Susan Branch's Blog, page 28

YOU and ME and LOUISA, makes THREE

Hi Girlfriends!  Yes!  I had a wonderful birthday, thank you so much for all your well-wishes!  I’m still having it!  Friday is a Girl-Party Lunch on opening-day-for-the-season of a restaurant at the golf course and all the guys are coming too. The birthday that will not end! MUSICA → I heard this on my birthday in the car on the way to lunch and I haven’t been able to stop singing it since, thought I’d spread the wealth.

Spring has sprung, bo-yo-ying around here!  It’s so wonderful to have an April birthday! Look at my flowers! Gorgeous! This is why I love birthdays.  My mom called, my dad, my brothers and sisters, my friends.  That’s my favorite thing, those calls. ♥  My cup runneth over.

These parrot tulips are from my friend Marjorie. We do have daffodils just about to pop in the garden, but it’s still very very early spring.  Lovely sun and around 60* today, but no flowers except on my kitchen table.

Even a gerbera daisy for my little vase ~ still can’t believe Joe found this little blue bottle in the hole he dug out back for our dogwood tree. People ask me where I got it, I say it came with the house. I don’t know which I like better, the dogwood, or this little bottle!  (OK, the tree, but only by a hair.)

We went for a walk on my birthday and it was gorgeous out there.  This probably doesn’t look that great to you, winter worn and still no leaves, but it was heaven ~ cool breeze but nice warmish sun. When you’ve been indoors for a long time, there aren’t words for how fresh it all seems. Smell of ocean, thawing ground, blue sky, and the birds have lost their little pea-picking minds! Chasing each other through the trees ~ singing so loud, we have to stop the whole way out and look to see what they are up to.

My walk is my best “thinking place.”  I try to remember to carry pencil and paper with me so if an idea pops into my head, I can write it down and not forget. When I get home I run to the studio to see how it fits into my writing.

 This day we ended up laying flat on the cold sand (in coat and jacket, very cozy, it’s not summer yet!), letting the sun bore into us for about ten glorious minutes, listening to the sound of the waves, the wind and the peeps of the birds, watching the sky ~ of course I had a thought I wanted to write down ~ I dug around and found a pen, but neither of us had any paper! (Or phones either!)

That’s when a white seashell comes in very handy!

Progress on the book (because you’ve been so patient about the blogging part  which I love you for, very, very much!♥) has been good! This is the longest story I’ve ever written ~ in order to get all the photos in, it has to be two books. I get so excited I can’t stop ~ when I’m in writing mode, I try to stay focused and not do anything else but write.  But both books are done and at the copy editor as of April 12th!  He’ll have them for a month, in the meantime, I’ll be doing the watercolors for them.  I’m trying so hard to get them to you by Christmas, but I still have a ton of artwork to do.  My birthday has jumped between me and my paintbrush this week, but soon I’ll be free to burrow down and focus again.

  Once I got going, these books pretty much fell out of me.  They’re not exactly memoirs because I changed a few things to protect the innocent (mostly me of course :-), but they are  fact-based ~ on the diaries I’ve kept since I was in my twenties ~ I would say it’s an 87% true story, at least “semi” autobiographical and a novel rather than a memoir, two novels! I think you will love them. Remember Diana, my best friend in A Fine Romance?  Remember how funny she was?  Well, she and I laugh all the way through the new books. It’s so hard for me not to tell you the whole story.  But I want it to be a surprise so tell me to shut up.

Thank you. I needed that.  And this was waiting for me on my Birthday too. The color preview of the new 2016 wall-calendar ~ also, the mini, the purse calendar, the magnet and the desk blotter calendars came too. Everything bright and shiny and new.  We should have them by the end of July if not sooner.  And even more good news, Kellee called to tell me . . .

that REASONS TO GO ON LIVING prints have come in and are in the web store.  I think she announced it on Facebook, but I promised I’d tell you when we got them.  

And, you may be asking, what did I want for my birthday? You can  see it was already a Red Letter Day ~ but my special birthday present was . . .

This.  I wanted to go to Louisa May Alcott’s house and take you with me.  So that’s exactly what we did yesterday.  Joe and I packed the car for a day trip along the backroads to Concord, MA ~ a town famous for lots of reasons, probably number one, because it’s where the first conflict of the Revolutionary War took place. And, it’s also famous for Orchard House (c. 1690), the house where Louisa May Alcott wrote Little Women.

Speaking of memoirs that turn into novels; we learned so much on our visit . . . for one thing, Little Women is 87% true too ~ Louisa changed names, places, and times to make it more of a “story,” but it was truly based on her life, friends and family. It was so much fun learning about her real sisters and seeing how much they had in common with the characters, Meg, Jo, Amy and Beth.

And here at the front door, you can see the perfect reflection of spring . . . tiny leaves about to burst.

In the orchard, one or two of these brave flower souls.

Louisa’s dad made this “desk” for her ~ this is where she wrote Little Women.  It was considered quite something in 1865 for a woman to have a desk of her own. I am so glad she did!

“Every few weeks she would shut herself up in her room, put on her scribbling suit, and fall into a vortex as she expressed it, writing away at her novel with all her heart and soul, for till that was finished she could find no peace.”  ♥ Louisa May Alcott

But look at this desk, it’s even smaller, this is where Jane Austen wrote during the most prolific time of her life in early 1800’s.  At this tiny desk.  I don’t know how these girls did it. I always ask, “How did they do it, were there piles of paper all around them on the floor?”  But no one knows.

 This is where I write . . . I live in the Paperless Society, my trash is full and my floors are always covered with little bits and piles of book everywhere that we all have to step around. With all this space I have no excuses for not getting it done! One thing Louisa and I have in common, until I get it done, I will find no peace either.

My work in the paperless world leaks out of the studio to the back of the sofa and right now, the table in the living room is covered with photo albums!  Jack is king of the room, everything he surveys is his. I don’t know how he gets up there!

This was my favorite thing at Orchard House, that owl over the fireplace in Louisa’s bedroom (where the desk is too). Her sister May (the artist, Amy, in Little Women) painted it.  When she was young, the Alcott’s encouraged May to draw anywhere in the house she wanted to, many walls are adorned with her art. She also painted the flowers next to Louisa’s desk.

Louisa collected owls. Isn’t this just the most wonderful thing?!

Besides line drawings, there are also some amazingly beautiful framed pieces belonging to May. She was quite highly regarded.  BTW, Those are needlepointed foot warmers on each side of the fireplace; the tops come off and you fill them with coals!

Almost everything in the house actually belonged to the family.  You are seeing the real thing when you go to Orchard House.

A cupboard in the kitchen.

They made the house so homey.  It opened to the public in 1911 ~ keeping all of the history and originality has been a work of love for over a hundred years, for generations.

This quilt was on Marmee’s Bed, she made it.  And they did call their mother Marmee.

Louisa’s sewing box, with needles and thread. 

And Beth’s piano.  Not really.  But when I came in this room, tears came in my eyes.   The piano belongs to Louisa’s real sister, Elizabeth.  Like Beth, Elizabeth died very young at only age 16.

That’s Elizabeth in the picture. It’s all seems to come alive.

I think I will stop there.  Next time I want to show you some of the houses in Concord because they are GORGEOUS.  This scene is actually a model made in 1930 . . . we saw it in the Concord Museum, so there’s lots more.

This is the birthday game my girlfriends and I play ~ we call it the “Ring Thing.”  We drop our rings over the candles, light them and then everyone gets to make a wish.  Let’s do that girls, let’s all make a wish.  Think of a wonderful wish, I’ll count to ten.  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10  OK, now very slowly, close your eyes and make your dearest birthday wish . . . and send all of your lovely thoughts right to heaven along with mine. XOXO 

DAFFODIL SUNDAY & EASTER

Daffodil Sunday and Easter are both on Sunday this year.  How perfect that they’re together! MUSICA

Our snowdrops are finally up!  I know most of you are way past the snowdrop stage, but our spring is coming very slowly this year.

I thought, since it’s almost Easter, and it really is spring, I would give you my recipe for the easiest Bunny Cake in the world, in case you need something fast, but festive, kid-centric, and of course, delicious!

A couple of our Girlfriends sent photos of their finished Bunny Cakes, I thought you’d like to see ~ So creative! Dried apricots for teeth!

Love the carrot!  Mini-marshmallow teeth!  You can tell they had fun decorating! If you make one, try to post it to my Facebook Page; we’ll love to see it!

The great thing is the Bunny Cake doesn’t require any special equipment, just two 8″ cake pans and some jelly beans!

But if you would still like to have a Lamb Cake, we have some lamb molds left in our web store.  It’s such a special cake for a Spring Tea, Mother’s Day or a Baby Shower. (Lots of lovely tried-and-true Tea Party recipes in the “Spring Tea” link ~ choose the one you like on the teapot and click on it.)

 

I told you Spring is coming very slowly here, this was our first day of spring on Martha’s Vineyard.↑ Welcome to my world.♥

Yes, but when?

And here they are, bless their hearts, demonstrating the thwarting of reality!

 They have risen above!  I have to tell you, that cold dirt smelled like heaven! Aren’t they wonderful!  Like clockwork!

We have to rise above reality too, because it is definitely not time to put away the coats and jackets.

Despite the lovely morning light and the adorable kitty, we still need to keep the house cozy, and keep ourselves warm . . .

Clean clothes, warm from the dryer, is a most delicious way to keep warm! 

And then there’s this way ~ with a mixing bowl and a 375º oven  . . . for some

I thought I’d show you my recipe for Rhubarb Crisp.  This is not a fancy dessert, but it’s perfect for a family dinner, wonderfully seasonal, old-fashioned and delicious. And so easy!

I’ll put the recipe at the end so you can print it out.  First you make the Topping ~ with oats,  brown sugar, flour, nutmeg, cinnamon, and softened butter.

Crumble it together with your fingers until it looks like this, then set it aside.  Wasn’t that fast?  See what I mean?

Then you make the Rhubarb Filling   I measured my rhubarb stalks to give you an idea of how much to buy, each stalk was 18″ ~ the recipe calls for 5½c. chopped rhubarb ~ and we used three stalks.

I chopped them into ¾” pieces . . .

measured them . . .

And put them in a mixing bowl, along with flour, sugar, cinnamon and the zest of one orange.  Mixed well . . .

and stirred in a quarter cup of fresh squeezed orange juice.

Beautiful!  The rhubarb exuded juices and made a wonderful orangey-cinnamon sauce.

Spread the rhubarb filling into a buttered 8″ square baking dish . . . sprinkle over the topping . . .

And pop it in the oven for thirty minutes until golden brown and bubbly.

While the Rhubarb Crisp was baking I looked out at the feeders and found we had a visitor I hardly ever see ~ a Tufted Titmouse!  Such a cutie, with those pale peach feathers under his beak and wing and those big round eyes, not to mention the hair-do!  He’s very shy and very quick, zipped in for a seed and right out, fast as a hummingbird. I was lucky to get this picture.

Since I had the camera, I thought, Hello Girl Kitty! She’s shy too, but not so fast.

The timer went off, I pulled the bubbling hot crisp from the oven. It made the kitchen smell wonderful and kept it warm for our “spring” day that’s so much like winter it’s really hard to tell the difference. But then, I didn’t really care anymore!

You can serve it hot with vanilla ice cream, or cold with whipped cream.  I made it for a dinner party ~ for our friend Peggy’s birthday.

But we also had a gluten-free guest in our midst, so we tried something new and it worked.  We made a mini ice-box cake, the kind you make with whipped cream and the thin chocolate wafer cookies?

 (If you’ve never made one, the Ice Box Cake was what my mom always took to Baby Showers in the 1950’s and it’s DELICIOUS.  Just spread whipped cream between Nabisco Famous Chocolate Wafer Cookies, stack together and cover with more cream and refrigerate for at least three hours before serving.)  In this case, we tried it with chocolate-chocolate-chip gluten-free cookies, and it really turned out good!

So there you go my Girlfriends. Some bunny does love you!  Hope you have a wonderful weekend, Happy Easter and Happy Daffodil Sunday!

I thought I’d let our Studio kitties say goodbye from California . . . on the left is Sammy, and on the right is Sasha. . . Kellee and Sheri dressed them up for St. Patrick’s Day! Aren’t they adorable?  Even better in person!

I also wanted to thank you for all the lovely comments for my friend Margot Datz, her darling elf, her precious gnome and the naked leprechaun ~ and her wonderful art!  There are so many talented hardworking people out there who we don’t get to hear enough about so XOXOXO to all of them too!  I especially wanted to thank you for taking the time to “like” Margot’s Facebook Page.  She has thanked me every single day, and so I have to thank YOU.♥  You have made the day of someone very wonderful. And mine too.  But what else is new? XOXO Love You!

 OLD FASHIONED RHUBARB CRISP

8 servings                375º

TOPPING

½ c. flour
½ c. oats (regular oatmeal)
¾ c. brown sugar (packed)
¾ tsp. nutmeg
¼ tsp. cinnamon
⅓ c. butter, softened

Preheat oven to 375º.  Mix Topping ingredients together in a medium bowl.  Use fingers to make it crumbly.  Set aside and make the . . .

FILLING

5 ½ c. rhubarb, cut into ¾” cubes (3-5 stalks)
¼ c. flour 
1 c. sugar
½ tsp. cinnamon
zest of one orange
¼ c. fresh squeezed OJ

In a large bowl, mix rhubarb with the dry ingredients.  Add zest and OJ and stir well; pour into a buttered 8 x 8″ baking dish.  Sprinkle topping over rhubarb evenly.  Bake 30 minutes until bubbly and golden brown.  Serve hot with vanilla ice cream, or cold with whipped cream.♥

EASTER and DAFFODIL SUNDAY

Daffodil Sunday and Easter

THE ELF, THE GNOME AND THE NAKED LEPRECHAUN

 I hope you enjoy my first Guest-Requested MUSICA . . . for you, dear Girlfriends, from my darling friend Margot, the Magical Mother of Scarlet (the elf), the Grandmother of Georgette (the gnome), and dog mother of Yoda (the Naked Leprechaun). 

Scarlet kindly granted me permission to show you her new baby! Thank you Scarlet! Those little baby pants are a very soft wool, and with the pointed white hat, there was no doubt that Scarlet had given birth to a gnome.

Totally worth waiting for, don’t you think? Didn’t Scarlet do a fabulous job?  This was our Baby Snuggle Tea, where Scarlet brought her three-week old baby girl Georgie to meet and greet Margot’s best girlfriends.

We each got to hold her . . . she made us feel like we must be really interesting looking.

Scarlet’s already a wonderful Mom . . . Georgie went out like a light when Scarlet put her into this little wrap. (I’m thinking about getting one of these for Girl Kitty, she would LOVE it.)

We are going to enjoy watching this little gnome grow and thrive, she comes from a family of extremely creative people.

This is Scarlet and her adorable brother Wolfie at my house for an Easter Egg hunt many years ago ~ it’s been fun watching them grow up.

This is the baby announcement Margot painted when Scarlet was born.  Is it not the most adorable thing you have ever seen???  Me, too!  I think it should go into the Smithsonian for best baby announcement ever.  Maybe I’m biased.

Margot loves to celebrate her July birthday at the beach.

This is Margot’s dog.  Its name is, of course, Yoda. 

To make Yoda feel better about “everything,” Margot and her fiancé-for-life, Tom, modeled themselves on Yoda for Halloween.  Look at the top of Tom’s head! Look how happy they are!  Don’t they know what they look like?

A scientific comparison of Yoda’s hand and Margot’s hand.

Just so you know, Tom and Margot don’t always dress like Yoda.  But they always do have fun, and . . .

Last summer, Joe and I went sailing around Edgartown Harbor.  I took a picture of this little pointed beach. Later, we went to Margot’s art show . . .

And this was one of her new paintings! It looks like the same place! 

If Margot seems familiar to you, I’ve mentioned her before, along with her wonderful book, the Survival Guide for Landlocked Mermaids.  If you haven’t seen it, I asked Kellee to put some up in our web store.

Besides everything else, Margot is a very famous local muralist on Martha’s Vineyard . . . not only Martha’s Vineyard ~ Margot’s done projects in many parts of the country.  Here she is doing a mural for the Oak Bluff’s Steamship (ferry boat) Authority. That’s not the real sky, that’s the sky Margot made.

This is a project Margot did at her art studio at home.  It’s for a private home. The home owners had an indoor balcony off their bedroom and asked Margot to paint some ambience for it.

But this has been Margot’s most ambitious project so far and one for which she will go down in Martha’s Vineyard history. You can see the “before” in the top photo, and the “after” down below, Margot painted the mural behind the musicians.

It was for this historical  building in Edgartown called The Whaling Church which was built in 1843. You can listen to a story about the renovation of this church and see Margot in action by clicking that link.

During the restoration, they found this old photo and discovered that in the 19th century there had been an amazing mural that had been painted over. 

Using the photograph as a guide, Margot made a working drawing so she could reconstruct the mural as close to the original as possible. I thought you’d like to see some of the photos I took while she was in the process of doing it. 

This was the space as it was before the new mural began.

And this is it while Margot was working on it.  Every so often we girlfriends would come over to see what she was up to. We knew it was big, but we had no idea!  I could not wrap my mind around the fact that what we were looking at was a flat wall.

I had to get closer, and the closer I got, the harder it was to believe.

A complete flat wall . . . if you try to jump onto that checkered floor, you will body-slam yourself into a wall. 

Hard to believe, but it’s true.

Margot has worked two freezing winters on this project . . . the first year she did the front of the church, and this winter, she trudged through one snow storm after another to complete the sides and back.

I think you can see the passion in Margot’s eyes as she explains to Lowely and Barbara (and me) what she has been creating.  Note: no matter WHAT else Margot is wearing, no matter if she has been dipped in paint, she always has on a pretty scarf and cute earrings.

The patience, the sheer energy this took! (Margot is 61; she said I could tell you.♥)

Here’s a close up of some of her detailed brushwork . . .

See the flat walls, that’s what it looked like before Margot got her brush onto it.  Not to mention the fact that she was up and down this scaffolding, carrying paint and brushes, twenty times a day.  If I got up there once, I would cling there, a ball of dripping adrenalin, until the fire department came to rescue me.

Yoda came to work, dressed for action, every day.  Margot says sleeping with Yoda is like sleeping with a naked leprechaun.

Yoda does the happy dance.

Margot didn’t have to do the whole thing alone, besides Yoda, she had Scarlet and an incognito Georgie, as the perfect assistants.

And every so often we would all trek over to Edgartown to check out Margot’s progress, sit in awe as she explained how she was doing this impossible thing, and take her to lunch.

We did the right thing by giving her no advice.

So here is the “before” of the back of the church which Margot finished about two weeks ago.

It’s very subtle, but you can see the panels on both the bottom floor and the top, the gold leaf details below and around the clock. Tromp L’oeil  panels also go both sides of the church.

The panels look raised, but they are completely flat too, all the way from the edge of the window trim.

The eye, she is fooled! I have to say, the whole island is proud of what Margot has accomplished here; generations will applaud what it took to do this.  ♥ Thank you, also, to Chris Scott and all the supporters of the Preservation Trust, for bringing back to the island history that had been lost.

See what I mean?  Flat. Margot explains these stripes of color in this link.

And I bet now you’re saying to yourself, I’d LOVE to see what that girl’s house looks like inside . . . right? Mas Margot MUSICA  

Come with me to the Casbah. . . and . . .

Oh, yeah.  Margot, along with Scarlet and Wolfie’s dad, Charlie Blair (the afore mentioned “fisherman”) who is now the  Harbormaster of Edgartown, built this log cabin.  And then Margot did things to it.  See that sofa?  Just an old run-of-the-mill brown sofa, but not after Margot got her hands on it, recovered  and fattened up those cushions, and voila! And the panels around the windows?  She made them. Wah ~ Wah.

     How about this magical “doll house” Margot made for above the fireplace?  She used to make lots of doll sculptures that she called “individuals” for obvious reasons.  She fashioned them from high-fired stoneware and fabric. The hair, she said, came from Poodle Parlors, and I’m told that if you had a dog with a very nice tail, you had better watch it when Margot was around.

It is the perfect creative surrounding for costume parties at Margot’s.  But, you say, I wonder if she has anything cute in her closet?  Is it all paint-spattered jeans, or what?

OK, you asked for it ~ because Margot puts Vanna to shame. (Don’t tell Vanna I said that.)

For starters, she wears diamonds on her feet.

Poor thing, she simply has no personality. Tsk Tsk.

As you can see, I keep my camera ready to see what cute thing she wears next. I try to talk her into doing a whole book of clothes.  Then make them, then sell them to me.  In normal sizes.

Darling Margot, Mother, Grandmother, Original, Artiste Extraordinaire, Hard-worker, Funny, Smart, Problem-Solver,  World-Class Survivor.  Great Cook, Excellent Bargain Finder, and All around Good Dresser. And Best Friend to Many and to Lucky Me.

I hope you enjoyed our Baby Snuggle and Grandma Snuggle, our elf, our gnome and our naked leprechaun . . . I know you will LOVE Margot’s paintings, you can see some of them and “Like” her on Facebook at  Margot Datz Designs or go to her website at www.margotdatz.com

With love from me to you Girlfriends.  Hope you enjoyed that!  I am working hard on our book, and making progress!  Thank you for all your wonderful supportive comments.  You’ll never know how much they mean to me.  HAPPY SPRING!  ♥ XOXO

The Kitchen Garden Book Winner

Well, sorry Girls, I have bad news: I just read that this wonderful little Kitchen Garden book is now going for $900.00 on Amazon ~ I think I have to keep it.

HAHAHAHA April Fools! (I’m not keeping it, but the $900 is, unfortunately, not a joke!) MUSICA . . . 

Vanna, (our “almost real” “random number generator”) as many of you know, is Irish to the tips of her little green-polished toes (this is the “almost real part.”) She went out last night, didn’t get in until after dawn (faith and begorrah, Girlfriend!), so we will go forth without her and save our drawing for last. This way everyone stays a winner for another ten minutes!  Yay!

For lots of us, Spring arrives on the inside our houses MUCH sooner than it does on the outside.  Our sanity requires we look beyond reality to a better world, a future world. Intrepid pioneers of the seasons that we are, we forge on, strengthened by our three sweaters and two pairs of socks.

Despite the way it looks outside my kitchen door . . .

Inside, it looks like this.

You know I love to decorate the shelf on top of my stove, it’s my first go-to place to mess with when the seasons change.

I change it every season, never with an actual plan, just whatever is hanging around that says “spring” and “cheerfulness” to me, I grab it and put it on top of the stove

This was one of the perkier entries in my stovetop hall of fame.

This was last year . . . lambs R Us.

Here’s this year’s version, seem to be leaning a bit more “bunny.”

I don’t usually stop with the stove . . .

I made the fireplace mantle ready for a spring tea party

I decorated with lambs and bunnies and sheep . . .

More sheep more bunnies. . .

 The tea party was small because it was a Baby Snuggle for one of my girlfriends (Margot) whose daughter Scarlett just had her first child . . . a darling three-week-old 8½ pound girl named Georgette .  (I’m still waiting for permission to put a photo of Georgie on the blog, but not holding my breath, not everyone “believes” in blogs. I can only tell you this:  Margot is magic: she gave birth to an elf, which would be Scarlett, and Scarlett, in turn, has given the world a gnome.)  There were six of us, we’d all known Scarlet since she was born, so we were the lucky ones to have our own private viewing and cooing party.♥ I can’t tell you how adorable this child was, head bouncing with big wide eyes looking right at you, a rosebud mouth with little pink tongue.  Fingers that went in all directions.   

I almost made a Lamb Cake.  But I decided to save it for Easter.  which is just around the corner . . . so, just in case, here’s the RECIPE for YOU.♥

Here’s our tea party. You can just make out the gnome legs in the very left of this photo, wrapped in red wool with white stripes. The rest of her was even cuter.

And we had milk-milk-milk Cake . . . bathed in more milk.

And here’s the RECIPE for that, just in case you’re a new kid on the block and haven’t had a chance to try this luscious old-fashioned thing.

For tea, the girls had a choice of this, or . . . 

. . .this.  Can you smell the bergamot, the lavender and rose petals . . . they took this.

I do hear Vanna stirring, have faith Girlfriends.  She came in after I got up, so she needs her beauty sleep bad.  In the meantime . . .

As you know, this $900 book is illustrated by Tasha Tudor . . . (although I do have to say, the author is wonderful, Mary Mason Campbell fits Tasha Tudor’s work to a Tee).

Some of the drawings are in color. . .

But there are also lots of black and white line drawings . . .

Like this one . . . when I see something like this, I always think “wouldn’t that be fun to color in?”

Or this one . . .?

Or this . . . the little pots, the shirt, the hat, fun, right?

There are many wonderful line drawings in vintage books . . . Like this one in The Twin Lambs, illustrated by Marjorie Flack.

And this one, illustrated by Lois Lenski from Once on Christmas . . . (I’m thinking green dress, red hair, yellow book♥)

And this one, a print of one of the original children’s letters by Beatrix Potter from one of my favorites, The Tale of Beatrix Potter by Margaret Lane.

I play coloring book sometimes with line drawings like these ~ and whoever wins the Kitchen Gardens book, or for any of you who’ve maybe wanted to give it a try in one of your own vintage books ~ it’s a fun way to learn a little about watercoloring while being perfectly thrilled with the outcome of your first try.  

See that ↑  Now see that . . .↓ ♥

I watercolored this one and got to feel a little bit Potterish while I did it. Speaking of that, I got my Beatrix Potter online Newsletter today; it’s called Pottering About, Here’s a link if you’d like to see it, or get it automatically sent to your email box.

Its hard to stop! The littlest palest color makes such a difference.  (Course dried flowers help too.)

This is the one that got me started . . . many years ago I found these pages in an antique store.  It used to be a book, but the cover and the binding were gone ~ what was left was a few pages,  all line drawings, and all in black and white. Until they came home to my house.

I had a wonderful time painting these.  If you ever enjoyed coloring books, I think you would like this!

The pages came from a book that was published in 1901 called The Story of Live Dolls.  The author is Josephine Scribner Gates. On the title page it says:

The Story of the Live Dolls

Being an account of how, on a certain June morning, all of the Dolls in the Village of Cloverdale Came Alive.

It’s a charming fairytale about girls and their dolls.

The drawings were done by Mabel Rogers.  I love her art, and was surprised to see nothing on Wikipedia about her, and really nothing for Google Images either.  But we’re remembering her . . .

Over a hundred years later. ♥

I thought I would frame them and hang them all in a line around the top of the wainscoting in the guest bedroom.  Which I never did.  I still have them.

So you can see the before and after, this was the last page I painted, and I took photos while I did it:

You get to choose the colors . . .

And fill between the lines . . . and if you go outside?  Just part of the charm.

And use your three-haired brush to exacting perfection.

 OK Girls, I’ve held you prisoner long enough . . . Vanna has rallied, she came out just a few moments ago wearing a fish costume.  (Don’t ask.)   It’s covered with shiny green scalloped scales, she is wearing three inch yellow patent leather slip-on heels, and a shiny yellow bathing cap.  She looks FABULOUS.   She is almost ready to do her famous high dive into the vat with our almost 3,000 Girlfriend’s names.  She will swim to the bottom as if she is a corkscrew, thereby mixing and twirling the little slips in a swirling mad vortex. She will then come streaming to the top, winning slip in hand, her work for today will be done.

Wish her luck.  Good Luck Vanna!

A r e   w e   r e a d y  ?

On your mark, get set:  You go girl!

She’s down!  The green toes were the last things I saw . . . There’s swirling, more swirling, bits of paper flying through the air, I’m waiting, we’re waiting, still waiting . . . she’s coming, she’s coming . . . I see her, I see her ~ ~ I think . . . yes, I think, BOOM, she’s UP, she’s GOT one!!!!  

Please give it to me Vanna, take a bow, you may go back to bed with all our gratitude for a job well done. ♥  

It wouldn’t be the same without you Vanna.  Know that.

Sooooooo, let’s see, what does this say?

The winner of the Loovly little boook is

K A T H Y    T O W E R S

 Every one of you . . .

Congratulations, Kathy!  This was a big one and you made it! Look for an email in your box, please send me your address, I’ll sign your little book and it will go off to you asap. 

And for everyone else . . . in a nutshell:

 LOOK, what we have to look forward too!

 Fun, Girlfriends, Thank you. ♥ We have to keep meeting like this! XOXOXO

SPRING FLING GIVEAWAY

HAPPY ST. PATRICK’S DAY EVERYONE!  MUSICA  Good Morning!  I’m thrilled to say there are twenty-seven hundred entries for our Spring Fling Giveaway, wow!  That’s almost shocking!  But don’t worry, you still have a much better chance of winning this than you do the lottery! Isn’t that comforting? I woke up this morning to another hundred and fifty new comments ~ so I don’t think we’re done!  I thought I would give it one more day so everyone has a chance to enter and announce the winner TOMORROW, with a new post to show you how I’ve been decorating for spring.  (Remember this is Smallville, don’t get your hopes up too high on the decorations!)

Wishing you the Luck of the Irish and a big pot o’ gold at the end of the rainbow. Don’t forget to wear something Green so you don’t get pinched!  

One of our Blog Girlfriends (Lorene) mentioned something interesting in her comment that I thought you all should know: She said the reason they carve an “X” in the top of Irish Soda Bread is to let the fairies out.♥  Be sure to do that, Girlfriends! Let the fairies fly!♥ 

In the meantime I’ll be in my same old spot . . .

So, until tomorrow . . . an Irish Blessing and a wee bi’ o’ the sampling’ for ye . . . w’ love from Paddy McSue. ♥

Snow Walk, and Garden Giveaway

Today we’re going to mix it up, a snow walk and a garden give-away all in the same post!  MUSICA for slow dancing, Girlfriends. . . 

Yesterday, for the first time in weeks, maybe even months, we had a sunshiny, lovely 42º.  We scrambled into our boots and RAN ourselves out the door, for the first walk in all of that time!!!  Our lawn is still covered in snow, but it’s quietly beginning to melt making a continuous little river down our driveway, joining the slightly bigger river on the street, and heading down hill to the harbor.  We weren’t sure what the dirt road that takes us out to the ocean would look like, but we were willing to try, especially when we saw what was going on in the maple tree outside the kitchen window:

The photo isn’t clear, but that’s OK, those orange spots are Robins! If this beautiful day is good enough for them, it’s good enough for us!

 so here we go

. . . walking very gingerly . . . It was melting, like a slushy in some parts (the good parts) but there were long lumps of shiny wet ice, and some nice stretches of mud. . . We plot which direction we should fall in case we need to, realizing no one brought a phone, if he breaks his leg, he lays there while I “run” for help. It would be sad.  

The birds were singing, Joe’s trying to figure out where the sound is coming from . . .

See him? Way up top in the middle of the picture?  He looks white but he’s a goldfinch, he can’t clap his hands so he shows his happiness with song.

The goldfinch has a really nice view!  When we walked out of the canopy of the woods, we had our first view of the pond ~ we could see it was still partially frozen . . .

But I have to say, despite how cold it looks, the warm sun on our faces felt as much like spring as breathing into a bouquet of daffodils!  Off came my hat and gloves, unzipped goes the jacket.  THAT’S how nice it was out there!

I’m always behind him . . . he waits, as the ever-patient guy that he is, hands on hips . . . 

Can’t just walk right by this little red fisherman’s shack and not stop for a photo . . . crazy man.

See those broken square-looking things on the ground (talking mostly to the Californians and Floridians right now)?  They are giant ice chips.  When a car goes through a partly frozen puddle, the ice breaks up and scatters. That’s something you don’t see all the time. See how patient Joe is while I take pictures of them?  

We made it to the water, and I have to tell you, it wasn’t easy…. First we had to go through the deep snow in the yard of our friend’s house, then across their deck . . .

And down that very furthest set of stairs ~ see it back there?  After that, finding a high-ish tide, we had to climb over each rock-piled breakwater, maybe five of them . . . yes, you’re right, I know what you’re thinking, it was heaven out there.  (BTW, while we’re away from home, we had our bedroom windows wide open (for the first time this year); the ceiling fan was on full blast blowing out winter air and exchanging it for fresh spring air, and we knew we were going to sleep like babies after our walk to the sea!)

We discovered that others had been there first.

And then, beach booty!  Big piece of dark blue beach glass!  

More ice chips.  I kind of love them.  Like to break them with my toe. Makes a good noise.  Two nature things happened out there that I didn’t take pictures of: A.) (Pat, you should probably skip this part.)  Because some rather large animal was dead.  I didn’t look because in my accidental half-second glance I could see it was all elbows, knees and feathers and other less identifiable furry parts, and despite my well-known interest in science, this was really not my cup of tea.  Joe looked, he decided it was a coyote AND a turkey, entwined together on the beach. Wow!  We skirt by it, my eyes covered with my hat, and we fall immediately into Morning Science discussion: First off “are there coyotes on the island?”  I didn’t think so. Otherwise I’ve been living in a fool’s paradise thinking we had no kitty-eaters on Martha’s Vineyard.  So, let’s say it was a deer. A deer and a turkey?  “They don’t fight, they don’t eat each other.”  So then here’s what must have happened:  That thing (whatever it is, but it can’t be a coyote) killed the turkey, then, sadly, but deservedly, choked on a bone, fell over and died on top of it. (I just realized, this is kind of like talking about Downton Abbey.) 

Anyway, lovely leaves embalmed in ice.  The other nature thing we saw was a pair of birds mating on the road.  That was a first, I have never seen birds do that.  As a scientist, I had never thought about what those little devils did when we left them alone.  We thought they were dead at first, they weren’t moving at all, we didn’t even know there were two of them, till Joe looked closer to figure out which side was up, because this was one weird looking bird.  More Morning Science ensued when all of a sudden, the girl escaped!  OK, I did get a picture of the chase . . .

This is the little father, in hot pursuit! Ah, spring. Quite the adventure!

Tire tracks become puddles . . . Look around, where is the best place to put your foot?  Safest would probably be IN the water.

Time to go home . . . so far we have 100% not fallen down!

And we manage to keep it that way! Usually our walk is 45 minutes, yesterday it was an hour and a half.  That’s from making sure we didn’t break our necks.

Front row seat to the melting of the snow. (OMG, is he not the most adorable thing in the world?)

So we all know the snow will go . . .

And waiting for us, under all the ice are our little snow drops (these are from last year, this year’s crop is frozen stiff right now, but soon).  Because, it’s coming, only another week until official . . .

And in honor of the moment, when we are all teetering on the verge of spring, I would love for one of you to enjoy my favorite garden book of all time . . .

It’s called Kitchen Gardens, an unassuming little book wonderfully written by Mary Mason Campbell with illustrations by Tasha Tudor.

But it’s by far the most inspiring garden book I’ve ever read.  There are other books with much more detailed information, and definitely glossier pictures, but no book has ever moved me into the garden faster and happier than this one.

It was published in 1971 and I was lucky enough to happen upon it as my first garden book. “I love how Mary Campbell wrote about the “sunshine, fresh air, and privacy of our gardens. . .”

 I thought I would sign this book for you and also add a watercolor bookmark (I’ve been cutting up the bits of paper I use for testing my pen or watercolors and making bookmarks out of them).

If you want to be entered for this giveaway, all you have to do is scroll to the bottom of this post and look for the tiny word “comments” — and leave a comment. Your comment can be just one word if you like; that will be enough to enter you for the drawing. For those of you who get my blog via email, you will have to go to www.susanbranch.com and scroll to the very bottom of this post and find that tiny word . . . “comments” ~ for some reason, they don’t seem to send a “comment” button in an emailed blog. 

Last but not least.  I told you I finished the new calendars for 2016? I thought I would give you a little preview . . . This is “October” for the wall-calendar, and don’t worry, there are pink pumpkins on the bottom part.♥  For thee, from me. ♥

Something else for thee: click on “shopping” at the top of the blog, scroll to the bottom of the column on the left, click on FREE STUFF!  Spring-themed stationery, bookmarks, tags — and computer wallpaper! 

And just one more thing I wanted to tell you:  My (our, because I’m always thinking of you when I’m writing) new book is being edited even as we speak. That means the writing part is almost done, after that I’ll paint it and add the photos and hopefully we’ll have it in about six months, maybe by the time we make our first fires next autumn.  I know the title.  But I’m afraid to say it out loud yet.  So let me get used to it, maybe next time! You’ll be the first to know!

  Until we meet again . . . Love you, love us.♥  XOXO

P.S. Don’t forget . . . St. Patrick’s Day is coming!

Downton Lovers . . .

OK, Downton Lovers, time to cuddle in for the finale.   MUSICA  Sob. Sob at the beginning, sob at the end. Sob in the middle.

We are ready!  We are hunkered down in front of the TV for the finale of Downton Abbey, Season Five (Take this as fair warning, if you haven’t seen it, run away from here now!).  

I would like to take this moment to thank all of our darling British Girlfriends for being so careful and not giving anything away.  I love you for that!  It must have been hard! I have to tell you, it was worth waiting for!

Off we go for Grouse Hunting Season (love this scene) . . . something I for one, would never miss. How ’bout you?  Who doesn’t love a big plate of Grouse and plenty of catsup?  But if you go, fair warning,  bring along your own butler, because the one that comes with the house is a real problem child.

Stowell comes across immediately as worse than Dickie’s boys — mean to everyone and arrogant.  You would think he was an Earl instead of a Butler. He immediately demotes Barrow to footman of all things, and he has the nerve to call Tom a chauffeur ~ he has NO IDEA who he’s messing with. I pity him.

Perfectly lovely party in the most GORGEOUS green room . . . which Stowell ruins  . . . my grandmother used to have this saying, “there’s always a creep in the crowd.”  And around the folk of Downton Abbey, that seems to be true.  Can’t have a dinner without somebody doing something!

Because Stowell refuses to serve Tom.  Look at Mary’s face.  He doesn’t realize the Crawleys have a huge code of ethics when it comes to Tom:  Hurt Tom, hurt us, hurt you.  Right Mary?  Go get him Barrow.  Here is an opportunity for you to use your immense powers for good.

El Jefe is not pleased, calls Barrow a stupid fool in FRONT OF EVERYONE! Big Mistake. Triple jeopardy.

Hello?  Are we on time for the party?  Lord Sinderby’s mistress and out-of-wedlock child have arrived, courtesy of Barrow, via Stowell’s big mouth.  Stowell is his own worse enemy, “Loose Lips Sink Ships.”  What makes this scene really unfortunate is that everyone knows what high moral standards Lord Sinderby has. 

Closing your eyes won’t help, we know you’re in there.  Everyone has watched how nasty you’ve been to  Rose and her parents because they are getting a divorce.  Mary even tried to talk you out of it.  But Nooooo.  You weren’t having it.  Happy now?

Don’t cry, just tell me her name and I’ll save you. No need to look like a deer in the headlights, just tell me her name.

Oh Diana, I’m so glad you could make it . . . Let me introduce you, . . . Lady Sinderby?  I’d like to introduce my friend . . . 

MARY: What’s going on?

ROSE: Help me.

(This is that same wonderful dress Rose was wearing last week when her mother tried to sabotage her marriage.  No wonder she’s moving to New York.)

What’s your name little boy.  Daniel?  Fancy that.  That’s my husband’s name.

Lord Sinderby tells Rose he’s sorry,  thanks her for her quick thinking, makes her day with gramophone in the Library!  She loves gramophones!   Robert says to the hypocrite: “She’ll love you forever if you let her.” Lord Sinderby does not deserve Rose, or his wife. Or the mistress either, for that matter.

But say goodbye to Rose . . . she is taking her good influence, her steel-trap of a mind, and her lovely husband and moving to New York to be Cinderella . . . from now on Lord Sinderby, you will have to fend for yourself, no Rose to save you.  Yes, but how about US, how will we live without the picture of open-minded, flapper-girl youth that is Rose? Not to mention her adorable outfits? I don’t like thinking about it.

She’s been such a fun fashion plate to have around. Look at the trim on these two dresses!  The trim, the pleats, the collar on Mary, the fabric, the colors!

But we still have Mary  and she never lets us down . . . this coat is too wonderful for words . . . what a scene it made when she walked into the prison to see Anna. Poor Anna.

The front is as pretty as the back.  Anna on the other hand . ..

is a mess.  Though she did get out of prison due to her husband’s lying confession. These two!  Now he’s gone, she doesn’t know where, he’s alone and wanted for murder. She’s officially more morose than Edith on her worst day ~ too pitiful to even use the front door even when Lady Mary says it’s OK.  She’d rather sit around by herself staring at her wedding pictures.

Then the big surprise…Bates comes in and sneaks up on her . . .

For a big Christmas surprise, the best present she could ever get.

Hopefully all charges against both of them will be dropped by next fall and when we see them next January, they will have twins and their murdering days will be over. Do it for them.  Do it for us.

Other happy news, Robert forgave his daughter with all the aplomb and warmth a good daddy would have for his little daughter and her lot in life, including the added bonus of respect for Gregson, the absent father  . . . he even asked her to forgive him! (The bedtime hair-do and garb is wonderful, she should find somewhere to GO in this outfit.)

Edith is the happiest I’ve ever seen her.  Tom let her know he knows about Marigold by telling her that where he came from there were many Marigolds, so now the only person that doesn’t know is Mary.  Let’s save that for next year shall we?  Dee-licious!

Edith’s looking fabulous!  She should be, she’s had years of problems, and lately, most of them have gone away.

Look at this hat in the Beautiful English Countryside.  I don’t have a single complaint for any of the hats in this episode, love them all!

Isobel looks wonderful

and this one, I really like this one . . . want to see the back?

It looks cozy for foggy grouse hunting.  And who is that guy they paired Edith off with  . . . isn’t he sort of a farm manager or something? I didn’t get that part. He must be OK, or they wouldn’t give him a gun and let him take up precious space in the Grouse Season Wagon.  Look at all the trouble they made for Tom.  Just making sure this man has social standing enough for a Crawley? And isn’t it interesting how none of the women get to shoot?  They were, what?  Like dinner partners?  The entertainment?  I don’t know, but I’d rather be in front of the fireplace with a good book.

Wasn’t the ride on the train fun?

Mary looks about ten years old here. Nice hat.

 Cora’s nightgown!  Gorgeous.

 Then this.  The Drama of the “Restorative Broth.” Denker goes to the experts for help, which is where they all find out Denker is a terrible cook!

And Daisy’s secret fix, a bottle of her own homemade broth, goes awry . . . when Spratt finds it and pours it down the drain.  Spratt rhymes with Brat.  Is it possible he and Denker are attracted to each other?   Noooooo, too icky to contemplate. 

 No worries, Denker takes it quite well . . .

And the sweetheart that saves the day is our darling Violet.  Who was just the cat’s meow through this whole episode . . . 

She dresses up the Princess Eleana in her own clothes and says, go ahead and keep them.  The Princess is bitter.  Hasn’t got any luggage, hasn’t got the will to LIVE even ~ and the faces Isobel makes while listening to her are priceless.

Seems to blame it all on Prince Igor who looks very nice in the borrowed Theater Royale Tuxedo . . . maybe the hair isn’t dirty? Maybe it’s product?  He’s off to Paris now with Mrs. Happiness, I guess we’ll never know.

So, honorable Violet breaks up forever with the love of her life. “Never complain, never explain.” (Think I’ll use that )  Luckily she has her BFF Isobel to hash it all over with . . . we’re reminded of Royal Wedding Balls and midnight ice skating in St. Petersburg all those years ago.  When Isobel asked, Violet wouldn’t say definitively if she ever strayed again after Igor, “Remember, WE were the Edwardians.”  Not many people can say that.

 “I will never again receive an immoral proposition from a man,” she says to Isobel, “was I wrong to savor it?”  NO Violet, you did it all perfectly!  Thank you for allowing us to be there for the savoring.  

And then this!  Two perfectly well-suited people, yearning for each other, kept apart by selfish children who should have a life of their own and get away from England.  But Oh well.  wah.  Very sad, this one.  I say, disinherit!

But these two make the best couple of all . . . Best Friends Forever.

And so much more,

Tom, our bridge, and his prayer to Sybil, that brings the two sisters together . . . these three, the ones that “should have grown old with her” . . . beautiful.

And this pretty picture of the future Lords and Ladies of Downton Abbey, Marigold, George and Sybbie.  I wonder how much trouble THEY’LL get into when it’s their turn?  How CAN Tom take Sybbie away.  I mean, poor Robert.  I’ll believe he’s going when I see he’s gone.

Well, what do we think about Mr. Henry Talbot, the “uninvited guest” that “fixed everything so that Atticus couldn’t join the shooting party?”  I thought he was nice.  He seemed sensitive, said, “Young widow.”  Was self-effacing.  But Mary?  Oh nooo.  Not that easy.

But then she thought better of the whole thing. Maybe she liked the way he danced. She came out and apologized just as he was leaving . . .

 In his very fast car. (I can’t help but think she would worry to see anyone zooming off in a fast car.) I would rather have Tom, but this guy looks OK.  He seems to be of her ilk.  Can give as good as he gets.  If that’s the way they want to live.

Through the whole show these two kept having private little wine tastings. 

Then he bought a house and put both their names on it . . .

Then he shocked everyone by saying the magic words “I DO want to be stuck with you.  Will you marry me?”

And despite the very obvious missing kisses (my whole self was saying KISS KISS KISS but it didn’t happen), we all cried, even our darling booby sweetheart Carson cried.  Did you know?  It’s Elsie and Charles. ♥ 

Please, please, please, can we PLEASE go to the wedding?  I would also like a tour of the new house and maybe just one little cup of tea and a biscuit with the newlyweds.

There is so much more that I didn’t even get to, but I think WordPress is going to kick me out if I make this much longer!  What a show, what a wonderful show.

And there they go!  Off away from us for another year.  My new prayer?  Downton Abbey, the movie.  In Juilan Fellowes’ spare time please.

And just so you know, when I’m not with you, I’m not dilly-dallying-doing-nothing, I am writing a romantic kind of book that I think might be just your cup of tea, a little history, a little creativity, a little love story.  And, it has come to my attention, that in order to fit everything I want into my new book ~ all the photos and watercolors and other fun things, and not have it be the size of War and Peace, I will have to make it two books!  What a relief to finally figure that out!  Which means, I am sending the first book off to the editor in about a week.  We are getting closer. 

The other thing, I have a special give-away for you, something I KNOW you will like . . . but it’ll have to go in the next post because this one is too crazy long. Love you Girls and Boys . . . Downton Abbey Forever! XOXO

DON’T CALL ME DONK

Warning, I’m about to spill the beans on Downton Abbey Season 5 Episode 7 . . . if you haven’t seen it yet, this is your fair warning alert. MUSICA! (Don’t worry you non-watchers, for better or for worse, soon we’ll be back to our regularly scheduled programing); next week is the last episode of Downton Abbey until January 2016. I’m sure you can hear the sobbing all the way from here.

First off, have I told you how much I love Downton Abbey?

Some of my favorite things this week (how do you choose) were Daisy’s gorgeous wedding cakes with the delicate pink roses . . .

  …the array of sparkly tiaras, filigree head pieces and . . .

   . . . most especially, the amazing hats . . . (nasty bigot “Susan”, poorly named bad mother on the left, we could do without.  Put the hat and the outfit in a box, mail it to me, and then go.)

Loved all the hats except this one . . . give the poor albino rooster back his feathers.  This hat would be so distracting to talk to. 

Despite that one indiscretion, Edith looked prettier and happier than I’ve ever seen her . . .  Yay for her and Marigold!

I loved all the wonderful scenes of rapport between Carson and Mrs. Hughes, like this little exchange . . .

Carson: I’m not prejudiced, Mrs. Hughes, you can accuse me of many things but not that.

Mrs. Hughes: How about lack of self-knowledge?

Remember last year when they were at the beach? So cute. I have never stopped hoping these two will get together. Take her hand you crazy loon!

No one ever wears the same thing twice, every scene comes with new clothes; I loved both of these outfits . . . each one perfect for the person wearing it.

RoseGold!

Isobel sparkles! That glittery strap and the beads on the dress, her hair comb, earrings, cocktail glass . . .

I welled up with tears twice during this episode. Once when Daisy said she was giving her notice ~ tears popped into my eyes, Oh nooooo, I cried to the TV, Joe looking at me like I just came in wearing a chicken suit; I think I was more upset than Mrs. Patmore. 

and the other teary moment is when Daisy changed her mind and told us she was staying. HOORAY! What a roller coaster ride! I love Daisy’s spirit:”Life is full of possibilities.” I never want her to go anywhere except if she becomes Cake Maker to the Queen. Mrs. Patmore could marry Daisy’s ex-father-in-law, they could all move to the farm, and use their own fresh organic eggs and butter for those cakes, and live happily ever after.

Maybe Cora would loan them some of her gorgeous pots and pans.

If being called Donk means you become a person as sweet as Robert was in this episode, then call me Donk. (Well, no, just call him Donk.) He accepted Marigold as his granddaughter with hardly a blink of his aristocratic eye and he figured it out all by himself!

He told Cora he’ll keep the secret ~ not that there are very many people left who don’t already know . . . I think maybe Mary will be the last on her block to know (or care) ~ I assume she will have something horrible to say . . .  

Robert was so good to apologize to Cora for not trusting her during the Bricker incident. And selling that painting, not only to get the money to build his lovely village, but because every time he looks at the painting he’s reminded how terribly he behaved!  You just want to give him another medal!

What a hero!  The way he surprised Mrs. Patmore, all on his own to make a special memorial to her nephew, Archie, was such a dear thing to do.

He made her so happy ~ he didn’t have to do that.  But he did. Endearing himself to the entire town, I’m sure.  His open-mindedness, in a time of not-so-much, about Rose’s new in-laws, the look on Cora’s face, how proud of him she is . . . and  getting down on the floor to play games with his grandchildren.♥ He’s leaving behind the thankless and isolating job of being a Patriarch with a capitol P and becoming a person.

And Tom, equally wonderful. Caring for both Edith and Mary and both of them showing they adore him too.

(More like a brother it seems, too bad.)I know Mary has issues ~ joking that if she murders her sister Edith, it will be Tom’s fault for leaving, is just her way of saying I love you.

Tom encourages Edith about her writing.  Everyone relies on Tom ~ especially to help keep Downton afloat. He won’t let them down. (Or he wouldn’t, I’m sure, if he was real.)

And now a couple of last thoughts . . . Even when Barrow is “nice,” it’s a nice so dark and devious, you can’t trust it, and to finish his good deed by saying just “Tell Uncle Thomas?” Yikes.  I don’t think so.

Is anyone else having second thoughts about Prince Kuragin who seems to only have one redeeming quality, which is his often repeated desire to ravage Violet for the rest of their lives? He is going to need something else if he wants a “yes” from our queen, (i.e.  Does he read poetry out loud? Is he good at Whist? Is he funny? Can he tell jokes? Play the piano?  Make bread? Anything?) Especially since he’s still married and has no job. Those are two big strikes already.  

 Last but not least, taking Anna to jail is senseless and wrong. If she pushed him, she pushed him. Leave them alone, and let’s go get that guest house.

Loved the walk back to the Abbey, hearing what everyone thinks.  But I’ve been thinking they should plant bushes around the house.  It’s so stark and cold.  A tree or maybe some roses growing over the windows?

Something a little fluffy to soften those walls and spires.

So, what’d you think? Any new revelations?

The other thing for a complete Sunday Night wrap-up, did you see Lady GaGa sing a medley of songs from the Sound of Music at the Oscar’s? If not, get a tissue and then go HERE. Watch the way it ends . . .

Here’s what else is going on around here…

In Suenton Abbey . . . My dining room floor . . . call the butler!

OK, yeah, call the plumber . . .

They think they’ve found the leak ; this is a whole new point of interest for Jack and Girl Kitty.

We’re still buried in snow . . . but Joe took me for an airing and we stopped at the flower shop . . . it smelled like spring in there!

A gerbera daisy looks out at the bird feeders . . .

the perfect pick me up for the kitchen table . . . peach carnations and alstroemeria.

And I get up every morning and work on the new book all day ~ it’s almost all I think about. I couldn’t be happier.  Hope all is well with you!  Salmon for dinner, with spinach and green beans.  Lost six lbs.  On purpose.  Must come out of this winter with something! (Or actually, without so much!)  XOXO

Another Snow Day . . .

Good morning Girlfriends . . . go get a cup of tea.  I have mine, plus a toasted English Muffin; my feet are cozy inside my shoes which were pre-warmed in front of the furnace grill; it’s snowing outside my windows, big floaty flakes just like the ones at the end of Bridget Jones Diary where Renee Zellweger and Colin Firth kiss in the snow? (Bad language alert, Colin Firth is a very bad boy.) Our snow is just like that! Only more of it and we are wearing everything we own, indoors (But I’m sure if I was her I would not have felt the cold either). 

 MUSICA?  Oui! I’m trying to learn how to get the camera to focus on the snowflakes; this picture turned out pretty good.  Life goes on as usual around here in Smallville.  The good news is, my studio is clean; I can see the floor for the first time in weeks.  As recently as yesterday the room could have been used in a promo for an episode of Hoarding ~ I haven’t been able to vacuum the whole room for way too long, the floor was covered with calendar page layouts, counter tops were stacked with paper, trash was overflowing.  But yesterday I started clearing it up ~ it’s my favorite thing about finishing a project, I get to make a clean slate.  And when I came in this morning I was greeted with lots of open space, no tripping hazards, nothing on countertops. As a person with a Capricorn Moon, I have neat-freak blood in me; not to have neatness for long periods of time makes me cranky. So this is good. I can begin again.

Are you ready? Downton? Me, too. Loved Sunday night! I should remember (for once) to start with a Spoiler Alert.  I’m about to talk about Season 5 Episode 7 of Downton Abbey.  If you haven’t seen it, you should skip to the part down below about the lambs and the snow.

FYI, next week is the last episode for this season ~ the next Sunday we get what they are calling the “Christmas Special” and then it’s over ~ no new episodes until next January when Season Six begins.  We are going to be forced to wean ourselves, a very unfair thing to have to do.  And next season will be doubly bittersweet.  We will settle in for the winter all cozy with Downton, but the last episode of next year will be the very end of Downton Abbey forever.  I’m already crying. 

But let’s not go there.  Let’s go back to last Sunday night . . . Let’s see, where do we start?

How about we start with Mary? I took pictures of the TV screen, trying to capture some of their fabulous coats.  Look at the detail on the sleeves and collar.  So beautiful, looks like cashmere too.  Did you notice that Mary has just become extremely available?   One minute it’s raining men, and now they are both GONE, she is alone with zero prospects.  How odd.

BUT, this leaves Mary wide open for my surprise ending for the season . . . Mary and Tom.  (I should say: I KNOW nothing, this is just my hope and prayer ~ not a spoiler in any way.)  I think they should get together, because a.) Tom simply can’t go to America for more reasons than one and b.) despite her unbearable self-adoration and haughty attitude, first, and I think, foremost, Mary is a practical person (hence “throw money at the Pig Farmer family re: the Marigold situation” as most expedient way to go). So is Tom. Practical. And Tom is the lifeblood of Downton.  If he goes, the estate is doomed to rack and ruin, Robert will gamble it away or do something equally stupid, or should I say naive, with Downton Abbey as pawn.  And, like Scarlett O’Hara and Tara, Mary loves Downton more than any other thing.  This gives Tom and Mary the third most important thing in a relationship, something they could love together and separately outside of their relationship. (This is probably much too deep considering these people do not actually exist and there will be no marriage or relationship to be inside or out of? Ignoring myself, I drone on . . .)   So the pluses are that they would have each other, they would have their children (who must, by now, think they are brother and sister) and they would have Downton to care for.  It makes sense.

Could someone please get Julian Fellowes on the phone for me? (btw, we have other questions for him; I mean did he really have to let Isis die to move the story forward?  Was that necessary?. . . yes, the dog had an unfortunate name, but still ~ that was very sad ~ and if he can do that gratuitous heart-breaking removal of a wonderful dog, he can certainly allow Mary to marry her dead sister’s commoner widower).  Anyway, next week Tom could turn to Mary and say, Hey, I just noticed ~ I’m single, you’re single, I’m normal, you’re not but I could help you with that, our children already think they’re related, you love Downton, I love Downton, you’re gorgeous, let’s get married and turn the castle into the kind of place they will use for filming lovely English movies in the future thereby saving it for tours for the Anglophile Americans who love it all so much!  WHAT a good idea!  And didn’t you love the scene with adorable Sybie with Tom on the bridge?  What a natural actress that little girl is ~ those big eyes of hers, so innocent and sweet.

She looks just like her father. Mary would love a little girl like that.  And speaking of mothering . . .

Good job Cora!!! Wasn’t she magnificent?  Swooping in to save her child and grandchild with perfect common sense and no other thought than, bring them home! Well done you!

Negotiating everything wearing another fabulous coat. Then she brought Isis into the bed with Robert, perfection and strength of character.

 Then there are Lord Merton’s hideous sons. Larry (poor suffering thing, didn’t you feel terrible when you learned that Lord Larry had to wait in the car) and the other brother, Tim, wasn’t any better. You all remember that Larry drugged Tom (so he would appear drunk) at dinner in an earlier episode and everyone knew it?  I mean, would you invite him back? Never! I thought I’d seen it all with Miss Bunting, but no.  The people on Downton are brilliant at choosing clothes, their coats and hats deserve to be in the hall of fame, they have great taste in art and set a beautiful table, but they are terrible at choosing dinner party guests.

Mrs. Hughes would do a much better job than they do. They should run everything by her. Lord Merton says his boys are “just like their mother.” Poor guy! And poor Mrs. Crawley (Isobel).  I could not marry anyone who had children like that.  I would be afraid of poison. I would rather move in with Violet, have lots of tea parties, and help her fire her whiny interrupting Butler. But of course you wouldn’t do that if you were Isobel, your heart is too big and you care so much for the downtrodden common folk.

Violet, aka the Dowager Countess, aka Granny, was in fine form as usual.  The scene at tea with Mary (did you love Mary’s hat?) when she said she was going to miss Isobel’s friendship when she goes off to marry Lord Merton? Wasn’t that sweet? Violet has much too much gravitas to waste any time whatsoever with something as mundane and boring as jealousy.

We knew that. Queens don’t get jealous, and Violet is a pure queen. And earlier, in the train station, when she was telling her daughter Rosamund (who was wearing a surprisingly unflattering organ-grinder monkey’s hat) ~  that they had to tell Cora that Marigold was really Edith’s daughter because (go slow here, this will require thinking), since Cora is Edith’s mother, Violet felt Cora “had the right to know” ~ Rosamund (who is  Robert’s sister) said, “How about the father’s rights, are you going to tell Robert?”  Violet (mother of Robert) said with roll of eyes and little corner-lip-tic, “No. He’s a man. Men don’t have rights.”  I’m sure Mr. Fellowes gave himself a little chuckle with that one. Violet also provided Mary with huge food for thought when Mary made a disparaging remark about Edith during dinner, Violet leaned in and mentioned that, “lack of compassion was as vulgar” as crying all over everyone ~ I gave a little applause there (although it wasn’t totally fair because Violet knows what’s been going on and Mary doesn’t) . . . I can’t imagine a word that would be more abhorrent to Mary than to be called vulgar, especially by Granny. But for Mary, I agree, in general, compassion would be a gift. I say that with love.  For the nonexistent character of Mary.  

There’s more, Rose is engaged!  Love that!  Hope we get a wedding next week, a slow wedding that takes the entire hour with closeups of all the jewelry, the gifts, the food, hems and shoes and hair clips.  Baxter tries so hard to have friends, but as ex-con jewel thief and police informant, it’s hard for her to make inroads and become “one of the guys.”  I like her, I feel sorry for her too. And, I found it odd that lurking Barrow the Butler was so nice.  What’s he up to?  OK, that’s enough, I know you guys would like to get a word in edgewise . . .

Just a couple more things to catch up . . . as you’ll notice on your calendar, Chinese New Year is February 19th . . . that’s when it officially becomes “The Year of the Lamb (or Sheep or Goat).” People born under the sign of the Lamb are known to be good-hearted.  I was born under the sign of the Pig (of course, wouldn’t you just know) ~ we are known for being light-hearted and falling asleep easily.  Anyway, to me it’s a good sign . . . A FINE ROMANCE will be published in China in this Year of the Lamb.  Isn’t that perfect?  The book will be out in September.  I can hardly wait to see what it looks like written in Chinese!  How will they do this?  My publisher said they would find a “hand-writing Chinese font” to translate it with, they would like to keep it looking as if it’s handwritten.  I don’t know if I could even tell the difference.  I’ve never had any of my books translated into another language, so I’m very excited to see this.  I’m not planning to carry it in our store because no one I know can read Chinese . . . but in case you want one, please let me know, if enough of you say you’d like to have one, we can maybe do a pre-order for them. I don’t actually know if they would sell them to me, so I’d have to check into that.

YEAR OF THE LAMB . . . is also the year of the never-ending snow storms.  But we don’t mind . . . we fall asleep easily.

We do the pig thing, and eat constantly. 

Here’s our view through the storm door out front . . . There is a mountain of snow pushed up against the curb, the truck is on the other side of it.

The view from the kitchen window is like a Christmas card. I have say, even after all these years, I never look at a scene like this without marveling, oh how gorgeous.

This is how windy it was . . . so windy we have bent icicles . . 

The view across the street . . .

I took Jack to have a peek out the front storm door . . .

He found it quite interesting . . . and made his darling self quite comfortable.

This is the lock on the storm door.  It looks tight as a drum to our eye, but there must be a hair-line whisper of an opening because a pile of snow has formed inside, on the lock.

It’s not a snow day, it’s a snow month.

The beat goes on for these guys.  As long as we keep the feeders full, they are fat and happy.

Isn’t he pretty?

OK, everyone, hope you enjoyed everything today ~ off I go.  Hope you are all keeping warm and enjoying your winter.  Have faith, it can’t last much longer . . .  Love you . . . Byeeee XOXO