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 . . .