Hello! It’s me again, with more of the same! But different, of course, especially because for the first time, I SEE THE LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL! And keeping in mind that it’s the little things in life that mean the most ~ I’m only saying a quick hello, lots of little catchup things to tell you about . . . and in keeping with that, a spot of MUSICA ~ the very young voice of Frank Sinatra, to you from me, with love. I’m excited, because I finally got my own copy of the new calendar. Did you get yours yet?
I sat right down with it and read the whole thing. It made me cry. And since I love to cry for happy, I had to cry again. Kinda made my day.❤️ I hope you like it! I hope it makes you cry too. It’s about our old house on Martha’s Vineyard, but it’s really about
My other calendars are here too . . . in case this is your first time to my blog! They’re all available at my web store…
Also some news from my Ex! Ha Ha, how often do you hear me say that? But remember when my dear old friend Cliff Branch wrote a book called American Made? It had some very sweet pages about me in it. It’s that one, up there on the right. ↗️ Well, that was 10 years ago, believe it or not, and he has just written a sequel, the one on the left. He’s a great writer, they’re both really interesting, especially to us lucky baby boomers who lived through it all, because there are so many good memories in these books ~ & they’re both FILLED with photos. And since the first book leads into the second one and the second one refers to the first one, it’s a continuing story, and so, “for Susie (as he and his mom called me) and her Girlfriends,” he has given us a special deal: BOTH books for $9. That’s it, and no shipping charges. He just wanted to. So sweet. So if you’d like to sit in your armchair and take a little trip back in time, go to www.Americanmadestory.com Just put in the code SUSAN10 when you’re checking out, and voila! ♥️
And if you are new here and have no idea who Cliff Branch is, then you might like my book, Martha’s Vineyard Isle of Dreams, which includes the story of how I got to Martha’s Vineyard and why I moved there. And it’s a LOT easier to order right now, because it just came back from the printer, and after a year’s wait, it’s back in stock!👏
And this one too, AUTUMN, is back in stock in the NICK of time. Aren’t you already thinking about Fall? Me too.🍁
And because it’s SUMMER, don’t forget my new updated Summer Book ~ we just got in the second printing of that! The best way to cool off, is stay in and read! Or, go to the air conditioned library, and read! Or to the park, or listen to a good book in a cool bath ~ and what ELSE is good, you might be asking, what have you read lately? . . . Well, I have a good one for you! It’s a charming, well-written love story called The Echo Of Old Books by Barbara Davis. I loved it! Read it on my walk (listened to it!). Cried at the end. Right out there on the road. And despite what you might think, I’m not that easy of a crier! Only if my heart gets touched. And, of course, when they sing, “we are the world, we are the children . . . 🥲” Anyway the book is kind of like 3 stories all happening at once starting in New York in the 1920s, and ending, after lots of mystery, in New England the 1980s. Each character tells their own side of it because all 3 of them wrote their own book about it. You’ll see. Be sure to tell me what you think! Now I’ve started, finally, after all these years, listening to Mark Twain’s Masterpiece, Huckleberry Finn. I have never read it. But I owe it to myself I think. I’m a few chapters in, and I’m pretending I’m back in the 1870s when this book came out trying to relate to it from that point of view. I already love Mark Twain with all my heart. Something tells me I will feel it all over again when I finish this.💝
Next, because it is still summer and what is more summer than a yard sale, except for perhaps an ESTATE SALE, which is what we are finally 
having at our old house on the island, THIS COMING WEEKEND!! Finally! So if you’re in the area of Martha’s Vineyard, this is the ad running in the local Vineyard paper: “Estate Sale: July 25-26, 70 Spring Street, Vineyard Haven, 10am-3pm both days. Park on the street or at Tisbury School. Numbers given out at 10 am. A unique collection of little things and big things from Susan Branch and Joe Hall after 36 years in their beloved house.” Don’t worry, we’ve had many yard sales there before, our house is good at it. Very Experienced. And this one will be inside, not in the garden! BTW, in the spirit of full disclosure, don’t expect the pink dishes to be there, I finally couldn’t take it anymore and at the last minute, the Rose Chintz are being shipped out here! 💃🏼💃🏼💃🏼
OK, I don’t know how I get anything done . . . It has now been unofficially spring in our part of California since around the last day of February. I’ve had MONTHS of spring fever. Clean, clear days, the windows and doors wide open, the air filled with soft breezes, sun-splotched garden, zipping hummingbirds and birdsong, roses and poppies and our two new lavender Crepe Myrtles in their first bloom, with temps hovering around 68ish. We’ll pay, El Nino is coming this winter. But right now, it is 100% Spring Fever all day every day! I’m not complaining, this is a dream come true, but you tell me, HOW is a person supposed to stay in her chair???? 🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺
There is no escaping it, this is the view from the Laundry Room!! I’m doomed! Chimes ring softly in the breeze which we can hear from every window, birds peep too . . .
The bees buzz and flit, the butterflies flutter, our big Albizzia tree is shady and full of pink flowers . ..🌸🌸🌸
And there’s a party in the wildflower orchard! (Now this, a song that makes me happy to sing for the rest of the day!💖) Mas Musica!
Sun breaks through beach fog that visits our valley early mornings . . .
Shining so brightly on the poppies that you can see every hair on their stems.
But I have no time for it, I started writing our new book in February and thought HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA I might have it done by 
the end of March! ROTFLOL. Not. Because then I thought April, then I thought June, then I thought oh no, we’ll probably be on the road in August🥵, but we dodged the bullet on that one… because I wanted this book to be extra good, I kept adding, and soon it was a completely different book. I had to give it a new name! I only thought about the time going by when I WASN’T working. When I was, it was like I had all the time in the world. Extra good came before anything common sense-ish, like getting it done. That’s the good news and the bad news. In the end, it will be all good news. And what matters more than the end?
Once I got it into my mind that this might be my last book, there were several things I felt I needed to say, and write,
just in cases, so it went from the planned Christmas Book update of about 144 pages, to a whole new book called Comfort and Joy, and it was all about Winter (look there’s the Rose Chintz dishes!), winter parties, Valentines, and Girlfriends, how to overcome the dark-time blues, winter projects, but of course with lots of Christmas, and 200 pages! And even when I got to March in the book, I still had to put a teeny bit of Spring in it! It’s always taken me forever to write a book, I knew that, but for this one, there was one thing I forgot to faction in: Old age. I don’t WANT to work 17 hour days anymore. Well, it’s really more like I CAN’T. Well I could, but I would be dead. So, I have to outwit the death part with DELICIOUS naps, and walks with my book, and early-to-bed, and go-ahead-sleep-in-till-5 in order to get it done! Which I joyfully report, I AM. IT’S ALMOST DONE. I SEE THE LIGHT! and, I’M STILL HEALTHY!! As my mom always said, “Where there’s a will, there’s a way.”
I am rather proud. I always wanted to be 80 with a new book coming out, but not taking chances, I’m 79 with a new book coming out. Going to England when I’m 80! When I think how happy my Dad would be to see how happy I am, with all the gifts he and my mom and all those luvlee ancestors who came before bestowed upon me, I think you know what that makes me? YUP! Happy!
Not sure if I showed you the new cover, with the new title? Well, here it is!💖
And here’s the end papers . . .
And here’s the title page . . .♥️
That is the page I will be signing when I meet you on the book tour when this book is finally in my hot little hands. They say it will take 3 months to print it once they receive it, which I am praying is at the end of this month. This is why I GOTTA GO!♥️
But not before this! No way. This is dessert! My eyes are bugging out in this photo for a reason . . . GUESS WHAT IT IS? (PS Why does my hair look brown in pictures when in real life it’s gray? Looks brown in the bathroom mirror too, but outdoors it’s practically white. Does anybody else’s hair do this? If so, what’s your take on it?)
This expression says, OMG, they’re here! I have waited FOREVER. Do I dare open it? Because if I do, all the anticipation has to go away. Maybe I shouldn’t open it. I see Joe’s scrunched up face and realize he’s right. OPEN IT! So I drag the box opener across the top, verrrrry slowly, dragging out the moment, a little scared of what I might find inside. So many ways things could go wrong, but so many ways they could go RIGHT! I quiet those thoughts by speeding up, pull out all the packing stuff, and oh yeah . . . it’s them . . .⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Look at them. Are they adorable or what!🤩 There is only one answer to that from my perspective! And they’re exactly as worn as I hoped they’d be, clearly having seen lots of fun in their time. I can’t wait till they start talking to me! They still have plenty of life in them. We are PERFECT for each other. Note, She never threw them away. Another reason to love her. Even though she had a jillion newer pairs. They are THAT good . . . old, and used, and kept forever. 💞
Oh yes, they have the Louis Vuitton logo on the backs. They were definitely hers! Will they fit? So I can walk in Diane Keaton’s shoes? OH! PS! I’m so lost in thought of how this felt I just realized I forgot to say that these are Diane Keaton’s shoes I bought in that online auction last month!!! A pure miracle that I got them! I assume everyone knows, but that’s almost funny . . . YES!!! They’re Here! It really has been a red letter month.
But, yes, the question is still there, WILL THEY FIT…
Off go the Skechers, on go Diane Keaton’s shoes, my very first designer ANYTHING, except for Laura Ashley of course. I felt like a rough Cinderella sliding my foot into this shoe. Wiggling my toes. They fit! Like buttah . . . of course they fit! They had to fit! We were meant for each other! 🥰
They are just right. Good with jeans, good with skirts.
Even Joe likes them. And I love them. I wish they were auctioning off Beatrix Potter’s flowered hat & Mark Twain’s white vest! Can you imagine? What an outfit I would make!
Well, whew! I did a blog, and I did it fast! I just wanted to say hello and let you know all is well and that things are humming along. The kitties are wonderful and we are proud to say, they have us fully trained. We’re fast learners! They are really NICE kitties, and funny, and full of silly antics as cats always are.
Joe treats me like a princess, he feeds me every day the most delicious things, and does all the grocery shopping. The wind beneath my wings, besides taking care of all the shipping stuff and planting an occasional tree. We are in this together.♥️
Off I go, back to work! Writing the Index next! Getting close! I can finally say, I’ll see you soon! Love you all! Be good to yourselves! ❌⭕️❌⭕️
imon and Sammy, are HEAVEN cats who’ve lived here in our California house since they were kittens. They were Studio cats who hung out with Sheri when she was working in the Goat Barn shipping calendars. We sort of inherited them when we moved back to California; we all agreed that moving them didn’t seem the best thing for them; we’ve known them from the beginning and love them dearly, and didn’t want to disrupt their lives any more than we had to. They lived with us in the house whenever we came to visit … but then Jack moved in, and he would not, and did not,want to share his space with any other cats, so these two lived in the Goat Barn, which was kind of 
okay with them, but we felt guilty and always knew they wanted to come back into the house. We fed them in the barn, morning and night, let them out in the morning, put them to bed in the barn as the sun went down. The rest of the time they wandered the gardens with us, lounged on the deck. They were really good sports about not coming in … and it’s been almost 2 years since we got here. Literally the DAY after Jack was gone, Simon OPENED the screen door and walked in. I looked at Joe and he looked at me. We thought we might wait a while before moving them in. But we had another think coming. And so it is . . . they’re in and they’re staying in.
Here we are, out to dinner next to the ocean … I am taking this photo of us in the window of the restaurant behind where we are sitting ~ there we are on the patio and there’s the ocean ~ life is good.🤗 We’ve kept busy, I’ve been mostly writing-writing-writing my book, Joe’s been getting shipments of books , cups, etc. ready… feeding me, and taking care of the rest of our lives. We’re doing it together because we have so much to look forward to! 👏👏👏 
darling girlfriend whose idea it was for me to write a cookbook ~ I’ve written about her and thanked her in several of my books . . . but we haven’t seen each other in many years. What a reunion!💞 On a charming patio in a sweet old hotel in San Anselmo with her darling sister Kitty, and all of their friends, and some of their kids! What a celebration of life! Jane was George Lucas’s assistant for something like 30 years, so the party was filled with her old 
friends from Skywalker Ranch, many of them are my age, and some of them still work there, and all have wonderful life stories to tell, California kids, who accidentally on purpose fell into the most creative jobs in the center of a magical hub-bub . . . Such an interesting bunch, all there to celebrate the friendship and generosity of Jane, the air buzzed with L O V E! See those flowers up there ⬆️? 🌺🌺🌺 So gorgeous, I was taking a picture of them when Kitty walked by and said “Steven Spielberg sent those.” Of course he did 
Something else out-of-this-world happened. I bought some used shoes, Louis Vuitton Shoes, in an auction. My very first auction. My very first designer anything. And that’s not the half of it, because these adorable chunky shoes (Joe’s not wild about them, but they’re just my style), oh yes, P.S., belonged to DIANE KEATON! They did! My girl! I was shocked to get them because the odds were monumentally stacked against me. The auction took place live in New York, and worldwide on-line. I don’t know what happened, but the person/people I was bidding against just STOPPED! They stopped bidding!!!! Leaving me in the cat-bird’s seat! Why? I don’t know! They must have had an emergency! Had to leave town instantly. Everything else I bid on went 
WAAAY over my head, even though I sat there like a vulture, finger hovering over the computer, ready to strike . . . to no avail. But the shoes are MINE. Shoes that were last, and ONLY, worn by DIANE KEATON!!! All of her clothing, gorgeous handmade linen jackets (I tried for ⬅️ that one), big skirts, belts, HATS. Designer everything! All went for arms and legs, and although yes, these are the most expensive shoes I will ever own, they were nothing compared to $8,000 dollar hats, etc. I have never had the urge to buy designer clothing, but I don’t mind having a little something-something like these. (Clutches own heart, with eyes to heaven.)😊
This is the book … Circling the Sun. It’s a biography of the life of Beryl Markham (famous for writing her own wonderful biography, West with the Night, which I hope you’ve read ~ if not, I have TWO books for you 😊). Circling the Sun is also beautifully written, but a much more detailed look at Beryl’s unconventional life. We listen to it when we walk. The reader, Katharine McEwan, is so fantastic, with the BEST, most delicate English accent, she makes the written words even more wonderful.💝
Love you dearests, write me, tell me how it’s going! Click on tiny word below where it says “comment.” 💞 
