BOOOM Day! Four Strong Men and this monster truck… came this weekend AND TOOK IT ALL! MUSICA. We’re leaving for our cross-country trip, heading out on the ferry on the noon boat TOMORROW! I’ve been kissing the walls here all morning. Saying Thank you to the House. We’ve grown very tired of doing this every day so we are ready!. As Rachel put it, because she just moved too (poor thing), “we’re lucky to have these First World Problems”… too much stuff. Well, because we saved everything “in case” we found a use for it! Hopefully, OTHERS will find a use for it now! With a world like ours, no one should ever have to buy anything NEW again! BOOM!
Booom, great name, it’s an adjective! Because that’s what the guys that came with this truck did. So if we leave tomorrow, that means this entire event will have taken us just under four months. Boom is right! Main idea was not to spend any longer being in limbo, doing this, as humanly possible. BOOM!
We’ve still been having our ups and downs, tears and laughter, probably a LOT more to come tonight! … because these kinds of decisions are hard on people, but it really helps to get sick of it. Doing the same thing every day for four months will do that to a person. Now we just glad it’s done! We don’t care anymore … “TAKE it” has been the attitude. (I’ll read this back later and realize I lost my mind!) We’ve been living for “tomorrow” for the last 4 months! Now we’re there. It really IS tomorrow!👏 BOOM!
It is going to feel so good, but probably not until we get to the Adirondaks . . . and then we’ll probably go antiquing all the way across country!🤣
This was my sewing room . . . look how clean and empty.
I loved it … sweetest sewing room in the world, little breeze through three huge Linden trees planted 150 years ago by Captain Gilbert Smith outside the windows, bees humming in the creamy yellow flowers on summer days . . . the fragrance . . . the birds, the church bells from across the street, the ferry boat horn up from the harbor…. 
BOOM! This is an upstairs room you’ve hardly ever seen on my blog because it was always a mess ~ nothing to see here! But LOOK, it’s almost empty! The trick has been to move it all out of its normal place and into a different location. Clean out the closet, every single solitary thing, and put it somewhere else to pack it, even across the room onto a table. Makes it so much easier to deal with when it isn’t in its normal place. It LOOKS different in a different spot, attachment falls off immediately! And when all seemed lost, that empty closet put little wings on my ankles… and hope in my heart to do it again the next day. 😳💖
This is our dining room yesterday which we’ve used as our major staging area . . . BOOOM!
All the stuff we saved for ourselves has already arrived at our house in California. Some of my favorite things are staying, but getting new homes because they BELONG to the Island. For instance, does this sweet little hutch look familiar to you?👀
Here it is at Holly Oak . . . specially made for me in about 1984 by my old friend Carlton Sprague. Remember? I wrote about him in 
Martha’s Vineyard Isle of Dreams . . . The same guy who remodeled and built everything in my first little house on the Island, my kitchen, the fireplace, my bedroom, he built my little guest shack out back, . . . the guy who made a table for the town library from the old Linden Tree on Main Street … And remember the chicken lady? Nancy Luce? Carlton brought her house back to life without taking away any of the simplicity, using his talents and passion for old things and old ways. He’s done so much for this Island but oh-so-quietly. Back then, when I couldn’t find something, I would just 
ask Carl and he would make it! I’d be sitting at the dining table writing a book, while he was working around the house. We were young together, and he’s still my friend and still one of the most interesting non-boring people I’ve ever met. He’s one of the magical things that seemed to come out of nowhere when I moved here.💫🤩
There were so many of them! 🤩
He made this armoire too … I needed a place to put sweaters. He put a little hidden jewelry drawer inside too . . . It’s been my sweater cupboard all these years. But now I won’t be needing so many sweaters!!!
I felt his hutch belonged to the island. So I called Carlton’s son Nate and his partner Rebecca, who just built their own wonderful house with their own two hands (you can see it on Instagram @trailertotimberframe), and told them I had these special pieces of furniture, and they came and took both the hutch and the armoire, that Nate’s dad made in 1984, to their home. I also gave them a 14′ starched, ironed, elegant, heavy damask, vintage tablecloth from which Rebecca’s going to make GORGEOUS curtains. Makes me so happy to know they have them. Recycling at its highest best. Isn’t that a perfect ending to that story? Just part of the fairy tale!
All is well Girlfriends. And, by the time we leave here we’ll be celebrating BEATRIX POTTER BIRTHDAY WEEK! How appropriate . . . in this time of change for us . . . celebrating the perfect example of what can happen in even the scariest moments of change if you follow your heart.💖
You know I’ve had a crush on Beatrix Potter, the person (not just the botanist, conservator, artist, storyteller, farmer, or business woman, not JUST that, but the sum of all her creative facets) for many years 🌺 ~ she’s the reason I wear that flower necklace all the time, in honor of my garden-loving friend, Beatrix Potter . . . she came to me slowly, over the years, and probably not quite totally, until this very moment ⬇️ . . .
. . . in 2022, and our picnic in Beatrix Potter’s Garden. Not at Hilltop, where I’m standing … which is heaven, but even better . . . just across that meadow … MAS MUSICA! (This is Al Bowlly One of my grandma’s favorites, isn’t he wonderful?💖)
. . . to her garden at Castle Cottage . . .
. . . the house where Beatrix lived from 1913 to 1942 with her beloved husband, William Heelis (for whom the British National Trust main offices are named). It was a BYO Picnic Basket Party, Joe and I sailed over on the Queen Mary 2, and I invited everyone on our blog to join us in the 
Lake District . . . Girlfriends came from lots of different countries to experience this day together. The day before I was lucky enough to tour her house, which was nice but unfortunately (because I love old things), modernized… but I found her on the old brass doorknob to the house, worn smooth from her hands, with age and use, and stood quietly in the room where she died in 1942, and saw her last view … and remembered her words about her never-ending love of nature:
These little critters were my very first introduction to Beatrix. I saw these figurines in a shop in California when I was around 22, and to me, they were so perfect they practically glowed in the dark! I saved my money, and got them one at a time, without even knowing who Beatrix Potter was . . . but they were the beginning, and they have followed me wherever I’ve gone, all my life.💖
Slowly I learned more and more about Miss Potter . . . each thing I learned made me more curious . . . and I wanted her around me.💞
She was good for my soul. I added wildflowers between the pages of old BP books I found . . .🌺
And sometimes I watercolored her line drawings I found in these old books . . .
I turned the bedroom under the eaves of our house into my Peter Rabbit Room . . . and gave my Peters a Christmas bonfire.🔥
I wrote a book and shared my excitement about going to Hilltop for the first time, going back in time, walking where she walked, seeing her stove, her hat, her clogs, her doll house, her embroidery, walking up to Moss Eccles Tarn with Joe where, in the evening, Beatrix and William would row and fish . . . and so much more. And in honor of Beatrix, Kellee put LOTS of BP things in our webstore on a special Birthday Celebration page. And just for you, and just this week only, Kellee has devised our very first “coupon code.” Ha! But it’s worth 10% off all items in the Beatrix Potter section of our store. Just put in BPBDAY10. Celebrate! Heroes R US! 
Considering that she raised sheep, I never understood why she didn’t make a lamb figurine, so I drew one of my own. 💖
I painted her and Castle Cottage in my book as symbols of dreams come true . . . imagining . . . 💫
I love celebrating her, remembering her, passing my discovery of her along to a new generation because there is nothing better than having a hero. It gives you a star to reach for. Read about her. She’s amazing.💖💖💖 
By the time I finished reading the excellent Linda Lear biography, I had learned so much from Beatrix . . . I felt for her presence everywhere I went in Near Sawrey . . .
She grew up in a wealthy family and due to the overwhelming worldwide success of her charming books, she could have done anything, gone anywhere, had anything, been the toast of London, Queen of the world if that was what she wanted. She could have worn silks and satins, lived in a REAL Castle, and had breakfast in bed her whole life. Instead, 
she thwarted customs concerning women in those days, and followed her dreams. She was born wanting to DO something with her life, even though it was not expected or even encouraged. Look at those eyes➡️. 👀 There were terrible setbacks, she stepped over them ~ and in a nutshell: her confidence grew, she broke away, overcame heartbreak, bought a small farmhouse in the Lake District, her favorite childhood place. She raised sheep, and instead of satin, she wore the itchy heavy fabric she made from their wool ~ she surrounded herself with nature, farmland, and animals, spectacular views of meres, fells, pikes, crags, tarns, and dales ~ she never put electricity or running water into either of her houses. And used her money to buy up farms to keep them from developers, which she gave to the National Trust and are still working today. She was happy and it was wasn’t money that gave her that. She was happy because she chose the life that fit HER, the one she really wanted. That’s what made her my hero. (A lot like Carlton when I think about it.)🌺
Now, I’m afraid . . .
I’ve started to look like her. It’s the Miss Tiggy Winkle look we all love so much.💝
Here’s the view from my kitchen window this morning. So green. I never want to forget. We had a delightful weekend . . . doing the last things on my list . . .
Hugging goodbye (for now) to the GENEROUS, hard-working, creative, glow-in-the-dark MAGICAL women that changed my life and made it SO 
MUCH FUN, made this Island a true heaven . . . for all the TGIFs, for every glass of wine, every delicious dinner, every accidental meeting downtown after a storm, every lit candle, every cozy evening in front of the fire, for the rings we put on each others birthday candles, all the beach parties, picnics, Halloween Chili-offs, dropped off 
treats, flowers, gorgeous table top, and garden tours, for every song, every sailboat ride, every sunset, and every farmers market, and 
every time we got lost trying to get to a party and laughed ourselves silly . . . for the sunrise drives around the Island, for every smile of understanding, for every lightening of the burden, for every forgiving …. For every time you made your own dreams come true. For the LOVE. They were part of my dream and they came TRUE! As in: Once Upon a Time, there was a knock at my door ~ and there stood a magical princess. I said, “You look so pretty.” And she said, “I did it for you.” Girlfriends Forever. Waaaah. It was the BEST BEST BEST.
I have to carry this everywhere I go!😩 But don’t YOU cry. We’ll keep meeting just like this, and I promise we’ll come back to the Island, and we’ll go to England see Rachel and Paul’s new house. We’ll meet again. . . no fear. It could never be BETTER, but more of the same is just FINE with me, it will be FUN.❌⭕️
Here we are solving the world’s problems. . .
Lowely and Martha making crepes with strawberries and whipped cream at my yard sale a few years back!💝 They made everything better.
My Girlfriends gave it ALL away . . .💝💝💝💝
Can you IMAGINE how many pictures I have like this? I could do several posts with just them. But I can hear Judy and Kellee yelling already … “It’s too long, STOP.” (They should know by now I can’t help myself!💞)
I could not have had better inspiration for my Girlfriend Book!💖
Coming to see what Margot was painting at the Whaling Church in Edgartown.👀👏👏👏
Every day was a reason to celebrate here in Camelot Martha’s Vineyard! 🥳
Last Friday night we met everyone at the beach … for one last beach party on Martha’s Vineyard this summer . . .
A big halt on busy lives for a little sit on the beach…just shooting the breeze.🥂
And it was a perfect night . . . BYO Lobster Rolls! Don’t ever think because I love my Girlfriends so much, I underestimate the value and wonderfulness of our guys. Ohhh noooo. Double lucky to have these Princes among men.💖💖💖
It would have been no fun without them!
And we’ve loved showing them that they can be Girlfriends too.💞
So darling . . .
Time for a group picture . . . ANOTHER one!💞
Where’s Margot and Tom? (Herding cats).
True love means it’s hard to get out of the parking lot!🙌
We leave tomorrow for the long long drive, going slow, taking maybe 10 days, the Northern Route! I can tell Jack knows. He seems excited too. Got him a new cat box. Highly suspect. SOMETHING must be going on!🙀 When I get to California, I get to finish this painting!💝 And that’s only one tiny thing I have to look forward to! (You know who you are!)💖
I can’t wait!
Back Home in California… I wonder if we’ll have artichokes on the bushes we planted before we went away (for the new people!🤣). No one knows what will happen next. We just don’t know! Such a fun ride!😘 We’re leaving Girlfriends behind on the Island to oversee the sale of the house, and then the “estate sale” in our wonderful old house on Martha’s Vineyard ~ it’ll happen when the house is under agreement . . . Once the house is sold, it’ll take a couple of months at least to close on it… I promise I’ll give you time to plan … and let you know when the sale will be as soon as I know. I have to say, there are lots of sweet things still here.💝 Keep a trip to see the leaves turn on the island in the back of your mind. OMG, we’re talking about fall! 🤣 
You just defined the word girlfriends in this Willard. They are so important to us. You have such a special bunch. I just had lunch with my retired group.We laughed ourselves silly. People at the other tables in the restaurant wanted to join us. We had so much fun!
Safe travels and we in California will be waiting for your return.
Thinking of you, Susan and Joe! Wishing you safe travels to California. The best is yet to come. Thank you for sharing your journey with us. Lots of love and hugs!
Dear Susan, Enjoy your new adventure. Ours sent us to NC 11 years ago after living in MA for over 30 years and raising our kids. AND meeting you. I wish you wonderful new memories in your new house. Can’t wait to read the next Willard.
Please send the quotes about….isn’t cynicism…., sensible woman…, and Picasso’s
meaning of life to Kamala Harris. I don’t know how or I would do it. They
express the meaning of life that is reemerging in this country this week and
putting smiles on people’s faces again.
Thank you for your cottage homes. I knew when I drove past a little house when
I was eighteen that someday I would live in a country cottage home. I have lived
in houses and condos and I have made every one of them a cozy cottage, even
when they are in the city. Right now my cottage is a second floor condo that
looks into a huge tree. I have all of the convenience of condo living( so great in
the Minnesota winters!) while feeling like I am living in a tree house with my
comfy, chintz chairs and knotty pine furniture.
Life is what you make it and mine will always be soft and comfy!
With a tree you are complete!
Oh, my goodness, Susan!
You are such a strong soul! I am not sure I could have picked up and moved as you are doing across the country. Your home on Martha’s Vineyard is so charming and holds so much history. I just love all the nooks and crannies of those old homes and the quiet whispers of the past from those old walls. I look up my grandmother’s old home on Zillow sometimes and reminisce of all the wonderful family memories held within those walls. Then I have to remind myself that nothing is permanent and being near our family with God at the center of our lives is the true meaning of life and happiness. God remains at our side always!
I look forward to your sharing all your new decorating ideas in your new home, eg., paint colors, etc.. God bless you on your travels to your new home!
Hugs,
Linda
Hi Susan,
For years I have wanted to purchase a Martha’s Vineyard Agricultural
Society 2007 Fair Poster of The Society Lamb. This treasure seems
to have been completely sold out. I have spoken to MV’s Agricultural
Society, monitored Etsy etc. to no avail. Didn’t you have one on display
display in your kitchen years ago? If you are possibly going to sell it in
one of your estate sales, I would love to purchase it!
Happy Trails!
Pat Bates
It wasn’t me Patricia, though I am a lamb – lover, I didn’t have that poster!
Journey’s mercies until you land in your new home!
You have made my world so much brighter…thank you Susan. Have a safe trip & enjoy the journey. I look forward to seeing all the pix along the way.
Wishing you all the best as you travel to California! It’s hard to think about you not being on Martha’s Vineyard. My favorite book of yours is Martha’s Vineyard: Isle of Dreams.
Kisses for Jack!
I will love it forever!🌺
So excited for you and Joe and Jack!
Life is such an adventure. Love how you enjoy every moment- happy, sad, exciting, terrifying. Making it all joy filled and beautiful! Can’t wait to see how life in California goes.
I’m such an impatient gal, chomping at my bit to see and hear about the Westward Ho trip!! Of course, you’ll have loads of time in between unpacking and putting your things from MV in their spots. 😉 Tom bought me a carved crow for my birthday. I have her on the roll top under the huge print of the Raven by Jamie Wyeth. We’re both fans of those extremely intelligent birds and of Jamie. The point of this ramble of words, it that when you move or obtain something new, it needs to settle in and decide where it wants to be!! Right. May all your decisions be Fun, not stressful.
Hope you are having a Fabulous trip.
Much Love,
Debbie in Beeutiful Maine
Wonderful post filled with so many beautiful memories! 💕🌸💕🌸💕
Safe travels. Can’t wait for what is next in this beautiful life. ❤
Many blessings on your new adventure.
I also have a love of Beatrix Potter. I bought years ago, this cookbook called Peter Rabbit’s Cookery Book. Compiled by Anne Emerson. It’s a small treasure for me. It’s an adorable little cookbook.
Enjoy your cross country journey to California, we only have this one life and we should enjoy everything that comes our way.
Louise
Happy Travels from East to WEST….Following along your journey…lovely sights along the way!
Having moved from coast to coast twice, I know the agony of saying goodbye to lovely friends. Oh, but there is joy in the visits! Soon this East Coast girl will be heading to California to visit dear friends from my 13 years there. It takes work to keep in touch, but it is so worth it. Wishing you a wonderful cross-country trip! Wave as you pass through the Adirondacks please.
Yes, fun disguised as work!😘
We haven’t heard from Susan since the day before she, Joe and Jack left for California and only 2 comments have posted. I hope it’s nothing more than the recent massive IT failure and that all is otherwise well. If anyone with an update can see this please post a comment, I worry.
It was only exhausted me, on our drive across country, and taking a vacation from opening up my computer!🤣 I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to worry you! All is well!👏🌺🌺🌺
Nice blog
Safe travels! You are both brave. I love your posts and I always read all the way to the end and usually don’t want them to stop…I love Beatrix Potter, too and all of your beautiful paintings, artwork and calendars and bookmarks…the list could go on. Thank you for being beauty and bringing beauty to the lives of others.
Leaving home means leaving breaths and sounds and flavors and the air in the hallways and echo of the floors. Our forever house has been our home since 1997, and one of the greatest blessings in this place is a sound of my childhood way down South—the night trains taking on coal and water not two blocks from my screened window, and the long-away and far-ago moan of the midnight train as I woke, stirred comfortably, and drifted away again.
I don’t know your familiar sounds of comfort or peace or sleep, and don’t know if your new home is close enough to the sea to have all the ones associated with the tide and boats and buouys which have been the music of your life for such a part of it. But wherever you land, wherever you stash your hat and your paintpots and put your feet up by a fire, I wish you the one of my own familiar greetings from not two blocks away—I wish you a TRAIN.
Safe travels Sue, Joe and Jack🐈⬛ On to new adventures😊
New life in an old place will be so magical. So, happy for you and Joe. May you have only happy days in California, be happy.
I know you are on route to what comes next! Looking forward to your new stories still to be told and new moments of beauty to be savored together.
…awww, you did it ; what a journey ! ☺️ Thank you so much for taking us all along ; and it seems little Jack had quite the adventure also ! ❤️ With love , as always 😘
Well I’m crying and remembering along with you Sue. I’m excited to see what will happen next in your LIFE ADVENTURE WITH JOE!
We may pop in to your Estate Sale as we will be in New England this fall.
Praying for God’s best for you two.
Carolyn
I have been thinking about you so came looking for you…somehow did not get your last Willard and wondered where you were in the moving process…were you still on MV…settled in in AG..???
Soooo, I just found your new Willard and am now up to speed on amazing you…still standing and spreading joy. It may be exhausted, tearful joy, but joy nonetheless!
When my daughter is packing for a trip I always tell her, “Don’t forget to leave room for your guardian angel.”. I hope that your guardian angel finds a cozy nook in the van…maybe even snuggled in with Jack…to keep you safe on your long drive. Drive safely to your next chapter.
PS: Bet Kleenex stock is up!!!
HA! 😘My guardian angels were there the whole way dear Nancy!
Is it supposed to take a long time for comments to be moderated?
Just wondering…
The day after I wrote this post we got on the road and drove to California for 10 days and i just didn’t get to read them yet. But today I’m writing a new post and THEN I’ll go back and read! So sorry, but here I come! oxoxo
Thank you! I knew you all were about to head out across country. For some reason, I was thinking some of your helpers would be moderating comments before they were posted…. So appreciate the reply, and hope the drive across country was all you wanted it to be. I would love to be able to do more of that!
Take good care,
Denise
Finally getting time to read Denise!!!💝
This is not a response about the blog, but I didn’t know how else to send you a message. I was reading the wall calendar page for August, all about camping, and it brought back sweet memories for me, too. So much like my experience. We had a station wagon to get us there, and the seat in the “way back” was facing backward, and I couldn’t do it! Car sickness!! We had a permanent camp site, after years of tent camping, with a bus turned camper. It had a sink which we didn’t use, a refrigerator and stove that we did use, but the stove only in the morning. Other meals were made on the Coleman stove or over an open fire. There were two booths to sit at, usually for breakfast, or when rain came, and in the back, two sets of bunks. There were 4 children, so we took the bottom bunks, 2 kids per small bed, toe to toe, and our parents were up in the top bunks, all in sleeping bags. The minute our parents got out of their bunks in the morning, we scrambled to be the one to take their place, the sleeping bag preheated for us!!! So warm and cozy! I loved it all, the rope and tire swings, the swimming hole, the berry picking, the fires at night, catching frogs and turtles (one year we kept it in a tire until it escaped!) maybe not the hauling water so much. We would go and stay for a month at a time, my dad driving back into town to work once his 2 weeks were over. Such sweet memories – we had 3 boys and we gave them a similar experience, although I drew the line at tent camping and we got a little pop-up camper (those were swoon worthy when I was a kid), and traveled around with it.
Love reading this Sue!!! All those beautiful memories!
I’d like to print this blog and bind it into a little book. You share so much here ~ this is a love letter, a chapter from your diary, a prayer of gratitude, a short but thorough graduate course on life changes/moving/appreciation/friendship and so much more. Love you, Sue xoxoxo
Love you back Christie … xoxo
Those are very fine memories–about camping out with family!!!!!!!
Denise
Moving is such an adventure. Loved seeing all your pictures.
I was in tears reading this, reminding me of moving out of our home after 30 years, leaving so many friends and memories but knowing that we will make new ones. You had the best of both worlds,growing up in California ,living on Martha’s Vineyard and now back again. I hope you continue your Field of Dreams and maybe write a another book about your new adventures.