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,
With all the rain in the SF Bay Area our daffodils, hyacinths, and tulips are in full bloom. I am enjoying them in the garden, in vases, and in pots. So, while the rains pour down and the winds roar, I can look at my spring bulbs and remember the anonymous quote, “No matter how long the winter, spring is sure to follow.”
Enjoyed all the green!
Oh how I love the color green! And thank you for sharing all those delightful photos representing this color of spring and newness and the freshness of things to come! We have many geraniums in our garden with all shades of green leaves and flowers just about to pop out in shades of pink, red, orange and purple. A riot of color once it finally gets warm here in So.Cal.
Always wonderful to wake up to a new Willard!!! Here in California, the sun has been out for two days in a row! My sweet peas got planted, and the freesias have started blooming. So delightful to revel in your “green” post. Thank you!!!
Thank Susan, wonderful post. I am on the library list for the audio/book The Last Bookshop in London by Madeline Martin. Thank you for the suggestion. Green has been my favorite color, Mom made me many a green dress to match my eyes. Wish we had little Girl Scout type badges now as cute and detailed as they were then, to award ourselves and friends, would be a fun collection.
What a bright spot your post was on this dreary Southern California Sunday morning! Thank you for always putting a smile on my face! Hugs to you and to Jack from me, Charlie and Lucy!
Oh, yes, Dear Lady. I’ve stopped making eye contact in the grocery store. It is recommended, actually was printed in a newspaper to keep your eyes down. That’s why my heart almost explodes with joy when we get back to rural Maine. Everyone says Hello and we all chat over the tomatoes, even if you don’t know each other. Vast majority of guns in Maine are for hunting.
It is soul killing to live here in Insantis Land, and it has been for some time. I know, as I came in 1970. We keep the place here because The Lovely does not love cold and snow. Oh, well, I can at least enjoy the very pleasant weather.
Love all these wonderful comments!! Mucho Love to You for giving us this place to encourage each other.
Debbie in nice, chilly Tampa, at least today.
I love geraniums! And the color green
I recognized the dancing sheep and realized I was drinking my morning coffee out of the Castle Cottage 2018 cup. I was there, on the lawn, and with Mandy for an extended Lake District tour. Heaven. Went to England after reading about your planned picnic with girlfriends. Your books set me on a wonderful journey.
Dear Susan, you are Spring!!! Especially dear to me are the words you write of your mother. Thank you!
Thank you for the reminder about artichokes! A fond memory of eating them with my mom when I was little. I love your stories and have all of your books! You are a SPECIAL friend to me.
Love to read every Willard! Thanks for making me smile and adding pure jo,my! Green is not a favorite color but added with others is perfect! We are awaiting Spring here in Iowa but some years winter lingers a bit too long!
I loved your explanation of how you see your art come to life with such detailed steps! Love how your mind works!
Thank you, thank you, thank you. No one can be down when reading your blog. Look forward to it always and love the pictures of Jack!
Hello darling Susan, Joe and Jack! I just celebrated my 65th birthday this month. I feel and hear my knees, and see my many laugh lines in the mirror, and am reminded that I am now truly an adult. At the same time I am also finally setting my inner child free…to be…me! Finding the balance in life is my aim. Sometimes I miss the mark, but I’m improving all the time. Illness and loss, heartache and worries swirl around, and there is no escaping it all, to be sure. However, if one has eyes to see it, there is beauty and loveliness everywhere, even in the midst of the swirling storms. You remind us of that always, dear friend. Thank you for the gift that you are to all of us. With love from your one in a millionth girlfriend. ❤️
Thank You Susan!! Your posts always add a bit of joy to my day!!
I so look forward to each and every Williard. You bring so much joy to all us girlfriends. Thank you!!
Your love of all things natural and your positivity leads so many others to delight in all that surrounds us each and every day. Thanks for the reminders and the inspiration and the gorgeous art and the thought-provoking thoughts and the list goes on…
Your wonderfully creative writings and your gorgeous art fill my heart with great joy! Thank you for being who you are!
Dear Dear Susan: how you ALWAYS come through at the most perfect time as I just heard a very precious friend (a Mom to me during my jr.college days) hasn’t much longer on this earth (98 in May).. 1923 was the year of my Mom’s birth like your Dad (100th for them this year!);
April’s a SPECIAL month for us: our birthdays (you on the 12th; me on the 1st) and our
Mothers’ memorials… such kindred spirits we are💕🌷💕
A-Lo-ha-ha from San Diego, Evie
PS: in our home shades of green in every room; but a red wall in the kitchen
Thank you for your lovely post! You always lift my spirits. My dad passed in 2020. His birthday is April 2nd. He loved carrot cake. I am getting your yummy carrot cake cupcake recipe out to make them. He loved your recipe with all the delicious flavors…pineapple, coconut! YUM.
Good to hear from you. I’ve been painting too. Soon it will be time to be outside to enjoy working in the dirt. Enjoy!
Even though we live in FL now where there isn’t much of a change of seasons, I still look forward to Spring and its hopes and possibilities. Your posts always inspire me to be aware of my surroundings and the pictures are always so beautiful. Thank you for sharing and thank you just for being you!
Happy Sunday and Happy Spring!
Hi Susan—Happy Birthday to me on St Patrick’s Day…76 this year
I do love the Green umbrella with the daisies(my fav flower)—Can you make me one?? Or make a bunch???
Love your Willard–i always do…No matter how my day goes—You Make it Better
Hello Susan (and Joe): Geraniums! A love of mine since childhood! My beloved aunt and uncle (Shelburne, MA) built their house with pasture and hillside views the year I was born. I spent many summers at their home. For me, every day was magical. Country living for a kid who grew up on the border of southwestern CT and New York! Every summer, 2 big ceramic pots sat on each side of their front porch – absolutely “stuffed” with salmon pink geraniums. Out back, an “L” was formed where their house and screened porch connected. In that space, they planted multiple red geraniums, 3 plants deep. I’m guessing ~50 geraniums. Gorgeous. They always kept at least 5 geraniums (pink) on the windowsill of their kitchen window – all year round. But my most memorable geranium memory centers around Memorial Day every year. My aunt and uncle’s car trunk would be filled with geranium plants to be take to and planted in front of the monument stones of relatives who had passed on, located at the Quabbin Memorial Park in Ware, MA. My maternal Grandmother started the tradition which was carried on by my aunt and then, when possible by me (as an adult, life has taken me to VT, TN, NC, and ME). The annual geraniums were always salmon pink – 3 plants for each stone and every plant had to have three bud stalks. All these memories have been the basis of my lifelong love and admiration of geraniums. I’ve had geraniums on porches, decks and flower boxes in every house I’ve lived in – some planted in those very same pots that sat on my aunt and uncle’s porch all those years ago. One difference, my choice of geranium colors has ranged from salmon pink to red to magenta to pink to white. I love all of the colors! I’ve been known to photograph planters and flower boxes while traveling in Europe. Long live geraniums! If I’m lucky enough to receive your generous give away, you can be sure it will be framed and displayed in my ME home! All good wishes for a spectacular Spring season!
Happy Spring from Southern California! It’s still raining but the pink and white blossoms on our fruit trees are so lovely and delicate as we view them out the window, and the bulbs are beginning to push through the soaked ground here as well…signs of surprises yet to come. Thank you for your beautiful, thought provoking, wonderful post!
Your fan and admirer forever,
Ilene
Two things I love in this blog…your geranium print (I hope I win!) and when you said “ We get inside these stories and don’t want to come out.” I feel the same way when I read a book I love…I don’t want to say good bye to the story, the characters, the places!
It’s been a long journey with you and your wonderfulness! I so love your art and stories as does a zillion other people. It’s such a breath of fresh air in this world of turmoil.🌷 I keep hoping for another illustrated cookbook but I know how consuming and fattening that idea is😝 …….but am still keeping my fingers crossed!! Keep on being happy!🎈🎈🎈
…loved your post and would love to have the geraniums–thanks for considering me as a recipient. Judy
It was great receiving this Willard! Thank you! We just got about 6 inches of snow from yesterday overnight, so had to shovel and snow blow this morning. So looking forward to some green and Spring.
Thank you for the good greenness you’ve given us! Wisconsin is still very chilly – below zero windchills yesterday- but the thaw is coming and you’ve given me hope for warmer days. And now I feel inspired to dig out my thick garden journal to get ready for another season of growing. I’m going to have to add geraniums to my list of plants now having seen your beautiful print. Thank you so much for planting joy for all of us!
Hi Susan,
As a California native this has been a winter for the records. I’m ready for spring and plenty of sunshine. Still, it was great to replace some of the water we so desperately needed.
Thank you for always bringing your sunshine and happiness to my email box.
xo,
Karen B.
I hope your Spring is Wonderful!
Spring has sprung, the grass has “riz”, I wonder where the flowers is! Terrible grammar but the sentiment is great.
👏👏👏
Thank you for being you.
Hi Susan..wonderful to read your news and share wonderful memories and thoughts with you. I want to say a huge Thank you for talking about book Still Life by Sarah Winman. I bought it and am absolutely loving it..she writes so beautifully and the story is wonderful. I love anything about Italy….but these characters ..Whow.. Have you read any of Adriana Trigiani…her last one is so good. Then I am a great fan of Lucinda Riley and her Seven sisters books..they are a great read too..Bless you both for sharing your lives with us.
Much love,Sandra from Birmingham UKxx
Dearest Susan ….. you have been in my life almost as long as my husband!! I have followed you all these years and have every one of your books. I’ve admired the geranium giclee since you first shared it. What a treasure that would be!! Happy Spring from the depths of snow here in Sun Valley, Idaho
Wonderful to hear from you! The Robin’s have been back in Wisconsin for a few weeks now. Poor things having to brave weekly snowstorms like the rest of us. But the bulbs are starting to poke their heads up. Spring is on its way!
What a beautiful post to welcome spring with!!! Thank you so much for bringing your lovely life to us-especially to welcome spring!!!
No one ever made green sound so wonderful as Susan Branch does here in this Willard. My grandmothers both had green carpet and green sofas (one called hers the “davenport”) so I thought I’d never want green furniture, but I find myself buying lots of green pillows and painting the walls a lovely blue-green. Nature’s colors have a way of growing on you. 🙂
Green and Yellow, I’m one happy fellow.
Red geranium is the spotlight of my eye,
but the deer here
feast on every thing.
Sigh
Very inspired by your thoughts on creativity! Really enjoyed seeing the early stages of your painting. So beautiful! So many sweet “green” photos – brought a big smile to my face. Happy spring! =^..^=
Whole blog…to much fun and beautiful stuff to wrap my head around in one read though, so will be going back and reading slowly. It just reminds me of the first time I EVER wrote what I call an ORCHID Note (a letter to author praising a book) and it was to you for your very first book. I was passing through SLO (I live in San Diego) and went into the bookstore – and there it was and bought immediately. Sent it to your publisher who sent to you. AND I remember how excited, thrilled, surprised I was when I got a handwritten little note from you. Kept it for years. But it was lost in a house fire in 2003. Hope someday you finish your PANCAKE cookbook; breakfast is my favorite meal. Sending hugs to you and all the girlfriends who are awaiting sunshine back in the lives.
Susan… I love you so big! I enjoyed the walk down GREEN Memory Lane! I most especially love the kitty lace curtains! So precious. I hope you two are well. Thank you for being you and helping me find “me”.
I’m always uplifted by your posts. Thank you for sharing your whimsical and delightful enjoyment of all things beautiful.
So loved this uplifting post. Green is my favorite color so I enjoyed the lovely images. I can’t wait to receive my Queen Elizabeth mug. I miss her so but I’m looking forward to the Coronation. Keep on doing what you do! Your words keep me going in trying times.
Susan, this was perfect! So nice to see all the green as I live in the Northern California mountains. We will probably have snow on the ground until July – I’ve never seen a winter like this in the 40 years I’ve lived here. And it’s snowing again now…with another storm on the way in a few days. But you’ve reminded me that Spring will come eventually, thank you! 💚
Oh, Susan. How I love your posts! I so needed to see this today.
We just moved from our 140 year old Queen Anne Victorian tower home that we lived in for 43 years and raised our five children – to a “new” home that is 17 years old to be closer to our children. It has been a huge adjustment as we are about to turn 69 and 70. But it is a better space for us to not have stairs looking to the future (although we are very physically active – and I swim 3
miles a week) and space for all of our kids to stay (22 of them if they all show up at once!).
I brought all of your books, cups and my Peter Rabbit figurines to help me nest! The good thing is that I have purged a LOT in the move. I do have a room to draw and paint (sharing it with the 10 grandkids where they have toys and crafting supplies) – and a quilting room so it is all good! We had our first sleepover last weekend and this weekend we are babysitting so our daughter and her husband can celebrate their 12th anniversary.
Thank you for your beautiful inspiration. But I’m missing my daffodils – there aren’t any in our new home! That will change next year!
Bless you!
xo
Susan, here in Nor Cal we have definitely had a rough winter! So looking forward to the greens of springs like you mentioned here. Always grateful for your optimism. It reminds me there are better days ahead soon! Who knew what the future held when you painted that beautiful first painting? It’s incredibly inspiring.
Dear Susan,
It has been awhile and I am so happy to have spent this time relaxing with your posts. The robins were through here in February and I let my brothers in Iowa know so they can look forward to Spring! Except for the pollen here in Florida, the scents of Spring are wonderful…and the flowering trees and bushes are vibrant!
My cousin just became a great grandmother two times recently, both boys.
Our grandmother always had geraniums on the kitchen window sills…I would gift the print to my cousin.
Thank You, Susan, for your heartfelt kindnesses (and talent).
Green has always been my favorite color! Love your posts and geraniums!!
Kindred spirits in so many ways!
Happy Green and Happy Spring!
Happy Green and Happy Spring!
I always enjoy a new Willard! I’ve loved your art work, calendars, and books for years! Thank you for sharing your gifts with the world!
I’m so excited each month when I see the email for the new “Willard” arrive in my inbox! Reading it brings me such joy and a wonderful feeling of home. Can’t wait for my new Queen Elizabeth cup to arrive so I can sit down with a good book and a delicious cup of tea. Thank you, Susan, for sharing your home, your art, your garden, your travels, and all things lovely with all of us!
Looking forward to more green in NH
Your email always comes at the perfect time. Thank you!
I love you too Susan…I really really do! Janie Foltz
A new Willard,a cup of chai tea, time to unwind. As the commercial used to say “celebrate the moments of your life”. We love hearing from Susan.
Loving all the green,my favorite color. Still hoping one of your new cups will be one with your sweet,simple shamrocks all over it.
Reading “A Fine Romance” AGAIN.Don’t know how many times this makes. Makes me wonder,how’s “Enchanted” coming along? So looking forward to reading that. Happy spring
Thank you for this uplifting and colorful post! I’ve been inspired by you since I purchased one of my first cookbooks in the mid-1980s, your Heart of the Home. And then began my love affair with cooking for friends, decorating places and gardening. Geraniums always have a place in my home and I’d be so honored to receive your print through the giveaway. I’m enjoying Distilled Genius and sending you congrats on the re-print demand.
I love the journey you took us on with the pictures of you and Joe. Such a wonderful story full of hopes and dreams. You can see it in both of your faces…especially your eyes. Thank you for sharing from your heart….
You can write so simply into something beautiful. Green. Simply Green. Love it. Kathy
Susan, I so love your artwork, your writing, your outlook on life – always a day brightener! Thank you! ❤️
I look forward to these posts all the time, your messages are always spot-on. You inspire me in so many ways. I feel the green of Spring coming and marvel at the bulbs poking up after having been buried under 3 1/2’ of snow. I have also enjoyed your books and once I get them back from my Mom, am going to read them again before passing them to my daughter. Thank you!
Loving all the green!
Almost Spring ! Happy Happy!
I love geraniums and I just got 2 new ones for my patio. My dad raised geraniums so they are extras special. I woulda love the geclee print.
What a lovely post Susan. So amazing that you are having to reprint A Fine Romance and the Fairytale Girl. They simply are the most charming books I have in my collection. I re read A Fine Romance last week and am now re reading Fairytale Girl. Absolutely love them!! I ordered the Queen cup already so now have that to look forward to. Happy Spring to you and Joe and all the Girlfriends.
It’s so nice that’s spring is finally coming.
Absolutely love geraniums and plant them every year. Only drawback is when petals fall at the front door, guests track in their red color on the carpet. I’d love to win the geranium print! Beautiful.
Many years ago , I had a wonderful elderly couple that lived next door.
They went to Florida every winter. I knew it was Spring when I would wake up one
Morning and look out the kitchen window and I would see the beautiful red geraniums
Freshly planted in their two window boxes. Pure joy.
That was many years ago, but every spring when I see the red geraniums out for sale at the nursery, I think of Mr Dahill and every year I buy and plant them in remembrance.
I love your beautiful letters to all of us. It is truly a gift and makes my day to see your
Willard in my email. Kindred Spirits ❤️
Reading this was a nice ending to my day!
Love the two books that need to be reprinted. So glad I have them.
I recognized the geranium right away!
I left a message. It never seems to post. Just wanted to say that I love you & the positivity you exude. You always make me smile & sometimes I even laugh out loud! I have quite the story from when I was visiting my dad’s gravesite years ago. He was also born in 1923. I miss him still. He was only 69 when he left us. Maybe I will share it sometime. It rocked my world. Green is one of my very favorite colors. I wore my dad’s leprechaun pin yesterday. I hope this one goes through. I’d be over the moon if I won a watercolor painting by you!!
Just the wee bit of green I needed as our sweet weather girl says 4 more gray wet days ahead this week! I love to find another cheery note filled with your charming memories and pictures! Geraniums are one of my favorites and I am looking forward to when I can go to the nursery and fill my cart with lots of them and other treasures! Take care and Happy Spring to all ☂️
I am soooo in love with all your Willard’s! They brighten my heart with joy! I want to “like/love” every single sentence❣️You know us all so well and we are so glad for all these kindred spirits. I just finished The Paris Library. It is a wonderful true story book written by
Janet Skeslien Charles. She is a librarian who worked in Paris as the programs manager at the American Library in Paris. You and Joe will love this book, if you haven’t already read it. It’s all about the old fashioned Dewey Decimal system that I absolutely miss terribly. Thanks for all your words and creativity that you share with us Sue.💐
A new blog post always makes my day! I love all the pictures, especially the ones of Jack. I have my own two tuxedo kitties❤️ Oddly enough of all the prints I have of yours I don’t have the geranium print. It’s one of my favorites! My other favorite is the one with the four hats.
Happy Sunday and Happy Spring !! So enjoy readying your Blogs. Love the green theme. Looking forward to the green grass and green valleys here in Southern California when all this rain ends.
Tomorrow! First dy of spring! The daffodils, yellow, white and even pink, are up and blooming along with the hyacinths and muscari and yellow crocus. Ah! Lovely spring! All our California rain did not dicourage spring’s arrival! And love all the green!
Hi Susan:
Loved this latest WILLARD. I have also just finished reading THE LAST
BOOKSHOP IN LONDON. I loved it also. And how everyone came together
to save the BOOKSHOP after the bombing. Wasn’t that wonderful?!
Here in Michigan it is still quite cold, but most of the snow has melted as we
had a few days of heavy rain. And next week temps are supposed to be in
the low 50’s! Hurray! My favorite time of year is Spring–new birth and
new growth to see. Happy Spring to you and Joe! Thank you for being “you”!
A post from you is a tonic – perfect for what might ail! Here on Canada’s west coast the daffodils are blooming and bluebells and tulips are not far behind. Time to think about gardens and seeds and warm sunshine. Thank you for sharing the green from your world!
What a delight to listen and walk in tandem. The story connects you like a bungee cord holding you close. Lovely.
Anticipating the “greening” of spring with you,
Diney
Lovely Willard! Glad to here you both are great! My grandma E. use to have red geraniums. They were beautiful and so is your first painting!!!!!!!!! I dream of visiting Martha’s Vineyard some day!!!!!!! I bought 3 copies of A Fine Romance, 2 copies of The Fairy Tale Girl and 2 copies of Martha’s Vineyard Isle of Dreams!!! I bought extra so if I wore out one copy reading and rereading them I would always have a copy in NEW condition! Have a GREAT SPRING!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THANK YOU FOR ALL OF THE WILLARDS!!!!!!!!!!
Celebrating our Irish history I had the children and grandchildren over for my annual St. Patrick’s Day dinner. Lots of green, even found shamrock lights this year and a darling green apron. The Girl Scout badge brought back some more green memories….sash and dress and hat! Fun green optimistic history: First Lady Lou Hoover connected the White House to the Girl Scouts. Hopefully this link works. If it doesn’t go to the White House Historical Association to read of the connection of First Ladies to the Girl Scouts. (if you didn’t know this already) Now I’m waiting for green here in Utah.
whitehousehistory.org/girl-scouts-and-first-lady-lou-hoover?fbclid=IwAR1tF14IL4ORgrCw-XXFppv6CvDTNL2J2FE7OLNyTucWAiu8J8660uDhdz8_aem_AcNTX-SU3XgNeRZNhwzTi6XqXffYUqpkDVI3SXSRdc9y2N-DgoEGuDJme4XPQZVWQsaXaRFdaM0Lc_lP7NIQpElQB5sn3f3uUxs_Ea0OlmJatplhm-Arvd17UsEkEGxjRZcFYydvPQp18GcQzJzvy–n
You are an inspiration to me! Thank you for your homey stories and beautiful artwork. Love ❤️. We are still in snowy cold and I am DEVOURING all the yummy green foliage in your photos. It gives me hope that there will be Spring! Thank you, thank you for your positivity. It lifts and lightens me!
Thank you! You are an inspiration and comfort. In a world of so much uncertainty, your outlook and perspective are reassuring. So, again, thank you.
Thank you for the wonderful green pictures. It’s green here, too, in western Washington. can’t wait for more!
I love your Willard letters! They give me inspiration and hope that there is so much to enjoy in life, so many simple, beautiful things that I forget to notice when I’m consumed by the stress of my job. I adore your lovely and whimsical artwork and all the quotes. Susan, I consider you and the sweet folks who comment here and on Facebook as my friends, and feel very blessed.❤️🍀💚🪻🌷
I just love being blessed by Willard, thank you! Green is my favorite color!
Thanks for sharing the green. I am shoveling snow here and it is level with my 2nd story house.
Greetings from SLO where we are soggy but also so beautifully green! Thank you for sharing your wonderful green collection – now I will be looking for all of the greens around me this spring. 💚💚💚
Would love to win that beautiful geranium plant drawing❤️
This was perfect! Loved seeing all the green and the reminder that Spring will eventually come, as I am buried in snow here in the Sierras of Northern California. Thank you Susan!
Have a wonderful spring! I’m really looking forward to some cooler weather. We’re now in autumn but you wouldn’t know it. The hot, humid days continue and my new fruit trees need lots of watering. I too would love to hear your story of HOME. Hopefully it can get on to your looong ‘to do’ list. Love to all the girlfriends.
Love the color green & spring.
I’m always excited to see Willard in the mailbox.❤️
The geranium painting is lovely.
Thank you for the green and the optimism! Green has always been my favorite color and now i know why! You have been a busy gal… all that Spring cleaning early. What a wonderful way to go into the new season… fresh and beautiful.
Love, love, love getting these Williards! Some day my dream is to go to Martha’s Vineyard. Someday…..for now I’ll live through your pictures and words.
I would also love to get a list of the books you and Joe read. Maybe you could send us girlfriends a list of those wonderful books you talk about. My husband is close to retirement and I think we’d really enjoy reading books together like that.
Much love,
Lisa
Willard gives us hope as Hope springs eternal…Alexander Pope. I repeat and repeat waiting for spring in Michigan each year, I love our four seasons and nature. i love the wuiet of winter and crocheting the days away, and it’s an adjustment for me to move into busier longer days…I thrive in the quiet. Thank you for inspiration on believing in my simple joys and quiet life💚.
“Green, green, You’re a queen!” Part of an old rhyme! And I adore geraniums…my Irish grandmother’s favorite flower. Spring arrives this evening at 5:24 pm EST. My granddaughters will be here and we are going to celebrate!
I love green so much that St. Patrick’s Day is the day my husband and I married in 1978!
Susan…I love what you are doing with the coin that you found on your dad’s grave. What a beautiful idea and such a wonderful way to honor him! Have you ever thought of auctioning off some of the pages of your diary? (Nothing personal of course), but you could donate the proceeds to a charity that is near and dear to your heart. I’m sure you could bring in a heap of $$$ for a worthy cause. Just a thought. Happy Spring!
💚🌷🌸☀️💛
Green has long been my favorite color. Now my three year old grandson remembers it. When we play with blocks he’ll choose green and proudly proclaim, “This is your favorite right grandma?” For the record his favorite color is purple, a natural complement to my green 💚💜
Susan, I cry every time I read your Willards… You have such a way of bringing us into your world; your home, your walks along the wooded path, the beach by the gray ocean… Your words are such beautiful magic, that I read, and then re-read Willard over and over again. The box of tissues are never far away! I love to see your email show up every month, just so I can steal away to my craft room, to enjoy a much needed escape to the Cape! Thank you so much for sharing your world with us!
Just finished that book and loved it. Love the geranium painting. In California it has been wet, but I already have flowers blooming – lots of pink freesia and leaves on the crepe myrtle trees. So looking forward to Spring.