Yes, these California storms were nothing less than astounding, as you may have seen in the news, with scary words like BOMB CYCLONE (still don’t know what that was, but now I know don’t want to know), and ATMOSPHERIC RIVERS … I now know what this is and wish I didn’t! But we are fine and nothing got wet but the grass . . . there’s Joe out there making sure we’re safe. Now we know why it’s all so spectacularly GREEN around here! So! Ready for a new Willard? Let’s GO!💝 MUSICA!
Guess what arrived this morning? YES!!! Through rivers of rain, life-threatening wind, flowing mud, and flooding canyons ~ the boxes I’ve been waiting for, all the way from England ~ inspired by real life, I dreamed them, and now they’re HERE! The new cups! They made it!
LOOK! Shiny bright new. . . just in time!
Box-loads of them! As always, first come first serve, if you preordered, the first shipment will be going out this afternoon . . . we’re trying our very best to get them to you in time for Valentine’s Day!🥰
And plenty of time for Patriot’s Day in April!
And, don’t forget, we also got more of this one ~ for everyone who missed it first time around! Special for the Anglophiles in your life. Celebrating the long productive life of Queen Elizabeth II, this 16-oz. Commemorative cup! Filled with one of my private blend teas, this one is the Fine Romance Tea, Earl Grey with Lavender, rose petals, honey and cream!💖 YUM! Be your own Valentine!💞
For Anglophiles like me. I couldn’t love it more!🇬🇧
And this little cutie too . . . the Happy Birthday cup, for the Birthday friends in your life, in the smaller 11 oz size! All three of them arrived today! Won’t be long now until they come to a mailbox near YOU! Thank you for your patience!!! If you have been waiting to order until they actually got here, you can go HERE to secure yours now!🥳
This is one of MY best gifts, Kellee, she’s DEFINITELY tied to MY heartstrings!💖
Joe and I drove up to see her and the new studio yesterday . . . it was wonderful to see how Kellee has arranged everything ~ she did such a good job! ~ moving is such a good thing, we’ve unearthed things we haven’t seen in 
YEARS … like this appliqued quilt I designed for a new fabric line (new at the time) called Tea Party that Kellee hung over our cutting table. Note teapot on top shelf of appliquéd cabinet, and then I put the whole fabric collection on the shelves! And bordered it all with bluebirds of happiness because happiness, history, stories, and comfort is what quilting is all about! These fabrics are long gone, but we still have the pattern for the quilt, in case you’d like it!
The Studio is just an old warehouse, mostly furnished with shelves and tons of books, puzzles, charms, cups, tea things, vintage things, stationery things … but it does have lots of windows, lots of light, and Kellee put down cozy rugs and made a perfect office for herself and a darling little kitchen where she hung our sailboat cups.
Is that YOUR Autumn book sitting on top there?💘
I loved wandering around, seeing the products, and promised Kellee I would design more cards and notepads . . .
I got to smell our new kitchen soaps in their little wooden holders … the Genius Soap is made with Tea Tree and peppermint to enhance alertness and focus! Cute for a blue kitchen, soft and soapy. The oatmeal is the same, no rough herbs to hurt your hands, lovely soapy smell. I use the lavender all the time, but now I get to try the two new ones! Kellee and I wandered around for a while, then we went next door with Joe and Joel (Joel is the man who just brought our shopping page into the 21st century! I hope you like it!) and ate delicious Mexican food (a good Mexican restaurant next door was a BIG selling point for this space!) and discussed what good news we’ll have for you the rest of this year!💖
It’s inspiring, being here, in all new surroundings, seeing old friends, being close to Trader Joe’s😂, having so many good 
memories, getting organized ~ even when it’s raining, it’s a feast for the senses. No problem if it rains, we have a lot to do ~ mostly going through files, drawers, closets, barn, storage rooms, cleaning, and getting everything into piles . . . speaking of finding things ~ I’ve discovered so many things here, a note from my mom, a hilarious letter from my sister, childhood photos of my grandma, an old set of cookbooks, a collection of old paintbrushes . . . and bits and pieces like this:
Old pieces of art I haven’t seen in years. Been so fun discovering them and remembering doing them. See the cards I blotted my paintbrush on? I saved them from my very first 
book, Heart of the Home ~ I couldn’t throw them away! As you can see, I’ve always been trying to learn to paint people . . . either from magazine pictures, or made up, or from real photos, that’s a pencil drawing of me and my two brothers as children on the right… and that’s a portrait of our friends, the Schwiers, above it. It looks like Peggy, but definitely not Bob (except for the hair) ~ which is why it’s still here! And you can see me practicing Martin Luther King Jr. before I put him in my 2000 wall calendar! I think I spot Vanna in the center of the page, in the sunglasses, next to the baby jumping out of the egg (which never made it into my Baby Love book). That painting above is an original, painted on d’Arches paper, not even signed yet, just sitting in a box, I don’t know why! I’ll have to think of something special to do with it!🤔
Check this out. The stick people of 1988 … I started getting excited about painting clothes, as you can see from some of the paintings on the floor . . . I still have the jacket and the 
headband, my sister has the pin ~ I wore that exact outfit to a movie premier my friend Jane (who worked for George Lucas) took us to in 1988. The movie was wonderful, called Tucker, a Man and his Dream. I never see that movie anywhere for some reason, but it was great. That outfit was much cuter when the ruffled skirt flipped around! The Yuppie guy in the painting (who is not Joe) ~ his brown saddle shoes, and starry suspenders, was all made up. Thank goodness because I didn’t leave a lot of room for brains in that tiny head! Hers either for that matter! 😂 
I couldn’t give them hardly anything to drink because their hands were too small to hold it! But one does not give up. One hides the imperfect art in a box for 20 or 30 years until one feels brave enough to show it so that all her friends know that things wanted, must be worked for.💖 I have like three paintings of stick people. It’s like a collection, my stick-people period.
I’m going to paint a little more on this and you’ll likely see her in a future calendar! She doesn’t look so bad! And her puffed sleeves are back in style! I was smart this time, I hid her hands!
You’ve already seen this on a calendar page about Creativity! The original stick person! I drew it in kindergarten. One of my first adventures in drawing people! Note that I am trying out the fat arm and fat leg vs the thin arm and thin leg…six fingers vs five. It’s all about trial and error! My mom put this in my baby book! Good strong representation for the belly button!
This was folded up inside my baby book too … It’s HUGE, almost 5′ tall framed ~ it’s poster paint on kraft paper, also painted in 
kindergarten. I forgot about it until Joe found in the back of a closet. The reason it’s so tall is because it’s “actual size.” My teacher, Miss Caldwell, had the whole class lay down on paper, and she traced around us, and then we got to paint ourselves! I was so excited to see it again. I had it hanging in my studio on the Vineyard at one time, but immediately it began to fade really fast . . . so I took it down and it’s been face-to-the-wall, hidden ever since.
Here it is … how it was, the only photo I have of it as it originally was … you see the colors? So I took a trip to the art store the other day and bought poster paints, children’s paint brushes, and fixative, and if I have the nerve, I think I will try and restore it! Something interesting to think I painted it when I was five, now again 71 years later! My eyes look more like that now than then, I’ve grown into them! But I’m way better at putting my lipstick on. Note that learning to paint people takes time!💞
Found this too … never used it … I wrote “No Time For Love?” in the early ’90s, because I was irritated by my answering machine😂 and couldn’t get a real person when I called a business😬!! Ahh, the innocent 90s. I thought I could see the future and I didn’t think I liked it. The words I wrote scream out for editing, but I still think I was right!😆 Only now it’s phones! Don’t even talk to me about drones! (You see lines going off that page? Those are misspellings or grammar that I needed to fix! But since it went nowhere but into a box, I didn’t bother.)
Back to art . . . This half-finished painting is another find . . . it was here too ~ I have no idea when I started it. It was completely drawn, but only about ⅓ of it was painted … I had painted the table ~ but everything on the table was only in pencil, and the chairs were white. Then, one of our first mornings here, I woke up inspired, thinking “Brown, those chairs should be brown!” Which, as you can see, I did, and I’ve been working on it ever since! I wob it.💕
Happy Anniversary to Joe and me!💞 February 6th was the 37th Anniversary of our first date! Here we are just a couple of weeks later at Holly Oak, my little house on Martha’s Vineyard that had quilts for curtains. Talk about gifts!💝 He’s how I know God loves me and wants me to be happy.💝
I’ve had such a good time with all these California discoveries, I think I’m going to leave a treasure hunt, complete with map, as a surprise for the new owners of this house! I’ve been thinking about it . . . like a time capsule, or something. I’ll tell you more about that in the next Willard . . . Until then, how would you like a chance to own an original watercolor painting, signed to you by me? For Valentines Day, I thought maybe my girlfriends would enjoy one of my “finds.” The one with the yellow kitty! Kitchen art if I’ve ever seen it!
“April in New England is like First Love,” which it is! The painting is almost 10″ x 10″, it isn’t framed, and it’s not signed, so I can put a TO and FROM on it (for whomever’s name is drawn) and sign it! I think, by the looks of it, I painted it at Holly Oak probably in the 1980s, when I was discovering first love (in more ways than one)! Just leave a comment, and you’ll be automatically entered. (To enter: Under the last words of this Willard, you’ll see a whole bunch of tiny printed words; the last one will be a number with the word “Comments” … click there!) Happy Valentine’s Day!
One more thing, I wanted to pass you a tiny Trader Joe’s tip … get the Trader Joe’s fresh-dried pasta in little nests, probably about 6 or 8 in a package (we ate them, I don’t have them in front of me!).🥰 Drop one or two of the little noodle nests in boiling water for just one minute, toss them in a peanut salad dressing (opt), and add them to any salad, spinach, Asian, it’s all good! Makes a person so happy to have noodles in her salad!🥳🥳🥳
One more quickie, hard to stop, did you love the Grammys? Tracy Chapman!😢 Joni Mitchell!😭 Everyone! All that creativity! Like us💞, creating our lives every day! We never know if we’re inspiring others, but it’s my dream that through us, dear girlfriends, when we’re a source of the joys that bring us happiness, we’ll pass that on, inspire others, and bring us all a more beautiful world.💝 Let’s reach a tipping point for goodness! ❌⭕️❌⭕️
oh, don’t you love finding things you had forgotten about? I love your art work, and the kitchen one is the best. it looks like my old cat Sir Fuzzman. He has since passed but i can’t pass an orange cat without thinking of his giant self! Love it!!!
So happy that all is well at your California home, Susan and Joe!
What wonderful art treasures you are discovering, tucked away for so many years! I love that you are excited to finish the kitchen table painting, Susan! You inspire us in so many ways, dear heart!!
Warmest hugs from Illinois,
🩷 Dawn
Happy Valentine’s Day Susan and Joe!! Glad the weather wasn’t too bad where you are. Sounds like a lot of fun and work going through so many things you had forgotten you even had!! ♥️♥️♥️
Love Willard….brightens my day…..and all the memories of Martha’s Vineyard! And of course Jack! Thank you!,
Happy VDay Susan,
You bring such joy and love to all in this community. Thank you for bringing this uplifting post to all of us. I love your pictures.
Blessings,
Mary Peterson
Susan, you inspire me to keep working on my art and to dream big! My friend bought me Distilled Genius for my birthday this year and it was my first introduction to your work and I have to say it’s one of my favorite books EVER! Thank you for sharing your art and your joy with the world! Much love, Laura
Love it love it love it! Thank you Laura and Happy Birthday!🥳
I’ve been a fan for decades. You live in my kitchen lol. Wall calendar to soap!
Thank you for the opportunity to own a signed Susan original! So, that’s Kathy with a K….ha! Happy Anniversary, Happy Valentine’s Day and continued happy days in California! So glad to hear you are all well! Cheers!
Yes! Love the picture. Yellow cats are the best!
What a wonderful surprise! A lovely Willard to enjoy on a sunny, cold New York afternoon. I agree that the Emmys were soooo good! Joni Mitchell looking and sounding fantastic gave me a lump in my throat. All the women winning, too. What a night!
Happy Valentine’s Day to you and Joe🥰
Linda❤️
I am so very happy that I rediscovered you after an absence of my years🩷
April, May, June…any month in England has one falling in love again and again. My favorite adventure was in the fields of Cotswolds…360 degrees of lavender, sheep and sweet lambs, views of cottages and castles everywhere:)
Glad that all is well with you two in spite of the rain! It is so much fun to read about your adventures! Would love to win!
Dear Susan,
What an endearing Willard! Just what I needed today. I’m excited about the new cups (I ordered the 250th Anniversary) and they look so bright and new, especially all together! And the painting April in New England— I feel like I have seen it before. Maybe it was a similar version of it. The painting you’re working on now is adorable! It’s so nice to see some of your unpublished work!
What fun finding treasures you had forgotten about. Yes, do leave something for the new owners. It will be a find for sure for whomever comes along next!
Dearest Susan:
The best things about this Willard are the two pictures of you and Joe. One when you just met, and the other recently. So wonderful and loving! I have some things in common with you: I lived in N. Calif in tract housing when young and then moved to Illinois where, in my child’s mind, they had “real houses” with two floors and long, curving stairs with polished bannisters! Just like “in the movies” (I know you can relate). I have always had such a soul-connection to England, too, I have a black and white cat, and I am married to a man named Joe. It is true–I can’t make this kind of thing up! You are my inspiration in so many ways. Your books made me laugh and cry. You are so special. I just wanted you to know that.
Susan,
I have loved seeing your Instagram posts of your time in California. Thanks for keeping us posted! Glad you and Joe survived the rains! Have a wonderful day!
I so enjoy reading these Willards! They make me smile! Thank you for the inspiration!
Glad to hear you are safe and enjoying going through your treasures in the house!
I will not lie-there were definitely tears when Tracy Chapman sang Fast Car with Luke Combs. My daughter and I saw her in concert in Northampton, MA a number of years ago and she was wonderful. And Joni Mitchell, what can I say? Brought me back to my high school days! Happy Valentine’s Day to you and Joe! Such a great love story ❤️
Happy belated anniversary, Susan! You and Joe are such an inspiring couple! Thanks for sharing some of your unpublished and older artwork. I really adore the kitchen table pairing. You will have to share the finished product when you are done. Cheers, and Happy Valentine’s Day!
Thank you for a lovely Valentine Letter. It made my day.
Treese/Colorado Cowgirl
Since it is February, I will pass on words from St. Francis DeSales on Learning to Love: There are many who want me to tell them of secret ways of becoming perfect, and I can only tell them that the sole secret is a hardy love of God, and the only way of attaining that love is by loving. You learn to speak by speaking, to study by studying, to run by running, to work by working; and just so you learn to love God and man by loving. Begin as a mere apprentice and the very power of love will lead you on to become a master of the art.
I have read before that Valentine’s Day is one of the largest suicide days of the year. Reach out to everyone you know (and maybe even people you don’t know) to share your love. You never know how much a small act of kindness, can change someone else’s life in a positive way.
Yay for another Willard so soon!!
I’m trying! Shorter, more often, it’s my mantra…
I loved seeing all of your “lost” treasures, and would love to have your “give away treasure.” Enjoy California!
You know I love everything you do, Susan! I’d love to be entered in the drawing for “April in New England!”
Hi Dawn! So nice to see you here in our world of kindred spirits! xoxoxo
Oh Susan! To have anything of yours would be so very special and cherished!
I’m your look-a-like (ok, well, when we were teenagers. . .) from Texas–
dry, flat, (but beautiful in it’s own way) west Texas– this painting of yours would sure brighten things up!!
HUGS!
Victoria Bolton
Just love your work and your inspirational thoughts. Would love a piece of your art work in my new home. Have many of your books and other items.
Another lovely post❤️. Happy Valentines Day to you & Joe ❤️. We also fortunately survived all the coastal rains in SoCal. Lots of cozy time here. I’m crossing my fingers (eyes&toes too😅), for the drawing🫰🏻
It is indeed raining ELEPHANTS in (Stockton) California!!! I am sitting in our school library(I am the librarian) watching our students being dismissed(minimum day)for the day. But after the rains, what a beautiful sight it is to see all the greenery and colors of vegetation and flowers that beautify our world!!! We had a kindness challenge/assembly this morning for our students. I have been reading “ways to be kind” books to our students and have been inspired to paint rocks with words/phrases of kindness and share them just as you do with your beautiful arts. Thank you for coloring our world!!!!! The rain shall pass🌼
I just love your Willards! They are like a ray of sunshine in my inbox!
Thanks for being you Susan!
Happy Valentine’s Day. Loved seeing all your finds. Fun.
Thank you for sharing your crazy, creative whimsey
with all of us; it makes my afternoon glow!
A Willard always lifts my spirits. Love the look back at your earlier paintings.
I always enjoy reading your Willard newsletters! Our yellow cat was named Tigger, not extremely original I know. He was one of the most intelligent cats I’ve ever had. Your painting of the yellow cat is lovely!
I’m enjoying Willards from your train journey and from California! Love seeing your artwork and all of the treasures you are finding at your house! Such a nice treat to read on a winter’s day!
Oh yes! A treasure hunt for your new owners would be delightful!! Thank you for posters your hidden treasures!! I felt like I was going through the discovery with you. Fun!! 🥰
What a delight reading about your “new old finds” such treasures. Living in Ca we found this last storm quite scary..but it will be sunny days for awhile. Your property is quite beautiful, it will make someone very happy. Your art work is just wonderful..beautiful. What a gift you were given. Stay well, I’m back to my rug hooking. Love to you and Joe and staff and kitties and hugs to Jack too. I know you miss him. xoxo
Hi Susan! I would simply love, love, love to win your painting! I will frame it and hang it in my kitchen if I should be the lucky winner. Your work is so beautiful! Thank you for all you do to bring us joy with your “Willard”. I get excited to see one pop into my email. They are really fun to read! Happy Valentine’s Day! With hugs and kisses, -Mary
Susan,
I always start a Willard with a nice cup of tea and some dedicated time to read so I can feel inspired, when I read your Willards it is like talking with a great friend.
Best to you, I am glad you enjoyed your discoveries! x
What a surprise, another Willard, just made my day!! Thank you for sharing the treasures you are uncovering! Can’t wait to hang an original Susan Branch on my wall!
I miss April in New England! Beautiful painting. <3
Susan! I love your art! I have seewn with your fabric and adore your newsletters. So fun to read. You always have positive things to say. I hope we all have a fun Galentine’s, Palentine’s , and Valentine’s Day. The world needs your kind of happiness..XOXO
Always a happy day when I see a Willard in my mailbox! So excited to hear the cups are coming! I preordered both the Queen and the Patriot. I can’t wait! Fingers crossed, I would love to win the cute print. I have the perfect spot! Happy Valentine’s Day, Susan!
Joni Mitchell 😍 Tracy Chapman’s duet perfection.
Stay safe.
I would so love to have a signed print from you to me!! And, I do dearly love to read the Willard’s. Thank you for taking the time to write.
Lorinda
Sounds like you’re enjoying your time in California. The cups are just beautiful.
Hello Susan,
You are so busy doing what many of us are doing these days. Going through boxes, deciding what to keep and what to let go. What is inspiring and what maybe seems like an anchor that keeps us from flying in the time we have left. I also have a few art projects from kindergarten and i love them. California is going through some things right now!!!! Stay safe and Hug Joe for sharing you with us and for being some of the ” wind beneath your wings ” 🙂 Happy Anniversary!!
Love this post-thank you for sharing the progression of your art!
I would love to be the recipient of your art work.
Your website brings me such job.
Oh how I would love to win your sweet painting! It’s just perfect, even the sentiment, because I too love New England. One of my fondest memories is of a special trip my husband and I took to MA one April, many many years ago. Fingers – and toes- crossed on this one!
Barbara
Always a lovely evening when we get a new Willard from you! So great to see your earlier art work!
Dear Susan
I so love the little yellow kitty. We have had two of them in our lives to bring us love and comfort. , Just looking at his sweet kitty face makes me happy.
Always love reading the Willards! Love your cups! Hoping (with eyes closed and fingers crossed) that you’ll draw my name for your painting! ❤️ Thanks for making our lives so pretty and magical, Susan! 💗
Love this update of newly discovered treasures, and relieved to know you and your CA property are okay. I’m always so happy to have a new Willard to read. Hugs!!
Dear Susan,
Thank you for another opportunity to win a piece of your wonderful creativity. Love all you do and look forward to more from you.❤️
Its so wonderful that you share with us all those hidden treasures! A journey of love for sure. Thank you for the inspiring words. Your Willard have always been a highlight of my day.
Cathy
I love everything you do!!! Like lots of other I have been following you forever. I can only image all the treasures you have found. I hope you never stop including us in your life. Thank you so much.
What a wonderful time you must be having re-discovering all those treasures.
Hi Susan!
Happy Anniversary to you and Joe! 💕🥂💕 May your love for each other grow stronger & be forever blessed! 💖
I am so glad to hear from you and to know that you, Joe and your team are all OK! I was thinking about you as I read the news and saw all the photos of the flooding, mudslides & wind damage in California. My heart goes out to all who were, and still are, impacted by the storms, and I plan to make a contribution to the Red Cross in hopes that it will help.
We had a lot of snow here as a result of that same atmospheric river. Maybe as much as 24 inches! However, it was very wet snow, and with warmer temps a lot has melted already. The good thing, of course, is that all of the moisture is making our trees, shrubs, & rose bushes very happy!
I loved seeing your early art work…an adorable self-portrait! I especially loved your pigtails! And thank you for sharing your paintings of people. It’s always been a challenge for me, too, to draw humans. And, unfortunately, I had an unkindly critical drawing teacher in college, who discouraged me. However, what I did learn from the experience was the importance of being ENcouraging to students, and because of that I was a better teacher for my own students.
Thank you, Susan, for sharing your thoughts and your lovely art & photos. You’ve inspired me to get out my watercolors and create my own Valentine cards to send!
❤ Enjoy a very special Valentine’s Day with your Sweetheart! ❤
With love, Barbara
P.S. I love your April in New England painting and would be so honored if I were chosen to receive it! 😊
Glad you were safe there. Horrible storms hit California. Can’t believe you left all that cool art behind there and forgot about it. We’re are our own worst critics! 🤪
Once again, you have sent Willard into my day and made it so joyous to read! Thank you! I am always smiling reading these. You, Susan, are our gift from God. Both you and Joe. Okay, kitties too. Love personified. Unconditional love. Keep it coming. The world needs love. What was the question? xo Happy anniversary and Happy Valentine’s Day to all the girlfriend sweeties.
I love reading Willard, always brings a smile! Thanks for a chance to win your art, a great Valentine’s Day gift!
I would love to win your painting!😍
Susan,as always a joy.Its hard to let things go,I know from experience. But having said that letting go can be very good for the soul. The east coast and the west coast are so different in weather,but I believe there are good people everywhere that stamp.out all the bad.As a country we are so divided, and it’s heartbreaking, but one day soon I believe people all over this country will sweep Washington clean a d breath new life into our country We need new blood in both parties,to give us hope our country still stand for what our forefathers fought and died for.Have a good rest of your stay in the sunshine state.Mary in Gloucester, Va.
I have a yellow cat always sitting on my kitchen counter no matter how many times I tell him to get down. He is always so curious and has to see what is going on and of course, “is there any food for me?”
Such treasures you are finding!!! Thanks for sharing some of them with us.
Willards – always a joy! Happy Valentine’s Day! Stay dry and safe!
Love the painting ! I started dating my husband in November of 1980 🥰
😍😘🥰Kris
Happy anniversary and Valentines Day to you and Joe!❤️
Happy Valentine’s Day to a really cute couple!❤️. Enjoy your time in California!
When your Giclees went on sale, I took the plunge and got the one I’d been eyeing for months. The packing was incredible, it could have survived a natural disaster, though I’m glad it didn’t have to.
Susan, reading old blogs, I’m glad to see I’m not the only one who is right/left challenged. I know I’m right handed, so that must be my right hand, otherwise, I don’t have a clue. I’ve never named my hands.
Love looking at all your discoveries! Such treasures for you and us!
Oh my word…Joni Mitchell. Such an amazing talent. I spent so many hours as a teen listening to her beautiful music! What a gift so see her perform at the Grammys…stay safe in California!
Hope I win! Thanks for having a raffle.
I love hearing from you it’s like a present in the mail I didn’t know was coming . I’m crossing my fingers and toes that you pick me for the picture of the lovely you painted.
I love hearing from you it’s like a present in the mail I didn’t know was coming . I’m crossing my fingers and toes that you pick me for the picture of the lovely you painted.
When I posted it you said it was a duplicate. It was not I just did it
I love hearing from you it’s like a present in the mail I didn’t know was coming . I’m crossing my fingers and toes that you pick me for the picture of the lovely you painted.
When I posted it you said it was a duplicate. It was not I just did it
Silly wordpress, sorry!
Dear Susan, You bring so much heart and joy to us girlfriends. I’ve enjoyed my friendship with you over many years and through all of your Willards, calendars, cups, and books. Your art has delighted me for 30+ years. My best to you. ❤️
Love to read all your adventures 🌷thank you!
Thanks for the chance to win your wonderful art. I have been a fan since I first set eyes on your first book. This definitely is kitchen art and I have the perfect spot for it.
Happy Valentine’s Day to you & Joe – you are such inspiring, wonderful people!
We had an orange tabby cat named Snowbell, he passed away well before his time at the age of five in 2006, he was such a big bundle of pure love, we still miss him, he looks just like the cat in your drawing!
Susan, I love everything you do so much. You’ve inspired me for YEARS! Thank you!!!
Thank you for another fun Willard, Susan.
Your creativity inspires us and brings smiles to our faces every day. Susan mugs hold my coffee first thing every morning. I enjoy my Susan stuff.
The original watercolor would make my old heart so very happy. My mother’s family is from New Bedford, Mass and Nantucket. I spent many, many summers in both places with my cousins. I even spent my honeymoon on Nantucket. For my 60th birthday my children treated me to a trip to Nantucket. My dream is to return once more. I hope I win the watercolor, but whoever does win it will love it.
Never stop creating and dreaming. We love you for it and for being so sweet. I hope you and Joe keep enjoying your time in California and sell your house to someone who will love it as you do.
Love all the pictures!
I would love to win the artwork 🙂 and I’m so happy you didn’t wash away in the California rains!! We, on the other hand, have had brilliant sunshine here in Michigan. After many many days of clouds, below zero weather, snow, then rain, then more clouds….sunshine is soooo wonderful. The sunrise this A.M. was gorgeous and heavenly. And, for bird-lovers out there, we have been blessed with a Great Horned Owl hooting in the dark for the last 3 nights in the trees of our yard. How exciting to hear! I saw him in the branches way up high the first night when it was twilight and that was a thrill and a gift.
Hi Susan, I always love reading your Willards! You make every little thing so very special. ❤️Happy Valentines Day! 🥰🥰🥰
So many treasures found! The quilt is beautiful! I am right now watching my yellow kitty, Jasper, napping in the late afternoon sunshine on my (our?) bed. Yes, he usually sleeps with me, sometimes ON me, lol. Praying you and California get some sunshine soon!
Oh my goodness! That picture was the inspiration for my kitchen wall in the 90’s! I already had the black and white tile. It took HOURS to stencil all those cherries! Eventually I moved on to blue walls but sometimes I see a photo, or the picture in the book, and wonder how cherries would look on blue walls.
Dear Susan, As always!!! enjoyed your Willard and smiling from your inspirational, lovely messages! Thank you!!! Also, so glad you’re enjoying this rainy California weather. xoxo Judi
Love your art!
Oh, I hope I’m commenting in the right place because what a delight it would be to win the painting! I’ve got my fingers and toes crossed in hope!! Congratulations on 37 years of love!! Indeed, God does love you and wants you to be happy! I’ll celebrate 30 years with my Love in June – he’s the cat’s meow! Thank you for sharing yourself and your art with us. You never fail to brighten my day!
Happy Anniversary you two! I’m so glad you are all good from the crazy weather. We were hearing about it here in New England, where we still have snow on the ground and expecting 52 degrees…..crazy. Safe travels home, and enjoy your CA time!!
Just a sweet print. My house flooded 3 times in 4 years and then when we retired we downsized drastically. I gave away my treasures to people I thought would enjoy them. So I know how it feels to clear out and find treasures. I took pictures of things that I treasured but couldn’t keep.
Loved “No Time for Love” – so true!
You provided a thought-provoking quote, Susan. Perhaps you should use it on a future glicee, cup, calendar, or whatever you choose: “…when we’re a source of the joys that bring us happiness, we’ll pass that on, inspire others, and bring us all a more beautiful world.” To be a source of that joy, we must first have happiness within ourselves. We can surely tell that you do have it. I am enjoying reading about your adventure in California.
Hi Susan, I would love, love, love you to pick my name! I love the picture!
Patti (Minnesota)
This 30-something April baby (in W. Massachusetts!) loves the sweet unearthed works you’ve shared here, and that you’re picking up where you left off. Ever-inspired by you, your art & words 🌸 — and the musica! It’s been a sweet afternoon of Ella.
Love all your discoveries. A trip down memory lane for you!
Wonderful memories!
Happy Valentine’s Day. I always look forward to a new Willard. It is a great escape from everyday life.