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,
If ever a wish could come to be
I’d hope on hope that you’d pick me!
I love your blogs, Susan– Springtime via
written word–pure joy!
Grateful!
Thank you for brightening our world with seasonal colors in your blogs!! All your words have “color” in them as i read them – you bring “light” into our lives in the way you word your sentences, paragraphs, blogs!!! Look forward to your colorful blogs each month🌈🌻🌼
I’m so ready for spring and please enter me into the drawing for your Geranium giclee! I love it!
I have so looked forward to, and savored your Willard’s. Thank you for the heart you put into all of your writing and art. You are generous and that’s so rare to find.
Here’s to more spring walks with your Joe.
Such a lovely visit, as always. ❤️ Geraniums remind me of my mother, so I am delighted to toss my name into the hat. After my dad died, my mom started growing geraniums on the patio, confiding in me that she had not grown them in the garden or yard while he was alive because “Dad didn’t like the way they smelled.” Can you imagine? I had no idea, and was a bit outraged by that, but then decided to just concentrate on her thoughtfulness, and be glad that she was able to find the bright side of widowhood when she tended to her cheerful geraniums.
Yes, Susan, thank you for the green! We’ve had over 82 inches of snow this winter here in Minnesota. Rain today! It better get really green after all of that. Happy St. Patrick’s Day and Happy Spring!
Looking forward to some green any time now as I listen to the wind howl and it continues to snow on this March night in Iowa. I am sure the robins I saw today are not pleased and me neither! Spring come soon!
I love your letter filled with green! Bring 1/2 Irish makes St Patrick’s Day a fun day and dinner
Party!
Your father was born in 1923 and so was my mother in Norway. I plan to celebrate her 100th birthday in heaven come November 26th. Luckily you with the 1923 dime~I have a 1923 silver dollar that my mother always carried with her.
Thank you for making us feel sunny in California right now.
Thank you Susan for the green themed photos! I loved them! I always look forward to a new post on your blog as it puts a smile in my heart and on my face.
Happy Spring on MV!
Paula Connell
Williamsburg. KY
I just placed a hold for The Last Bookshop in London at the library. Thank you for the suggestion and for the beautiful Spring Willard;
I am really in the mood for Winter to be over now-so many sprouting bulbs and budding plants in my garden.
I still cannot get over your purging your diaries. I have a few from age 11-16, and cherish them, perhaps because most family members ( now gone) remain alive for me in them.
Glad you are having your diary rebound; please post when it is finished, Blessings to you and Joe.
What a wonderful start to St. Paddy’s day!
Think Spring!
Beautiful, beautiful, wonderful, springtime post! I love all the green in the last part! Spring! On Monday! 🤸🏼♀️🤸🏼♀️🤸🏼♀️🤸🏼♀️🤸🏼♀️🤸🏼♀️
Susan,
Thank you for this post, as always, so lovely. And, green is one of my favorite colors….and one that looks good on me…so, win-win. I love the first frilly, green leaves on the trees….spring has sprung here…already had a few 80 degree days. And, the blue bonnets are coming up everywhere, along with the red-orange Indian Paint Brush. I think God must have planned that because their colors just pop against each other. A flock of robin came through a week or so ago. Spring in Texas…the best time of the year for us.
Looking forward to the Queen Elizabeth cups. I plan to send Nicoline one for her birthday because she loooves England so much. Shhhh…a secret…ha! She reads your blogs AND the comments. Oh, well, she needs a bit of happiness.
I don’t know how you could bear to shred your journals, course you do have many of them consolidated into book form. So glad you decided to do that….I can’t tell you have many times I have read each of them. At first, I found Martha’s Vineyard, Isle of Dreams so incredibly sad, but having read it so many time, I now find it an inspiration, a testament to your determination and spirit.
You have got such a great start on the new art work….love her hair, like it is blowing in the wind as she is happily walking home with her groceries. I find painting faces SO hard….and I have had lessons. The one of myself, which was for class, looks a bit Picasso-ish! Ha!!
Tell Joe, “Hello,” and give Jack a tummy rub for me.
Love, Rachel
It’s so delightful when Willard comes to my inbox! I enjoy the Musica and getting updated on all the latest. Willard does my soul good!
my fave color thanks for the green theme!
I LOVE geraniums and I LOVE red. ♥️🏠‼️
I love green too, especially that rich spring green. And I am reading a book called Plant a Geranium in Your Cranium by Barbara Johnson who is amazing. She found humor in her cancer…My husband has had had 2 cancer surgeries in 2022 which has made a big problem for his diabetes. I would so love to win the gelee painting!. I love your calendar on my wall. You see so much beauty in the world. Thank you for sharing it w/all of us. My bluebird cup fell and got a crack. So hope that you redo it again someday. It sits on my counter holding measuring cups so I still enjoy seeing it. With love and great gratitude, Gail
Always loved, loved, loved your geranium painting!
The way you see the world is delightful. You find something to celebrate everywhere you look. You are definitely the glass is half full type person.
Happy St. Patrick’s Day !!
Hope you, Joe and Jack have a lovely day.
I love your art,books ,calendars everything.I would love to win a piece of art from you.
Love THE GREEN. Keep telling us about each good book that you and Joe read.
Artichokes, I love them too. They make me think that I’m still a California girl. But I’ve lived in Iowa longer than I lived in California. And my parents met at the Villa Rivera just like your parents did.
Thank you for inspiration. Thank you for Willard. I think it’s wonderful that you care to share
Pictures of your life and details of who you are. I look forward to the Willard’s and appreciate
The time you take to make girlfriends happy. I painted a geranium years ago, it doesn’t look as graceful and living like the one you did. I love your books and little birthday stickers. You surely do know how to allow people to feel happiness.
Thank you so much for theWillard!! As usual, it comes at such a welcome time. Even with the Daffodils and Crocus blooming blooming and the promise of tulips soon, it’s been a hard time since Christmas.
I’m so glad you found that Geranium print. Reminds me of my mother’s plant that she would bring in off her porch for the Winter and take back out in the Spring. It always amazed me when it would come back to life. After she passed away thirteen years ago this May, I never could find out what happed to it. I wish good luck to the winner of your drawing.
My favorite color has always been green, so I really enjoyed the “green tour” of your photos
. We are still having freezing temps and snow in So. Utah. So freezing this morning, we couldn’t get our car doors open.
Happy St Patrick’s Day.
Hi Cindy! I promise I’m writing you a letter this weekend. Oh how busy life is right now but isn’t it wonderful to pause and read a Susan Branch blog? ❤️❤️❤️
Just so much happiness in this post! You are the sweetest!
Thank you Susan, I always feel so uplifted when I read each Willard, you never fail to cheer me. x
Happy 😊 St.Patrick’s Day! 🍀 Thank you for the beautiful spring green 💚
Post! Love -lee as usual! Top O ‘ the Morning to you!
Spring can’t come soon enough. Today we will be wearing our green for a festive St. Patrick’s Day. I look forward to ordering the new mugs!!!
Thank you for another beautiful, uplifting newsletter. They are always so interesting and fun to read! I especially love the art and colors. A wonderful way to start the weekend, happily inspired and fulfilled. Bless you for sharing your thoughts and talents so generously!
Love your spring blog! Saw my first Robin here where I live in Minnesota. Spring is on its way even though the snow is falling as I write this! Thank you for your inspiration!
Green glorious green, I’m patiently waiting for it here in northeast Indiana. I’m ready for sun, color, and warmth!
I love that you fill your newsletter with photos. A picture truly is worth a thousand words, although those are good too!
All of this lovely green and positivity is what inspired me to finish up my coffee, and dust and decorate. (Desipte the cold rain, sleet…snow we are having in Nova Scotia) March is very confused here. Happy Saint Patrick’s Day Susan! Thank you for bringing the luv lee to us!
I’m a new “Girlfriend”, only found you last year but wanted to tell you how much happiness you have brought into my life. I love your books, in fact I love everything you’ve done. Your life story is an inspiration to us all. I look forward to your next inspirational writing and “Willard” of course!
Peace and Love to you both❤️
Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Sending sunshine and spring wishes to all!
Beautiful post! I remember making clover chains with my sister so many years ago. I am reading This Time Tomorrow by Emma Straub. Thinking I may want to travel back to those afternoons with my sister.
I enjoy your blogs and art so much.
Thank you for Willard. Always a kindred
Spirit.
Wonderful blog post! Thank you!
Uplifting as always!
Thanks!
Here I am, 73 in a couple of weeks, and playing with watercolors; amazing to see how the colors blend and run. I’ve been looking thru your books, trying to not get caught up in your stories (failing!), as I study your color combinations and attention to detail. Considering the happiness and contentment that your art has always given me. Thanks for the inspiration!
Thank you for this lovely and uplifting post, Susan. Spring arrives on Monday- I cannot wait!
Thank you for the beautiful newsletter as usual. Greetings from Boston! Is that a picture of your garden from right now? What’s in it? I am just starting my vegetable and flower garden for the season (under cover as it’s still a bit too cold), but yours looks spectacular.
Happy green time. So glad you are having a good winter. It will soon be over. I’m painting too while recover from cancer treatment. Science is wonderful.
We can all be writers and tell our inner stories – with a pen and a diary/journal. Adored the entry about your own diary and its importance. Plus, like you – old journal … wrote everyday for 10 years straight …they have been set free. Your stories are always making a difference.
I’m in Northern NH so our first signs of spring aren’t green, but mud. Lots of muddy snow banks around here right now. I kind of love that squishy sound when I go to the mailbox.
Right now I’d gladly take a robin on a stick! Happy spring!
We can all be writers and tell our inner stories – with a pen and a diary/journal. Adored the entry about your own diary and its importance. Plus, like you – old journal … wrote everyday for 10 years straight …they have been set free. Your stories are always making a difference.
Absolutely loved your idea of ‘the green’ section! Super fun for St Paddy’s Day and what a great way to organize…a fun read as always!
Maybe see you on the Island… I live here too!
Loved your Willard, yet I am in the dark as to why it is named that? So fun to see a lot of green! Thank you!
Happy St. Patrick’s Day! May the luck o’ the Irish be with thee (and me)!
Thanks for another delightful blog,dear Susan. Happy Spring!
Linda Z.
Lovely gregarious green WILLARD! Thanks for bringing the green to St Patrick’s Day! I absolutely love your geranium print! What an inspiration you are! ❤️🍀
i love this and have thought about painting one.
Thanks for always writing an encouraging, inspiring and interesting blog post! Always a joy to see a post come up!
Hi, Susan.
Thanks for this lovely post, just what we needed at this tail end of winter. All the green makes me want to get out in the garden, which is still several weeks away here. Happy St. Patrick’s Day to you, Joe and Jack.
You are the best!
Dear Susan, when notice of your Willard came through my e-mail, there were pictures of certain political persons attached, and I was afraid to open it. So, I came to your website and opened it from there. I am so glad I did! What a thrilling welcome to Spring, now just 3 days away. Perhaps the snow that fell in Iowa last night will go away by then and we will see glorious green things arising from the dark earth.
Thank you for reminding me of GREEN! Will be looking for it now!
I am really enjoying your blog! I found it heartening that you thought some of your early diaries were moronic. I have thought the same thing about some of my previous journals, and I threw them out. But writing is so helpful to understanding your life.
I wish emojis were available. it would be all hearts.
I love your blog. I want to tell you my S.C. FOSB penpal came to Louisiana for a face-to-face visit. It was incredible. It was as if we were picking up where the last cup of tea left us. Thank you for helping us find each other.
Such a lovely post, you made me think of the color green in a whole new way. Can’t wait to get out and explore today and look for the color green in unexpected places.
What a lovely thing to read first thing in the morning! Happy St. Patrick’s Day to you and Joe! Your paintings are beautiful! Your books are the reason my husband and I visited the island a couple years ago in the early fall. Such a beautiful island.
Thank you.
Always a beautiful read.
Love how you dish out hope and joy.
Never stop!
Happy St Patricks Day☘️
Green is my favorite color and I enjoyed seeing your greens!
Susan your letters bring me so much inspiration and joy!
I wonder what you two are “reading in your ears” now?
Thank you for sharing!
Laurie
Always so happy to read your blogs. Makes my ❤️ smile.
I so enjoyed this post – especially all of the green and the hope it brings. Jack is living the good life lounging on the table – made me smile! It’s always like opening a gift when I see “Williard” pop up in my email.
Oh! Yes please.
Oh Susan, thank you for all the beauty you bring back to our minds. Sometimes our lives get so busy we forget or don’t stop to look at the miracles of creation popping out of the ground right before our eyes! It is a rainy, overcast day here in Ohio but I can look out my window and see my daffodils blooming, what a blessing. I have put that watercolor in my cart several times and then talked myself out of it. I would so love to win it. Hope you have a wonderful weekend.
Hugs, Joy
Love all your books and blog entries!! Always adds some zip and love to my day! Happy St. Patrick’s Day to you 2023! M.A.
Well , of course I’d love to win the geranium picture! I am an off and on artist and that picture is an inspiration to me! It reminds me how INTERESTING creation is! I can be in my own little world, creating!! How I do enjoy all your work! Oh! And today is also Saint Gertrude’s day. She’s the patron saint of cats!
Thank you for another uplifting Willard. Love your newsletters ❤️
Happy St. Patrick’s Day…love your post!
Hi Susan! Happy St. Patrick’s Day!!
Love this post! Green is definitely one of my favorites. It was so much fun to see all the green in your life. I appreciate your sharing. Just what I needed this morning! Hope you and Joe enjoyed your walk. Can’t wait for your next post. Joan
Your posts always leave me inspired and also amazed at what you accomplish in a day! Twenty three miles of walking in a week, new paintings, new ideas, blogs to delight the rest of us- you truly are inspirational force! Thank you for sharing your upbeat outlook with the world. We’re off to Ireland today so will see lots of lovely green. Can’t wait!!!
Hi Susan, always happy to see a new post from you. I wish someday you would make a book of all your blog post- Willards too. That would be one i would be standing in line to purchase as i know all the girlfriends would be. I am ready for spring and new colors bright and beautiful and nice warm days where only a sweater is needed. I don’t have a beach i can walk on but i will get out and walk in the park, if my knee allows it. The doctors told me last week i need a knee replacement, so i am holding on as long as i can with the one i have. wish me luck!
Have a beautiful weekend and good luck to everyone on winning! I hope i do!
Hello to everyone there and Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
Thank you, Susan, for the GREEN!
Here in Ohio we are having a roller coaster ride with the weather. Snow yesterday and 22 degrees, and today it is 52 and raining! We are seeing peeks of green everywhere! Getting excited for gardening in my raised bed. Will be planting “cold crops” soon. Love your books and love your blog. Blessings!
Love all the green photos…seen by me on St. Patrick’s Day morning! My favorite, however, is the shot of your fox slippers! Thanks yet again Susan, for giving me a big smile on my face…and a song in my heart!
Thank you the dose of Spring!
I would LOVE a chance to win your geranium giclee amd I would also love to know how to pronounce giclee. ☺️
Happy st Patrick’s day from the rain soaked Bay Area.
Your artwork makes me so happy – I love to scroll through the images on the blog! Thank you!
Happy St Patrick’s Day ☘️Thank you for brightening my day with your love of green! I have green in my home as well and I have been told it’s the colour of a genius mind 😆. Thank you thank you for sharing your gifts with us all ☘️.
23miles! What an inspiration!
Thanks for the “greening” of the spirit!
Your enthusiasm is contagious.
Happy Green Day! The birdies are singing, the daffys are blooming and the train whistle is whistling; all in the golden sunshine along the Brandywine River! May there be a rainbow in your heart today!
Blessings! Susan Holcombe
Just what I needed on this cold, wintery day in Minnesota. I needed inspiration and GREEN. Thank you for thinking of us and sharing your joys with us. Makes me want to go and paint or write or even skip! (Though I am not a painter and haven’t skipped in a while either!!!)
Hello Susan! My gosh your newsletter brings me such joy!!
I just ordered your two books, The Fairy Tale Girl and Isle of Dreams. I CANNOT wait to start reading them. I LOVED A Fine Romance. Thank you for all that you do and for all of the inspiration you bring to us. My sister and I have followed you since we were little girls. I’m 50 now! xo
Every blog post from you is like a hug from years gone by, when happiness was made of Madame Alexander dolls, Kiddle and Smurf collections, playing Badminton with my brother between our peach trees and watching Carol Burnett with my mom in the little TV in her bedroom.
When I see your email notification pop up, I grab a mug of something warm, a wad of tissues and the courage to go back there and relive those memories in all their bittersweet glory.
Thank you for being the harbinger of Springs and Summers, all the seasons, and the deep feels that go along with them. ❤️
Thank you. I needed that!
I have your art and your books throughout my home. Inspiration, beauty, wisdom, humor, history, love, friendship, nature, home. These are some of the words that describe what your art brings to my daily life. Thank you, dear Susan, for decades of this. I’ve been with you since the Country Living days, first entranced by our shared last name, and then totally smitten my your talent and humanity. ❤️
This post was exactly what I needed right now – all the joy and optimism and charm and GREEN. I’m reading it on St. Patrick’s Day morning, and the sun is finally shining — nice day to go out and find some tiny daffodils and bring some cheer into the home. Thank you for all the inspiration and the reassurance that spring is indeed on its way.
Oh, how I love finding Willard in my in-box. Thank you thank you thank you….you inspire me to dream, create, and enjoy simple pleasures. Spring is coming and I can’t wait! PS. I have always loved the geraniums. My local library has had pots of geraniums sitting in the bay window of the library for years. They are so happy there and always seem to be in bloom. It’s like magic!
I have always loved, loved, loved your geranium painting, Susan!
Susan…my heart literally skips beats as soon as I see your email in my inbox. I head over to read it…no savor it…every word…every picture and photo…after turning on the Musica of course. Thanks for brightening my day (again and again!)
Thanks for the big dose of green cheer!