I’ve always liked dandelions.  I like the wishes you can make on them before blowing all the seeds into the wind.  The yellow flowers are pretty and perky — they make our lawn look like a wildflower meadow.  Wild dandelion greens and flowers, unsprayed of course, are a delicious nutritious addition to salads too.

But everything in moderation, and “wild” is the operative word.  Seems like we get more and more of them every year.  Sooner or later, those charming yellow flowers form a puff ball made up of  a zillion seeds that are dispersed, with no help from me, in the slightest breeze.  What you see in this photo is just one small part of what we are facing now!  The feathery part of the puff acts like a parachute which gently guides the seeds to the ground (heaven forbid one should crash-land) and the next year, you get MORE.  I like SOME yellow flowers in my garden, but I’m not crazy about having a lawn made up of dandelion greens with their eighty foot roots as-thick-as-carrots you can never get out.  I actually have all the dandelions I ever want.  I’ve gone out to try to collect the little furry heads before they can disperse, a terribly nasty job that I would not wish on anyone, plus it doesn’t work.  Yesterday, talking to Joe, in a moment of Morning Science, brilliance occurred!  I had to show you!  But suddenly I’m thinking that maybe everyone isn’t familiar with Morning Science, so before I tell you his brilliant idea, for those who don’t know, here’s how I described Morning Science in my AUTUMN book:

So now you know.  We are obviously not scientists, but we do like to ask questions, we’re always trying (weakly) to figure things out.  So the question of what to do with the field of dandelions came up.  And this time Joe outdid himself.  He said, “Get the dust buster.”

At first I laughed, the dust buster?  He was suggesting we vacuum the seeds right off the stems!  You can’t do that.  But then I  thought about it and went and got the dust buster.  See the stem of the dandelion leaning into it?  It wants to go in there!  I just put the tip of the vacuum next to it, and it jumped in!  Once I actually did three flowers at once!  Rather interesting don’t you think?

Voila!  I mean Voi-friggin’-LA!  Can you believe that?   De-nuded, in one fell swoop. So I went and did the entire area.

We went from this . . .

to this!  I missed a bit here and there, a few weren’t quite ready to let go, but see all the little stems?  That, plus more, took me about 10 minutes of extremely satisfying vacuuming.  Then we mowed, everything smelled like heaven, and the stems all disappeared.  Yes, we will still have plenty of dandelion leaves for our salads, but next year’s crop just got wiped out by the two geniuses and Morning Science!  Well, one genius and the other person that hangs around with him.♥  

So, there you go, garden hint of the day — I bet you never heard that one before!

Every day now something else blooms here in my Martha’s Vineyard garden.  The tulips are still going strong, and now the clematis is blooming on the picket-fence garden.  I love this plant, it’s taken a long time to get established here, but I think we finally made it.

Isn’t it romantic?  Clematis is a vine that comes in all shapes, sizes and colors.  This one is Clematis Montana, var. rubens ‘Pink Perfection.”  They like their feet (roots and bottom of plant) in the shade, and their heads in the sun.

I have to go soon.  I have a meeting at Bunch of Grapes Bookstore here on Main Street — a famous little independent bookstore here on the island —  the same store where I had my very first book signing all those years ago.  I’m going to meet with the owner and show her our book! (Excited! What shall I wear?) Kellee has printed it all out for me now, and although the pages are only printed on one side and not bound, everything is there, it looks beautiful and it gives me something good for show and tell.  But I have a quick question for you before I go:

See this?  My girlfriend sells these bracelets and the little hand-blown Venetian glass beads that go on them.  I had never seen one before but she tells me they are very popular and that many people collect the beads, which come in a huge number of colors and designs.  They collect them the same way they collect charms, when they travel, or have a life event, like a new grandchild or a graduation.  She says it’s the “new charm bracelet.”  (This is the only charm bracelet I’ve ever had … so far!)

The beads come in a sweet little box, all with different quotes — I think they would make a lovely gift.  Here’s the bead she will be selling this summer for Vineyard Haven, our town on the island. Her website is not up yet, but when it is, if you like this bead, I’ll let you know where you can get it.

They can be manufactured with any words on the side.  She thinks I should have a bead made that says Love and Kisses on one side, and Susan Branch on the other.  Or something like that.  Or all hearts.

But since I never saw them before, it’s hard for me to understand if anyone would want them?  Do you have a bracelet like this?  The beads sell for around $30, so I figured out, for a bracelet like this

It would cost around $350 for all the beads including the bracelet itself.  Of course you would gather the beads one at a time, so it wouldn’t be all at once (unless someone wanted to do it that way), you’d just get them at special times.  I really think they’re gorgeous.  And the beads aren’t all in blue — there are other colors — my girlfriend has all blue because hers are all Martha’s Vineyard beads, and with the ocean all around, the roses and green fields and trees, you can see it all reflected here.  So, my question is, have you seen them before?  Are they your cup of tea or not?  Am I the last person on the block to know about them?

So, off I go, but I will leave you with one last lovely picture … this wild-looking parrot tulip.  I was talking to my dad on the phone yesterday.  We were talking about you, and the beautiful comments you left on the Mother’s Day post (like all the others, by the way).  He was saying how NICE it is to go into the comments and read them, that when he is done, he feels like all’s right with the world.  I feel exactly the same way.  Each of the comments is meaningful, but when you put them all together, they’re even more powerful, it’s the accumulation of the love, and the connection to things that really matter. ♥ I just wanted to say thank you for making my blog such a loving, funny, thoughtful, heartfelt place to be. You are the perfect example of what’s right with the world.♥

Hopelessly devoted to you, bye for now, xoxo, me

One of the songs my mom used to sing around the house, perfect MUSICA for Mother’s Day. ♥

There she is now, darling little girl, in Iowa where she was born, with her Christmas doll, her two brothers, my Uncles Bob and Dick.  Honestly that sweet face you see is the one I grew up with.

She adored dolls, the second she had the chance, she got herself a real baby all her own.

Me.  Her own real live doll.  Now she could dress the baby and feed the baby (and comb the baby’s hair) and it moved and drooled and cooed.  She had her own Betsy Wetsy.  She was 17 years old.  And I was the lucky girl who got her for a mom.

That’s my Frank Sinatra-ish dad (the one you know so well, on his best behavior in this photo) holding my brother Jim — Jim came 13 months after me and became one of my very best friends, it’s his birthday tomorrow.   My mom is 18, Uncle Dick is 17, and that’s my Grandma on the right.

By now I was my mom’s partner in crime, the “other mother.”  These were “our” children.  That’s Jim and our second boy Stephen with my Uncle Dick.  The outfits, which I am sure Dick just loved, because what 21-year-old boy doesn’t want to dress like a four-year-old, were from my great-aunt Josephine.  I thought Dick looked like Elvis Presley.

This is me and brother number three, Chuckie.  I could knock on the wall of my bedroom and he would climb out of his crib and come and sleep with me.  Terrible picture of him because he was truly the cutest of them all, as you will see in the next photo.  He was over ten pounds when he was born and I think he got a little smashed.

Well, maybe not this picture, Stephen is the cutest of them all in this one, but for sure, the next one.

There he is, bottom left.  Isn’t he darling, we called him Butterball.  In addition, we now had Brad, the sweet baby at the bottom.  The little girl on the right was my Uncle Bob’s little girl, Coral.  Bob was in the Navy and was raising Coral alone, so she came to live with us while Bob was at sea.  Hey, what’s one more.  We needed a blonde.

The only time my mother could get us together (apparently) is when we were in our jammies.

Because that’s what we’re wearing in so many pictures.  By the way, now my first sister is born, Paula.  Finally a girl!  And she’s a mom now, Happy Mother’s Day Paula!

That’s Chuck, Brad and Paula in our kitchen which, if a grilled cheese sandwich could turn into a kitchen, this is the kitchen it would be.  My mom and I bathed the babies in a pink rubber basinet in this kitchen. I kissed her goodbye on my way to my Girl Scout meetings while she stood at that stove, sterilizing baby bottles. I learned my right hand from my left standing in front of the silverware drawer on the right of the sink in the back of this photo.  And for the rest of my life, when I need to figure out which is which, I have to orient myself  ”in front of the silverware drawer,” and then I know.  When I was 16 and taking my driving test, the examiner asked me to turn on the right blinker and then the left.  My mom was in the car, he was behind the car, and I panicked because I didn’t know which was which, couldn’t picture the silverware drawer and was too nervous and frantic to figure it out fast enough.  I said, “Mom, which is my right?”  She said, waaay too slowly, “Well, Sue, you know…”  That’s as far as she got, I cut her off … “MOM!” I hissed. My eyes were on fire, “TELL ME.”  She understood and told me and I passed my driver’s test.  A person needs her silverware drawer.  Is that really asking too much?

My parents would put us all in here with sleeping bags, pillows, corn flake boxes, the dog’s food, diapers, and playpen  –  and drive eight hours up to the High Sierras where we would camp in a musty smelling tent for a week in the forest, under the trees, cook our food over an open fire, hike and fish and try to lure squirrels all day.  I still remember the smell of the sleeping bags, of hot dirt and pine needles, of bacon and coffee in the morning.

Now we have another baby, my second sister, Mary.  I was lucky, for almost the whole time I lived at home, we had a new baby every two years.  It was such baby world in our house, every day, every holiday.  My sister Mary is a mom too, Happy Mother’s Day Mary!

And here is the baby-for-life, the last of the eight, my 3rd sister Shelly.  I liked to arrange special hairstyles for the girls when I gave them a bath.  She’s been my best friend from the beginning. She’s a mom too, she has twin 10-year-old boys.  Happy Mother’s Day, Shell!

You notice there aren’t a lot of pictures of my mother so far.  That’s because she was always on the other side of the camera, and we were too young to take it away from her. Here we are, looking at one of her dozens of photo albums.  What I need to do one day is to scan all her photos so I have them on the computer. So many good pictures in her books!

The tables have turned and now we take pictures of her.  This is us in Las Vegas three years ago for a family reunion and her eightieth birthday (I should really call that birthday what she called it — her seventy-tenth).  Happy Mother’s Day, Mom!

She taught us all how to dance . . . this is her with the baby-for-life.

And here we are out on a boat in Vineyard Haven Harbor — that’s Shelly, me, Mom, and Chuckie.  Joe took the picture.

There was life after children.  My mom actually wanted a baseball team when she began having children, not realizing that managing a baseball team isn’t quite the same as playing baseball.  Anyway, she was an outdoor girl, and took up tennis, and those medals around her neck were just a few of the silvers and golds she won playing in the Senior Olympics. ♥

She ran out of places to put all her trophies!  She gave me two of them, I have them here in my studio.  I’m very proud of my little mommy.

For more reasons than one.  When I grew up and could really see what all she did for us, the sacrifices she made, how non-judgemental and encouraging she was, I realized the role moms play in the world.  How important they are.  The most important job in the world.  How they do it with the tiniest things that mean everything to children, a hug, a look, a pat on the head, a kiss goodnight.  I thought it would be nice if Moms had more support.  They did what they did with no gold stars, no raises, no one to say, “GOOD JOB.”  Her gold stars were ← her children’s artwork.

I think I saw the loneliness in my mom’s face on some of the tough days when the house would fall into normal chaos, and it stayed with me.  I tried to say thank you while writing my first book, not only to her, but to all moms, to help them know that what they do, and did, really does matter.   My mom (and dad) gave me a stable childhood, something every child deserves — I think if they had it, the world would be a better place.  That’s why moms are so important.  And the more support moms everywhere get raising children, it just follows, the better our world would be.  Because no matter what the circumstances, they are capable of being shelter in a storm, just by being there.  I celebrate Mother’s Day deep in my heart, it’s another chance to tell my mom what a FABULOUS, WONDERFUL, HEAVENLY MOTHER she’s been to me. ♥

Happy Mother’s Day to all of you nurturing loving women!  What a difference you have made.  Have a wonderful weekend.   XOXO

I can barely type with this music playing, my hands fly off the keys … ← I just made those dots in time with the music!  These are pages from my book Girlfriends Forever – ideas I’ve accumulated over the years for living a healthy life.  I lift small weights every other day and wanted to show you some of the simple exercises I do with them to keep my upper body strong, with those little back-bone-protecting muscles so I can continue to carry shopping bags, and climb hills in the Yorkshire Dales!

P O W E R   F O O D S

Everyday we find out about food-as-almost-medicine, food that delivers a nutritional punch — crunchy vegetables, satisfying proteins, juicy fruits that are vibrant and alive and make us feel that way too.♥  Shop as close to home as possible for freshest and best of everything.

Here are a couple of my favorite “mini meals” I like to eat when I’m trying to cut back and trim down.  This first one serves two:  Prick a large organic sweet potato, the oranger the better, with a knife, rub the skin with soft butter, salt it, put it on a cookie sheet or aluminum foil (because it will drip on to your oven floor and we can’t have that), roast at 425° until done, about an hour and 15 min.  Cut it in half, mash up the potato, pepper it and enjoy.  Eat the skin too which will have caramelized in spots, making it even more delicious, filling, and it’s stuffed with healthy beta carotene antioxidants.

Another sort of one-item dinner that’s really filling and low calorie is an artichoke which you eat with your hands, giving extra satisfaction.  I get two, one for Joe, one for me.  They are good hot or cold, so cook extra if you like them.  To make them: put a large pot of water on to boil.  Wash the artichokes and trim off the tops (pointy part) of the leaves with scissors (you don’t have to do this, I just like to).  Drizzle a bit of olive oil into the tops, drop them into the water, and pour another couple of tablespoons of oil into the water.  Grind lots of fresh pepper into the water and add about a tsp. of salt.  Cover and simmer gently (about a half hour or so) until a fork pierces the stem very easily.  You can test for doneness: pull off a leaf, the little lump of meat (at the bottom of each leaf in case you’ve never made an artichoke) should come off easily when you pull on it with your teeth. When they’re done, drain them well.  Put them on a plate.  If you are a purist, squeeze over lemon juice pull off one leaf at a time, and enjoy.  If you are like me and inherently impure (I inherited it from my dad), give yourself a TBSP of mayonnaise in a little side-cup to dip the leaves in.  If this is your whole dinner, you can afford some mayo calories since there are only about 60 in the artichoke.  Some people like to dip the leaves in melted butter; I like mayo better, but try it and see what you think.  After you have eaten all the leaves and are down to the skinny feathery ones, don’t eat those.  Scrape them out of the base of the artichoke with a dinner knife.  What’s left is the heart, the most delicious of all, the reward at the end, and wonderful with a little mayo. It takes a little while to eat an artichoke giving your tummy plenty of time to realize it’s been fed, thereby ending the begging for more thing.  Always remember how important consciousness is while trying to eat healthy.  If your mind is crying out for a hot fudge sundae, just remember to say to yourself, “In ten minutes, this voice will be gone.  This too shall pass.”  And it will, just give it a minute.

That year is going to pass anyway.

I bet lots of you have one-food meal tips, foods that “get you through.”  Share please! Have you ever made my easy recipe for wholesome, soul-satisfying Spaghetti Squash Spaghetti?  It’s really good.  If you haven’t and you’d like the recipe, let me know — I’ll put it in the next post.  For you who have the Girlfriend’s Book, it’s on the page titled “Healthy Quick Cook”, page 110.  Which brings me to this . . .

Oh yes.  Good segue eh?  It’s time to give away these two books!  And I have to say, any cooking you do at home, anything you make from scratch is bound to be healthier than anything store bought.  I am sure none of you would think about putting preservatives or MSG into your food — so although the Summer Book is not a “diet” book in any way, the recipes reflect my favorite things in cooking, “easy, quick, elegant, delicious, and nutritious.”  Vanna knows this because she is the perfect example of health. Here she comes now, toddling in with her scrambled egg-white breakfast, her face smeared with a masque that looks like chocolate, and kind of smells like it too.  (Hmm, is she not telling me something?)

“Vanna, will you please draw us a winning name?  In fact, draw two, so you can get back to pampersville.”  (I hear the bubble bath water running upstairs, we wouldn’t want to hold her up.  VANNA MUSICA PLEASE.)

Into the basket filled to the brim with your names she goes, long arm reaching deep, round and round she swirls her arm, she’s stirring them up really well.  ”OK, Vanna, go for it!”  Up she comes, just halfway, she stops, she’s fishing around.  The gleam in her eye tells me she has one … she starts up again, and out of the flying slips of paper, she brings ONE NAME, the winner of the two books has landed!   “Go back down Vanna, we have another book to give away.”  Down she goes, to the very bottom, and slowly, because of her drama queen propensities, she withdraws the second name.  She hands it to me with a flourish.  OK, I have them both.  ”Bye, Vanna, thank you darling girl!  Good job!”  OK, Girlfriends, are you ready?  I said, ARE YOU READY? (Do you hate me now?)  OK, here we go.  With no further adieu, here are our winners:

For the two books, The Summer Book and Girlfriends Forever:

The Lucky Winner is:  PATTY P.

(the Patty P. who had “tichi” as part of her email address)

Everyone say: YAY FOR PATTY P!!

For my newest book, COUNTING YOUR BLESSINGS, Book of DAYS

Our fortunate girlfriend is:

Sally L’H . . . hooray for Sally!!!

CONGRATULATIONS to both of you!  You’re going to find an email in your boxes announcing you as our WINNERS.  Write me back, tell me the names you want in the books so I can sign them for you, include your addresses and they’ll go into the mail very soon.  We are so happy for you!

And for all of you who didn’t win this time, we hope for better news next go ’round!  And for you who tried to order the BLESSINGS DAY PLANNER BOOK from our web store, and couldn’t, that’s because we ran out!  So sorry, it’s always hard to gauge how many we should order, but Kellee tells me that more are on their way.  She’s going to fix it so you can order them today, but they won’t go out until we get them into the studio, which she says could be up to three weeks or so.  Oh! And I forgot to tell you — last week Kellee put up the new CALENDARS for Pre-Order … you can reserve your copies now if you like.

And now, I hope a walk in the garden on a spring day on Martha’s Vineyard will feel like a nice consolation prize.  I’m so sorry if you didn’t win.  You have no idea how hard it is to pick just one or two winners.  In our last two posts we had almost 3,000 comments!  That’s quite amazing, and does cut the chances down a bit!  Still better than the lottery.  Oh well, let’s go to the garden and drown our sorrows in flower petals.♥

You can almost hear the water rolling onto shore . . . and smell the petals blowing out of the trees.  I’m not sure you can really see the petal situation . . . so here . . .

this is how the lawn looks — just one of the many reasons to plant a flowering tree . . . so you have something to roll around in on warm spring days!

Flowering trees also make very nice wedding and baby presents . . . here’s the one we gave to our friends Laura and Charles Harris on their wedding day about ten years ago . . . her mom just emailed to me. ♥ So fun to see it!

Speaking of beauty, our pink angelique tulips are coming into bloom

Angeliques are very famous tulips and you can see why . . . just click on that link and see if you get inspired to plant some of your own next fall. They will grow in warmer climates too, but you have to keep the bulbs in the fridge for awhile so they can “winter over.”

I looked over and saw these two little people waiting for me at the door . . .

Yes, we do have deer on the island … they supposedly swam over here from the mainland. They rarely come into town, lucky for us.  This one went strolling through our yard last year.  Quite a surprise, thank goodness she didn’t stop for lunch!  Obviously a “city deer” — she looks both ways before she crosses.

Home I go through the petals.  Have a wonderful day wherever you are — be sure to try one of those easy recipes girlfriends.  And remember, our “health kick” isn’t all about being thin.  The real prizes, as I wrote above, are energy, vitality, self-confidence, strength of spirit, character, and grace.  Most of which you already have . . . and for those things and for us, I leave you with this toast . . .

Love you. xoxo, Susan

 It’s May, it’s May, that Lusty Month of May!  Hi Girls.  I promised, if you asked, I would give you the recipe for Blueberry Angel Cake sooner rather than later, and you asked!  So, here it is!  Happy May Day!  You deserve it, you’ve been sooooo good. ♥ I have much love for you! Your comments are amazing! xoxo

Easy, wonderful cake . . . ENJOY!

In honor of May Day, I’m going to let our Giveaway (scroll down to the post just following this one if you missed it) continue a few more days, to make sure everyone has a chance to sign up.  If you already did, you don’t have to leave another comment because you are already entered, but you can if you want because Vanna is not only beautiful but smart . . . she knows to choose from only one of each comment, which means you can talk all you want.  And I thought I’d sweeten the pot just a wee bit to celebrate May!  Someone is going to win BOTH my SUMMER and GIRLFRIEND’S Books, and in addition, we’ll draw one more name, for this:

It’s my brand new (I forgot to tell you!) COUNTING OUR BLESSINGS, BOOK OF DAYS.  Kellee called me yesterday to remind me that “the Blessings Book” came in during my months in the FINE ROMANCE tunnel and I just forgot to mention it.  (Now that’s a tunnel!)

I designed this book and sent it in last year, just before we sailed away to England — another lifetime ago!

I based it on my old DAYS BOOK (which is out of print now) — so it can be used as a Journal, a Birthday Book, or a Dream Book, but since we are such Blessing Counters around here ♥, I thought it would be a wonderful place to jot down the best things of each day, what we learned, and words of wisdom, so those memories last forever, and can even be passed down to people we love.  If you’re not already entered for the other two books, just leave a comment at the bottom of this post, and we’ll draw for both prizes at the same time.

It’s the little things that make up a lifetime — we’ll take care of the minutes and the years will take care of themselves. ♥

Here’s a minute: Our tulips are in bloom!  Blessing. ✔ Check!

Not all of us are experiencing bowers of flowers right now — and washing in snow, fair maid or not, is not quite the same as “washing in dew!”  There are still snowstorms out there!  So, this is for you, all of you really, if you run to your door, you might (If I had my way) find one of these hanging on your door knob, from me to you with love, a bouquet in a wallpaper cone (from our dining room wallpaper). Such a sweet tradition, leaving garden flowers on friend’s doors. ♥ The red flower is from our quince bush, which is obviously celebrating FLORA, the Goddess of Flowers, which has nothing whatever to do with Frosty, the god of snow! Go away Frosty!

 This is what we want now!

May, Flowers, CAKE, and books, who could ask for anything more?  The tiny frosting on the cake would be if you haven’t seen the movie featuring this Musica (playing right now if you clicked on it at the top of this post), you might want to put it on your list.  FRIENDLY PERSUASION  is a wonderful sweet old movie; it will make you cry, and you know how we love that.♥  XOXOX

I have lots of photos to cheer your heart this lovely morning . . .

Starting with these . . . during a spring rain . . .

the colors make me so happy . . .

. . . my kitchen smells like a flower shop!  And I’m all well.  My cold is finally gone, I get down on the floor every morning now and do stretches and leg lifts, lift my little weights and feel like I’m starting all over!

I couldn’t help taking a kazillion pictures of this vase full of tree cuttings . . .

But then my perpetual audience climbed on top of the fridge to survey his kingdom . . .

of which I am his people — is it the cat or the vase that is the real star of this photo?

It’s the cat.  So regal, such a star . . .

The pink cherry blossoms, heavenly!

Letting me loose with a camera can sometimes be a dangerous thing.  You should see the ones that got away!

And here’s where I go to gather the pink booty . . .

I could never do it justice with a mere paintbrush . . . never never never

Because looking into this sparkly pink pear tree is like a prayer.

The smell alone is enough to inspire the sweetest dreams . . .

And the breeze, the island breeze filled with the ocean, the blossoms, the green grass, the violets, the sky and all the good things of nature.

And Jack.  Well, my cup just runneth over. ♥

We had friends to tea the other day, and despite the diet  (I promise you, I am being very good!),  I made something mighty delicious —  a blueberry angel food cake with lemon glaze!  (Fat free, but filled with delicous sugar!).  I’ll give you the recipe for this the minute we reach our goal weight UNLESS there is strong request for it now, and then, of course I will give it to you!

We ate about half of it, heaven’s sugar cake, and took the other half, a quarter-cake each over to Lowely and then to Martha!  It’s so nice to have girlfriend neighbors with whom you can share the wealth ♥ and don’t get mad at you for doing it!

I used my pink dishes to match the flowers.  And then guess what I found out?  A year or so ago Joe and I made a little video called “How to Sift Flour.”  Truly one of the greats as the title implies!  But I just found out it is #1 on Google in the massive Sifting of Flour category!

XOXOXXOXOX

Yes, if you Google How to Sift Flour, this is what you get, without even mentioning my name.  We, my girls, are number one!  In the world. On Google!  WHAT an accomplishment!  I’m kind of excited about it!  It’s the little things in life!

Remember a couple of years ago we got a new Dogwood tree for our backyard?  Well, we just placed an order for this year’s addition to the springtime floral extravaganza at this house.  We ordered a Magnolia x soulangeana, a weeping Higan Cherry Tree, and a Honey Crisp apple tree. Also seven new forsythia bushes to put behind the fence in front of our house. Not sure if they will be in stock, but it’s a good time to plant them, so we’re hoping our nursery can find them for us.  It’s so gorgeous out there, why not make more beauty if we can, so it’s almost silly crazy romantic over-the-top beautiful?  Nothing wrong with that.

Flowering trees are so special — something magical about them after a long cold grey winter.  Here’s the dogwood last year — it’s not in bloom yet this year, more to look forward to!  One of the reasons this is all especially beautiful to me this year is because . . .

I’ve had a sort of tunnel vision, like looking at the world through a straw, for a long time.

My concentration on our book, the single mindedness it takes, made the world look like this to me . . . here’s Girl Kitty.

Here I am making tea first thing in the morning. I had other things on my mind at all times:  What could I say, do, paint, dream up, remember, include, make happen, so that A FINE ROMANCE will be something you will love.♥  I wonder if other authors see the world like this when they are deep in the throes of a project?  If ever I was going to write something called “How to Write a Book” I would have to try and explain this.

This is what the kitchen looked like to me at around 4 am.

And here’s a snowy day — it registered because of its beauty but in “real life,” I was looking at the sea from the rail of the ship, or in England walking through wildflower meadows, looking at maps, touring castles, driving narrow backroads, and drinking ice cold peah ci-das in pubs!

I would look out and see Joe shoveling the snow out front and it was vaguely confusing.

He came in every day and made us a cozy fire, but my focus was always always always on something else . . . this was my background music, snap, crackle, and pop . . .

Believe it or not, even this guy never got all the way through . . . but he sure tried.

Ahhhh, here we are . . . this feels familiar . . .

Determined daily to make a movement toward the finish line . . .

One tiny brush stroke and pen mark at a time . . .

Every moment, the pure joy of creating . . . combined with the agony of wanting it to be done . . . but not too quickly, because there was enjoyment of the moment, as strange as that may seem.

Until I got to this, page 8 of A FINE ROMANCE . . .  The other 259 pages went to print as of last week, but I had to wait to do this last one.  I needed to get legal permission from several song writers in order to print excerpts from their songs in our book, because what would our book be without MUSICA? The last permission came through on Friday, and I was able to do this page.  The last one!  Oh MY!

And when I finished, the tunnel vision went totally and completely away, and the bright world came shining through . . . all new like I’d never seen it before.

Colors are brighter and prettier than ever . . .

The world is a lovely place!  Time for my fake tap dance!

Our walk to the water is more beautiful than ever — it’s 68 degrees on Martha’s Vineyard right this moment and as soon as I finish saying hello to you, we are on our way to our walk to this very spot to see the sparkle on the water.♥

But first, you have been so patient while I was looking at life with blinders on, you cheered me through and were with me the whole way — so, so wonderful . . .  isn’t it about time for a giveaway? YES!

It’s possible most of you have these two books . . . but maybe you have someone who you could give them to?  Or you could save them for birthday gifts.♥  Spanking new lighthearted copies of The Summer Book and Girlfriends Forever, and isn’t spring the perfect time?

The SUMMER BOOK is filled with delicious recipes for the season, barbecues and picnics, my picket fence garden, and stories such as “Library Days”, “How to Go to a Tea Party”, and “The Raft”.

GIRLFRIENDS FOREVER is a celebration of US — everything we love, Girl Parties, healthy recipes, decorating, clothes, beauty, exercise and a Spicy Mango Salad on page 82 that is to die for. This one also has the story of How I Met the Beatles (when I was “Just Seventeen”).♥

I would love to sign them, to whatever name the winner chooses: her own, her daughter’s, her sister’s, her mother’s, or her best friend’s!  Just leave a comment here to enter the drawing at the bottom of this post where you see the tiny word “comments” — (and if you don’t see it, click on www.susanbranch.com, scroll to the bottom of this post, squint because it’s tiny, and there it will be).  In a few days we’ll pull Vanna off the tennis court or out of her bubble bath (such a lady of leisure) and let her choose the winning name.  And I hope with every fiber of my being that this time, it’s you.  xoxo ♥  Hope this makes your heart take wings! Bye for now Girlfriends!

If this was all there was, the full magic of nature here on earth, I would still be amazed and over-the-moon grateful for the gift.

But it isn’t, it’s only the barest beginning, because we are lucky enough to share the planet with a million other miracles besides ourselves and daffodils.

Earth Day is my second favorite holiday after Valentine’s Day.  (Not counting Christmas and Thanksgiving!)  What makes more sense for us to celebrate than this blessed ground we walk on that gives us all we need to survive? ♥

The sky takes my breath away almost every day . . . when it’s clear, I feel like I can see depths to the ends of eternity.

The sound of the seagulls, the lapping of water at the shore turns my eyes to heaven and fills them with tears of gratitude, because I am truly, deeply, madly

Does this not just touch your heart?  There is no other pink like this.  This is why the word “delicate” had to be invented, for cherry blossoms.  Did you know that Japan gave America 3,000 cherry trees and they are all planted together in Washington, DC?  They are, click HERE to see them.  Did I hear someone say, “road trip?”

Which is what we took yesterday, a mini road trip when Joe came to me, smooshed into the couch, smothered in blankets and kitty fur and said, “Don’t you think you need an airing?”  (I love it that he calls it an airing.)  It’s been a long time since I’ve been out of the house, still getting better from this cold, but I couldn’t quite get up fast enough, get my jacket and scarf and camera and run to the door panting with joy while he got into his hat and coat.  We stopped for coffee at the Scottish Bakehouse, we looked at fruit trees in bloom at Vineyard Gardens nursery and then we went to Squibnocket Beach, where we sat for a while to watch the seagulls and the waves.

We drove under the leafless trees, past the greening meadows along roadsides clustered with bunches of daffodils, puttering along, enjoying the way the curving land brought us close to small harbors, little boats, and water views, heading up-island to Menemsha, a tiny fishing village you might recognize if you saw the movie Jaws.

This is it . . . a sleepy little fishing village.

We wandered around, walked out to the end of the pier, watched boats come and go, checked out the deserted beach, taking pictures of little things … like this boat full of lobster traps.

And this fishing-shack window where someone keeps his lures.  (Lots of reflections in the window.)

And this pile of scallop shells outside another old shack with the Menemsha fishing fleet in the background.

Thoughts of lobster and scallops made us hungry.  We stopped in the miniature half-block-long village to choose something for dinner at the fish market (the one that used to be Poole’s, for you island regulars), the freshest fish in the world I would guess, since the boats pull right up at the pier outside that back door.

Here’s their menu … you can buy the fish raw, take it home and cook it yourself, or they will cook it for you.  The reason they call their lobster dinners the “Sunset Special” ….

… is because of this.  Menemsha Fish Markets are popular in the summer because they’re within walking distance of the beach where you can take your steamed lobsters and clams, raw oysters and cold slaw (bring your own salad, strawberries and wine) and have dinner on the beach, watch the kids skip rocks into the water, swim to remove lobster juices, and watch one of the prettiest sunsets anywhere.

It’s a regular summer pastime here, this gift from God.  For my dad’s 65th birthday, we came here for sunset, brought a table and chairs, and had a feast.

A little too chilly for us on the beach last night so we brought our lobsters home and ate them here.  I’m sure you all are beginning to think that the only things I eat are lobsters and Chicken Soup!  It isn’t true (which is too bad), but those are two of my favorites which I could eat every day.  Especially because, since the minute I got sick, I vowed to take advantage of the fact and change the way I was eating.  I mean, if you’re going to be sick, you might as well get something out of it!  Like the chance of setting a new routine and saying goodbye to a couple of pounds.  (Not from starvation, don’t you ever worry that would happen with me! but just from not drinking half and half anymore.)  I only want healthy things now, no more cream in my tea (for now), no more wine (the easy part); I cut out most of the cookies (only one for afternoon tea, a delicious gluten-free ginger cookie we buy at the store called “Mi-Dell” with 24 calories each — I really look forward to that, in case you can’t tell ); ice cream Drumsticks, another afternoon “snack” I love, are out, and I guess I don’t even have to tell you about french fries, garlic bread, and potato pancakes.  I doubled my blueberry and pink grapefruit intake and halved the size of my dinner plate.  I’m not going to say what I weigh, but I will tell you that I gained TEN POUNDS during the writing of our book over the winter.  Oh yeah.  Did you do that too?  Joe came close!  So, for example, at breakfast this morning I had three eggs, but only one yolk (watching calories) with minced green onions on top.  And you know what, YUM!  I loved it, and it was enough.  The lobster last night was with lemon juice (from the California trees that the girls sent me for my birthday) and steamed broccoli.  It was delicious and healthy, the kind of food that (as the old commercial used to go) “makes strong bones twelve ways”.  I removed all the animal fat from the stock in the Chicken soup so it’s pure vegetables and protein that just happens to taste like heaven.  I’m going to keep food really simple for now, and combine it with a springtime emphasis on fresh air, movement, and exercise to shrink my appetite a bit, reduce calorie intake and inspire more sleeping time, because I am not going on the road with these pounds on me.  No girls, I need to wear the cute clothes in order to be happy.  Some pounds yes, these pounds NO.  And I’m feeling better every day.  So excited to get to the garden, to walk our walk, to go pick up the mail on foot and watch the roses bloom on picket fences, to enjoy the greatest gift of all, nature, and it’s all starting to happen now.  Pretty soon we’ll have fresh healthy homegrown vegetables, herbs, and strawberries, crisp and juicy from the garden and wild blueberries from the woods.  Ahhhh, girlfriends, here come the glory days. Happy, Happy Earth Day to you all!  xoxo

This is my idea of beautiful and good . . .

And I hungered after it. I’ve had a bad cold ever since my birthday girlfriends, and this is part of what is making me feel so much better today.  Chicken soup, for the body and the soul–rich, healthy, vitamin-filled homemade broth, mushrooms and chicken . . . Something we could all use a little of right now, some self-nurturing, considering all the terrible news this week.

This is one of those times that being your own chaperone, feeding yourself from the well of sweetness is the only way to have a little bit of control of this wild and crazy world we live in.  It’s been a hard time.  The TV, which takes up a much larger percentage of space in our house than Boylston Street takes of the globe, is bringing us terrifying news that makes us feel like the whole world is on fire.  I try for perspective, and it’s not easy with all this coverage and announcers making it much worse by using every ultimate word they can find.  Is what happened to those innocent people in Boston worse than the 30,000 deaths by gun violence that take place in this country every year? I’m coming to the conclusion that as long as there are weapons and madmen we are going to have to learn to live with this. Despite the incredibly heroic efforts by law enforcement and first responders (our knights in shining armor), or the uncountable numbers of kindnesses between strangers (people can be so heart-touchingly wonderful), what makes the biggest buzz in my ear is the bad news and the hopelessness it seems to sell. But what is different really?  This is going to go on. For me it’s sad because it thwarts the child-thinking fairytale world so many of us were raised to believe in, the world we wished to give our children.  As the down-to-earth and brilliant Mark Twain said . . .

“Don’t part with your illusions. When they are gone, you may still exist, but you have ceased to live.”

We have to fight to hold on to our precious fairytale dreams of life. ♥ We must steel ourselves — that’s one thing no terrorist can ever take from us, the belief in the beauty of our dreams.  So turn the channel (at least hit the mute button), and let’s feed ourselves from the well of sweetness.  If it gets us, it gets us, but on this blog, for now, we turn all our worries over to law enforcement, say a prayer to God for peace, and then we take a big deep breath, because remember, nothing even remotely like what is happening in Boston is happening at your house, or in the miles and miles of peaceful American neighborhoods and farmlands.  There are only eggs and bacon frying in pans,  roosters crowing, and kids getting ready for school . . .

There are wide open spaces and people doing the good things they do everyday, kissing each other good morning, saying good bye, off to work . . . If you are a lucky stay-at-home-mom, turn up the music, get the broom, dance when you sweep and then hang the clothes on the line . . . If you’re at work,  find a park bench or take a magazine to lunch, and look at the sky the sky the sky . . .

Yes, everything out there is truly tickety-boo . . . big red barns, rolling fields ready to be planted, and look at that beautiful sky . . .

Nothing’s happening on the island either — in Menemsha, flags are catching the morning light as they flutter from fishing boats in the chilly springtime ocean breeze.

All is quiet on the highways and byways of America, the snow melting, gathering strength in droplets, turning into streams and rivers, sparkling along the roadside in puddles and rivulets . . .

The breeze is still coming up from the Pacific,  blowing the grass on the California Coast, near Morro Bay. A few more miles, you can have tea in Cambria, visit garden centers, and there are lots of antique stores to wander in….

And let’s not forget, everything is perfectly normal in England; people are at Hill Top Farm, seeing it for the first time, falling in love with it, shopping in the Beatrix Potter gift shop right this very moment ….

And lucky people are driving across the Yorkshire Dales, ooohing and aahing at the beauty, stopping to smell the wildflowers . . .

Yes, life goes on . . . And here at home, birds are singing, Cardinals are pecking at the seed we threw on the driveway, Jack is drinking out of the kitchen faucet, I’m getting well, enough to walk out back yesterday to see the forsythia blooming . . .

And lay on my tummy in the grass. The ground was warm and smelled like grass and dirt, and the only thing going on there is wild violets . . .

  Our magnolia tree is in bloom too.

My birthday celebration was short, because my throat burst into flame the next day, but it was sweet.  Joe made us a birthday lunch and we ate it in front of the fire …

Fresh New England lobsters with lemons and hot butter for dipping, and fresh spring asparagus cooked al dente. Could a person ask for anything more?  No. But there was more . . .

Elizabeth brought me this family of bottle brush lambs for my Birthday present! ♥

I introduced them to my dog, now they are all together, getting along swimmingly.  Dog watching over lambs.

And these!  Handmade for me by twelve-year-old Maddie Honeycutt, the daughter of Sheri who works in my studio along with Kellee, someone many of you have spoken to when you order from the web store.  Maddie made the bird too, it has little wire feet.

Didn’t she do a wonderful job?  I was so surprised!  She dressed the lamb in a little British flag scarf — I think to match the lamb I painted for the book (and BOOKMARK, did you get your bookmark?  Click there if you want one).  How sweet is Maddie?  Lucky me. THANK YOU DEAR MADDIE ♥ ♥ ♥

and there were birthday flowers too, and the girls also sent us a box of oranges and limes they picked from our California fruit trees, and pretty new clothes from my dad and his wife Jeanie, and lots of cards and phone calls and everything anyone would want for a wonderful birthday.

And being sick this last week has given me a break, a definite transition from what was to what’s about to be.  I am feeling better, more energy today, and soon I will be my old self, and already, this is what I’m thinking of, revving up my engines, and starting springtime . . .

More than anything, this is a day to count our blessings.  When things are bad, that’s always what I do.  Something I wanted to share with you:  While I was sick, I got a note from the professional editor that did the editing on our book.  He’s someone my publisher found for me, and lives far from here, but he did a wonderful job of finding all the commas I forgot to put in, making me look smarter than I am.  I wrote to thank him and this is what he wrote me back to say:

Susan: It’s wonderful to hear from you. I am an overly cynical, world-weary editor whose editing mileage far exceeds his age, and that age itself is creeping up. Most of my work is on dry academic tomes, and it’s amazing the amount of contempt I can work up for authors on whose areas of expertise I know little about. But I’m very comfortable working on 400-page books on entirely obscure topics that would put even people interested in them fast to sleep.

 When Jan (she’s my publisher) told me about a handwritten book coming in, I don’t think I could have been more skeptical. When I found out what the book was about, I was strapping myself in for a slog of biblical proportions.

Page by page, you totally and completely won me over. My wife is tired of my saying how absolutely charming your book is.  She’s asked me a few times, “So, are you getting a copy?” I assured her that, yes, Jan usually sends one, especially if I request it. I don’t think I’ve heretofore used the word “charming” in conversation, ever.

So, he liked it!!!  Which makes him a “perfect” stranger!  His words were music to my ears (even stuffed with cotton) and made my sickness a happy time, one more blessing to count.  No other strangers have read it yet, my dad liked it, and Joe likes it, and I like it, so girlfriends, I think you are going to like it too! ♥

M a k e   B e a u t y.    S p r e a d   L o v e.  

I’m going a little bit slow this morning, time now for tea and a nap.  But I couldn’t let another day go by without saying  hello to my girlfriends. Miss you!  Blessings on you all, and on Boston and West, Texas, and all you brave and amazing first-responders.  Thank you.  This too shall pass. xoxo

Not going to check celebrate off my list ever — but my cup runneth over this week.

XOXOXOXOXO

This is how I feel inside.  Giddy.  Grateful, relieved, joyous, and I have to say, I feel proud.  And you know what else?

It’s my birthday on Friday!  And it’s Gladys Taber’s birthday too!  Makes me so happy to share my birthday with her!

I can’t believe, only a year ago today, we were plotting our course across the sea . . .

Here we were, off to England! Remember?  Looking through the photos this morning gave me that same little quiver of thrill I felt when we were doing this!  I had to look at all the little videos again too.  Here we were, on our way, with lots of blank diary pages to fill in, and no real idea what was going to happen.

And now, all the pages are filled in with stories and watercolors and I just finished writing the flaps for the dust jacket for our book, the diary of our journey!  And that’s it.  A Fine Romance is done girlfriends!  Eleven months later, our book is done!  And the truth is, as you know (this book is proof positive) that nothing happens unless first we dream.  And if we do, we can do anything.  And now I have an all new To Do List.  The first thing on it:  Show the girlfriends what Jack has been up to!  So let’s put a big ✔ mark next to that one too.

Hi Jackieboy . . .

Here’s the little darling.  Yesterday.  Such a beautiful day, springtime on Martha’s Vineyard, I thought I would give him a front row seat to the great outdoors.

I opened the door in the pantry and moved the ironing board in front of it, which he loved and spent almost all day lounging there.

He didn’t lounge the entire time.  He started looking around seemed interested in this new viewpoint.  What’s up THERE?  It looks interesting up there. I’m going up!

One leap and there he was.  No, I’m fine – I don’t care that the door is only two inches thick,  I was born to do this.  It’s my special talent.  Calm down little mama.  Mmmmm, smells wonderful on the top of the door.  Purrrrrrrr.

Here too … this plate!  Marvelous!  And my sense of balance is outstanding!  Look Ma, no hands!

Up up and away!  Ha-ha, you can’t reach me!  I wish you would quit calling and making those kissing noises to try to get me to come down, I like it here, leave me alone.  You are not the boss of me. (that’s what he thinks!)

OK, happy now?  This is where I, the human, took back over —  I put my camera down and reached up on my tip toes and got his legs and mooshed him off the door.  I didn’t want him to jump — if the ironing board collapsed he’d scare us both!   I have to say, he  lets me hold him and he wiggles and I pet him all over and roll him around, he’s so soft, and he lets me hug him and sometimes he even cuddles back and we are cheek to cheek and he gets kissed about a thousand times.  There’s a window he loves to look out that he can’t reach, he knows I will hold him up to look out, he jumps into my arms in front of that window.  I adore this kitty with all the fiber of my being.  I’m a goner.  He’s never getting outside!  It would be like sending my heart outside to play! ♥

 We still throw and play with his ponytail bands every day, which could never be enough for him.  He just loves it.  So there you go, show the girls what Jack’s been up to. ✔  Check!  (It’s a red letter day, getting so much done! )

Jack can’t go out, but I sure can.  Yesterday was an amazing sunny cool spring day, and suddenly, I had no book to write!  I hung our forsythia wreath on the front door, then Joe and I went over and got Martha and we all walked past the picket fences and the old white New England houses, under the budding trees down to Main Street where went out to lunch to Moxie for the first time in months!  Yum, pulled-pork tacos and we didn’t even have to make them or do the dishes!   Afterward, we wandered through Bunch of Grapes, our bookstore, and then across the street to Nochi (you would love it there); we bought soap for Joe and earrings for me and Martha bought cute new glasses (round!).  Doesn’t that sound like the perfect day?  It was.  So, Play.  Badda Boom. ✔ Check!

When we got home I worked on the Peter Rabbit Room, put clean sheets on the bed and made perfect hospital corners, fluffed the pillows, opened the windows and let fresh air blow through whistling “good bye winter,” because tomorrow my darling friend Elizabeth is coming from California.  Today I fill her room with cuttings of forsythia from the garden.  Get Peter Rabbit Room ready. ✔ Check!  Tra la!

Before we went to lunch yesterday, I went and had the yearly check of my birthday suit by my dermatologist … making sure all my freckles are still behaving themselves.  Got a clean bill of health, for which Lunch was my reward, and another ✔ mark on the list: Freckle Check.  Done!

I hope you all put this on your To-Do-List — it’s so easy. I am queen of the human chickens when it comes to medical stuff, and this is really one of the easiest things to do to make sure your bikini years aren’t catching up with you.

Ahhh girlfriends, those were the days!

 ♥  ♥  ♥

 It’s my party and I can cry if I want to!

 No, I am definitely not crying.  Happy is what I am.  And lucky.  There’s so much more on my list of to-do’s which I will be happy to share with you soon.  House stuff, book stuff, diet stuff, cooking stuff, garden stuff, and at the top of the list is write a new WILLARD.  I love my to do list, there’re so many good things on it!  Until then, I will leave you with something that makes absolutely no sense . . .

I had to do it, because this girl is just so cute, so adorable and was such a nice part of my childhood … my mother loved her, so she introduced her to me when I was little.  I’ve given you this one before, but some songs deserve airings in each season and this is one of them . . . You go Shirley (in Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm.  If you haven’t seen it, you should, and show it to all the little people in your life — it might work for them as it has for me and give them a lifetime of happiness — I know not every day is sunshine and roses . . . but even in the worst of times, when the world seems out of control, I slip in this DVD and everything feels better)♥.

And so dearest darlings, time for us to head out on our walk.  Lovely to see you here!  And Blog ✔ Check!  Bye for now! xoxoxo

Remember when my Twitter girlfriend Janie made this spring banner for me last year? It came in a teeny little envelope, was so adorable, I just loved it.

Well, I remembered it, so this year, back in February, I asked Janie if she could make a few more for YOU — which she did, completely by hand.  Kellee just put them in the web store, for however long they last — you can keep it and use it year after year ♥ So Happy Spring forever and XOXO With love from me and Janie. It’s the little things in life!

Speaking of which, lots of you are going to have leftovers to deal with after yesterday so here’s one of my favorite recipes.

The trick is to peel the eggs under running water, then go easy on the mayonnaise, keep it real yolky and thick to stuff the eggs.  Use this same recipe to make egg salad — I break up the eggs, including the whites, with a potato masher — which works like a dream.  A little more mayo is OK in egg salad.  Cut the crusts off the softest white bread you can find, fill with egg mixture, make finger-shaped sandwiches, and serve them to yourself and your honey(‘s) for tea. ♥ 

Here is our first daffodil!!!!!  It just bloomed!  It’s still cold on the island, but yesterday it was over 50° — and to us, that’s like a miracle.

It’s April Love, up close and personal with scilla siberica — we really focus on the tiny things around here at this time of year, like teeny weeny flowers, and . . .

 dear little birds that are singing their heart out even right now in the cold, outside my window as I speak . . .  but the real truth is . . .

that’s all we have. The plain unvarnished truth is that it’s still brown and will be for a while. There’s no color.  The recycling bins are the colorful things.  Spring unfolds slowly here, like a flower, petal by petal . . . we have to get up close to the tiny specks of first light, down on our tummies to commune with nature.  Otherwise it’s kind of invisible . . .

. . . the vista is brown . . . like out on our walk yesterday.  Colorful things washed up in the winter storms, but even out here, you can feel that it’s spring.  No hat, no gloves, clean air that made me yawn and yawn it was so fresh.

Brown, through the woods too . . . but we can smell the green things growing, and up close, we see fat buds on those dead-looking trees — and we glory in the thought . . .

The trash blown off trucks, or thrown from the cars of the mean people, is easy to see, easy to grab hold of . . .

and put in our little

trash bags, so now, when we leave, this spot will be nice clean brown again.

We love to nurk around the old fisherman’s cottages, no one’s home, we sort of own the place.  We make sure nothing’s broken or awry . . . we are guardians of the road.  Of course no one knows this but us.

The only color is old and peeling, but it has history . . . and looks real.

Not like California — this is March at our place on the beautiful Central Coast . . . this is what they call “winter.” hahahahaha.  You do see what nice people Californians are — here on our blog . . . how they never gloat, how they know what we go through and never mention

that the roses bloom year-round there . . .

And they can watch the sun drop into the Pacific outside while eating dinner, almost all winter long.  Dear, dear, Californians — and maybe you Floridians and Texans too . . . with such good hearts.  Thank you girls, but we know why you are happy all the time. ♥

But soon, here it will look like this.  Delicate, pink, fresher than fresh.  And it will be so worth waiting for. And in fact, it’s the waiting for it that I’ve learned to love and missed madly when I lived in California. Like the joke that my dad told me when I was around ten and I never forgot: “Why did the moron keep hitting himself in the head with a hammer?  Because it felt so good when he stopped.”  I love that joke, it’s appropriate in so many situations!  It’s really just as well it’s all still brown and cold here.  We walk, we stretch, we breath in good fresh spring healthy island air as we exercise, play morning science, listen to the birds, and it’s a true joy . . . . but I still have work to do.  I can’t stay out all day!!

I have a preview for you!

From the 2014 Calendar — I finished all the calendars, they’ve been sent to the printers!  CHECK! ✔  Write Calendars.   I love crossing things off my list!!!  I thought twice before I put this up because I know some of you like to keep your calendars as a surprise and not look ahead at the months, but remember, it will be a year and a half  before you turn this page over . . . you will have forgotten, and when you see it, it will feel like an old friend!  ♥ If you look closely at that page, you’ll see the quote there by “Carilyn Wolski’s Mother” —  Carilyn is one of our girlfriends — she mentioned her mother said that in a comment one time — I loved it so much I wrote it down. I’ve been waiting for Carilyn to show up again so I could tell her — this seems like a good way to do it! ♥  Thank you Carilyn!

And now, back to “work.”

Remember when our book looked like this?

Well, baby, look at her now!  A Fine Romance, it’s turned out to be 260 pages!

I finished the Index on Saturday — more than four pages of Index! I never thought any index of mine would have Henry VIII in it!  That’s just funny!  I only have three more pages to go!  Three pages, plus the spine (have to paint that), and the end papers.  Plus corrections after I see the final layouts, and then it will go to the publisher — and I’m going outside ALL THE TIME!  Maybe it will be warm by then!  I feel like Rip Van Winkle.  Waking up after being in another world for all these months.  Everything is more beautiful!

This is how I know I’m an artist.  Not having picked up a paint-brush until I was thirty, only writing diaries like a normal person, calling myself “artist” did not come easy . . . I always felt a little bit unworthy — after my first book came out — the first time I had to put “profession” on my tax form — that was very strange.  It was like trying on a ball dress when you are not the ball-dress type and you know you LOVE it, but you still feel funny.  But then you realize that it’s the heart in a drawing, even in a child’s drawing that makes it art, and then you’re OK, you can say, I’m an artist! ♥  Yippee!  

And that goes for you too, because there is no doubt in my mind that everything you do, you do with heart. ♥ Just reading your comments tells me that over and over again.  Have I said thank you lately?  Well, thank you. ♥

My next challenge.  You see how that book changed size over the months?  It wasn’t the only thing.  What winter hath wrought must go.  Wob you girlfriends, Rabbit-Rabbit, Happy April, Happy Spring! ♥ ♥ ♥

♥      ♥      ♥      ♥      ♥