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!🧡
🍁🧡🍁🧡🍁🧡🍁🧡🍁🧡🍁🧡🍁🧡🍁🧡🍁🧡🍁🧡🍁🧡🍁🧡🍁🧡🍁🧡🍁🧡
It’s amazing you made it through the storm without damage. Love the picture with trees reflected in the pond, also Jack and Ripper. They would look very cute together, but I think Jack says no way.
Hello Susan,
Read A Gentleman in Moscow a few months ago and it is now on my five top favorite books list. It’s a stunningly beautiful book and a fabulous story. I tried Overstory and found it so depressing I couldn’t finish it. I will give it another go but am curious how you are feeling about it. Do you think it very dark? Your letters are so inspirational and happy making. Wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving and yes our blessings are bountiful indeed.
Interesting that you ask. I’ve learned so much it’s worth it, but right now all the darling couples are in the trees and I’m scared for them. And I want the world to change. There are many who SHOULD read this, and maybe the world WOULD change. I don’t know how it will end… 🙏
I ordered a copy of A Gentleman in Moscow today and am looking forward to a good bedtime read as the weather turns colder and the quilts come onto the beds. 🙂 And thank you for the Cranberry Marmalade recipe! Looking forward to trying that, Thank you, too, for inviting us into you home through your blog ~
There’s one blessing your forgot……YOU!!!!! You and your art and joy are a blessing to all of us out here across the U.S, the world!
Would love to be included in your drawing!
Thanksgiving blessings to you and yours from us, here in northeast Iowa.
My four “fur kids” send holiday “purrrrs” to Jack too!!!
😘😘😘😘
Loved hearing from you again. Your message of fall was lovely.
What a fun treat to have in the mail! Thanks for waiting in the line Joe!
Susan, Your books have given me joy, calm, quiet moments and peace to dream.
Having the sweet Pilgrim candleholders on our Thanksgiving table and beyond
Would be like having Susan and Joe, my special friends, joining use for dinner.
I would also enjoy your company as the candles flicker and I sip my tea in my new
Rabbit, Rabbit mug.
My mother taught me about Rabbit, Rabbit when I was in
college many years ago. She was very dear to our family until she passed at 96, six years ago.
Since I was a child, my mother celebrated Christmas morning with a unique tradition.
She would have a table gift at each person’s place for our dinner. Each was wrapped the same way with a new theme each year. The wrapped gifts also had a theme, sometimes silly and
Funny. One year we all received fancy undies! My sister and I have continued the tradition with our own families. This year my daughter and daughter-in-law will receive Rabbit, Rabbit mugs for their tea!
Thank you Susan, for bringing joy and sweet memories for me and my family.
Thanks for the sweet autumn thoughts!
Thank you for this very uplifting blog! I loved every bit of it. The book club is positively amazing to put on such a wonderful dinner in your honor! They are very lucky to be in your neighborhood. This is my favorite time of the year and so terribly happy to live on the East Coast! The candlesticks are a treasure! Wish I could have found them on eBay also. So kind of her to send them to you! Enjoy your Thanksgiving!!
The leaves are definitely hanging on forever this year. Loved your comment on art from the heart. I taught school for 37 years ( middle school). Our art teacher always decorated her door. One year for Valentine’s Day. Sha had a huge heart and it said “have a heart for art”. Our principal moved one letter and everyone was in histerics. He moved the “f” and placed it before “art”. It then read “have a heart or fart”!
A Gentleman In Moscow is one of my favorite books of all time. So glad you have someone dear to share in the joy of it!
How wonderful for you, and for the book club, that you were able to join them. Beautiful table setting, too. Happy Thanksgiving to you and Joe, and Jack!
Thank you, Bunny Perkins from Ohio! Thank you, Susan!
Received my BLESSED cup. I love it.
Going to try and make your pumpkin cheesecake recipe.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Lovely, just lovely. It is quite surprising that you hadn’t met the other nine ladies in the Book Club. Hope they all become friends. Have a happy Thanksgiving and a glorious Christmas.
Susan, I’m with you on Amor Towles’ writing! Loved The Gentleman in Moscow as well as Rules of Civility and just finished his new one – The Lincoln Highway. You and Joe will love the adventure and characters in this one! Thanks for the beautiful pictures of fall on the island. Happy to read all is well despite the terrible storm!
Loved the Willard and all the thankfulness.
Thankful for your Willard today! Happy Thanksgiving!
Thanks for your infectious positivity in all things Susan ~ and yes, I would LOVE a set of those candlesticks for when my parents finally get to come visit us again for Thanksgiving in two weeks – they were last here in NYC in Feb 2020, just made it out safely by the skin of their teeth I think, and so glad they will be here again!
WOW..that was some storm! Glad all is ok…so many are still recovering from this year’s crazy weather…some for weeks and months on end. Let us hope that the idea of helping your neighbor, stepping up, paying it forward, still is strong…therein lies the true blessings of our lives. Thanks for reminding us once again that one does not have to look far to see the blessings in simple every day joys.
Happiest Thanksgiving wishes to you and yours.
Beautiful thoughts to warm every heart. Thank you! Best Blessings in the days to come.
Such unique candlesticks. We lived three years in Boston and loved the New England charm. Nobody does it as well as you. I love seeing the pictures of your seasonal changes.
I would just die if I won the candlesticks. Enter me in said contest, please.
You have such a warm, full of love & humorous way of writing. Those unique leaves you found are amazing! So glad to hear you were invited to an island book club that read your books. A far cry but such a delightful one to be accepted & beckoned to this group. (I remember reading in Isle of Dreams that when you first moved there, there wasn’t as much “welcoming.” Boy have times changed & all for the best. With warm thoughts Carol R.
Hello again
Well I was missing you and wondered when your blog would appear in my mailbox. I went to the web and saw that it should have happened yesterday…alas since the “forbidden” snafu” I have not been receiving the email blog, but have been reading it from the web! I thought we had it fixed last month. I did receive an email that all was well…BUT sadly not so. Love the blog…it is such a comfort. Glad I can get to it online!
Can you try signing up again? Click HERE…♥️
So lovely as usual- just made my day- thank you as always. I live in southern California in the winter but get to spend summers in RI in a glorious old house with my eldest daughter and family, not too far from your Island. In fall and winter I get to see pictures of New England through your posts. I really appreciate that! Have a wonderful holiday season coming up. I am enjoying a brief autumnal lull before Thanksgiving, Hannukah and Christmas show up with all their cheer and this year- PEOPLE!! Hurrah!
Thank you Susan for your beautiful inspiration. Beauty heals:)
I sat here on my patio, while the leaves were swirling and enjoyed all the colors of your leaves as well! I love the change of season. I am making the pumpkin cheesecake for this year’s turkey dinner, yum! Thank you!
Dear Susan,
O, what a wonderful Willard this is!!! Thank you so much for blessing No. 758! How many times, do you suppose, have you been listed as a blessing in Girlfriends’ blessing books??? If mine is any guide, a LOT! You’ll make my list again tonight for sure.
Blessings on the head of Bunny Perkins! Please throw my hat in the ring. Like everyone else, I find your pilgrim candle holders perfectly darling, and have been on the lookout for a pair since ever I first saw them in your photographs. Please ask Bunny to share, and then share with us… what was the title of the ebay auction they were listed in? I’ve tried many times over the years, but my search terms on ebay have not brought me to anything that remotely resembles these. Thank you, and thank you Bunny! Best name ever… do you say Rabbit Rabbit Rabbit or Bunny Bunny Bunny on the first of every month? (I learned you say it three times, so I can’t stop at just two bunsters.)
A couple of weeks ago, I collected lots of the very tiniest red leaves while they were still on these beautiful trees in my neighborhood, then dried them flat and added them to my November “holiday display.” This is a new display I make on my kitchen window sill each month out of different favorite little treasures I have around the house. I always add some little fresh flowers, and maybe a tiny plant or some wee produce too, whatever fits my theme. For November these beautiful tiny red leaves (plus little cobs of Indian corn and deep purple stock) are the Nature in my display, while the cottonwood tree in my backyard, with leaves now golden yellow, provides the outside backdrop. Happy!
LOVED Jack and the Ripper pictures and story. :@)
Hope you and Joe and each soul around your table have the loveliest of Thanksgivings!
Bunches of love, xoxox Coco
Ditto to Amy’s comments.You are always there when I need you most.
🧡🧡🧡🧡🧡🧡🧡
Happy FALL to you! Thank you for another lovely visit via Willard!
Wow, people are so generous! Thank you and happy autumn!
Oh, what a wonderful Willard. All things fall, all things crisp, all things that smell divine. Thank you!
Hello Susan – so good to read another post from you. I love the pictures of Autumn – almost my favorite time of year! Thank you for sharing with all of us.
Thanksgiving blessings from beautiful Colorado!
You are always a breath of fresh sea air Susan. Thank you for brightening up my day. We had to put our beloved Sheba dog down yesterday and I’m lost right now.
😥I’m so sorry Barb’ry …
Thank you! It’s amazing how much an animal can become such a huge presence in ones life.
What a great festive fall post! Thank you Bunny for the opportunity to win the pilgrim candlesticks – I love them! I’m glad the storm brought blessings instead of damage. I love the nature photos – it’s my favorite time of the year to be outside. Here in central Georgia summers are killer hot! The fall is such a glorious relief when it comes!
Susan I love your posts. They always leave me wrapped in warm memories. Everything that is good and kind and saturated with love, family and friends.
Thank you for always always doing that. Iris Shubert
I absolutely adore those candlesticks, and all things Thanksgiving for that matter. I grew up in Massachusetts and only recently found out, through the magic of DNA testing, that I am a direct descendent of William Brewster, Pilgrim. I guess I came by my life-long Thanksgiving love naturally after all! Couldn’t be all those years of having a fabulous dinner in my beloved Grandmother’s Victorian house, eating till we groaned and then made room for pie anyhow…..ah, the memories.
Read both books, but loved Gentleman in Moscow the most! I love that you two share earbuds. 🙂
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
My cup runneth over with joy finding this post. Thank you Susan for being you and in my world. I so loved seeing Jack peeking up onto the mantel. Great shot! Happy Thanksgiving dear Susan and Joe and Jack. Blessings to all ~
Oh, how I’d love to have those candlesticks to use all year. They are so American.
The Gentleman from Moscow is my now all time favorite book. I was so amazed that the author was not Russian, but from Boston. I keep looking that up because I thought, “he has to be Russian”.
I don’t know HOW he did that. He should donate his brain to science (when he’s done with it of course!😂).
Oh, how happy I am when I see your name pop up in my email!! Today was the perfect day to read your blog. My daughter moved to Oregon in July and this will be the first holiday we have been apart. I am feeling sad, but trying to not let it take over. Your writing and pictures cheered me up immensely – as they always do. May you and Joe (and Jack of course) have a wonderful and Happy Thanksgiving.
I just finished reading A Gentleman in Moscow half an hour ago. Excellent book! When I clicked on the link you provided I was delighted to discover that there is a TV series in the works.
Enjoy the wild weather of late fall in New England!
Such a fan, Susan! Your words and your art are a light in my life. I would LOVE to win this giveaway. But, even if I don’t, I want to thank you for the years of inspiration, smiles and the occasional tear. 🍂❤️🍁
Susan….dear..dear… Susan. How wonderful to read this post about recognizing our blessings. I so needed this. I lost my beautiful 95 year old mother on September 23rd and my heart hurts. I was so incredibly blessed to have her as my mother. I know you too lost your mother this year. As we are in the season of blessings and as we enter into the beautiful and magical season of Christmas I pray that I can ponder all the love and joy my mother left us and be a blessing to someone. I will pray for you Susan and will be so appreciative of any prayers you can lift for me and my brother Greg, Greg moved home to care for mother during the last 8 years of her life. He was so wonderful to her and he is struggling. Today he handed me a cut out from one of your Calendars for Autumn. Mother had it in her drawer beside her chair. Prayers that you and Joe are filled with much Joy and Peace.You both make a difference for others.
🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏 I’m so sorry for your loss Janie. Please give Greg a hug for me . . .🧡
Thanks! Blessings to you and Joe in 2022!!
I did read A Gentleman in Moscow and couldn’t put it down! Amor Towles is such an amazing author. I’m looking forward to reading his new book!
The photo of Jack standing on the dictionary is priceless!
I have always loved these candlesticks! Thank you Bunny, and Susan!!
Excited for my new mugs!
Thank you!
Happy Thanksgiving!
❤️Erin’s home!!
Susan, your posts are truly a blessing. I savour every word and read them again and again!
Many Thanksgiving blessings to all of you!
Hi Susan. I feel like we are long-lost friends because of our connection through living in Arroyo Grande AND the fact that going to Martha’s Vineyard and everything else New England had been a fantasy of mine for at least 45 years (maybe more!). Living in Los Angeles, I even subscribed to Yankee Magazine during my twenties and dreamed of living in a Salt Box house. That dream did not come true but some dreams I never saw coming back then did come true. Love everything you do.
Yes, I read “A Gentleman in Moscow!” Thank you for the recommendation. I loved how he really was always (or almost) a gentleman and it always worked in his favor. He made the best of a touch situation and he really was able to be happy. Thank you for sharing this book and all of the other wonderful things you fill your life with!
I love how the author brought all of life’s adventure TO the hotel, instead of him going out to find it! Genius!♥️
Thank you to Bunny! And as always, thank you, Susan, for the many blessings you bring us! Happy Thanksgiving!
Susan, you always brighten my day with your love and talents – so much of both.
AND – I just love your Jack.
Love and blessings always to you and yours.
Fran in N.J.
Thanksgiving blessings to all!
Phyllis
Love your posts!! ❤ Happy Thanksgiving 🦃
Glad you survived the storm! Blessings on Thanksgiving. Great to be with friends and family again!
Some Bunny Loves all of us! Have a happy and blessed Thanksgiving.
I absolutely loved A Gentleman in Moscow! It is one of the few books that still has my heart captured after a year. I didn’t want to be parted from the Count! It sounds like you and Joe have enjoyed the book as much as I! Now I need another one equally captivating!
Patti Gill
Wow, two big joys in my life today. Friends got two puppies, and is there anything more joyful than perhaps two kittens. And this newsletter. Thank you for so much for being who you are and for sharing it with us.
Lovely thoughts here as always. I was born in Philadelphia and enjoyed learning about the Quakers who were and are so much a part of our history. I think the candlesticks are lovely.
Happy Thanksgiving to you and all.
Blessings abound and I share this with my dear friend Patty who is a blessing to me♥️🙏
Hi Susan, I always look forward to your Willard’s. I hope you have a wonderful and healthy Holidays.
Dale.
Hello Dear Susan:
I actually took time to sit down to read and thoroughly enjoy this post. Love your description and photos of your island Autumn. The blue Thanksgiving table is just lovely. I have a similar blue set and plan to do the same. Oh, please pick me..pick me…pick me!!!
So happy you came through the storm without major damage. I love your newsletters, books and calendars. I especially love Home for Christmas as it reminds me of my childhood. And my mom. We are fortunate to have these memories!
Have a blessed Thanksgiving and Christmas. Hug everyone!
Last (maybe) but not least (hopefully) and blessings to us all!
I can tell you’re right handed by looking at the wooden spoons… (I’m left handed, but guess I haven’t used my spoons enuf…)
Pilgrim candlesticks… sigh…
I’ve read your book Martha’s Vineyard Isle of Dreams 3 times now.
It gives me hope. People mend and thrive!
I hope your Thanksgiving is especially joyous this year!
Mine will be with my new granddaughter. Life is good!
May we all be happy and thankful for something.
Thank you for this wonderful blog I got today. It is touching
and sweet!
Best Thanksgiving wishes!
I like your new hair style! (New to me.)
I grew out my bangs for the first time in my life during the Pandemic. I am so CLOSE to not need bobby pins to keep it off my face!👏 Thank you for the sweet words Maryann!
I love, LOVE the day when a Willard arrives in my email. They always warm my heart.
Blessings abound this year. May your holidays be filled with joy, love, family, and friends.
Loved ALL of this!! Can’t single any detail out- every topic, every photo, description, your people paintings, lucky book club girls, the Gladys Taber quote, the quotes to be read at Thanksgiving, your couches (just exactly like mine!!!!) and more…this was a lovely Autumnal and Christmasy treat! And I’m making that cheesecake for Thanksgiving!!! Thank you!!!
Lots of love to you, Joe and dear Jack!
Dear Susan,
What a beautiful blog! I will read it several more times! Enjoy Thanksgiving with friends this year. Yes, we are so BLESSED!
Thank you,
Diane
Hello! Barbara from Northern California here! I love reading and seeing all the gorgeous pictures! But I am new to this blog and what is the meaning of Willard? Thank you Susan for creating so much hygge/koselig things (Scandinavian words for “cozy”)!
Thanks, Susan, for a wonderful Willard!
Wishing you and yours a wonderful Thanksgiving. Your blogs always make me feel warm and cozy. You are on my list of things to be thankful for — now and always.
I love Fall and your photos are so beautiful! Thank you for putting me in the holiday spirit!
Oh Susan, you are so wonderful. I was thinking of you yesterday when I got news that one of my student has rhappily returned to the Queen Mary #2 in London for another tour as staff. She is a shining star and I know those that are served by her adore her.
Lena is such an amazing young woman, like you a girl with purpose and sunshine emanating off her in every direction…I’m going to send her one of your books so she can keep a lookout for you and Joe on your next ocean journey. 😉
Also, thanks for the recipes.
Hugs,
Rejena
Wouldn’t that be fun! Tell her to look for us on May 1 crossing, NY to Southhampton!👏
Your wonderful words and pictures always seem to arrive on just the right day. Feeling a little tired after my booster shot yesterday, so I’m enjoying curling up on the sofa to read your blog. Thank you!❤️
Lovely update and Thanksgiving Blessings to you Susan, Joe and all your readers. Grateful hearts to be able to celebrate with family and friends this year. Your Autumn book is one of my prized treasures. 🍁🍂🧡
Dear Susan:
Happy Thanksgiving to you, Joe and Jack. Enjoy reading your blog so much and Willard, too. Hope that blessings continue to fall from the heavens onto your little corner of this wonderful, glorious world!
Hello Susan,
I so enjoyed this Willard and everything inspirational in it (recognized a few pics from Twitter). I’ve been reading your Willard newsletter for AGES and remember when we received them by “snail mail.” I still have all of my copies (somewhere in our basement storage) from when I first subscribed (1995). Yes, I have read AND listened (via Audible) to A Gentleman in Moscow. Rich with dialogue, well-developed characters (that you loved or didn’t), and descriptive settings. My mom just finished Rules of Civility by Towles and I’ve just started The Queen’s Gambit. Autumn is the best time of year for a good book! Which reminds me, I need to read my copy of Home for Christmas for the umpteenth time! Ha! Enjoy all of your lovely island colors!
Love from SW Idaho,
Samantha
“We gather together to ask the Lord’s blessing . . . ” Thank you!
Happy Thanksgiving Susan! My son, daughter in law and my beautiful grandson arrived this past weekend to visit for three weeks! It will be a great Thanksgiving!
I’ve loved silhouettes since I was a little girl reading biographies of Colonial girls (the “Little Maid of …” series) — the pictures were always silhouettes. Your candlesticks remind me of those. Love this fall blog and all the beautiful photos. Thank you!
I always have such good feeling after reading your monthly blog. Such an uplifting one. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving with your family. I have just moved back to the Chicago area last week after living in Florida so will be having my first Thanksgiving here with family in many years. Hugs to you both.
LOVE. THEM.
Happy Thanksgiving. I like to see the leaves change colors
Thanks to the kind soul who found them to share them! I’ve loved those candle sticks as long as I’ve followed you and have never found similar ones!
I love Autumn and decorating is so much fun! Would love to win the candlesticks! Great Willard!
I am always delighted to find your blog in my mailbox.
Such lovely photos.
Hiii!
Loved, loved love the water color mud puddle🥰. Can hope you’ll try painting it? As probly along with everyone else I feel for the special candlestick holders ! Ahhhh. Dashing yet dear!
Thankful for you and your lovely sharing Jack, Ripper! And all these lifting blogs. Thank you!
How perfect that my mugs arrived today on my doorstep. I am so thrilled with them ! I think my most favorite part of the mug is the quote on the handle; My favorite prayer is Thank You. And the pansy on the bottom. And the little birdie. And the Rumi quote. I think I just love it all, it’s perfect. Thank you! Blessings to you Susan.
Love to see photos of your cozy kitchen ! I too collect vintage linens and love the embroidered ones from the thirties and forties. They look so at home in my 170 year old farmhouse kitchen.
Hope your holidays are filled with everything wonderful !
Love the photos of the storm… Nature can be powerful. Those candlesticks are adorable.
Hi Susan,
Love the Pilgrim candlesticks and plan to make your pumpkin dessert this week. The colors here in Kansas are beautiful this week but not like the maples in New England.
Have a great holiday,
God’s Blessings,
Becky Ross
Thanksgiving Blessings. Love the pilgrim candlesticks.
Dearest Susan,
I just love reading your posts. They make my heart soar, and keep me so centered in this topsy turvy world. Wishing you, Joe, and all your family and friends a beautiful Thanksgiving.
Nancy 🙂
You are the bright spot of my emails ! Thank you for taking the time to share so many pics and details . I am basically housebound , and I enjoy each and every detail and picture.
♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️
Pilgrim candlesticks are lovely. Thanks!!
Thank you for all of the autumn pictures, especially of your warm home. Love the pilgrims! I look forward to your messages and art.