❤️ of the Home - December

❤️ of the Home - November

Susan Branch's illustrations capture Autumn at its best.  By November Autumn is well on its way to becoming winter in the northern climes.  We start thinking about Thanksgiving, making our menu, preparing bedrooms for our guests. . . .

❤️ Of the Home - October

❤️ of the Home - September

❤️ of the Home - August

❤️❤️A monthly post dedicated to Susan Branch❤️❤️

Growing herbs is fun because you can grow them in pots near your kitchen door. . . .

❤️ of the Home - July

 July 4th is a BIG holiday in America--our Independence Day.  It represents all that we hold dear about America--our freedoms for ALL.  Susan proudly hangs her flag. . . .

❤️ of the Home - June

June is the month you get out of prison--otherwise known as school.  Even as a parent I looked forward to the end of the school year so that I could have my children home with me.  What I didn't look forward to was the heat and humidity.  Susan Branch writes about how she dealt with hot summer days when she was a child. . . .

❤️ of the Home - May

❤️ of the Home - April

Now that March winds have simmered down we can look forward to April showers bringing May flowers. . . .

❤️ of the Home - March

March is a transition month.  It's the month that can't make up its mind between Winter and Spring!  Susan Branch's March 2017 calendar page encourages us to keep a diary, which is a good way to deal with fickle March because it gives us a way to express our feelings. . . .

❤️ of the Home - February

    

          

February is the L❤️VE month because of Valentine's Day.  Susan Branch shares her recipes for a romantic dinner for two HERE.  Click on the recipe title to go to it.

❤️ of the Home - January

How do you bring in the new year?  This year on the first of each month I'm featuring Susan Branch's ❤️Heart of the Home❤️ sensibilities using illustrations and quotes from her calendars and books.  She is an author/illustrator, and whether she intended to be or not, a lifestyle maven for her many followers, affectionately known as Friends of Susan Branch (F.O.S.B.)   She keeps in touch with her "friends" via her BLOG, FACEBOOK page, and TWITTER.  Do not be surprised if she responds to your comments because she values hearing from us all.  You will soon feel as though you ARE a friend!

Besides her many cookbooks and memoirs she has calendars, scrapbook pages/stickers, journals, stationery, and a host of other things which can be found HERE on her website's shopping page.  And while you're at her website print out this year's Full Moon Bookmark found on her FREE STUFF page. . . .

April Celebrations

I've chosen this month's recipe from Martha Mason Campbell's "The New England Butt'ry Cookbook"  This is a companion book to the Almanac which Tasha Tudor also illustrated.   Mrs. Campbell writes, "Many years ago, the Easter cake was a graduated four-layer one made just for us by the German baker in town....There were tiny frosting chickens and ducks and lambs, birds and butterflies, an angel or two, and many delicately wrought frosting flowers and vines.  On the very top was a little cottage of cake and frosting with a fence and roses climbing over the door.  The top three layers were carefully removed at the dinner table and put back into the paper cake box.  On the morrow, in turns each year, the children took it to school to share with their classmates.  The family ate the festooned bottom layer.  The baker has long gone and our cake today is not the glorious creation he would have made of it, but we still yellow-frost our lemon sponge Easter Cake and do our best with the decorations.

Tasha Tudor's memories for Easter include hot cross buns and decorated eggs they'd hang from a tree branch and set on their dining table (click on photos to enlarge). . . .

"A Time to Keep"

April was also the time of year that the new crop of baby animals were out romping about the farm yard. . . .

"A Time to Keep"

April was when the birds would return and the showers would give hope to the May flowers that would soon appear. . . .

"Around the Year"

"Around the Year"

Two years ago Easter our first grandchild was just 11 days old.  Both sets of grandparents and our son's siblings all gathered at our youngest son's apartment to celebrate Easter and the newest member to our family.  I baked this cake using Susan Branch's recipe. . . .

Here is Susan's recipe. . . .

Then last year both families got together to celebrate her first birthday four days early on Easter with an egg hunt. . . .

This year Olivia didn't need any help looking for eggs. . . .

                   
When I was little I loved hunting for eggs on Mamaw and Papaw's farm.  I was 2½ in this photo with my daddy . . .

When our two oldest boys were 2 and 5 there was one Easter morning I remember vividly.  We were all at the breakfast table in front of the window that overlooked the porch.  Our eyes were closed to say grace.  When the boys opened their eyes they saw two candy-filled baskets on the porch that hadn't been there before.  I'd opened my eyes early, just in time to catch a surprised glimpse of my neighbor slinking away.  I do believe they believed in the Easter Bunny THAT year.

Do you have special memories of Easter?  Did you prepare a special cake this past Easter?

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Take Joy!

Repose of the Soul

"We have all met her, that special woman who draws you into her orb with a radiant smile.  Her eyes light up as you tell her how you've been.  She attracts men, women, children, and animals, for her complete attention is soothing and hypnotic.  When you walk away from her you feel as if you have been bathed in a beautiful warm light."   --Sarah Ban Breathnach, "Simple Abundance"

When I read Sarah's description of the type of woman that makes you feel "bathed in a beautiful warm light" I immediately thought of Susan Branch.  I took this photo at a book signing in 2014 as the couple in front of me were getting their book signed by Susan.  As you can see, Susan had a big smile on her face.  I was the last in line and she'd been signing for over an hour!  When it was my turn she rose up out of her chair and hugged me when I told her my name because she recognized it from all the comments I've made on her web journal over the years. . . .

Bringing joy to her readers is one of Susan's hallmarks.  She has been someone I've aspired to be like, besides wanting to draw and paint as she does.  I practice my handwriting in hopes one day it will suddenly look like hers, but practicing her warmth does not come easily to me.   She does not profess to be an outgoing person, yet she gives you her full attention and makes you feel special while you are in her "orb."  So I was glad to read further in Sarah Ban Breathnach's "Simple Abundance" how I might acquire this ability. . . .

Sarah reminds me that if I will take the time to "step outside my own sphere to embrace others, [I] open [myself] up to the power of Spirit. "  She says, "We are suddenly lit up from inside, and this illumination can transform our looks more effectively than any fancy salon beauty makeover."  This, indeed, is repose of the soul.

P.S.  If you want to print out Sarah's quote with Susan's artwork, drag it to your computer desktop.

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Take Joy!

Susan Branch Christmas Luncheon

♫I'll Be Home For Christmas♫

The Take Joy Society got together today for a Susan Branch Christmas Luncheon.  I've been a fan of Susan's art for years.  I was finally able to meet her at the Friends of Gladys Taber Reunion last year.  She is a gracious and inspiring lady, always full of joy for life and people.

While I finished getting everything ready in the kitchen with the help of my terrific husband, everyone had a chance to look through Susan's books. . . .

There was so much more I could have put out:  calendars, recipe holder books, scrapbook pages, journals of all kinds!

I used recipes from Susan's books and website.  I served Cucumber, Egg Salad, and Chicken Salad sandwiches.  I liked the added touch of minced parsley on the edges of the cucumber sandwiches. . . .

I decided to omit the endive in the Orange Watercress Salad as Susan suggested if the endive was too bitter, and it was fine without it. . . .

I used raspberries and blackberries in the Fresh Fruit Salad.  The topping made it a real treat . . . .

And the Rice Pudding, hot right out of the oven, was a hit--real comfort food. . . .

My table was decorated in the style of Susan Branch. . . .

........With dangling prisms on candle bobeches, Rose Chintz dishes, Christmas crackers as name placecards (mine contained chocolate kisses).  It was even remarked that the wrapping paper on my gift to my guests, "Christmas Joys," looked like Susan's style of painting. . . . .

Here we are ready to eat.  Two of our members were not able to join us for lunch, unfortunately. . . .

 After lunch we exchanged gifts--handmade ornaments. . . .

I herded everyone downstairs so we could look at Susan's Blog on the big Screen TV.  I showed them these Christmas-themed posts by Susan as well as Yankee Magazine's photo shoot:

Bon-Bons!

How to Make a Wreath

On With the Dance!

Yankee Magazine

I had several crafts in mind for us:  Moravian Stars and Snowflakes (click for tutorials), but I decided on this Christmas Star.  They are really easy to make.  Here is a tutorial:

              

Here are the ones we made. . . .

I thought they'd be nice to string on a ribbon to make a garland.

By now it was mid-afternoon--time for a tea break.  I served Lemon Pepper Tea Biscuits,  Ginger Crisps, and Snowballs along with Susan's Apricot Jam Tea. . . .

I made these in my heart-shaped cast iron pan.  I love pepper, but I think I got carried away with TOO much pepper on mine and not enough sugar. . . .

 Susan also makes these with chocolate chips.  You can find that recipe on this post.

These turned out great. . . .

 as did these. . . .

We discussed our upcoming plans:  a class on writing a children's picture book led by Edie (who is a published author) with a visit to a nearby Museum that is featuring the art of the Little Golden Books; a Beatrix Potter/Peter Rabbit-themed afternoon; a plant shopping expedition to Landis Valley Villages's annual plant sale, and our postponed Grandma Moses Painting Party.  We ended the afternoon finding out whose tea cup saucer had the Susan Branch sticker affixed to the bottom.   It was Carol!  Which meant she won Susan's first cookbook:  HEART OF THE HOME. . . .

Susan's latest book is The Fairy Tale Girl. . . .

Based on the diaries Susan has kept since she was in her twenties, The Fairy Tale Girl is an illustrated memoir filled with original watercolors and personal photographs. Susan's new book is an age-old story of love and loss, mystery and magic that begins in a geranium-colored house in California and ends up, like any good fairy tale, on the right side of the rabbit hole, in a small cottage in the woods on the New England Island of Martha's Vineyard. 

The sequel to this book, MARTHA'S VINEYARD ISLE OF DREAMS, will be out in the Spring and can be pre-ordered  HERE.

Check out Susan's Blog:  www.susanbranch.com


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Take Joy!