends, light the candles, bake a pumpkin cheesecake. I already ordered the turkey! Yay yay yay yay!💃🏼
Here’s the guaranteed-to-please recipe from my Autumn Book . . .if you need it to be gluten free, all you have to change is the gingersnaps … get the gluten-free ones and voila! If you haven’t made this recipe I highly recommend it. Easier to make and more delicious than pumpkin pie, in keeping with the season!🍁
Well, the clock keeps ticking and the hands move closer all the time to when we’ll be heading off on our trip to England on board the Queen Mary 2. I think about it all the time! May 1. Here we come! I got my booster, yesterday we got our flu shots! Staying healthy! First requirement for getting on that ship! Where are we now … oh yes, must be around blessing #757. ♥️
Bye for now girlfriends. Going out on our walk with our book! I hope you are doing well and feeling festive. Both the quote above, and this one below, are very nice to read at our 400th Thanksgiving dinner! With all my love . . . .🎃 And don’t forget to sign up for the giveaway!🧡
🍁🧡🍁🧡🍁🧡🍁🧡🍁🧡🍁🧡🍁🧡🍁🧡🍁🧡🍁🧡🍁🧡🍁🧡🍁🧡🍁🧡🍁🧡
Thank you for this lovely read! I always feel like I’m right there with you when I read these.
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Always love your posts! Glad you have some leaves to enjoy despite the terrific storm!
Susan, I love to read your “letter”. I make sure I have a fresh cup of coffee and enjoy every word and picture.
I wanted to tell you how much I loved A Fine Romance. We visited England many years ago ; your story reminded me of some of the little things I forgot. I wished I had read it before so I might have been able to visit more places. England will always be in my heart.
It’s what happens. ❌⭕️❌⭕️
Thank you … love this news letter… hope you have a wonderful Holiday season~ Gail Pawl❤️
I have loved and admired that pair of candlesticks ever since I discovered your blog years ago. Maybe I’ll win them – that would be another lovely blessing to add to the list! And yes, I have read Gentleman in Moscow. A wonderful book, but hard to describe. Always look forward to your blog.
💖💖💖
What a wonderful read!!! Thanks love the dog Ripper on our 3rd Westie Deacon.
We have an inch of snow on the ground this am, here in Northern Saskatchewan, Canada. It’s dark and cold and stormy out…cuddling with my kittie and heading your blog on this morning was just what my heart needed. Blessings to you💕
Thank you for all your great pictures!
Looking forward to seeing my family and best friend this holiday.
Wishing everyone a happy and safe Thanksgiving!
Willard always takes me back to my childhood – where the best memories are stored♥️ Thank you, Susan!
I’m triple vax too. I got mine the same day – right before broke my shoulder!
We have 10 at Thanksgiving this year!
Thanks for another great blog!
❌⭕️
Always look forward to your posts with the beautiful photos, paintings and quotes. Love your name too!
Was so excited to see a new Willard! Wish you would combine all the Willards together. I have your Willard book for the old Willards and read it all the time. I can not tell you how many times I have read your books, I have 17 of them. Just pulling out the Christmas, still have the Autumn out and this time of year I combine some Autumn and Christmas recipes. Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family.
🍁🍁🍁🍁🧡
This Willard filled my heart. I adored Gentleman In Moscow, because Rostov reminded me so much of my dad.
Love your blogs….love your calendars……love your books! I have all of them!
When I use a recipe from your cookbooks I tell my family “I’m ‘Branch-ing’out!”
♥️
Going through a rough spot right now, and this Willard helped me to count my blessings. I laughed out loud when I saw your painting of the girl reading. Between the shirt and the book, it reminded me of Glennon Doyle’s book, Love Warriors.
Thank you Susan… You are a Blessing to me! Reading your blog newsletter gave me the lift and inspiration I was looking for! You helped me start to getting in the spirit of the Holidays! So much has happened in this last year and it suddenly is November! Lots to be Grateful and thankful for. My life is unfolding with many blessings everyday!
You are a Blessing Susan. I love, love love receiving your Willards. It’s a peaceful time for me to sit and read them. Thank you!
Thank you for the wonderful post! The candlesticks are beautiful. Happy Fall, Karen 🍁❤️
Oh, how I’ve always loved those pilgrim candlesticks ❤️. This was THE most wonderful read!
Imagine… Jack AND Ripper! How much fun! And the leaf with the eyeballs!!! So much goodness! Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
I loved going on a walk with you this morning! The picture of the ocean waves spoke to me.
Reminds me to get back up north and take a dip in Lake Superior 🙂
Thank you for the letter. I love the pictures of sweet Jack
Susan,
Thank you for this wonderful blog. I loved all of the pictures of the Island before and after the storm! So glad the storm didn’t do more damage than it did. When I heard MV was in the path of the nor’easter, I read your story about the first nor’easter you experienced on the island…love the book. It was nice that you reconnected with Elaine…I have found new Armenian relatives from my father’s side that I didn’t even know I had that live in Massachusetts. So much fun! Hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving. Blessings to you and Joe…
Could I be you for a day? Haha! Everything is beautiful!
Thank you! 🤣
We all have so many blessings to be thankful for! Thank you for the wonderful read! ❤️❤️
Hi Susan~
Love The Understory!🍁Such a long read but soooooooo worth it!🍂 Happy Fall❤️
Lena Verbena
I’m at the part where I’m getting so worried about everyone! 🙏 I want them to win!
I’ve been eagerly anticipating an autumn update from you! This was lovely. Thank you,Susan!
I feel so cozy now.
Hi Susan, I always enjoy reading your monthly newsletter and I love the wise quotes that you sprinkle throughout from different people, it’s so inspiring! And your Pumpkin Cheesecake recipe sounds so delicious!
I love your photos of the leaves on your walk! That one with the eyeballs was kind of haunting! Lovely, all of it🙂
How lovely to see another post from you Susan. I have always loved your Willards. I had a printed collection of them when I was in the UK. Unfortunately had to leave all that behind when I came back here to Canada. Can you believe its been a year already. Hard to believe. Time flies when you are having fun, so I must have been having a ball this year! I think I have been following your exploits in one way or another for over 40 years now. Always delighted with everything. You have some great tips here for changing up your seasonal decor by having plain furniture and just changing the accents. I am starting over from scratch, so need to pay attention. Love, LOVE your new Christmas tablecloth! How pretty is that. I am also happy that nothing was damaged in that terrible storm. What a blessing. That is how I have gotten through this past year, by counting my blessings each and every day and I have been abundantly blessed to be sure. I decided to buy your blessing cup because if ever there was a person who feels blessed, it is surely I. I added the Winter one as well because I have always wanted it and why the heck not treat myself! I wish for you, Joe, your friends and all the girls a very Happy Thanksgiving. Be Blessed and enjoy all of your “Masterpiece Moments.”
ღೋƸ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒღೋ That’s what we are all here for ღೋƸ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒღೋ
♥️♥️♥️♥️
Thank you for showing the picture of the leaf in your door handle! Seems like
a little gift or sign from heaven. I hope you get to light your Pilgrim candles in the midst of a wonderful Thanksgiving meal soon. They make your table complete! I wonder if Jack gets his own little special meal or table on Thanksgiving ?!
Gets a bite of turkey if he’s a good boy.🤣
What a great way to start the day! Here in Montana it’s cold and mostly gray… Except for the fall colored sunrise! Orange-tinged clouds in the east! Now there’s something to be thankful for! Thanks to you, as well!
Perfect timing, I am usually at work reading this on my lunch hour . . . in a hurry. Today though is a vacation day and I’m sitting in my room (on the east side of the house with the sun shining in, with a cup of Irish Breakfast tea and a blueberry muffin my husband made fresh this morning . . .reading your post. How delightful for me. We just have to take the time and look around and find lovely small things, treasures actually . . . like the leaf on the car door handle, the leaf with eyeballs. I’m always looking at leaves, too, and bringing them inside even though they may only last a day.
Hoping everyone has a wonderful Autumn Day today.
Love your blog and always enjoy every word! Happy Thanksgiving Susan!
Dear Susan, It’s always a great day when I receive your blog! I have been changing out my pillows with seasons just as you do! The trouble being I’m running out of storage space off season! We are truly blessed with the world getting put back together. I’ve heard the pandemic hopefully will be gone early next year. I’m so grateful as I wasn’t sure we’d be able to sail to England but with this news we’re both really looking forward to this trip with you and all your girlfriends! Cheers to a wonderful Thanksgiving and all that follows!
P.S. Love the pictures of Jack, he really cracks me up!
Can’t wait Sandi!♥️
Love the candlesticks. Would love to be the lucky winner. Such a cozy dining room setting. Great post, I always enjoy your posts. Love the photos too. We are having 10 for Thanksgiving. I will be hosting and am so looking forward to everyone being together. I am now triple vaccinated. Makes me feel like I am really doing my part to protect my family. Blessings to you. Happy Thanksgiving. Dianne
Oh Susan….food for my soul. Thank you for lifting hearts and reminding all of us that blessings abound. What could be more profound? Sipping tea with your sweet words…..my cup runneth over!
I do not need one more thing, but those candlesticks are precious. Loved “Gentleman in Moscow” – in my top ten list of favorite books. Loved that you could join a local book group – and for dinner – with your recipes! Enjoy the Holiday Season. We will see our kids for the first time on two years. I plan to smother them with hugs. All my best to you and family ( yes, that includes Jack!!).
I’ve read this 3 times already, more to come! I just love “visiting” with you. Your Isle of Dreams is my charming place in the world to daydream about. Thank you💙
Oh Susan……food for my soul. Thank you for lifting hearts and reminding all of us that blessings abound. What could be more profound? I am sipping tea as I read your words…..my cup runneth over!
💋💋💋
I thought about you when I heard about the strong nor’easter, not too long ago. So glad to hear no one was hurt through it all. Seeing the picture of the leaf with eyes really made me laugh! After nearly two years of not being together, I got to travel to Alberta, Canada, with my eldest daughter, Melanie and we got to hug my second daughter, Stephanie and my three grandkids! I thought they’d never let me go!
Dream come true!💖
I LOVE how you speak about the men in your world! It is so refreshing to know another girlfriend admires and cares for her male loved ones. I am weary of the bashing of good men! Thank you for your beautiful words and timeless art!
Well, it’s a little bit understandable in this violent world… my Joe bashes men sometimes! He likes living in peace! But when you got a good one, you have to tell him. ❌⭕️❌⭕️
What a treat this was to read! But to look at the photos was just bliss. I thank you for your “eye” & ability to see blessings in everything.
This was a blessing to me. Thank you, Susan.
Oh my goodness yes, I love those candlesticks! How sweet of her to buy them for a giveaway!
It is always wonderful to read your heart warming posts! Here in the Midwest we have also enjoyed a beautiful, long fall. My favorite time of year. Thank you for your positive and uplifting comments and especially the darling drawings. ❤
thanks for the blessing!!
Loved seeing all the everyday blessings that make each day special. Happy Thanksgiving to all.
How I wish I lived in your area!!! Everything is just so pretty!!! I love the candlesticks, but I really love the lamp on your table!! Thanks for another peek into your life and home!!!!!
Blessings on us all!
I’m feeling grateful for your thoughtful eye and your ability to inspire me! Thank you, Susan!
Thank you for this Willard, along with the beautiful pictures. My hubby and I are going leaf peeping through the Ozark Mountains today because they are at peak here in Eureka Springs, AR! Our destination is Emma’s Emporium in Jasper, a combination flea market, antique and curiosity store❤️ Happy holidays to you and yours💋
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
I always love reading your Willards. Thanks for sharing your blessings with us.
Susan,
How refreshing it is to read about your everyday life the beautiful pics and can’t forget your recipes so enjoy it all these candle sticks are just amazing so very different.
Thanks for the chance of winning this giveaway
Blessings, Sandy
Your home is so pretty. You and Joe are truly blessed to live on the island. Wish I could visit someday. Happy Thanksgiving.
Hi Susan,
Have most of your books and reread them. First time in coming to your site. I am honored to be here. Born and raised in Montana and about your age. Resonate with your time periods, but most of all your love of life. Laughed out loud on Jack and the Ripper. Loved it. Blessings and season greetings to you and yours.
Sharon Larsen
Thank you for your wonderful blogs and a chance to win the candle holders! Happy Thanksgiving!
Among my many blessings I count is the blessing of people like you who share and give of themselves. I always enjoy your newsletters full of inspiration and encouragement. May your Thanksgiving be full of blessings.
Just love your cat!
Love this post. And I just finished reading Overstory. It was a big book with lots of stories that all came together in such a wonderful way!!
Have a great Thanksgiving.
Dear Susan,
–been thinking about you (worrying a little) since I heard about the nor’easter. I’m really glad for this post and grateful to hear you’re all ok.
Our Autumn here has been very much like yours on the island.
And now that it is here I am savoring it too!
Lately, especially when the news weighs me down, I imagine us all–girlfriends holding hands in a circle that surrounds the globe– passing love and care from hand to hand. Sometimes it looks like a wide gold wedding ring. It helps me dispel (de-spell) the fear.
“One day an army of gray-haired women may quietly take over the Earth.”
Love to you all!
Love your blogs and writings have a wonderful thanksgiving ….I think if I could live anywhere in the World it would be in NewEngland …my 8th grade English teacher introduced me to it ..she went there every summer break and told us so much about in the books she had us read I have loved it ever since …
Melinda in Texasc
Love that, love our teachers, opening worlds we didn’t know existed!👏
Thanks so much again for your post! I love seeing your garden and lovely home! I am going to make your cheesecake soon! Happy Thanksgiving!
Many thanks!
Love to you and yours~
I almost feel as if I am with you there on your walks please enter me for the candle sticks give away. And as always thank you
Jack is so photogenic & reminds me of my girlfriend’s Romeo. My friend is a writer too! Small world!
Harvest Festival and Guy Fawkes Night are two of England’s highlights in Autumn that I miss now I live in Upstate New York, but how I love the Fall colours here and wonderful Thanksgiving celebration. Can’t wait to see my family in Yorkshire, Devon and Warwickshire early next year, it’s been over three years since I was home. Thank you so much for your wonderful Willard, photographs, everything.
Missing you all so much. Thank you for this beautiful blessing. I had just explained Willard to our 14 year daughter. Xxoo
I LOVED A Gentleman in Moscow! One of my top 10 all-time favorite books. I feel nostalgic just talking about it. If you haven’t looked it up yet, google the recipe for Latvian Stew. Just put in Latvian Stew from A Gentleman in Moscow and it comes right up. That is now one of our favorite recipes. And it is simple! I am not sure if it is ok to put in the link. But it is EASY to find. I loved this blog post. The beautiful photos and the reminder of blessings. I love this time of year so much. And Thanksgiving! My husband is a Mayflower descendant, with FIVE great-grandparents who landed in Plymouth. Blessings to you and Joe always.
Would be so blessed 🙌 to 🏆 win the candlesticks. It would ways .are me think of you Susan.
Thank you for your beautiful Fall post.
This was a ray of sunshine on a rainy day and cheered me right up!
There’s a hint of possible snow in the weekend forecast and I’m ready to think about Christmas decor….but turkeys first!
The wind has picked up today and our leaves are falling in northern Indiana. It is so sad to see them go but the long autumn has been wonderful. Please take care Susan.
Ahhhhh, Autumn! My very favorite time of the year! Thank you for the beautiful Fall foliage pictures/views! So sorry for the storm damage but, thankful for your future benefit of beautiful roses like you mentioned!
I always love to read your Willards It’s like getting a letter from a best friend! Thank you so much. Barbara ♥️
I always love your photos from your walks to the ocean. I also love how you decorate your house. I recently moved from Southern CA to Northern CA (where I grew up). I’m loving all of the changing colors on the trees. I can’t wait for you to share photos of the snow.
You know I will!🤣
Candlesticks aglow, nestled in where our conversations flow. Your flickering shines where we visit and dine. Please join us at our table as we talk of adventure and fable.
♥️♥️♥️👏
I have quilts that I so enjoy but will look into the tablecloth at Pottery Barn. Hope there are some left. ALWAYS enjoy pictures of your cozy home. Best wishes for a safe and happy Thanksgivings.
Happy Thanksgiving, Susan! Always a happy day when Willard arrives! Thank you for sharing your life and heart in all you do.
Loved this post. It made me happy. My calico cat, Abby and I
Sitting in bed with Rosie my kitty curled up at my feet. Enjoying your words and pictures, getting inspired for the days ahead. I’ll definitely make the cheesecake!
So many blessings!
I have adored these candlesticks. For years. Love them and all you post.
Susan, It is always so wonderful to receive your post, especially when it is in the fall of the year with such great pictures. I have admired your candlestick holders these past many years that your blog has made it’s way into my home in the Pacific Northwest and it would be so delightful to have a pair come make their way to my home.
Whenever the weatherman talks about the high winds and such on Martha’s Vineyard I think of you and Joe hunkered down with your cozy fire until it is over. Stay safe and have a wonderful Thanksgiving. We all have so many blessings for which to be thankful.
I look forward to reading your blog, it always takes me to a dreamy, cozy place in my mind and reminds me to count my blessings too!
I have so enjoyed this post! Thanks
Bunny is such a cute name… and my 8-year-old son’s favorite animal. (He doesn’t know that the rabbit-rabbit cup waits upstairs, no longer for birthday, but for Christmas, yay! Good things come to those patiently waiting sometimes).
Oh he will love it!👏❌⭕️
I am so in love with your cat! My husband just shakes his head and says I’m crazy. How can you love an animal you’ve never even met in person? I just shake my head back and say “I have no idea, but I do”😂
🤣🤣🤣
My longish comment just disappeared before posting. Rats! Now for a shortish version.
I always find something that helps me in some way in your blog posts, and this one added to the many. It was the picture from Pottery Barn of white sofa with red accents + your comments about changing things up seasonally. I had been dithering about how to furnish our new living room (we moved from the Cape to Plymouth a few months ago) and suddenly, because of you, I know exactly how I want our living room to look. I will tell people my interior decorator lives on Martha’s Vineyard and her decorating advice always suits my style!
Plymouth, as you know, is America’s home town. I love the thought of celebrating Thanksgiving here, where it all began. I loved living on the Cape and now, I’m sure, I will love living here. Cheers, and thank you for the decorating advice! From the former Joan of Cape Cod
I ADORE Plymouth! You’re so lucky! Happy decorating! Happy Thanksgiving!🍁
Thank you! I’m with you on Plymouth…charm galore. By the way, a recent stop at the Plimoth Patuxet Museums’ gift shop was a delight. It made me want to go home and bake corn bread and apple pie. And made me very grateful to live in this beautiful area.
Happy Thanksgiving to you, too!
Have you been to the graveyard? My Mayflower ancestor is buried there, overlooking the sea, we visited his grave. The whole burial ground is beautiful and so full of history. It’s the 400th Thanksgiving this year, is Plymouth doing anything special?🍁
Dear Susan…I said the SAME THING when I saw those airport reunions. Love, Actually! Thanks for the tip of each person using one earbud to listen when walking….I really never thought of that. One of my favorite things to do is listen to a book when taking a nice, long walk. Would love to win the candlesticks….though I think it will be just us again this Thanksgiving. Positivity rate is WAY too high in our are and people who are fully vaccinated are getting the virus. Prefer to hunker down for a bit longer and enjoy a cozy, romantic Thanksgiving dinner – then our tradition of watching Miracle on 34th Street! Enjoy your November!
Watching Europe… they have a lot of cases, and supposedly what happens there, comes to us next. Wonderful scientists still exploring … very interesting article HERE…❤️
This was a pure delight! Thanks!
Thank you for sharing your blessings!
Thank you Susan. Thank you Bunny.
Blessings to you both.
Peace and all good things.
Deb
Thank you for writing to us!
Happy Thanksgiving to you and Joe. 🙂
“If you’re worried, and you can’t sleep, just count your blessings instead of sheep…and you’ll fall asleep counting your blessings.”💕
I love you and your posts.
Thank you.
Hello Susan! What a wonderful Willard. Happy Thanksgiving to you and Joe and Jack.
Oh, such a delightful fall newsletter. Love the goings on and all the photos. What a storm! I’m glad everyone is okay. Now I’m quite ready for Thanksgiving!
You have been a part of my life since my boys were babies – they are big hairy men now 😉 and I’m a gramma. YOU are the blessing <3
😘😘😘❌⭕️
Love it!! Big Hairy Men. From one Deborah to another.
Debbie, with one foot in Maine, the other in Tampa
A new letter! Makes my heart happy. Loved seeing fall on the island. enjoy your thanksgiving. 😊
Happy Thanksgiving – looking forward to a wonderful holiday season this year.
Thank you for the lovely post. It feels like a special letter from you to me. A gift. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving! Thank you for the lovely giveway. Such a nice thing for someone to do.