Well, there is SO much going on around here ~ I thought I better do our drawing today! Strike while the iron is hot! But first, let’s see, let’s go hang out in 1928 for a while . . . MUSICA!
I’ve almost finished writing us a new WILLARD! It will start going out on Tuesday morning and I hope you will love it! Is everyone is signed up? If not, and you’d like my newsletter delivered to your email box, just go HERE and sign up. And while you’re at it, sign up your mom and your sister too, and your 
BFF, because it’s going to be chock full of good and fun stuff. I’m also updating the blog on Tuesday! Very exciting! Love it when everything happens at once! Between the blog and Willard, us packing to go away on our two-month Book Tour, and the constant Kitty Kissing, there is A LOT going on . . . including, in this new Willard, more Giveaways, and even a Grand Prize Giveaway. Oh yeah. We’re doin’ it up big.🎉
So I thought I better step in now and announce the winners of the SIX books, with paintbrushes and bookmarks . . . so I can get them in the mail to the Lucky Winners on Monday and not get everything all mixed up with Tuesday! Hate it when that happens! Can’t believe how many people we have entered in this drawing. Wild eh, and what fun! Have you read any of the comments? Only the nicest people in the world! 💏 That’s all. You really don’t know how often you make me cry! Sometimes I can’t even answer because I don’t know what to say! That’s how nice you are.
So, just a little reminder . . . our six winners will get a personalized copy of my new book, Martha’s Vineyard, Isle of Dreams, that one ⇑ up there, PLUS
Each book will come with one of the worn-out paintbrushes I used to paint the watercolors in the new book AND these messy bits made into bookmarks from the blotters where I test colors and try to figure out what is wrong when my pen starts acting up. Little bits of book DNA from the construction site.
But before I announce the winners, I thought you might enjoy a bit of Morning Science. For any of you with a Wisteria, this may be old news, but I find it endlessly fascinating, what a Wisteria does in the springtime, so I thought I’d show you one of my favorite harbingers of spring.🌞
You know what a wisteria looks like in bloom, right? And the smell? Floral heaven. Like the inside of a flower store ~ Ours were planted a long time ago, by the woman who owned our house from 1940 to 1980, the very much appreciated Mrs. Bowditch. They hang on an arbor over the kitchen-porch side of our house and the fragrance goes up through the second story windows (where I am taking this photo) and into the bedrooms, thank you very much.💛
They make May . . . in May the Island air smells like ocean mixed with lilac and wisteria.
Here’s how our wisteria looks right now, not quite as lovely, despite the fabulous blue sky . . . but see all those dangling bean-like things? That’s what I wanted to show you.
Here they are up-close. They are fuzzy like pussy willows.
They drop in the spring in the first days of warmth from the sun ~ the porch and the driveway are covered in them. They make the most delightful cracking noise when you step on them because they are very hard. I go out of my way to step on as many as I possibly can. From what I saw on the driveway this morning, I’m about to be in crunch heaven.
They don’t really drop actually, they kind of split apart and explode . . .
The pods hit our windows, we can hear it happening, little ticks against the glass . . . A few of them get all they way across the driveway onto the lawn . . . they really do explode. We think it might be from happiness.
The daffodils watch intently, as you can see. And see the little black dots on the driveway around them . . .?
The by-product! Free wisteria seeds! Isn’t that fabulous?
It’s our springtime miracle!
And you might wonder, but is there anything actually blooming in your yard now? And I would have to say, Oh, yes there is!
Our Magnolia is in bloom.
The weeping cherry trees too, and the forsythia . . .
And our pear tree . . .
Alright, that’s the end of Morning Science for today 🌷 . . . so here we go dear ones, I do so hope you win!!!!! But if you don’t, remember, there will be more chances in Willard, more chances in the next post, and lots of fun surprises coming. It’s spring, I have a new book, we’re going for a long ride, hill and dale across the country to meet all our Girlfriends, and we’re here to
So here we go!
Vanna . . . darling . . . climb up there and dive into the vat won’t you? (Remember when it was only a basket she had to draw from? Now it’s a vat! Filled with teeny weeny slips of paper, each with a tiny name on it! So exciting! We are gaining Girlfriends, Girlfriends!)
THE WINNERS of the SIX BOOKS AND ETC. ARE:
I hate this part. Up till now everyone is a winner, as well it should be, since that is the bottom-line truth, but now all of a sudden, it’s narrowed down considerably. I always say this when Vanna is diving into the vat, and I always feel it. Oh well. Must. do. my. job. She’s UP!!! Handful of names are flapping in the wind. Here we go . . .
Happiness abounds, joy bells ring, honking horns dinning, awesomeness reigns for:
Janet Johnson!
Celia Reusch!
Sylvie from France!
Diane P. from Northern California
Rachael Anna
Kenna Morris!
I’ll send you each an email and you can write me back with your address and who you would like the book inscribed to . . . you, or perhaps you have someone else in mind! I will love to do it, and Joe will get them in the mail to you on Monday (or as soon as I hear back from you). We have our first French Person winner! How exciting!🌎We are the world, Girlfriends! 💞
Off I go, but I’ll be back so soon it’s almost ridiculous. Please don’t get sick of me! Have a wonderful day, a wonderful weekend, breathe in some of that fresh spring air and know you are loved. XOXO
So pretty. So happy here in . . .
With just a soupçon suggestion of spring . . . because my kitchen is my favorite place.
And these guys. I will miss them. Hardest thing of all to say goodbye to. Because I’m afraid they will think I’m abandoning them. But I’m NOT.
And some of my California Girlfriends . . . came from Palo Alto to San Luis Obispo. Honored again!
And I did a cute ad for Yankee Magazine . . . for the May-June issue. AND, I got an entertainment lawyer to work out the details on the option for the three books for either a movie or a TV series! Remember that? It is still sort of happening! I don’t think it WILL happen, because it’s just too crazy, but it still could! It hasn’t fallen through yet, and until it does, I intend to enjoy the heck out of it! The first thing the lawyer asked me was who I wanted to play me. That’s how I knew I would like him. Those are the fun questions!
My kitchen is now complete. It’s a strange feeling to see the book actually here. But a good one. And the other thing I’m doing is signing SIX of them for giveaways to YOU, right NOW. So this is your moment to leave a comment. 
