There is so much going on right now. I have so much to tell you, it’s ridiculous to think I can get it into one Willard! So I will just start here, wing it . . . do as much as possible, stop, and continue SOON, with the rest of it. Okay? Please say yes! MUSICA
We have to start with this . . .
Waaaah. Know what I mean? I’ve been feeling, as our Girlfriend Kat said on Instagram, like a “soggy rag doll” for a week now. You too? Just so not fair to lose the adorably unique Diane Keaton.😔 We grew up together, she was our Girlfriend! Her eccentric, timeless style, astonishing charm, and LAUGHTER . . . I wasn’t ready for this ONE LITTLE BIT. 😪
It’s been hard . . . losing our old friends, But before I go on, let me tell you my news, and then I’ll tell you what I’m going to do to make myself happier, because it includes you.💞 And we will have MONTHS to plan. We need something new to put on our calendars! 
So, you know Joe and I were planning to leave on a cross-countrybook-tour next month, right? Well, in a nutshell, we had to cancel because the newly revised Christmas Book was not going to be here in time. I was reluctant to admit it, almost went anyway, but it seemed crazy, going to talk to a twinkle lighted bookstore with everyone in snow clothes, and SUMMER. BUT, it turned to good news because it has given me the gift of TIME. And, to cut to the chase, I’ve rescheduled the Launch of my cross-country tour for next Spring . . . when we will have BOTH books when everyone will be waiting for Summer ANYWAY! And it will all begin with
SPRINGTIME IN CALIFORNIA!…
For those of you who remember the wonderful book signings we had under a tent in the warm sunshine at the Apple Farm in San Luis Obispo, you’ll be happy to know the launch venue we found is owned and managed by the same person who was a partner in the Apple Farm! It’s called Sycamore Springs Hotel and Resort ~ and they have a “Secret Garden” that holds 
300 guests! A Secret Garden!🪴🪴🪴 How perfect! And we’re invited to go there!👏 It’s a very different sort of place than the Apple Farm, out in the country, very close to Avila Beach, around the corner from the Avila Barn🎃, between Pismo Beach and San Luis Obispo. You can click on it and read about it, but there are lots of places to stay in this area in case the hotel fills up. It’s all so good, so serendipitous, so perfect, I’m beside myself! This is how I know it was meant to be!👏 And from there, we’re OFF, to bookstores across the country, to meet and greet with all of YOU! Not only will I get to see YOU, you’ll get to see each other! The most fun is always had, as many of you know, in the line waiting to get a book signed! 💖
Can you tell I’m excited? Well, because that’s not even all! I 
think it will be Amazing if, when we get together at our different bookstores, we have a true celebration and find a hat, or belt, some glasses, or full skirt, or baggy pants, or a vest and a tie, and dress up in our own versions of Diane Keaton!!! If not for anything else, for the photos!!! For the memories!! For all she gave us.♥️
“Memories are simply moments that refuse to be ordinary.” 💝 Diane Keaton
And as a celebration of the extraordinary privilege of LIFE!💞 Wouldn’t she just LOVE this? We’ll take a ton of pictures! And one more thought, I think we should all learn the words to the songs, “Seems Like Old Times,” and “You Don’t Own Me.” Because we’re going to have a GIRLFRIEND Party! We might want to sing! We have some years to celebrate! No one has to be perfect, no one even has to do it! You are free to BE YOURSELF! That’s how Diane would have wanted it! And me too… As she said herself,
“What is perfection anyway? It’s the death of creativity ~ that’s what I think.” 💖 Diane Keaton
Just embrace my favorite mantra “Good Enough” and do what makes you happy, and COME for the FUN! Bring your best friend, your mom, your sisters, bring everybody! My passion, as you probably have guessed, has always been the profound connection I’ve felt with all of you, from the beginning, all these years, even before I met you! Look at all we’ve been through together! And I think these celebrations will seal the deal as I show you how happy I’ve been to share this planet with you! WHAT A TREAT! (I’m fine, in case you’re wondering . . . Just, you know, emotional!) Details for our party, as they come clearer, will be everywhere I can think of to put them, but certainly here on the Blog. I should have it ALL figured out by February at the latest. I’m trying for as early in April as possible, maybe my birthday on the 12th, as my first choice, and luv-lee May as second choice. Come! Life can always use some perking up! I’ll make us name tags so we recognize each other! 💞
Now, this little church! You know I love houses? I wrote about how I decorated with them in the “wood room” of my old house? That house painting was there, and the little green-roofed cottage I found in Ireland. And now look what I just found ~ this little votive-holding church ~ isn’t it perfect? I thought you’d like one too ~ but I’m pretty sure we’ll sell out of them too quickly, and not sure we can get more before Christmas . . . It’s made of metal, & has windows on all sides for the light to shine through, is perfect for Thanksgiving and Christmas, year-round really, and it fits in with all my little treasures. My dear friend Lowely remodeled her 19th century house on the island these last few months, and guess what? SHE GAVE ME HER OLD FIREPLACE MANTLE, so
even though I don’t have a fireplace here, I will have a mantle for Christmas and THIS will be on it ~ along with my old angel chimes!!! I mean really! Does it GET any better?
Deep breath! Eyes to ceiling, ThankYou.♥️
So, next: I have a book for you, perfect for the season! It’s called The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches! Written by Sangu Mandanna, and read by Samara MacLaren (she has a PERFECT English accent, the exact one I would choose if I could!). Nobody told me about this book, I just happened upon it, liked the title, wanted something Fallish, and 
thought I would try it. I listened to the adventures at “Nowhere House” while walking my daily walk in the cool crisp and breezy autumn air 🍂🍁🍂 in our beautiful valley, and now I’m seeing gold sparkles swirling through the trees; sparkling around kitty’s feet; cartwheeling across the night sky; even around that phone call from Sycamore Springs Hotel; everywhere!💫 This book is all about good witches, like us, and the difficulty of living in a world with non-witches.🙄 But, I have to say, for me, the magic has to be practical! Literally! I finally went to Amazon to leave a comment for this book, which I found out was the “#1 Best Seller in Witch Romances!”🤣 (Which means there must be more witch romances! Who knew?) And it has over 30,000 reviews already!!!!! Would someone please tell me how someone gets 30,000 reviews on Amazon??? The best I’ve mustered up so far, despite being on the New York Times Best Seller List, is 1000! 
For a Fine Romance ~ which came out 10 years ago! I’m proud of that, because they all came from our wonderful word of mouth, and they’re all so nice, but . . . 30,000??? Poor Distilled Genius has 219, and the new Summer book, hold on to something, has 7! I’m thrilled to say all my books have 5 stars! But what am I doing wrong? Is it Algorithms??? Satellite Block? I know I have always run a little under the radar, I’ve even been a little proud of that because of so much luv-lee word of mouth. But enough is enough! 🤣 I probably shouldn’t say this, but HELP! ~ But I digress. I told you I was going to wing this! Diane Keaton taught me a lot about courage. She was a scared little person at one time, she could barely speak in her first interviews after Annie Hall. But over the years, we could see her growing braver, then she’s singing You Don’t Own Me, and we’re singing right along! It’s HARD to be your own true self, to even find all the pieces so you recognize them . . . especially if you’ve ever felt a little out of it, which she did. Her being brave, helped me feel brave. Another gift she gave to so many of us.💞
I just read a great quote by Bob Dylan: “Life isn’t about finding yourself, it’s about creating yourself!” Isn’t that perfect? We find little pieces 
of ourselves in books, in people (I found a big piece of ME in my landlady from the way back machine, when I saw her cooking for a party ~ not to mention the pieces I got from Gladys Taber and all my other heroes). Maybe Diane saw a little piece of herself in this photo of the young Coco Chanel and took it for her own! We’re inspired by teachers, our parents, their friends, and our friends, Instagram, nature, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, that ocean liner they sailed on, our grandma’s quilts, our mother’s picture taking, our girlfriend’s gardens and shoes, everything! We grab onto those interesting pieces no matter how tiny they are, make them our own, and that’s how we create our own unique being, no two of us alike. It’s another thing that connects us, makes us human. Between all the recent losses, people we’ve known all our lives, Robert Redford, Jane Goodall, and now Diane Keaton . . . It’s made me think how they created their very special selves, and were brave enough to give their beautiful gifts to the world.💝
Something else: We love our local KCLU radio station and listen to it every morning . . . it’s an affiliate of NPR, but has all our local stuff, like Central Coast news, weather, and traffic, and so much more! They give us world news with daily BBC reports, really 
interesting interviews with authors, musicians (young and old), movie makers, designers, memorials, ambassadors, veterans, nature, and news makers ~ happy things, sad things, everything inspiring; plus, they even have word puzzles you can play along with while you’re doing your morning routine … and none of the craziness we hear on cable news, they don’t try to make us hate each other, so it’s soft, and old timey and good . . . There should be a affiliate like that in your area too, with YOUR local news etc. . . but if not, because some have gone away, and some lack money and can’t be as creative, KCLU streams HERE, just click the button at the top of their home page! It’s a gentle beginning for the morning while making your oatmeal, chopping your apples and nuts, fixing up the breakfast trays, feeding the petty pets, and drinking your tea. I’m telling you all this because it makes perfect sense with ⬇️ this adorable thing!
This perfect tiny little retro-radio Joe found on Amazon! So darling, it takes up no space, works so well, and believe it or not, it costs $16.99!!! (total deal of the day), comes in either light or dark “wood,” has a rechargeable battery (just like your phone, so you can take it anywhere) ~ Joe takes it to the garage, or to the garden … here it is on the shelf over my sink. You’ll love it. Old fashioned joy in a very small package. A perfect gift for big or little people! Fits in a stocking!🤣 Read more HERE!
Also, for these chilly Halloween nights . . .We just finished something new I think you’ll love that’s streaming on Netflix called House of Guinness ~ it’s a historical drama, based on true events, starting in 1868 in Ireland of course (but they do pop over to America for part of it). Costumes, actors, story, and beauty, all there and definitely addictive.👀
Joe is getting ready to decorate, as he did last year, the post on the road. No one can see our house through the trees, the least we can do is scare them as they come around the bend in the night when their headlights hit this on our dark road! (This is what we Stewarts do, we plot!) He was talking about getting some EYES for this thing.👀😱
I still have kitty news, butterfly news, giveaway news, tea news, Instagram news, redecorating the guest room news, the weather report . . . breaking news never stops! But that’s all for today, which means, MORE COMING SOON! I hope you’re excited for our Girlfriend party in the spring!!! That’s what I’m working on for now, my gift to me for getting everything done! Oh! And Kellee wants me to tell you we are almost OUT of calendars . . . already! So make sure you have your Christmas gifts because timely delivery of printed items is a thing we can’t be sure of these days!🙄
OOPs, One more thing! I almost forgot! Here’s my video-myself-in-my-studio set-up. Just in cases! There will be two new Interviews coming soon. The first will be in Blue Dot Living … a lovely magazine they have in many parts of the country, which they augment with stories with local interest . . . so this 
interview will be in the November issue, local to Martha’s Vineyard, if I understand it correctly, and maybe something on their website. Also, HUGE HONOR, as you know I’ve been a member of the Beatrix Potter Society (here they are on Instagram) for a long time, and recently they asked to work with me on an article for their new blog called “Inspired by Beatrix,” where they interview people who’ve been, in one way or another, inspired by or influenced by the life and work of Beatrix Potter. That’s definitely me! I’ll be in their December post!♥️
So there we go! Happy Halloween 🎃 and hoping for lots of November fun, cause it’s almost another rabbit-rabbit! I leave you with one of my favorite quotes . . .🍂
It will not lead you astray! Stay Cozy, light the fire or some candles, and dream sweet dreams. ❌⭕️ Girlfriends forever, Anna Susanna Dana Branchburger the Third.
Channeling Diane Keaton, via Laura Ashley in 1987, courtesy of way-back-machine.💖
FYI:This post contains affiliate links, which means we earn a small commission on qualifying purchases for things Susan personally loves enough to share with you, at no additional cost to you.💞
and homemaking books, even in my autobiographical books ~ I can’t be separated from it ~ this forever celebration of home ~ and the days of our lives celebrated there ~ it’s given me such a happy life, all these little things add up ~ and I know I’m not alone with this passion, we (meaning us Girlfriends) have BONDED over it! And I’m so happy to tell you I have never grown out of it. I still love to see my countertops shine, love to have parties for our friends, and set the table with old dishes and candles and flowers and make it beautiful.
(among every other thing!), and writing about everything later in my diary. For me, it’s always been old houses, feeding birds, hanging things on the line, daily cups of tea, kitties, music that takes me to another time ~ homemaking is the MOST creative work … home, where everything is just the way we want it, giving us, at least in one place, the exact life we want. It’s my passion and always will be, even when I was 13, arranging ⬆️ birthday presents on my bed; or when I worked in a record department (that’s my bedroom 
family pictures from Grandpa Willard, $40 dresser <bought on layaway> from nearby antique store), when I was a waitress, or when I was writing books … I always had that passion and money never stopped me, because my parents taught me, if I want something, I can make it myself or save for it. I see something new, get inspired, and add it to my repertoire! Isn’t that the way it works for you? All about the senses … so I figured it out: does it feel good, look good, smell good, sound good; does it make you happy, make you feel safe, fill your heart, fly you to the moon? … say yes to these questions and therein lies the secret to a happy life!
streaming wonderfulness we can find. The trays are made of acacia wood, so they are light and simple, they have handles, and fit on our laps most comfortably. Mine is the one at top, his is the one on the bottom. You can tell by the dishtowels. I keep these trays, all ready for us, under the coffee table and put dishtowels on them for mini tablecloths, and dish towels for napkins too . . . I just changed the linens and look how cute! So cute I had to show you! I’m a horrible person when I’m hungry, which is rare since all I do is eat. But Joe knows all the symptoms. I make that point-to-my-mouth move in that comic below (he gave me years back, it lives in my dinner party diary) . . . I point at my mouth, and pretty much no matter where we are, even if we’re on the freeway, his fear of what he perceives is madness in the woman he loves (she perceives it as normal), is so palpable he practically FLIES off the road to where the food is! One of the many things I love about him! 
So this is me, getting ready for Joe’s Birthday Party that happened last week ~ doing first-thing-first, deciding on the candles for the table. After the candles, I got out the tablecloths, then the plates, and so on and so forth . . . Because it was a dinner for 24, at a long table under the big albizia tree in our garden, our first big dinner party since we moved here. And we were both in the MOOD.🎵💃🏼🕺🎶 And I will jump to the spoiler with GLEE . . . we had such a good time. There was dancing and singing, cake and candles, laughing and hugging. That’s all it took. Old friends from 1971, and new friends from 3 months ago, ages 23, 50, 80, and everyone in between. Happy Birthday to Joe! I’ll show you more pics in a minute!
during the Victorian era and kept on dining tables as a sign of hospitality ~ today you can find them in antique stores, thrift stores, really all over . . . and instead of spoons, I discovered that they make the prettiest, most interesting candle holders for votives ~ some are even wide enough for pillars, and some make great vases too. This is actually a secret I’ve kept a long time, I wanted to get all I needed before I told anyone!🤣 You will see them at all prices because in lots of places people don’t know what to do with a spooner! The hunt is the best part, but if you are too busy for that, I did the hunt part for you and found a few pretty spooners, and some old glass sugars and creamers to put in our 
“they’re on the way.” Okay we believe you. Hopefully they will get sick of hearing from us! I’m really sorry ~ thank you for your patience. We used to be able to fly our books over, but it has gotten monumentally expensive, and I’m not going to raise prices, so they just have to cruise over . . . I don’t blame the printer, they do a wonderful job, even flew the 5 books in this video over, directly to me for final approval! And I have to tell you, really, I sat down and read it (pretending I didn’t know me), and I think you are going to love it! I even loved it… and I never love it when I first see a new book! I hope this bodes well!
can’t guarantee they’ll get books to us before Christmas. So I’ve decided to save it for NEXT Christmas! I think we can get it by JULY of next year. But that’s okay, I hope
Here’s our two-butt kitchen last year, getting ready for Thanksgiving! And it’s almost here again! Such an exciting time of year! I saw red leaves in our Cottonwood trees on my walk yesterday! Yellow too. Not known for fall color in our part of California! You have to look close! It’s 8 am this morning, the sun is out, yet it is only 58º! Fall is around the corner! 🍁🍃🍂
the gorgeous day. There were old friends and new friends, cousins of friends, children of friends, even my dentist and his wife and daughter were there, new friends.♥️ People who didn’t know each other met and talked and talked and talked. It was perfect. My darling man was the belle of the ball. And we all stayed nice and warm, lit the candles, and nobody went home early! Judy took a video of me toasting Joe and thanking everyone for coming … she has it in her phone and I forgot to get it, but she put it up on my 
