Green is the emblem of optimism. Like a green traffic light, setting us free to GO! It’s also the color of Spring! This will put you in the mood even if spring is coming in on little duck feet where you live! MUSICA!
IT’S SO CLOSE!
Still a lot of attitude out there! (Dark cold short days do that to a person!)
But, as we know . . .
JUST SING!
This is our idea of OH MY GOD IT’S SPRING!!! SHOUT IT TO THE ROOFTOPS. Daffodils!
JOE! COME LOOK, TULIPS!
So we walk under leafless gray trees, through the woods to the gray sea . . . breathing clean ocean air, listening to the most 
wonderful English accents reading us the most wonderful books, still a little bleary-eyed from jet lag caused by daylight savings time, but too absorbed in The Last Bookstore in London to care. And THAT’S how you fight reality! Which I know you know. And P.S., that book was wonderful, you would love it! We get inside these stories and don’t want to come out. On the rare days we decide to just listen to the wind, the stories are now in the woods and wrap themselves around us as we walk. We fed the woods and the woods feed us back.🥰
We commune with the sun, when it comes out, we lap it up ~ and my watch says, “Good Girl, you walked 23 miles this week,” and I give myself a gold star, and my dad whispers, “Good work.”
And all the while, I know this dreamy thing is coming . . .
I’ve been getting lots done. Staying close to home, watching some fun TV, just BEING. I’ve so enjoyed this period of quiet, of rebirth I believe, just in time for spring, I’ve been deep in the throes of what I call the 
foundation for the creation. It’s working, I feel excited, my head is filled with ideas, I’m always grabbing note paper, writing in my diary, or typing out a quick paragraph of ideas … I can’t wait to see where they go. You might remember that during the Pandemic I shredded most of my diaries, freed them, is the way I like to think of it. (You can read about the philosophy of shredding HERE) . . . I kept a few pages, but let most of them go. I still have several diaries, my dinner-party diary of course, my England diary, a couple of others . . .
and this one (above) . . . it’s a long diary, it goes from 1992 to 2007! It comes from pre-internet days, before digital cameras ~ before phones, or blogs! When we still shopped in actual stores! So much good stuff in that book, almost the entire 90s! Little notes, bits of art, photos, plus, I didn’t say anything quite as moronic as I did in those first books.
Of course, I saved this page. So funny, asking that question while I’m writing! I just didn’t know yet. But I imagine that even Shakespeare asked himself this question when he was young. It’s got to be a question every dreamer asks themselves in some way or another. Which makes me think, for my own little world, that maybe I wasn’t a late bloomer like I thought, I was probably right on time.
Anyway, back to this diary, only one problem: Poor thing was dragged onto too many trains and is now coming apart. It had a cloth spine… what was I thinking!
It’s a very fat book . . . but the pages are still holding together,
. . . they’re stuffed with all kinds of bits and pieces, a newspaper clipping when Frank Sinatra died in 1998, my first national book tour schedule for Girlfriend’s Forever in 2000 (by train), a note from me to God thanking Him for not “letting me have arthritis,” lovely bits of fan mail, a recipe card from my mom for Green Bean Casserole, a ticket stub for Miss Potter ~ and so much more, making this diary even fatter . . .
This is how the happy gene manifests . . .Good old 1999!
I don’t want to lose this book . . . so, yesterday it went off to Mitzie Pratt, a bookbinder here on the Island… she will put it back together for me, and give it a brand new spine! There are a few blank pages left in the back . . . so maybe I will give it a 
little 2023 update.
And other things I’ve wanted to do have also been checked off my list ~ I finally got our wedding rings in to be engraved ~ I’ve always wanted to do that, and it’s finally happening.💞 Sending some of that love out into the world all alone someday. Also, I found a 1923 dime on my dad’s grave the first time I visited, I took that in too, to make a pendant out of it. He was born in 1923! And it’s 2023. So this is the perfect time. I’m having them put a gold ring around the outside, with a loop for the chain.💖 For forever. And, guess what just came in? ⬇️ Samples!
Our cups!!! They arrived from England for approval, which they definitely got! Color turned out great! They do such an amazing job!❤️ They’re being made now and, as promised, will ship at the end of April. I just wanted to show you. I can’t give an exact arrival date right now, because once anything is shipped these days, no one is ever quite sure when it will get to its destination. But never fear, we will stay on top of it, as I receive notices and more information, I will share it with you!!! I’m thinking May . . . but we will see.
Aren’t they wonderful? I’ve already had tea in all of them! Took ’em on a test run! ❤️ We haven’t sold out yet, they are all still available, but I should say if you want the Queen Elizabeth cup, you probably need to order soon.
My book, Fairy Tale Girl has been hard to find anywhere but on our website, and we’re down to just a few, saved just in cases, for Girlfriends. . . because we sold out everywhere else! So now, it’s being reprinted . . . the printer sent me the entire book so I could check the pages for color and layout, be sure the cover is right, and make sure it has that new book smell. I am still getting thank you letters for this book, warming the cockles of my heart.
And not just one book reprint this time . . . two!
Because A Fine Romance, Falling in Love with the English Countryside has also been missing in action! Thank you so much for liking them! You know it’s all you . . . your word of mouth that has made this possible. Mom’s to daughters, sisters to sisters, girlfriend to girlfriend ~ and so many of you took that word of mouth to Amazon.💖 Such a huge help! Word of mouth, my very favorite thing. Who do you trust more than your mom or BFFs? No one! I love it for my books, for movies, restaurants, exercise, for EVERYTHING actually, and feel just the same about it for the books I read … We are a sharing bunch aren’t we!?! Kindred spirits!
Oh yes, they sent the ribbons too! All approved and I bet we get them in the next month or so.
And yes, we also ran out of our fine art giclee prints . . . they are all being reprinted and will be coming to the Studio any day now! Beautiful reproductions on heavy watercolor paper ~ the color is so good it’s very hard to tell the difference between them and 
the originals! I left enough white paper on the sides and top so you can frame them if you like. I will sign and number them before sending them to the Studio for our webstore. And SURPRISE! See the geranium there on the right? That is a print of the very first painting I ever did, when I was 30, before I even knew I could paint. Painting this geranium with my brand new Birthday watercolors was a real awakening. I have one here in the house and I thought it would be fun as a giveaway ❤️❤️❤️ . . . I’ll personalize it to whoever turns out to be the winner of our drawing … so leave a comment (you’ll see where to do it directly under the end of this post… click on the word “comment.”) I just want to show how much …
And that’s the truth! You’re family! One of my favorite things about winter is how quiet and hushed it is here on the island. Tourists aren’t here yet, ferries sometimes stop running due to the weather, otherwise I can hear the boat horn echoing every time it leaves the dock. We have church bells clanging and ancient sad sound of foghorn too. All we need for perfection is a train whistle! Dark quiet mornings before sunrise, just me and Jack, a cup of tea, and my watercolors, are a pure gift to my life.
I’ve been painting . . . so fun to watch a piece of art come to fruition … the smell of the paper, the pencils, it’s back to school time for me. I start with a sketch, decide where her shoulders should be, what her hair might be, hat or no hat, what groceries should she have, what colors, everything . . .This is where the eraser comes in handy. I think of my eraser the same way as I do my seam ripper . . . tools I could not live without.
Once I like the basic idea, I redraw it on the “good” paper . . . Then comes the scariest part . . . putting on the first paint. Still scary after all these years!
Then I begin adding the layers of paint, trying not to hurry, enjoying every hair in my two-haired paint brush! Right here is where I sometimes want to stop! I love it right now! But then, I think, those lips, gotta do them! I’m trying to get ahead of next year’s calendars with some new art. And while I paint, thoughts and ideas pop into my head, so I write them down before I forget, sometimes it’s just a few lines, sometimes I have to stop because the idea takes pages . . . Everything seems so inspiring to me! Must be the longer light in the day, Spring! Or maybe the books we “read” while walking, I think about them, the magic the authors portray with their words, those wonderful wonderful words . . .
So in honor of St. Patricks Day AND the first day of Spring, I thought I’d give you some GREEN. I file my photos in lots of different ways, and one of them is by color! For all of you suffering from constant storms, and for everyone else living on the edge, ready for some green, I give you . . .
Almost time to mulch and dig my picket fence garden . . . and I can’t wait!
Green, most wonderful quilt, and Jack, one happy cat, make my kitchen a little bit of heaven.
Slippers warming next to the heating vents. So I can take off the cold ones and put on the warm ones. Foxy, don’t you think?🤠
The green rag-rug collection getting a little fresh air.
Luv-lee green glass, antique store find.
From my 2020 English Countryside photo Calendar…
. . . I should have included this miniature car covered in artificial grass in that calendar! Must totally disappear driving through the hedgerows! English people have the best sense of humor!
Green!
My happy cutie in the English Countryside, wearing his Scotland scarf.
In honor of Girl Scouts Week, my cooking badge. Didn’t quite make it to the sewing needle, still pinned on my sash where my mom put it.❤️
A window in a cottage in the Cotswolds. Kitty curtains framed in Green!👏
Driving through Vermont in the snow.
And the reason I LOVE clover and let it do anything it wants. But what I really need are sheep!🍀
Here we are at Carrie’s house in Oxford. As you can see, she has the charm decor gene in spades ~ loves green too!
Here’s how to make them: Cut stem flat against artichoke. Rinse it in water. Boil a pan of water, enough to cover artichoke. When it boils, add 
all ingredients except lemon juice … Check it after about 20 minutes to see if fork slips into stem easily. It’s done when it’s soft. Drain, and squeeze on lemon juice just before serving. It’s good hot or cold. Pull off a leaf, dip the wide end in mayonnaise, or mix mayo with lemon juice, or try melted butter ~ and pull “meat” off with your teeth. Keep going this with each leaf until the leaves are too flimsy. Then scoop out the center choke, dip and eat the “heart!” Yum. Fun to grow and they make the perfect dinner for losing that last 10 pounds, or the first 20. Here’s why they’re good for you!
Me, on a walk in the New Hampshire woods!
Needlepoint pillow. Goes with walls, lamp shade, green in chair, little Irish house roof on hutch. Goes good with Christmas too!
Me, way back when I lived at Hollyoak, when the cows escaped into my backyard from the farm next door, and I ran outside to see them, paintbrush in hand!
Beach booty. Heart shaped rock for the collection.
This is the color we get in spring . . . I call it “screaming New England green.” It’s like the day green was born! So green it even reflects on the gray roof of the house and turns it green!
Despite what this camera says, this is green . . . and it’s our dining room the way it was in 1989 a few days after we moved in ~ I’m playing house, setting the table for our first dinner party in our new home, which, I can tell by the bowls, nutcrackers, and lemons, was lobster! I’m pretty sure I bought the white paint for the trim and started tearing that wallpaper off the next day!🤪 That’s Girl Kitty. Jack isn’t born yet.
First thing I noticed about my first house on the island, when we drove into the driveway ~ it had a name. On a green sign nailed to a tree.
Black beret, but a green jacket and green pants . ..
And this, soon we will be drying our sheets and tablecloths in the salty wind and dappled light of the green-drenched island. It’s gonna happen!!!
ART, my dears, is what you THINK IT IS. Which is almost everything!
So book-time, walk-time for me and Joe . . . off I go. Wishing you a wonderful weekend! If you’re in California, you’ve had SUCH a 
tough winter, but I envy you your lupin and poppies that will be popping up any day. Hillsides and beach walks full of them, your reward, and you deserve every bit of it! Texas bluebonnets too . . . probably something to look forward to every where! Here’s to us Girlfriends! Don’t forget to leave a comment if you’d like a chance to win the Geranium giclee!
Your pal for life,
I love all the green pictures especially the Girl Scout cooking badge! I wish I still had my Girl Scout sash with the badges on it. Happy St. Patrick’s Day and Happy Spring!!
Oh how i love that you’re having your wonderful diary saved. ❤❤❤
And I wanted to tell you – Distilled Genius prompted me to start my very own book of quotes. I’ve written about it at my blog, here: meanderingsandmuses.com/2023/02/my-latest-little-project.html
I would love to win your geranium, it’s perfect.
We love you!!! And I’m ready for spring too. Bring on the green.
I was so pleased to read that you and Joe enjoyed ‘The Last Bookstore in London.’ I just finished it and wanted to start again at page one!!
What a wonderful springtime celebration Susan. Love all the green! So much to savor! Thank you as always. Spring os definitely here in So CA and our hillsides look like Ireland. Lol. Not for long! But the green os wonderful for as long as it lasts. . The Queen cup turned out great. All of them did. Can’t wait! So much to look forward to.
Love,
Beverlee. ❤️
Thanks for the shot of spring enthusiasm. My very favorite season with my very favorite flowers – daffodils!
All the green is nice to see. Thanks! I have green pine trees all winter but the oher trees are just starting to blossom.
The artwork and quotes in Willard gives me a quiet heart and a smile. Thank you Susan.
As it snows another 4 inches of the heavy, wet stuff here in MN today, I am looking forward…and thinking GREEN! (I also have that Girl Scouts cooking badge!) 😊
Daffodils and tulips keep pooping up and I keep covering them with layers of leaves…too cold yet here in NW Missouri. Eager for Spring…as always:)
Love the geranium painting! Always enjoy the Willard. It’s been a long winter in Oregon. Normally the daffodils are in full bloom by now but this year they are just starting. But Oregon is always green even in dead of winter – moss, ferns, and ivy just get greener in the winter.
Love your spring green, Susan! Thanks for the update on the cups. I ordered 2 of the Queen Elizabeth cups. No one like her.
Happy spring!
Darlene
Spring encouragement! Thanks
I have loved, loved, loved your books since I first discovered them at the Bunch of Grapes bookstore way back in the 90’s….’Heart of the Home, Notes from a Vineyard Kitchen’ which I have handed down to my daughter, my first of many. They are just so delightful and the Vineyard has been special to us since the ‘70’s! Keep delighting us, please!
Judi
I would love to have your geranium picture to go in my dining room that is decorated in red geraniums.
Warms my heart to read your blog especially on this chilly day! ❤️ Wishing you even more joy in the coming days of Spring!💐
Green is a favorite of mine in all shades.Remember to wear green or get a pinch!So,glad to see you doing so well.God is in his heaven and I know one day all will be right with the world.Happy spring from Gloucester,where the daffodils are running free,and beautiful.
Susan,
Do you mean The Last Bookshop in London?
Thanks!
Your Willard’s are a highlight to me! Love reading them and I love all the photos you post … especially the old ones. Fingers crossed that I win the Geranium print. 🙂 –Mary Jane
What a nice surprise! Thank you for the latest Willard. I thought I saw a type toward the end of Willard, but it could have been me
Susan, your “green” Willard is the perfect antidote for yet another snowy day here on the South Shore of Lake Superior. Thank you!!
Was about to go for a walk here in Buford Ga but had to delay because Willard was here! Thank You!
What a blog to lift the spirits!! Thank you!!
I never can pick a favorite part of your newsletter (aka: Willard)….I just sat down with my afternoon coffee and loved reading what’s going on in your corner of the world. Soooo, if I had to choose– I’d tell you how much I enjoyed seeing your 1999 Diary (I have some that my BFF & I wrote in 1959 written in our favorite purple fountain pens)….what a GLORIOUS idea to have this treasure rebound. You will love it, and I know how much love and work goes into this process as I have taken many books making-binding classes in the past few years. So I’m in Athens, Georgia USA and our Spring has arrived — YELLOW pollen and all !!!!! Thank You for always taking the time to share so much with us…xoxo Joan
LOVE the greens, never thought to sort photos by color, but will now! I am a quilter and of course I sort my fabric by color. Speaking of fabric, came across your quilt label fabric and quotes fabric. Love them, I also have 4 yards of the vineyard fabric around somewhere, never cut into it, because I just love it too much! Someday soon.
I could not resist the Queen mug, so I preordered, can’t wait to get I preordered Santa mugs a few months ago, can’t wait for those too.
Love, love, love your green! I watch the wooded areas for spots of green. Cannot wait for the forest floor to begin turning green! I just ordered the Christmas and Queen cups to add to my collection. Love them all.
Love, love love the Spring Green theme! It’s my favorite color in the big Crayola crayon box, and a color I didn’t comprehend could be real until I moved from the South Florida beaches to the lush Midwest, with its beautiful seasons. It seems Spring is Nature’s “New Year” with all the new growth and colorful pallet of flowers. 🌷🌸🌼🪴
Willard is a breath of fresh air. Spring air! Thank you, Susan for all the time and energy you put into Willard. It is a gift.
I LOVE your picket fence garden! I dream of having one here someday. With flowers, herbs and vegetables! Kitchen garden style. And less grass to mow. 😉
I would love to have your beautiful geranium print! I live in an old Queen Anne Victorian in North Carolina and bring my porch geraniums in every fall and keep them alive til it’s safe to put them out again. I love your art and find you SO inspiring!!
I always look forward to reading your delightful thoughts. So ready for the green in Tennessee.
So glad that you and Joe enjoyed a quiet winter. My Joe and I did also. Our daffodils have finished blooming and we are afraid the blooming fruit trees have been frozen. The peonies are having to be covered every night to assure blooms in May. The weather here is so very fickle.
But we continue with a faith that all things work for the best. Sending you hugs and best wishes.
We have so much in common dear Susan! I won’t list it all but I do have to say that in the 1980’s I did a pencil sketch of a geranium……don’t know what happened to it but it was pretty good! Children came first before an art career for me! Happy St. Paddy’s day for the Irish O’Connors of Cape Cod!
Susan, thank you for our new Willard! I love each one and I’m always so happy to see another one posted to your website. I, too, love green. I am a redhead and have been wearing green all my life, it seems. I have a Christmas morning picture from Christmas 1950 wearing a new Green Party dress with GREEN Mary-Jane shoes! 😂
I sure appreciate all you do for the girlfriends. We appreciate all you do for us.,
Becky D.
Thank you for brightening my day and for the chance to own a piece of your art! Happy Spring 🌷
Love the color green we just upholstered our sofa a dark green I absolutely love it! I see lots of green poking out of the garden I’m ready for spring!
You just made my day, Sue. I have been sitting here being a very old poop. No motivation to paint. No motivation to do anything! Then I go to your blog and I am immediately smiling and feeling like I want to get going and DO something. For some reason this year is hitting me hard. All of a sudden I’m feeling my age (I will be 70 in November!) and it is really bothering me and making me feel my mortality! Then I read your inspiring words and I have to pinch myself and give myself a little pep talk. I have so much to be thankful for and plenty of wonderful years to look forward to. So thank you for being your wonderful self and such an inspiration to me. You are definitely my hero.
Green, green, it’s green they say on the far side of the hill.
Green, green I’m going away to where the grass is greener still.
Another lovely, chatty Willard. Thanks Sue! ❤️ I especially loved all the green.
You are so gracious, Susan, always sharing with your girlfriends (whether we’ve met or not). I am honored to put my name in for the geranium painting. Ooh…I have the PERFECT place for it.
I’ve always liked green but never knew just how much til I watched your snippets appear in this blog and now I see green everywhere! Just like in older days when we would buy a new car, thinking it was unique, but then, seeing them everywhere!
I love what you bring to me! It’s what I used to be, and hope I haven’t lost!
So very lovely to see your post featuring my favorite color 🍀Happy St Pats to you & yours!!
Goodness I love you Willard’s. I found A Fine Romance at our Library book sale .. I devoured it in 3 days. 2 friends of ours had just cross the Atlantic in the QE2 and their descriptions were so blah but after reading your book, I wanted to do it myself, and I’m not a huge fan of that much water! Afterwards I purchased the other two books in the ‘series’. I read everything out of sink and that was fine because I love your writing. I’ve since become a ridiculously huge fan and follow all your posts and love your quotes. Thank you for all of that.❤️
Always, always enjoy everything you write.
Linda
Thanks for this SPRING Inspiration to the tune of GREEN!
Loved it all,
Julie
Thank you for another happy Willard. You make sunshine with words and paintings. I actually sighed looking at the photos with green leaves coloring the sunlight – both are yet nonexistent here. I was so surprised by the white clover amidst the grass lawn scene. That is like a lawn I grew up with. I made braided clover stem bracelets and crowns. On the other side of the dense hedgerow were the cows happily munching the clover.
I wish all of us a lovely, hurry-up Spring!
Hi Susan, I would love to have a chance to win your picture. Geraniums are my favorite flower.
Love all the green!! So excited for spring💚💗💚 love to you!!
Dear Susan, the amount of creative energy in you is almost exhausting to READ about! You are amazing! Thank you for sharing your gift. Love to you, Sandy (Your token Conservative friend!)
Loved the new Willard! Thanks for artichoke recipe!
The pic of your house-screaming New England green is sooo beautiful!! Got a giggle at girl kitty…
She reminds me so much of my Joy. Before Joy, I have always had black cats-my “favorite”. Penelope Purrsmore “Pen” was such a charmer❣ Thank you for all the joy that I get in reading your newsletter!💖💕
Susan, I love reading your blog, and this one made me so happy with the photos of all things green. I love the photo of Jack taking a nice, long stretch on the table by your cheery quilt. Spring is just around the corner and I love seeing your photos of the new growth peeping up out of the ground. I am so looking forward to receiving the gorgeous Queen Elizabeth cup, thank you for posting photos of it. Happy Spring!
Green has been my favorite color since I can remember.
Treese/Colorado Cowgirl
From the Central Coast of California spring is almost here!💕🌷
Oh, Susan – thank your for spring green post. So glad you are getting your wedding rings engraved. Ours have our wedding date in…my husband had “All my love, John” engraved in my engagement ring. I joke that he did not put my name in just in case I said no…he could use it again !!! I thank God everyday that I said yes. But….finding that dime on your father’s grave is a SIGN…he is with you. I love the way you are making it into a pendant. My dear and wonderful Aunt Mamie ( who was like a grandmother to me because I was born after both of my grandmother’s passed away) gave me a 10 dollar gold piece dated 1913, that she received as a gift on her tenth birthday. I did the same with that, had a ring put around it so it did not damage the coin, and feel her with me when I wear it. Well…we feel our loved ones all the time, don’t we? But nice to have a tangible reminder of that love. Happy SPRING to you and Joe – enjoy all the sights, sounds, and smells. And yes to The Last Bookstore in London…loved it! Blessings!
I still love you after all these years! Discovered your art in greeting cards, etc., still in the late ‘80’s, early ‘90’s! Thanks for the sheer enjoyment of seeing your creativity.
I luv all the green in this post!!! It reminded me that St Patrick’s Day is tomorrow. Oops – I better get some corned beef!
I love geraniums and would enjoy winning your print.
Enjoy your posts and seeing what you are creating.
We have had such a cold wet winter in Southern California. So unusual for us but we needed the water so badly here. My garden is slowly coming to life. Late March is usually prime time for us for flowers but not this year. I loved seeing all your green!
Hello, I love it when you send me your emails, takes my mind off my troubles, Please include me in your give-a-way. I didn’t know you got married. When did this happen? Do you have a Blog for your wedding day out there some where? Thank you and continue to have a happy life.
Love the green pictures! Very inspiring. Just saw the first green shoots of daffodils today. Spring is coming to CT.
I read your three books over and over. You have accomplished everything I let go from , laziness? Was unsure how to promote, good ideas and painting things that haven’t made sense.
I can never get enough of your writings.
You live like I remember in my own life. From baking with my grandmother, hanging clothes outside and probably the only one of my friends that loves to iron.
Your geranium painting reminds me of my window box every summer. I take photos upon photos of them. They last so long. There like good people, they take in the food to make them healthy and they smile back.
Thanks Susan for bringing a bit of “green” and “Spring” into my life today!
We still have a lot of snow up here in Alberta so Spring is a ways away yet. It’s so nice to look at your pictures and dream of what is to come!
I would like to add two possible book recommendations for you. Both books are by author Natalie Jenner and the titles are “The Jane Austin Society” and “Bloomsbury Girls”. Both are set in post world war II England and are lovely reads.
Happy pre Spring! 🌷🌷
We took a walk in the garden today and we are starting to see little pops of green sprouting in our yard too! It is so exciting to know that Spring is just around the corner and we can hardly wait.
Oh my Susan,to have a copy of your artwork would be a dream come true for this old lady,76 years,whose been a fan forever!!💕
I would love to be selected to receive your print. Here, two blocks from the western shore of Lake Michigan, I am eagerly awaiting Spring, too. Some of the dozens of flower bulbs that my husband and I planted last autumn were popping out of the soil a week ago—only to be met by the latest round of winter storms and heavy, wet snow. And after spending four days in Phoenix with 80 degree temps, I’m also eager for summer weather. But I’ll have to wait months to wear shorts and sandals in Wisconsin and will just have to enjoy my latest pedicure in the warmth of our house.
Thank you for the joy you bring! I needed this today!❤️
My husband died on St. Patrick’s day so it’s never fun for me. But all that green settled my heart and I began to think about what a good man he was. Thank you for making this a lovely day.
I would 💝 LOVE 💖 to be a winner❣️
Always happy to receive a Willard! So looking forward to receiving the Queen’s cup. I’m getting around to putting up my birthday mug for another year….
Love your books, your art, your life!
I’d love to own a print of your very first painting.
Hi, Susan!💚
Thank you for the great Willard and the hope of Spring! I, too, have a heart shaped stone collection from all the beaches we have visited. A little bit of imagination is needed for some of them to actually look like a heart, though as they lay on the sand they were perfect 🥰
Much love, Linda
Dear Susan,
Thank you for the wonderful pictures of Spring! After last weekends storm all we have is mountains of snow everywhere and brown mud season to look forward to till spring comes to southern Vermont. One saving grace is the Evening Grosbeaks that are at the feeder every day.
Your Willard cheered me up today.
Becky
So happy that there are green things to enjoy!!
Our daffodils and forsythia are blooming in Delaware.
Wishing you a happy “St. Patty’s Day!!”
Since I’ve admired your Geranium giclee, hoping for a chance to win!!
Love your blogs. They always make my day a bit sweeter! 💕
Happy St. Patrick’s Day, Sue. Erin go broccoli! 💚
It was fun visiting with you and Joe at Vroman’s in Pasadena last year. Thank you for sharing your bit of green. Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
Thanks for the greening! It’s my favorite color. I consider it a neutral that goes with everything. Mother Nature pairs it with all the different flowers and they look great! I love artichokes and prepare and serve them just as you described. Happy St. Patrick’s Day and Happy Spring from another New Englander transplanted from California. 💚☘️💚☘️💚
I’m always filled with joy when I see you have a new blog post! What fun to read! Should my name be chosen for the geranium print, I’d feel like I won the best lottery ever!
Please pick me! I would love this painting. I had bought one a couple of years ago and a friend really liked it and I gave it to her as a birthday gift. So here’s my chance to get another one. But if it goes to someone else, lucky them. 🍀
Thanks for a cheery and uplifting newsletter. Loved seeing the old diaries. I got rid of mine years ago too. Just didn’t like what I wrote. Like you, I did hang on to a couple.
This couldn’t have come at a better time on this cool, cloudy -YES!- Southern California day! I sipped my tea and lingered over every word
Love all the green. Here in Georgia the daffodils have finished their show and now the azaleas are getting ready to burst open with all their beauty!
I can’t think of another color as uplifting and welcoming as the color green. especially after a long winter…except maybe the purple redbuds and yellow daffodils! Thank you, dear Susan for your words. I think my new favorite quote is what you stated, “We fed the woods and the woods feed us back.” Recently, my sister, daughter, dog and I drove to Arkansas and stopped to see Diamond Crater State Park. Close by was a wooded walking trail to the Little Missouri River. When I say my soul was fed by the woods, I’m not exaggerating! I just feel better when I can get away from everything and just meander on some trail. I imagine the walk from your house to the sea is just as soul-soothing. SIGH! 💚
Anyway, wishing a happy spring and a Happy St. Patrick’s Day to you, Joe, and Jack!
Hi Susan, Have been rereading your 3-book trilogy during this last (I hope) cold, rainy spell in CA and I’m so in awe of the fortitude that it took to move to Martha’s Vinyard alone and to get through those lonely winters. I was just starting to read “Spring 1983” when your Willard popped up on my phone. Looking forward to springtime in “Martha’s Vineyard” and here in So. California. Wishing you a happy, sun-filled spring.
Beautiful post! I loved when you referenced that your Dad whispers “Good work” what a wonderful way to remember him as part of every day.
So enjoyed this “look into spring!” And I’m wanting to get the book you just read, sounds excellent. Thank you!
I just love the sight of red geraniums in a sunny kitchen window! Don’t you?
Thank you fir an uplifting post.
Your Willards are sucha wonderful surprise! Thanks for all your book recommendations too.
You always brighten my day! Thank you for your sunny Willard’s! Happy spring.
Happy “Almost Spring”!!!! In love with all your “green” pictures. It’s my favorite color, and almost every room in my home is some shade of it. Guess it’s just the Irish in me. All the kitties here send a “meow” to Jack.
Thanks Susan for a lovely reminder that Spring will Come! Here in coastal NC, we have many seasons, winter, fool’s spring, second winter, spring of deception, third winter, the Pollening (this is when millions of pine trees release their pollen and cover everything in yellow dust), Actual Spring, Summer, Extreme Summer, False Fall, Second Summer, and Actual Fall. We are in Third Winter right now. That means that dogwoods and fruit trees are in bloom and we have frost warnings every morning! Can’t dig in the dirt quite yet – next month! Stay warm and hopeful!
Waiting for the green blush of Springtime here in the foothills, redbuds in full bloom, daffodils waning, pear trees turning over their blooms to the green leaves one more time. Happy creative days are here again, Gina [smiles for everyone]
We are greening in So IN. And my fave part is the daffodil driveway my husband has planted over the years. We have a fairly long farm driveway. Wish I could send a picture.
Always look forward to your wonderful letters to us. All the greens are lovely💚
You inspire me with every single Willard that I read. Thank you
My mother was British and had an extensive collection of royal commemorative mugs. I immediately thought of her when I saw the mug of Queen Elizabeth II. I know I’ll think of Mum every time I use this mug!
I love red geraniums. They are the stars on my porch every summer.
I love the new mugs, too.
Love your spring green, Susan. Looking forward to receiving my Queen Elizabeth cups. Thank you for capturing her essence. We are leaving for England on May 22. Can’t wait!
My mom was known for the scrapbooks she was always making. I have been sorting through them and trying to decide what to keep as the pages are falling apart. She had a whole scrapbook of valentines I had received as a child. What a find. As I am an avid scrapbooked myself I was elated. As my family has a valentine making party every year: I have started adding my valentines to the pages of our party. It’s turned out really cute. I hope to make a new scrapbook of the things I have saved from her’s, It has been a pleasant trip down memory lane
I would love to win your geranium print. Geraniums are my favorite! I use mostly red and few white every year around my flagpole and steps going into our home. Please pick me❤️
I would love to win your geranium print. Geraniums are my favorite! I use mostly red and few white every year around my flagpole and steps going into our home. Please pick me❤️.