SEPTEMBER FIRST . . . RABBIT RABBIT!

R A B B I T   R A B B I T, and there really is only one song . . .

It was almost hard to go to bed the last night of August in 2012, it was such a beautiful night!  The harbor was gorgeous!  And the moon!  Wasn’t it wonderful?   And girls, we did it!  All our prayers and wishes turned the moon the most beautiful color of pink!!!

Here’s how it looked from the beach on Martha’s Vineyard over Vineyard Haven Harbor . . . I don’t think this photo begins to do it justice . . .

It streaked the sky pinky violet . . . Boat traffic was coming and going . . . halyards on the sailboats were clink-clinking against masts, waves lapped at the shore . . . there were lots of other people on the beach with us, doing what we were, making quiet wishes on the moon.

The ferry blew its loud horn and pulled away from the shore; what a beautiful night for a boat ride under the moon!  I couldn’t help but notice the sky is pretty close to the color I want for my kitchen!  (come back when you are done, and click on that for a good laugh!) We couldn’t go home after that; much too gorgeous out for closing ourselves indoors; so we went for dinner to an outdoor restaurant, and then, through the magic of texting, we met our dear friends from California who, while we were at dinner, were putting in an offer on a house in our neighborhood!  The four of us walked over to Mad Martha’s for ice cream (peppermint candy with chocolate fudge!!!), and then up the dark street, where we stood under tangled tree limbs, on a corner across from the house they are dreaming about, eating our ice cream in the dappled light from porches and the full moon, glimpsing a simple, painted-white, wood fireplace with a mantle at the end of a dark hall through the screen door; we talked conspiratorially in hushed voices about how to fix the picket fence, and where they’ll plant trees and roses, and how much we are going to love them living up the street from us!!!  Now isn’t that just about a perfect evening of doing nothing?  Loved it!

And this morning, when I got up, the moon was still there, waiting for me, peeking in through the curtains; I scooped up Jack’s furry little self and we stood at the window looking at it . . . I turned my calendar page to September, and thought, extremely  joyfully . . . because I like it better than anything . . .

 Hooray!  Isn’t it exciting!  Now Joe and I are off for our woods walk . . . early-early, this morning, while the month, and the world are still brand new.  Have a wonderful day Girls, may all your dreams come true. Rabbit Rabbit XOXO

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293 Responses to SEPTEMBER FIRST . . . RABBIT RABBIT!

  1. barbara miller says:

    good day to you on the vineyard! i am visiting my son, his wife and their one year ld named adele in milwaukee. i have been stomping through the fallen leaves to hear the crunch. [in oregon the leaves are usually to wet to crunch:) ] as a transplanted new englander i miss the things of ‘home’. but i have found ‘home’ in many places! the pink moon delighted me. i think there should be a song written about it. or at least a saying like:’ the pink moon only rises on nights when fairy dust is in the air.’ what do you think? one thing i know: the time with those you love is fleeting. but love keeps the miles between you not as far as they might seem. thank you , dear wish-you-were-my-friend susan, enjoy your island days and nights. we love the pictures! barbara

  2. Pam says:

    Hooray, September, and guess what – we have sunshine 🙂 Lovely pictures of the moon, we couldn’t see it here, too cloudy, so I was pleased to see it in your photos.

  3. Minette says:

    Hi Susan!
    Your kitchen is going to be lovely and can’t wait to see it all finished, especially with that enchanting shade of blue! The blue moon here was staggering-really bright and glowing and illuminated the porch for a good part of the night. I cannot even begin to imagine what it must have been like to watch over the ocean.
    I have enjoyed your last few postings so very much and share your love of autumn, my favorite season! After a summer of scorching heat, we cannot wait until the first few cool days of Fall. During Labor Day weekend, my ritual is to get out all of my holiday cookbooks (including your Autumn and Christmas cookbooks) and start planning dinners for family and friends while I allow myself to watch just one old Christmas movie. This year is really special as my oldest son will finally be able to spend the holidays with us after being deployed overseas for the last 3 1/2 years. The year he was in Afghanistan was the toughest for all of us, but he is safely back in Europe now with his regiment and will be coming home stateside for a while in December, and I am already counting the days and planning tablescapes and special holiday homecoming meals. Thanksgiving will have an added blessing for our family this year! It won’t be long now! Thanks for the inspirational thoughts and photos.

    • sbranch says:

      Oh Minette, I’m so happy your son is safe! And soon to come home . . . you can add my grateful thank you to the gazillions of others I’m sure he’s getting. What a happy Holiday season you will have!

  4. Debbie Gage says:

    We did it, didn’t we!?
    We all prayed, we turned the moon pink!
    I will choose to believe WE did it, I do not care about any scientific reasons.
    I will choose to believe that miracles, beyond turning moons pink, can and did happen on that beautiful evening.
    Thank you, Susan.
    You create miracles.
    ♥Deb♥

  5. Georgie says:

    The PINK moon was incredible! I could barely contain my excitement when I first spotted the round smiling face peering behind the light veil of clouds on the horizon. All of a sudden… there he was sheepishly grinning as if to say, “I did it just for YOU! Are you surprised? I had another entrance planned of yellows and golds but at the last minute, I changed to… PINK! Just for all the girlfriends! Ta Da!!!”

    We drove out to the country and stood in a soybean field to get a clear view. I felt like twirling and dancing. All the time I just kept saying… IT’S PINK… IT’S PINK! It was wonderful. Afterwards, Joe and I took a walk to a local Ice Cream Parlor… 2 scoops – toasted almond and coconut plus a scoop of mintchoc chip! (of course whipped cream with a cherry too)Yum!

    Susan… who could have known but you… the purple cow jumped over a PINK moon.

    Georgie
    NJ

  6. pat addison says:

    good afternoon susan and hello everyone!! Happy September and come on Fall, i hope you all are having a Happy Labor day, i know we sure are. got all the birds fed and watered and its time to enjoy the pool for one last time before emptying it and putting it away until next summer. so we plan to float around the pool the rest of the day, enjoy BBQed ribs tonight, and tomorow school begins and the rush is on to the holidays. the tuff trucks competition is over and the winner has bragging rights until next Labor day weekend. and no my hubby and his pal did not win, they sure tore up the track and shook that clunker real good but they didn’t win, well there is always next year and in the meanwhile they can get that truck up and running again and get it ready for next year. i didn’t win the lawn mower race, my lawn mower didn’t start at all, and my mechanics were in the tuuf trucks pit area at the time so they were no help. and again there is next year and another try. did we really turn that moon pink or what, i thought my eyes were playing tricks on me but it was a pink moon. we did it girlfriends. and congrats susan on getting some new neighbors, i do hope they get that house, it will be exciting to have friends for neighbors, think of the fun you can get into and walks to town and shops you can enjoy. my best girlfriend just moved into her new house on the lane behind us and we can get together tomorrow morning with our coffee cups and yak over the back gate while the kids get off to school..her kids. we are looking forward to our barn party this coming november, its going to be such fun with our best friends around to join in all the celebration and fun and Haloween is going to be such fun when her kids come trick or treating. i can’t wait……. WHEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!! have a fun day today and Hapy Labor day everyone!!! hugs……. 🙂

  7. Holly Simpson says:

    Love your post about the full moon. I turned 50 on September 1st. How wonderful that the day was brought in on a Blue Moon. I woke my husband at midnight and we sat on our front porch in our rockers drinking Purple Cows under a Blue Moon on my 50th birthday! What a wonderful and momentous way to ring in fall and my new year!

    Holly in Colorado

  8. My daughter and her family are vacationing at a cabin in Cape Cod this week.

    I’m at the beach through them as my ten year old granddaughter keeps me updated of their food and fun through texting.

    After seeing your pictures, I’m kind of disillusioned with the cornfields in my line of sight right now… 😉

  9. Carilyn Wolski says:

    Hello Susan! Happy September!!! Can’t wait to see your newly painted kitchen, you must add some pink here-and there, just like your pink moon photo!!!! (You have such a keen eye for color, in nature and in you home decorating!!!)When we returned home yesterday from my dad’s on Harsen’s Island, Michigan, I noticed Mother Nature had sprinkled some fallen leaves on our front lawn…..a sure sign of September beginning!!! Soon baking with apples, and making fresh applesauce will be on our agendas…..can’t wait. I love Autumn!!! Please, please, please send us a yummy apple recipe soon!

  10. Pat Mofjeld says:

    Susan, did you ever figure out the name of the blue paint you used in your kitchen? Pittsburg Paint’s Summer Showers looks kind of pale green to me but maybe Benjamine Moore has a different Summer Showers color?

    • sbranch says:

      Yes, it was Summer Shower, but Joe just left for the paint store, we’re going to try Woodlawn Blue, I think I want the kitchen to be a little less baby blue. Still Benj. Moore. We’ll see. Fingers crossed for Sandy. XXXX I feel like she’s going to be fine.

      • Martha Ellen says:

        Praying for complete healing for our friend Sandy. XOXO ♥

      • Pat Mofjeld says:

        Thanks–on BOTH accounts… 🙂 Will check out the paint. I’m waiting for a telephone call from her husband with news…kind of hard to concentrate on getting much done around here today…Hot and humid again here today but storms tonight and much cooler and drier by the weekend…

        • Pat Mofjeld says:

          I’m glad you are sticking to a color from their Historic Color Collection. Does that color have a faint green tone? I’ve heard everyone’s computer monitor reads color differently so it might be our monitor? There are so many blues–it is amazing to me! I’m thinking of going with the Pittsburgh Paint “Cornmeal” color for our bedroom and still looking at blues for the bathroom… 🙂

          • Pat Mofjeld says:

            Susan and Girlfriends: FYI–I tried looking at a sample of “Cornmeal” on my computer monitor and there is NO comparison between the actual paint chip I have and the color on the monitor! Wow!–Really off!!! Warning: Do not choose a paint color by looking at it on your computer’s monitor! I love the paint chip color but definitely looks greenish, almost dirty on the screen. Gulp…could this be dust on my computer screen??!!! LOL!!! 🙂

      • judi says:

        Yes, she’s in my thoughts and prayers too.

      • Great choice and it will be a lovely change while still staying in the blue hue you love. I’m sure you are happy that decision is behind you, I have all of that before me and I am working with greens for the kitchen and my kitchen is tiny so I know that I need a very light blush of green and so far I haven’t found it!! It can be exhausting. I notice every vehicle, tea towel, sheet, etc. with any hint of green and the more I look the more confusing it all becomes. I know it can’t be mint because I want a shade with a hint of sage, moss, celery, do you think it is out there?? UGH I definitely need to put up a white board with some strokes of several different colors and hopefully one will jump out at us. Wish me luck.

  11. Sara Finally in Georgia!!! says:

    Oh how much excitement!!!!! A new month, a FALL month 🙂 A new kitchen, AND friends moving in down the street!!!!! How can you stand it??? 🙂 🙂 I love the color you have picked out and I am sooooo happy it is not brown!!!! 🙂

    We just had a boat load of visitors leave yesterday. It was nice having them all here. My parents will be back at the end of the month and will be staying with us while they house hunt near by.

  12. Thoughts are with Sandy this morning and Prayers to her Surgeons to be skillful during her surgery. I also wish only healing thoughts for Sandy during the course of her recovery, the body is only a vessel it is not important what changes occur over time; what is important is your heart and mind and the power of positive thinking that can heal your spirit. Blessings

    • Deb from Dixie says:

      For Sandy…….You are in our thoughts and prayers.

      Listen Lord,
      Listen to your children praying
      Lord send your spirit in this place
      O’ Lord listen to your children praying
      Send us love, send us pow’r send us grace.

      Sweet Hour of Prayer
      Sweet Hour of Prayer
      That calls me from the world of care
      Hear your children Lord………..

      God Bless,
      Deb

  13. Teresa Jensen, CA says:

    : )

  14. Ann says:

    How lucky for you that your CA friends may live near you in good old MA!! Just spent the long weekend in Boston visiting our youngest who went to college there and stayed on to work. It’s my home town and it was so much fun revisiting old places this weekend with my husband and son. You and Joe really need a dog to walk on your walks through the woods.

  15. Heather says:

    Hello Susan!~
    One of your ‘girlfriends’ here invited me to come take a look at your blog, and it is so lovely! Your art is just beautiful. And what a wonderful evening you had, with such a beautiful moon over the water and the boats!
    Wishing you a wonderful September, and I look forward to seeing more of your work!

  16. Sherry Winchester says:

    Well, how could I not comment? I had to! First, I must say, Jack is a totally bewitching boy who steals hearts with one look. Your other kitty looks like the soft precious one…the wise one…the oh, so tolerant one. They are quite the pair!
    The pink moon? AMAZING! Listen to Nick Drake’s “Pink Moon”….
    September is my month, Autumn my time…looking forward to all the lovely things you do…and following(sometimes leading)along…..
    Thanks again, Susan!
    P.S. And those dishes….you’ve got me crazy now…I have a small set, and now I MUST FIND MORE!!!!!!!!!! I’ll tell my hubby(37 yr. anniversary this week!)that it’s your fault! :^)

  17. Julie (Omaha) says:

    The color of the sky in your pics looks familiar, what is it? Hmmmm. I know!! It looks like it’s the color of Benjamin Moore Woodlawn Blue! I knew I liked it!!! 🙂

  18. That moon was just gorgeous, wasn’t it?! We could see it in Nazareth, PA, too. My daughter ran indoors and yelled, mom, mom get your camera and come outside!!!! It was a wonderful night for a moondance!

  19. Barbara Dee - Michigan says:

    Hi Susan,
    Thanks you for all your wonderful postings. I quite forget what I’m supposed to do when I read your lovely blog, and your musica choices are simply wonderful. Yup told my boyfriend we have just got to go to England, as soon as he retires.

    I have a quest room that is a wonderful pale shade of blue with a hint of green that gets constant comments. You may like try it someday. It is Behr’s Nurture PWN-67 from Home Depot.

    Please never stop writing to us. We just love ya to bits!!!

    Barbara from Michigan

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