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,
Happy St Patrick’s Day Susan! Today is our anniversary. 44 years! Love the green blog. Debby
Debby, today is my sister and brother in law’s 44th wedding anniversary. For real. Happy Anniversary!
Liz R
I love everything about this post – optimism that our hard winter is almost over, lots and lots of spring green, sunshine, flowers and charm! I look out my window and the sun is shining but it’s 27 degrees! But the tulips will push up their leaves soon and Spring has to be almost here. I do love winter though with quiet cozy days for quilting, reading and drinking hot chocolate, interspersed with snow shoveling. My husband bought me a new leaf rake today for our 49th anniversary. I’m ready to go out and tackle those dead leaves mashed into the brown lawn and flower beds and give everything a breath of fresh air. Thanks for a wonderful, “lucky” post!
Thank you for a delightful and uplifting Willard – welcome on this drizzly St. Patrick’s day (yes, I’m wearing green!). I have two green wall quilts hanging in our wee entry hall and one has an appliqued shamrock in its center. That small wall quilt also has two Hallmark leprechaun pins (from about 1975!) pinned to it that I used to wear when I was an ER nurse.
A UK friend and I are enjoying our identical mini-calendars, so thanks for them, too!
Hugs!
What a lovely surprise for St. Paddy’s Day! Thanks so much for all of the joy you spread. Have a nice day—I know you will 💫❤️💫
I LOVE reading your blogs and always wish we were neighbors. What fun we’d have!. Thank you for sharing your little slice of heaven with us girlfriends. Happy St. Patti’s Day to you, Joe and Jack!
Dear Susan—thank you for the lovely “green” visit! It’s cold but sunny today here in Utah, yay for the sun! Lots of snow in the mountains and some melt happening and some flooding already. Lots of worries about having a too fast melt and some major flooding. So fingers and toes crossed that we have a very slow melt! Our curly willow tree is already showing green tiny leaves so spring is just around the corner! My gardening hubby has started a little indoor greenhouse in the laundry room and he has lots of green growing already! A very Happy Saint Patrick’s Day to you, Joe and Jack! Hugs, Sandi 🙂
“Blossom by blossom the spring begins” Algernon Charles Swinburne Your blog is a wonderful reminder of the good things that are coming just around the corner! Lovely flowers everywhere and your beautiful geranium print! Love it, Polly
Happy St Patrick’s Day to you, sweet Susan! Thank you for always making my day. I always leave your blog with a bit of inspiration under my belt, ready to create. 🙂 Happy early spring to you!!
Geraniums, oh sweet geraniums. For me they represent my mother. Gone long ago, but always in my heart. I have geranium prints throughout my house and outside in my flower beds in the summer. Beautiful reminder of my beautiful mother and her sweet love for me.
It’s a dreary rainy afternoon here in Fairhope and the colors of green you shared with us brightened the rest of my day.
Green sounds great to me, but first we’ll have to get through Mud Season – after the twenty inches of snow from earlier this week (in VT) melts. Loved all the “green” photos…..especially the outdoor ones – just beautiful!!! Can’t wait till ‘Spring Green’
arrives in Vermont!
Wedding rings? Did I miss something?
Thank you for all the green, my favorite color! When I was teaching little ones the colors many years ago, I used a story called “Geraldine the Green Queen”. I think she drank a pink drink, but don’t remember the rest. Silly, but so much fun for the children and for me. We just had 17 inches of snow in western Massachusetts, but now I’m cheered looking at your photos and realizing Spring isn’t far away. Happy St. Patrick’s Day and Happy Nearly Spring!
I love, love, love geraniums and would be honored to hang the geranium picture in my home. Fingers crossed
Such a lovely St. Patrick’s day in everything green. Thanks for the Spring.
I love, love, love geraniums and would be honored to hang the geranium picture in my home.
Happy almost spring dear Susan! Thank you for such a beautiful blog post. Love your clover lawn, the needlepoint pillow & your antique find green glass but I especially love your 1923 dime pendant idea. 💚💚💚 You always remind us of the important things in life & to “stop & smell the roses.”
Dear Susan,
What a lovely surprise on a gray day in Pennsylvania, to find your letter in the inbox. Spring is trying to make its presence known here, too. The crocus have braved the cold, as have the snow drops and some of the early daffodils. I am almost finished reading Still Life and have stayed up late too many nights trying to find a good stopping place. The characters are so likable and well written.
I have to google the flood in Florence, which I did not remember happening. My sister and I were in Florence in 2011, and I recognize the names of some of the places mentioned in the book. Thank you for suggesting this book as a good read, it did not disappoint.
Take care and enjoy the surprises of Spring as something new seems to appear every day.
Gail
I had to stop for a few minutes to sit back, cat in my lap purring, cup of tea by my side in your bluebird mug ( my favorite), and ready now to read your Willard. It’s just like Calgon take me away! I am lucky to live in Massachusetts and to have visited Martha’s Vineyard. I can smell the ocean while I read your words, I can feel the salty breezes against my face, I can see and sense the green grass and your quintessential NE home, all thanks to you and your writing. And I smile. A lot. So many many thanks Susan. You bring me joy.
Susan,
First off, thank you for this entry/post! It is wonderful.
Secondly, for the first time I received an email fro ‘follow-it’ trying to redirect me to your new post. Did you want this to happen? Just thought I would check before doing anything.
Thanks Susan. Best to you & Joe. Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
Dear Susan,
Thank you for all the green! Green is my favorite color. From jadite to Jonhnson Brothers Greendawn and all the green in the Royal Winton chintz patterns, I can’t get enough. It brings the outside in. I’ve been wanting to paint my kitchen cabinets green for so long, but have hesitated for fear of doing it wrong and the enormity of the work involved. Someday…….maybe. I have added the Last Bookshop in London to my reading list. Two old favorite book shop novels of mine are The Little Paris Bookshop, a floating barge of a bookshop on the Seine, and The Bookshop on the Corner, a mobile bookshop (we called them book mobiles back in the day) in Scotland. Charming stories all around. I’ve been inspecting the bulbs coming up, it’s always a pleasant surprise to see what I forgot I had planted in the fall. I sowed some zinnia
seeds inside for something else to look forward to. The bunnies do love tender new zinnias though. I wish I had way more clover and far less moss and creeping Charlie, but at least they’re green. Can’t wait to get out there and dig in the dirt. Happy almost Spring to all!
Your new blog brings a beautiful sparkle to my day. Love the Geranium giclee.
love all your posts!
Your new blog brought a beautiful sparkle to my day. I love the Geranium print.
Oh how wonderful to get a Willard from you! I’m loving the time change here in Alabama — still light when I leave work now. Makes such a difference to me — I become a new person. Would love to win the Geranium Giclee. I remember it being your first one, as I have followed you for a LONG time. Getting ready to order the Queen’s cup. Enjoyed my Santa cup during the Christmas season. Happy early spring!
Marsha Robins from Birmingham, Alabama
26° and windy, the sun is out and the snow is melting fast. Hoping that is the last of it. Ha, I’m a dreamer, this is Wisconsin and we’ve had snow in May! The geranium drawing is one of my favorites.
So delightful, after a major snow up here in Vermont.
Happy Spring!
Happy happiest Saint Patrick’s Day 💚 Virginia
I love geraniums and have wintered over a half dozen mostly outside (low country SC) , my favorite color are the salmon pinks!
Susan
I love your green fox slippers. They are fabulous!
I would love to receive your personalized geranium print….fingers crossed!
This was like the first rain in the Springtime!
Waking up the new life in Creation! Wisconsin weather seems similar to New England. Loving the seasons BUT….it’s time to move on to Green Things now!
Happy St. Patrick Day to you and your happy household. And how could it not be with you around! 😀
Judy in Wisconsin
Geraniums – love the look, hate the smell! lol
Love everything about your Willards.
Always look forward to your monthly blog Susan. Helps to remind me to appreciate nature and the simple things in life that mean so much💐
One of my favorite summer memories as a child is running around the laundry hanging from my Grandmother’s line. So many years have passed but I can still smell that laundry because to me it smells just like summer.
Love your recommendations for reading. Just started The Last Bookstore in London today. It’s a down, sad feeling day for me for some reason. So many rainy, cloudy days these past weeks, but today is a cold, windy, sunny day. Go figure. But that’s what books – and your blogs – are for. Great pick me ups. I’m retired 77 years old, and have finished several sewing projects in the past weeks. Must start another one tomorrow – which always perks me up. I appreciate your Willards – quotes – pictures – all of it. Wonderful encouragement.
Love all this green! Beautiful pictures you have shared. It is so grey here, quite dreary. Thanks for reminding me of what’s soon to come. I need color!
Oh how refreshing to see the green parade of photos…my soul really needs spring and that awesome painting by the one and only Susan Branch☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️❤️
I just LOVE your spirit and the way you make me feel happy reading your blog of such a simple life on a magical island! 💗
What a lovely and happy post ! Happy Saint Patrick’s Day ! This post made my day .:) I’d love to win your geranium print !It’s just lovely ! ~Sharon Goemaere
So happy to read your post Susan, I find myself rereading your old ones to be cozy and feel happy. Would love to hang your geranium giclee in my kitchen! More blog posts please!!!
Thank you for the peek into your painting process. It sometimes takes me a time to be comfortable with the results of a project. Love the pin in your girl scout badge, don’t change it.
Your blogs are like no other Susan! You give so much of yourself and it’s so appreciated! Love the geranium print! 😊
Dear Susan,
I thank you for reminding me to be grateful for all of the rain that we received this year. I sat in my backyard today and enjoyed the long-awaited sunshine with all of the buzzing bees and birds that are also excited for spring.
Just what we needed this St. Patrick’s Day A LOT OF GREEN !!!!!!! Here in California everything is blooming and is very green!!! Your new drawing of the lady shopping is really nice…Can’t wait to see the end results. Thank you again for a happy and comforting blog. Susan P.
Your blog posts always warm my heart. Thank you, thank you, thank you for filling my day with sunshine. I’m seeing my dear friend tomorrow, and I know that she will ask if I received The Willard as we love to talk about it.
It’s so generous of you to give away your ART!
My friend (of 47 years & 700 miles away) and I joined the Enchanted Book Club last month because of you, and have also decided to start our very own book club: The Kindred Lit Society. One of our first books will be one we heard about from YOU! The Dictionary of Lost Words.
Thanks so much for creating beauty all around.
Good for you, the more books, the better!!! Thank you Nancy! xoxoxo
We are almost at the first day of spring in south Alabama. Love your post about green. So much has bloomed but a few nights of frost are ahead…my fave outdoor plants will be in protective custody…the old saying here is that it is not safe to plant in the ground until the pecan trees have leaves…no leaves on our tree yet. LG
Green is my signature color!! I love it so. 21 years ago I painted my baby girls nursery the softest green and added the sweetest blue and green bunny rug and it was the happiest room in the house. Some people thought I was nuts but I loved it and that sweet girl grew up to love green as much as her mama. Thank you Susan for always making my day brighter with your art and your words. 💚
Thank you for the ray of sunshine on a gloomy day here! Your art is just beautiful and just seeing it always makes me smile!
Happy Spring!
Thank you for the well wishes to Calif . I would love to have your Geranium art…it would be so special being girlfriends and all (I met you when you were a guest at the “Quilt guild in Orange County and also at Vromans in Pasadena)….❣️
What a wonderful post, Susan. I loved all the green— spring is on its way here in Missouri. I have a few daffodils that have bloomed, but it is cold here. I loved your Girl Scout cooking badge. I have one just like it! I have my sash too. Thanks for sharing yourself with all your girlfriends. You bring light to those dark days!
Love your jewelry plans!! The green images are promising! I read The Secret Garden again a few years ago during spring, and vowed to read it every spring! It is so incredible. Love your emails so much!
Happy St Patrick’s day! Notable to celebrate with a special dinner today but tomorrow there will be Tommy Maloney bangers, mash and peas (not mushy).
Today is St. Patrick’s Day!
🎶 “I’ll sing you one-o
Green grow the rushes-o.🎶
What is your one-o?
🎶 Green grow the rushes-o!
One is one and all alone and evermore shall be-o!”🎶
We sang St. Patrick’s Day shamrock and leprechaun songs with the toddlers at the library today. Love your green blog❤️. Spring is just around the corner🌻
How fun Dara! Love that!
I love that green is the color of optimism 🍀🍀🍀 thank you for the optimistic post, it was beautiful.
I am Irish in name only, but I do love the green!
Happy St. Patrick’s Day. My Grandmother, whom I called Nonnie sent me
a shamrock pin to wear to school when I was in 3rd or 4th grade. Of course
I still have this treasure. I always look forward to your blogs.
AHHHH…. Spring. We finally have a little sun in CA today and I am starting to see the wildflowers! Can’t wait to drive over to Morro Bay and see the beautiful green hills and (hopefully) poppies! Love to you!!
I have always loved your geranium painting. Hard to believe that was the first! It’s just perfect!
Happy St Patrick’s Day 💚💚💚
Susan-
I don’t see anything called “The Last Bookstore In London”?
Did you mean “The Last Bookshop In London” by Madeline Martin? It is such a good book.
Thanks,
Fifi
Yes!
Thank you for a shot of green on a dreary winter day! You make Spring seem possible! Thank you, I needed it!
Mary Helen
Thank you for all the green pictures! I love your fox slippers and the picture of Jack stretched out. He is so cute! I am going to look for that book. It sounds good and I love any book that is based on a true story!
Happy St. Patrick’s Day! I grew up in an Irish household and this, of course, was our favorite holiday. Please enter me into your contest!I’d love to win.
Slainte!
Your artist palette of greens were so uplifting and hopeful. Spring must truly be on the way! My living room has a theme of gardening, with reds and greens, bird nests, different size cloches (bell jars), a collection of red transfer dishes arranged on the wall, and appliqué pillows. Your geranium giclee would fit right in!
Thank you, Susan.
So many happy moments in your green post!! I love all the green photos. I make artichokes just like you do, but I like to add a clove or two of crushed garlic also. Happy Spring!!
Oh I love the geranium. I loved reading about it in your book and was so excited to see it on your website—then it was gone! I’m thrilled to hear you’re making more prints! To me, it’s such a lovely symbol of taking chances with creativity. You never know where it might lead! I’m so glad the geranium started you down this path that we all appreciate so much!
Happy Saint Patrick’s Day ☘🍀☘🍀 That means it’s almost Spring! 🐇🐣🐦🌷🌱
Happy St. Patrick’s Day! I so enjoyed your post, as always. Especially the “Beach booty. Heart shaped rocks”. I, too, treasure finding such gifts. I’m now reading Still Life. Wonderful read. I am really into the story. Seeing all the green in your post gave me inklings of hope of what Spring will bring to everyone. Who knows? Perhaps a red geranium giclee will come my way….dream…
I earned that Girl Scout cooking badge too! Lots of fun and I still love to cook. My hub just got Hamnet from the library. I told him it came highly recommended! He read it in three days and loved it.
How wonderful. Tell him to read A Gentleman in Moscow … and Still Life by Sarah Winman. Joe loved them both and so did I!
Such a wonderful Willard. I love the way you see the world around you. I look forward to each one. Thank you for being you!!
All the green is wonderful after dealing with 30 inches of heavy wet snow, snow falling from the roof up to the eves of the barn and a day and a half without power.
My father used to save me “Lady Dimes” as I called them. I found one in his drawer after he died at 97. It was a wave “Hello” from him to me.
That’s what I think too… xoxo
Love the green! Spring is just around the corner and I can’t wait. I thoroughly enjoyed your post. I love the geranium.
Love your fun filled posts! Geraniums we’re the first flower I grew as a child 👧🏼 🤞🏻
I’m a bit late, so Top o’ the Evenin’! ☘️
May the luck o’ the Irish be with me ! 🫢
Thanks for the lovely spring post.
What a wonderful post! Thank you for all the green…I needed that!❤️
I am a forever fan of your delightful work! Would treasure your geranium painting! Thank you for sharing your journey on this planet with all of us!
Oh, my goodness! I love this post in all things green! My favorite color and so needful right now! Thank you for this and the generous opportunity for a lovely piece of art!❤️
Spring… it never fails! A blog from Susan… it never fails to deliver positivity and cheerfulness and inspiration. Thank you, Sweet Sue
Love the geranium! I’ve ordered my cups and loving the preview! Happy spring! Sandy
Love the geranium! I’ve ordered my cups and loving the preview! Happy spring!
Love the geranium! I’ve ordered my cups and loving the preview! Happy spring! Thank you for your lovely post!
Thank you for sharing your wonderful Spring memories. Sure boosted my mood and my attitude! So appreciate your blogs.
Love your blog and I have all of your books, the painting of geranium is beautiful, my favorite plant because its the only one I can keep alive. Thank you for spreading your happiness with the world, bless you.
As always, love your cheery blog posts! Spring will be here before we know it.
Summer on my porch is always filled with red geraniums. No matter where we have lived over the years that is the first thing I think about when the season comes around. Now that I have downsized to a small 800 square foot white cottage, my porch swing is where I spend my summers and always with a view of beautiful geraniums!
Sounds perfectly wonderful!
Happy green! Always so inspiring!
Love everything you do, need this in my life.
Oh the red geraniums! They remind me so much of my beloved Granny. Every summer she would put a humble pot of red geraniums on her front porch. She told me they make her little house look Cheery! I miss her so.
Thank you for all the charming green pics! It reminds me of my 88 yr old Mom, her favorite color. She’s an avid reader, always looking for book recommendations so I told her about The Last Bookstore in London. Don’t tell her, but I just ordered your Queen cup for her November birthday-or should I save it for her 90th? Thank you for filling our hearts!
March 18
Happy St. Joseph’s day( celebrated by me and others that are Polish)
Love reading everything you write Susan.
Enjoy it all!🌺❤️
Happy St. Joseph’s Day!
Happy almost spring! We had 18 inches of snow earlier this week and we are deep in it now. No green anywhere.
Every time I read a new blog it inspires me to begin again. I get in a funk and then, Poof!, you pop in to say hi and inspiration starts anew. I really don’t know where you get all your energy. I’m up in my nest sewing bunnies. My girlfriend owns a lovely gift shop and I brought her twelve to sell yesterday. I’m so nervous and hoping that people will like them. I gave them all kinds of lovely old fashioned names, like Winny, Josie and Daisy. We’ll see what happens. The process has been fun and good therapy. Keeping my fingers busy and my mind occupied.
The Daylight savings thing really turned me upside down. Right now the sun is streaming in and I can hear lots of bird chatter outside. I’m gonna put on some quiet music and stich for a while. We watched the quiet man last night which was wonderful. I went to bed with the tune a wild colonialllll boyyyyyy stuck in my head. So good.
Hope all is well with you and Joe.
P.S. I have to have surgery….AGAIN! Wahhhhhhhhh. Two times in one year was not on my bingo card. Oh well, this time is not as serious as last spring so I will have it and move on. Gotta plant my sweet peas and think ahead.
A favorite flower! Happy spring 🍀🌼🌷💐🌸🌹
We are kindred spirits indeed! I LOVE your blog, your books, your outlook, your creativity and you. Thank you for this feast of joy.
I so enjoyed reading your blog this month. Growing up in PA. in an Irish American family, St. Patrick’s Day was like Christmas for us. Green was everywhere. Your green pictures are so artistic! I can almost smell the green New England grass.
Great idea of burning the journals.
Slainte,
Mary
I wish I saved my GS badges like you did. Happy St. Patrick’s Day.
A real pick-me-up post. Thanks for that,Susan. Your description of the joys of painting resonates with me, a largely self-taught artist in many mediums. Your watercolors are masterful and so beautiful. They are like the descriptions you paint with your words – clear and vibrant. Enjoy spring, Nancy
Thank you for the beautiful green blog! It lifts my spirits!
I look forward to your Willard each month. I just finished reading it, curled up in a warm blanket, taking it all in. You are so loving and the joy and love you share always fills my heart.
I especially loved all your green pictures – I am so ready for spring – and enjoyed learning a bit about your artistic process; I’m always curious about it. Oh, and that journal!! Amazing. So glad you can restore it. Well, that’s all for now. Send you lots of love and may you and Joe have a wonderful weekend!
You too Patricia! xoxo
Love the green and springtime. We still have some snow but I know it is coming soon. Love your watercolors
We love you too, Susan! Thanks for sharing your art and life.