Here’s Jack’s first morning home after our 10-day coast-to-coast trip, Martha’s Vineyard to the California … I had to give him “The Talk,” “I know you don’t feel like yourself, it’s normal, after all, you’ve just been taken away from everything you knew and loved. But you have to be patient with yourself. It will get better. It just takes a little time.”💞💞💞 MUSICA
Then I left him alone to do whatever he wanted to, because that’s actually how it works. . .
And went out to look at the roses and the sky …
Before it got crazy around here . . . then I ventured to the goat barn to see the array of boxes waiting for me! And that’s when it got crazy around here. I’ve been at it ever since.
I’ve always loved figuring out how to fit things into small spaces. I first discovered it as a challenge at Hollyoak, my first 
house, which many of you know from my books. It was a teeny tiny, adorable, one-bedroom cottage. I enjoyed making space from “no space” by finding it where it didn’t exist. So much fun! Made me feel victorious! Fighting city hall and winning! But I was only one person, and had a lot less stuff in those days. . . . And because we just moved from a 3,500 sq. ft. house on Martha’s Vineyard where we’d lived for 35 years, stuffing it to the gills, into an 
1,800 sq. ft. really-old double-wide in California (not small, perfect really, but now I have boxes of watercolors, an art table, file cabinets, and sooo many books ~ not to mention JOE!) I’ve been having all SORTS of fun!! Grrrrrr-ruh! (That’s the Grrrrr-ruh the Unsinkable Molly Brown gave while standing in the lifeboat (as the Titanic sinks behind her) freezing to death saying she ain’t down yet! Yes, that happy Grrrrrrrrr-RuH! I have secretly become Vickie Victorious!
For example, remember my pantry on the island? An ENTIRE room next to the kitchen, with its own backdoor and a screen door! Loved it. Total 1800s luxury, for the washer/dryer, an extra fridge, the ironing board, my tall shelf (on the left) that Carlton made for me at Holly Oak, and look at all the storage! You might think I am verklempt to the nth degree leaving that behind!
But NO! Look! Downsizing is fun! It challenges our creativity. So I made a pantry here! It has its own back door! It’s not quite done yet, but would you like a short tour?😅 (Short, get it? Ha!) 
You are standing at the door now (so don’t blink) ~ behind you is a tiny hall with 3 doors off it … one for the bathroom, one for each of the two bedrooms. The ironing board is behind the door on the left. I bought the rug of little houses on Newbury Street in Boston around 1983 for my kitchen at Holly Oak. Isn’t it perfect? Not quite . . .Still need to pound in a higher nail to get that old Martha’s Vineyard plate above the watercolor of the cover of my first book (which was never used, turned down because I didn’t make the title big enough! Living and learning!). I think a darker color curtain on the door would look better . . . There are two cupboards over the washer and dryer so, besides the iron, soap & laundry things, there’s room for my extra indoor plant pots.👏 Carlton’s wonderful pantry shelf is on the left above, (and in Holly Oak, below), giving us miles of storage space that we definitely need (I asked Carl to make it one-can-deep, so it could fit behind a door if necessary) ~ The folding wooden clothes-dryer you saw in the top pic leaning against the door fit perfectly in the little slot between the wall & the washing machine 👀 … And voila, our new little pantry is born! Vicky-Victorious!
Carlton’s shelf is now over 40 years old has now been used in 3 of my houses! He should patent it! It holds tons of cat food … all the oil and vinegar, soup and tea, cans of tuna, crushed pineapple, beans, tomato sauce, and extra cups we need ~ nothing “hidden” in the back, and fits behind a door! It’s a genius thing!
I love decorating, I feel like no matter where you live you can make it wonderful just with the things you love. I’ve been doing it all my life, even in my bedroom as a teenager, so I know it’s not about money! Especially if you shop at yard sales and antique malls. You can find wonderful deals there, and original things you love put a different stamp on every home. And don’t forget, there are so many things you can make yourself! Making a home is still my favorite thing to do . . 
. and here we are, I get to do it all over again! But this time it’s with things I’ve loved all my life. I do it all with a secret smile, because fall is coming.🍂 The fall stuff is at the ready, not out yet, but I’m feeling it here! Chilly morning today… thin fog shining behind the hedges and mimosa tree outside my “studio” window ~ all windows open and wearing a sweater. YUM.
New things I’m loving: The color green. Actually I knew it before I came and made sure to bring all the green things I love. Here’s the beginnings of my new studio. And 
green looks good with everything! Perfect for every season! The house likes orange and purple too, both excellent with green. But it ADORES black and white😺. And wood. Real wood. Old, if possible, with the patina of the old wooden spoons I love so much. We brought lots of it with us. The wooden spoon my dad made for me! We we also packed the 
dishes I thought would go with it. Nothing is done yet, when I take these pictures again, the details will all be different. Because I open the boxes one at a time, put things where I think they might go, and of course, change my mind later.
More details?
Yes! More details! But first, here’s photo that’s definitely worth a thousand words! We’re doing it! All the bubble wrap, kraft paper, cardboard, and creative wrapping bits that are still useable are folded in piles. Boxes will be flattened. This stuff is expensive! Somebody will need it! Okay, on to the fun part!
See what I mean by wood? Just little touches here, the hutch was big, but most of it is things likewooden bowls, and old trivets for hot-from-the-oven pies and casseroles? Baskets, in my eyes, just make things homey and warm. These shelves aren’t done either . . . I haven’t even opened all the boxes, we are very fluid here. Now I’ve made myself hungry. Need pie! Will settle for cookie.
Little bits of yellow and black in the kitchen… was going to be more green, but yellow is perfect with green, and we still have our avocado green sink and stove top …
Then, when I opened the box with the black check curtains that hung over my kitchen table on the island . . . I thought, ahhh black! Everything looks good with black! (This is Jack’s favorite perch so far, Lord of the Manor, overseer of all things great and small). Fog is gone! Sun is coming out! Note purple alstroemerias! Note my dad’s wooden spoon on wall, left of window.💝
I still got it!
But I don’t want you thinking that all Jack does is look at the view … he’s been a HUGE help … scrubbing out cupboards . . .
Arranging drawers …
. . . hanging up clothes, putting away shoes . . .
Not to mention all the unpacking and vacuuming! It’s been a lot to do . . . no wonder he’s pooped. But he, like me (and Vicky Victorious), wants it over with. To be settled, to spend as little time in this in-between state as humanly possible. We spent 4 months packing it, we would like to shorten the unpacking time! We want to FLY into the mystic!!! Unanchor ourselves!
His daily nap helps a lot.💤 MAS MUSICA? 💖
But look what you get! You open up a box wondering what you could have meant by “normal clothes . . .”
And it all makes sense when inside you find your old “Too Mean To Marry” t-shirt that you don’t even remember you packed.👏
Unpacking can be intriguing . . . seriously, why is a “rabbit head” in a paper cup? What Rabbit Head? And then you find out and it’s like a box of chocolates! (You never know what you’re going to get.) And sometimes it’s like Christmas, all seemingly new, falling in love with your stuff all over again!
Things you couldn’t live without. This lamp that went with me to Holly Oak in 1982 was my first grown-up lamp. Couldn’t leave that behind. I love lighting. Candlelight for obvious reasons, but lamp light can be just as beautiful ~ you light the lamp in its new place and squeal softly at the beauty. You forgot how pretty it is! . . . and little houses with nooks and crannies show them off way better than big ones do!🏡
Little bits of spark and romance perk up a dark corner.
Look at this! Remember years ago when Lowely and I learned how to make these cut and pierced lampshades from Ayn Chase, the artist I used to snap them up from on the island? Ayn made this one too. We were so lucky to have her … I do see shades like this on Etsy now and then, but just in cases, people DO make them at home, and so if you want one bad enough, you know what to do! I’d be very surprised if there weren’t tutorials on youtube.
I mean, really! But while admiring things, and being happy I decided to bring them,
There’s still a lot to do! Like where does everything GO? Don’t know what to do with it yet? Put it in the guest room! It’s kind of never-ending. But with all these new views, I think it’ll give me good stories to tell for a long time!
We brought our favorite hutch, I’m filling it, and finding places for the books . . . just think, if we hadn’t moved, I wouldn’t be getting to do all this in a starting-over sort of way, all clean and new! Yes, it’s work, but it’s creative too . . .
There’s been laundry to do, which I totally have to do myself ~ Jack can’t reach 😹. But the dryer man just left, he fixed the dryer, and we’re back in business again. But never totally ~ we’ve always been clothes-on-the-line people; because hanging things like sheets and dishtowels and quilts out to dry is one of the simple joys of life. You get to be outside with the wind and sunshine and trees. And the smell of fresh air permeates everything. And then you are overwhelmed with all the gratitude that those things provide. Because we’re . . .
Plus we have new artichokes to plant, because I know some of you are wondering, did they get to eat the artichokes they planted last March? Practically the first thing I did when we got out of 
the car from our 10-day, cross-country trip to California, was go and look for the artichokes. Was really hoping for our OWN for our first dinner. Sad to say, all we had were two artichoke flowers, artichokes gone to seed. Not that sad actually, they are so pretty. So we just dug a better bed, and mixed it with compost, and planted four more plants, and these guys will definitely get much more TLC (i.e. water) and we expect a better outcome. In the meantime, the flowers, green and purple, fit it perfectly! Another win-win! They just keep coming!
Yes we are! Especially Joe, who got his first delivery of the NY Times last Sunday … with his beloved crossword puzzle in it. I 
loved this headline and keep the paper open on the table! I think of all we went through with that pandemic, how it interrupted life in such a weird way, how it changed us in so many ways, how hard it was, like some sort of world trauma, and all we learned (that nobody really needed), and think how glad I am that it’s over and want everyone that still feels the effects (like I sometimes do and maybe always will, not physical, “just” mental, some kind of PTSD) will feel freedom and lighthearted in the sunlight and the wind and be happy again. Like I told Jack, we just have to be patient with ourselves, this too shall pass. It’s already so much better! (Above was written and illustrated by our girlfriend Maureen Carmichael after the bookstore zoom we had during the pandemic…)💞
Happiness has been kind of a theme here, because this was the first Angel Card I chose when we got back! I closed my eyes and really fished around, tried to feel for the one that made my fingers buzz, it was important because it was the first one, I hoped it would set the tone . . . and I got this!!! Wanted to shout it to the world. And I just did!😘
We’re definitely settling in. Note: green and wood. Looks excellent with black and white.
The new fall napkins I ordered arrived and I love them soooo much I got them for you too! They’re soft woven cotton! Wash, dry, no iron!!! They’re huge too, 21″ square …kinda perfect! If you love them on sight like I did, go HERE for some of your own.
I hope they go with your dishes! I’m looking at Thanksgiving right here! They’ll be my go-to forever!
Jack loved them on sight too.💖 Arbiter of good taste.😻
Part of my new little studio, which is actually a corner of the living room. It’s tiny, but I LOVE how it’s coming together! It’s little and perfect and Vicky has been massively victorious space-wise! I’ll show you more next time! Until then . . . here are some
Things I’m told you must know.
#1. FYI. Kellee says we are no longer sending Martha’s Vineyard Isle of Dreams to Amazon, we are saving the 80 we have left for our Girlfriends, in case you want one for Christmas this year. Our prices are lower than theirs, so we’re better anyway.😁 And the new printing should come in around February …
#2. Judy wants me to tell you that if you have a favorite local gift, kitchen, antique, or bookstore who you would like to carry my things, you can suggest they go to Faire.com and look for Susan Branch Studios, or you could please send the name of their store to [email protected] ~ include their city, state, 
and/or email address of the store or owner and she’ll Judy will in touch. As you know, because we’re small, and don’t have agents or lawyers, we run very much under the radar, and are not in many stores … lots of people don’t even know we exist.🫣 Which is fine, we love our little world, but that’s why word-of-mouth has always been our best thing ~ otherwise I wouldn’t get to do what I love!! So we’re happy to write and introduce ourselves. We just need a little help from our friends. If it’s easy!💞
Also, Kellee would like me to tell you we have cards and cards and more cards ~ like 3 pages of them in our shopping site now ~ and more are coming everyday!🌺
When she put up our welcome home banner,👏 Kellee left me this happy little bag to find when I got home. Isn’t it cute?👏 It’s got a cork bottom, and a fabric top with cork handles! Really sweet, perfect for me! I asked her to get a few more in case you’d want one too.💖
Fits phone (as you can see), notebook, pen, lipstick, comb, keys ~ all the little things we need when we leave home.
So that has to be it for today, there’s a Vickie whispering in my ear … But here was our first view coming down the driveway after 10-days crossing our beautiful country! I need to show you more pics of that! But one of the best things, 
just as I hoped, has been this amazing California weather . . . cool mornings, cool evenings, soft sun touching your face, more like a caress, during the day … and still the smell of ocean air, not all that far away . . . Listening to the crickets as I fall asleep at night, my California childhood comes back. Every door & window open, cozy under the covers, quiet, inspiring, awake-
dreaming, so contented it brings yearning… it can send me out to look at the stars. I’ve never had the right word for that feeling. But I believe kindred spirits know what I’m talking about. Bye for now girlfriends . . . enjoy the last of the hazy crazy days of summer, because as I mentioned earlier . . .
…aww, Susan ! This is the post we’ve been waiting for ; ‘ so happy and grateful you, Joe, and Jack arrived back home in California ! ❤️ …and Jack seems so content; ready for new adventures ! ☺️ .. I have to ask..have you made it to Trader Joe’s yet , you lucky girl ? We’re so excited for you and, of course, thank you for sharing your new adventures with us all..we love you guys ! 😘❤️☺️
Yup! Got me some of that coconut whipped cream first thing.🤣 I have a whole list of things to get when I go back!!!😘
Your words to Jack are so comforting.” I know you don’t feel like yourself, it’s normal, after all, you’ve just been taken away from everything you knew and loved. But you have to be patient with yourself. It will get better. It just takes a little time.”💞💞💞”. Felt like you were speaking to all of us. Wonderful blog Susan. I’m so happy you are creating home for Joe Jack and you to enjoy. There is no place like home! Sending love and happy home hugs.
Beverlee
Thank you Beverly!
Happy housewarming to you and Joe! Wishing you all good things as you begin this new adventure. Your stories are so helpful and happy as each of us faces change on the daily in some way or another. Thank you! This came at just the right time for me today as I had just waved goodbye to my daughter as she headed out for college after a great summer at home. I needed a good girlfriend letter to bolster my spirits. 🌸☺️
Awwwww. 💞
Oh my goodness, what familiar sights! Luckily, we landed in a place with a 1500 sq ft empty basement! No laundry or oil tank like so many homes in New England, so my husband spent many days stacking the flattened boxes and straightening out the piles of packing paper! Your new (old) home looks lovely and I know you will be so very happy there. One of the things that brings me joy every day, is my adorable new curtains in my breakfast nook, with your beautiful illustrations of our favorite places on the Vineyard! Found them on Spoonflower and couldn’t be happier! Love to you, Joe and Jack (and yes, please do a post of your cross country trip!)
I know just which fabric you mean! Happy new house!
Welcome back to the Central Coast! We are happy that you are back in our corner of the world.
I really enjoyed reading this on a somewhat feeling like fall Friday afternoon. Loved seeing your handsome kitty, Jack.Now, I must check out those cards.
Welcome home Sue & Joe,
I saw a peak of Petey in the photo of your studio on the shelf above your books. I work occasionally at Friday Harbor Gallery here on San Juan Island and guess what I found? Petey’s brother! So happy to see you both enjoying your new (old) home! Aloha 🌺
What a lucky find!!! Thank you Mary!
We moved last year and I’ve been enjoying decorating our new space too. We moved our family of 9 (2 adults and 7 children) from our 900sq ft home, to a 3000+ sq ft home! No more being squished! It’s a beautiful home, built in 1951 with lots of quirks. Gorgeous and heavy Robin’s egg blue front door. A laundry chute! Original 1950s kitchen with porcelain drainboard sink! Such an old beauty. I find myself constantly counting my blessings ❤️
Fantastic!!! That’s a lot of children in 900 sq ft! Now you have bathrooms!!! Fun! Enjoy!
Welcome home, Susan, Joe, and Jack!
Loved watching you unpack in this blog and seeing the familiar things you brought with you.
Seeing your dear mother’s picture on the window sill gave my heart a little tug. She was a beauty.💞
Looking forward to your next post and hearing more of your adventures!
Nancy (from Bakersfield)
Welcome Home! So glad you, Joe and Jack made it safely to California and are now unpacking, and settling in. So much work to be done, but hey, it is fun to fit it all in and make new memories. Wishing you all the best as you find a new normal back home in California.
Terri
Hello Joe & Susan,
I have been looking every day for a blog to say you made it safe and sound! I was thrilled to see this today. Welcome Home, dear ones!
Your new home will be perfectly perfect when you are settled. Thank you so much for checking in….
Much love,
Debby
Remember to rest. You are teaching us all a lesson in how you downsize and still be happy! I do hope Joe can make the transition to California boy😘
Barbara in Lodi (missing your perfect weather as mine is a bit too hot in the daytime in San Joaquin valley)!
I do take a nap every day and LOVE it. Joe is working on the transition. He really does like it here, so that helps! Stay cool Barbara!
You’re so productive! Will you get a new kitten for the move?
I have the two kitties that were living here before, living in the goat barn. I go visit them and feed them, I love them so much, but Jack is a nightmare with other cats! Today I was on the phone with Diane and Jack SAW one of them and went into a FIT. Yowling mercilessly, making horrible noises … when Diane and I got off the phone she said, well I have to go, and you better go take care of Psycho Kitty. 🤣 Jack now has a new nickname!
Welcome HOME SWEET HOME to CA💕❤️💕 Was there a delivery on August 14??
A-lo-ha-ha💕🌸💕Evie
And YOU!!!!! Thank you darling, what a beautiful surprise, the white flowers glow under Joe’s lamp! SO romantic and beautiful!! XOXOXOX
💕🌸💕🌸💕🌸💕
YOU!😘
Welcome home 🏡 ❤️!
Happy unpacking and decorating/enjoy the late summer and drift into fall 🍂 !
Blessings on your sweet forever home.
We too have done the downsizing. It is amazing how you can fit things in just like your did in your new laundry room. Decorating a new place can be such fun, and you have a tremendous eye! I think of when you first saw Agnes’s house on the island and could look past what was there to what could be there 💕 Thinking of you! Looking forward to hearing and seeing what emerges.
Me too!
Susan, it’s so wonderful to see you getting settled in and Jack starting to feel more at home. Since the home is smaller he stays with you and Joe more, doesn’t he? I enjoyed reading you newsletter and look forward to the next one. So glad it’s getting closer to Fall here in Vieginia. It’s been a miserable summer with heat and humidity.
Susan – I’ve also experienced that pull…. that undefined feeling which makes me get up at night. Sometimes just a walk through the house and a look out the windows can settle me. It’s not a bad feeling at all – just something necessary.
I’m so glad you’re getting settled and that your “arranging” is a positive, fun experience.
It’s all about making your home and your life comfy and safe. But you know that.
Looking forward to seeing how it all comes about.
And, yes, green is good!
Looks like you’re making great progress! Your home is beginning to look very cozy, and Jack seems to be settling in! I’ve never heard of a “double wide”. Can you take a picture of what you home looks like outside? I’m assuming it’s like a ranch where everything is on one floor, just longer horizontally… I’d love to see it… Soon you will be all settled in just in time for fall and the holidays! Can’t wait to see what you come up with when you decorate! 👏🏻
Yes, that’s it! I think I have some pictures . . .
I know exactly the feeling you are talking about at the end, it sent me out to look at the meteor showers in the middle of the night this week! 💫
God bless you, Joe and Jack in your new home sweet home! 🏡 ❤️
Welcome back to the West Coast! I have been checking each day to see if you three made it safely home to California, and found this today. Settling in will be continuing a while, but how great to be on one level and breathing air with some sea goodness in it! Hugs from Oregon, Suzette
I am always so sorry when your writing ends for this time. Happy to hear you are settling in and Jack is well. One of our favorite trips is up the coast to your area. When you have a chance you must visit the antique shops in Cayucos. And Harmony Glassworks on Highway 1 just past there, although I am sure you have been there before! And you must go for pie at Linn’s in Cambria! I had the best Tuna Melt that I have ever had there this last spring! And the pie is wonderful!
I need ALL that! Haven’t made time yet, but my Angel Card was “spontaneity” today!💖
Welcome Home! So happy to see Jack adapting to his new surroundings. Change is not easy but he looks as irresistible as ever. Just takes a little time like you said. I can’t believe how much you have already accomplished. Well Done. You have always been such a wonderful little worker Bee. You inspire us. It must be so nice to be able to do all the arranging and decorating with such perfect weather. Here in RI, we are finally getting cooler nights and not such stifling days. We are savoring these last Summer weeks yet also so looking forward to Fall after such a humid Summer. Our cabin in Maine is small. When we bought it they called it the Doll House. We love it there. The kitchen is a fraction of the size of our kitchen in RI. I am so happy in that cottage style kitchen with pretty Martha Stewart cabinets with a color called Rainwater. We updated it a few years ago and it is small and PERFECT. I have made Thanksgiving dinners out of that small kitchen and big family celebrations in the Summer with lobsters and steamers. Five young grandchildren running around catching fireflies, swimming in the lake, and fishing with their Grampy. I never feel cramped in that smaller house. Chores are a labor of love up there. Watching the hummingbirds, listening to the Loons and sitting by the fire outside toasting marshmallows all far outweigh the lack of storage space and tight quarters when we have company.
You are going to be so happy there. Thank you so much for updating us on your progress. xo
It’s funny how some of us are just in love with small spaces. Is it the coziness? Or how easy it is to make it perfect? Where one roll of wallpaper or a pint of paint is enough to do a room! My sister could literally live in a doll house. That’s exactly what I’m feeling now, unpacking, decorating, moving things around, cleaning, it’s all a labor of love! Would you ever move there? It sounds perfect! Going to look up “Rainwater.”😂❌⭕️💞
Well done!! I have watched you every step of the way. So much fun. Did chuckle when you encountered the bikers and then saw how close you were to Sturgiss. You must have passed quite a few? The festival was that weekend. You went from the truly godly people (your Amish friends) to the ungodly (I am assuming there were a few Hells Angels on the way to Sturgiss) I really love what your doing, my favorite thing to do is decorate my house, and I have a million questions but after reading the blog and Twitter, I have one big question. How in the world does Joe give Jack two shots a day?? My kitty won’t have anything to do with me for hours after he gets meds. Joe must be the cat whisperer. Black and white and green, you can’t go wrong. Enjoy every minute. You deserve it. Debby
I don’t know. Jack doesn’t seem to feel it. In fact he will jump on the counter when it’s time, remind us, and it’s not a problem. And he is not your normal lazy day cat. We’d expect him to give us more trouble. But we think he likes the attention. Do you give your cat insulin? Joe gives it to Jack in the scruff of his neck. We could NEVER give him a pill unless we hide it in food he’s not even allowed to eat!!!
No insulin, he was a stray that found us and had to have several teeth pulled to make him healthy again. It was a nightmare, several different pills a day for awhile. He was mad at me all the time. Cats crack me up.so tell me about the bikers you saw. The one in the picture didn’t look like he wanted his picture taken. What a coincidence to go exactly where they were having their yearly get together. Also where is your fine romance van? I have two large porches and a gazebo that I decorate seasonly. I have black and white pillows and then add pink, or red, or green or orange. All seasons covered. Black white red and green are my favorite.
I did the same in my Island house. Mostly white living room furniture, and then any colors for the seasons. We’ve seen biker meetings in the midwest almost every time we’ve passed. It feels almost the same as seeing lots of Amish in the Chicago train station … they clearly identify themselves by what they wear and have a life style I am completely unfamiliar with. So it’s with interest I look at them. I thought the two I took a picture of looked rather normal … like guys I might have known who’d gotten dressed up for the event! But there were a bunch at a gas station that were a bit disarming. I forget their name (on their jackets) but I looked it up after we got out of there, and I was glad I didn’t know who they were while I was flitting (a little nervously) off to the McDonalds and Joe was out there filling the gas tank, flapping in the breeze next to them all alone! We drove our Fine Romance Van . . . it’s just black now, we finally peeled off the decoration since that’s what it clearly wanted us to do!!!
Welcome Home to California! Glad you made it safely. Love how you are decorating your home, your pictures are worth a thousand words. Can’t wait to see pictures after you finish unpacking everything.
We have the best weather along the Coast don’t we? It’s starting to feel like fall in the Bat Area as well. The leaves are starting to turn already in places.
Happy Decorating!
Sounds like you, Joe and Jack had a good adventure heading out west. It was quite an undertaking. I know what you mean. I moved from a 5,000 square foot Victorian house to a much larger ranch. It is 300 acres. It has 3 huge barns, a massive hay barn, a work shop and 2 story stable. However, it had a 1200 square foot home. We tried to make it work but we had so many antiques and belongings we added on and increased it to 2,500′. We had to get rid of so many things we loved. Now all these years later we are content. We abandon the idea of building a larger home. It is so much easier to keep things up. Here’s a bit of a secret. One of the barns still has some of the beautiful antiques we couldn’t part with. LOL. Where you live now sounds wonderful.
Treese/Colorado Cowgirl
As long as I’m not paying for storage for things I’m not using, I’m good! Barns on your property! Yay!😂
Welcome back to California! I love your descriptions of the weather in CA. I love your Glad game. The stories I read growing up, the same as you, greatly influenced me! I find the same joy! I love literary quotes too!! The very last one at the very bottom is a great one! Thanks for the downsizing inspirations!! Thanks for being you, Sue! 🌹
What would we be without the Glad Game? I don’t even like to think!!!😘
Having moved numerous times over the many years of marriage, due to my husband’s work, I know the feeling that comes with decorating a new home. I have found that my tastes in decor have changed over the years. I now love the antiques that we have inherited from family, and I would love to be able to say that I have lived in New England. Never meant to be, though. Living on the West coast is about everything that I love – mountains and water, so I feel blessed. I hope your new home continues to be a source of pleasure for you, Joe and Jack.
,Welcome back to Arroyo Grande!!! Hope to bump into you and Joe in Traders one of these days!!! I know the feeling of moving. I sold a house I had lived in for 30 years, and 3 family members had move out of, leaving me with all the stuff they didn’t want. It wasn’t easy, but somehow I managed, while working full time, planning a wedding and planning a new house. Glad I was younger then! Be patient, take naps, and have a glass of wine, or two!!!
Excellent Advice!
So happy to see you made it safely to your new (old) home in CA. Jack seems to be settling in nicely — supervising your unpacking and decorating! I give you a lot of credit for undertaking such a huge move! Thanks for sharing so that we all know that you’re settling in nicely. We care! ❤️ Looking forward to your next blog!
Your “friend” from rural northwest NJ.
Susan as always you lead the way. I’m moving too the spring of 25, from 3500 sq ft in Oregon plus office 1500 sq ft so close to CA which I love and my husband is from, to a tiny 1200 sq ft house on the gulf coast of MS. I’m so happy to think of you in the soft weather of CA. I love New England too but hard weather. I am releasing and letting go right now. I like you am a collector! All my books, garden things influence my artwork. But I’ve seen you do it! I can do it. I ask myself will this fit in my new life? Thanks for sharing your journey it means more than you know❤️❤️❤️
It’s hard to leave behind so many things you love in order to fit into your new life, but the GREAT thing is, when you do it and get to your new house, you find yourself surrounded by the creme de la creme, all your very best, most important things. My house looks more like a museum now! And I love it! It actually makes be giggle to walk around here. And the things you leave behind end up with friends, family, still within your community, and your history lives on in the place you loved so much. You get to feel yourself in the circle of life and just feel lucky and grateful.💖 Good luck! ❌⭕️
Hi Susan, Welcome home! So glad you are back, safe and sound! I loved seeing the pictures of your “new” home, the best for me, was psycho Jack the little helper…What are Angel Cards?
Happy belated birthday to Joe and happy unpacking, and settling in!
Lots of love from Nicoline
xoxo
They were popular here in the 80s, a little pack of cards with a different word on each of them … Words like HOPE, TRUTH, SPONTANEITY, COMPASSION, CLARITY, SIMPLICITY, and so many more … All the perfect words. The idea is to draw a card each day and have thoughts around it, practice it, look up the definition and then define it for yourself, things like that. Here, I’ll draw one for you now . . . First I’ll turn into Nicoline … give me a moment . . . ommmm . . . 😌. . . ok ~ Got it! My fingers tingled, the card demanded that I take it, I did, and it’s “CREATIVITY.” Obviously it could TELL it was you! ❌⭕️ Now I’ll do me, haven’t done one yet today, deep breath, ommmmm . . .Oh Boy … I got “SPONTANEITY!” I need some of that! Happy Day Nicoline!
Thank you Susan for this most wonderful update! Been so anxious, wondering…
Are they there yet? Has Jack been going mad in the car? etc. So happy you are having so much fun figuring out the best way to arrange every little thing you love. Oh the pleasure of opening a box of one’s own dear treasures!
“Making a home is still my favorite thing to do.” Me too! Like you I discovered this as a girl in my bedroom in my parents’ house, and have continued to LOVE it at each dorm room, apartment, house, and even hotel room I’ve called home for a little or a long time. It is SO much fun to solve the little puzzles a new space, and old beloved things to be arranged in it, always gifts us with.
The first morning picture of Jack is priceless!!! Hope he settles in and achieves detente with the two kitties already in residence in the goat barn. Do we have goats as well???
Lots of love to you and Joe and Jack. Thank you for SHOWing us how to face life’s challenges with a positive attitude, enthusiasm, and creativity.
xoxox love Coco
“The little puzzles!” Perfect words . . . No goats! I do love them though ~ we used to have them living next door! The family who lived here before us raised goats, that’s why it’s called the goat barn, but it was just a roof and cement floor. We enclosed it to use it as a warehouse to ship books and other things from when my business was in this house … it’s still the goat barn!💖
I love your father’s spoon! How special that you have that. It reminds me of the Welsh love/marriage spoons that I have seen on the British Antiques Roadshow. It’s an old Welsh custom for a young man to carve a beautiful and unique spoon for his bride. There’s lots on Google about the custom too. Was your father of Welsh descent by any chance?
Most of all, wish you and Joe many years of love and joy in your California home!
Irish! Pretty close! All hand-carved too … he was a very talented man. 💖 Thank you!
I’m so happy to read you’ve arrived safe and sound and are busy settling in! Your “new” home sounds and looks lovely. It’s terrific how we humans can adapt and change as our lives and circumstances unfold. Blessing to you, Joe and Jack as you continue to unpack and begin this new chapter!
Oh how truly lovely your new laundry room is!! It’s like a mini version of your Martha’s Vineyard one, you’ve captured the very essence of it. I love hearing your joy at getting to decorate and make your place feel completely home with all of your fave things around you. We recently moved and my new home is more modern than I’d like. I’m more about old cottages with wooden floorboards, bullnose verandahs, antique furniture and plates on walls so I’m not quite sure what to do with our current home. I have a feeling there’s a country style home in my future so I’ll wait for that. I have been making a lovely little garden out the back. The fam and I are living in the tropics in Australia so I’ve been planting a succulent garden and incorporating drought tolerant plants. It’s a different style of gardening but hearing the checkout lady at the hardware store tell me how happy she was I’d chosen a Dessert Rose plant and all about how she’s gotten her daughter to fall in love with them and at there’s even a fan club for other avid Dessert Rose growers/gardeners out there made me think I could definitely enjoy this new change. I look forward to seeing more of your lovely home and your amazing driveway (I’d move there simply for that driveway, what a beautiful entrance) and hearing all the tales of your settling in and Jack’s adventures. Thank you for blessing us with this amazing Willard xoxoxoxo
You’re Australian, Melissa? Or, or did you move there from somewhere else? Sounds like such interesting surroundings! This is one of the things I LOVE about having a blog! Other lives, other surrounds, other seasons, other countries, and all kindred spirits!! Yes, a garden and connection to nature, that’s the real thing! ❌⭕️
Welcome back to California! We just downsized and made the big move from Minnesota back to the warm, sunny weather of Henderson, Nevada last September. We wanted to spend our 70’s and beyond in the warmth. I am looking forward to more of your decorating and settling in blogs. Jack is home!
Did I miss reading Vicki Victoria? Hmmm, fill us in?
She’s new to the team!🤣 Or actually, new again! Was so settled in our last house, I haven’t really noticed her for a very long time! Not as much as now!!
Dear Susan,
I have been carrying my new Susan Branch Book, “Distilled Genius”
everywhere I go!!! I love this book!!! Thank you❤️
All your books (I’ve bought them all) live happily together on my bookcase shelf.
“Distilled Genius” lives up to its title! The quotes are inspiring, funny and your artwork
creates magic as expected😊
Thank you dear Sister in Spirit🦋
Carolyn Covert
Thank you right back Carolyn, you just made my day!
Susan,
The view down the drive as you reached your California home looks like a painting. Just beautiful. It says “Welcome home!” Maybe a new painting project, after all of the unpacking and settling in. 🙂
Sharan