As I write you today, I’m listening to Pandora radio, station of Doris Day.

Sometimes I think I was born in the wrong century or perhaps I lived another life. I love this type of music, nostalgia, vintage and old things. I think it’s perhaps why reading Susan Branch’s trilogy memoir recently resonated with me. So much so, I can’t get the books, her house on Martha’s Vineyard, and her way of life out of my head!

It’s a good thing though. There is something so comforting in her writing and how she lives a simple life.

And her gardens, well, I was so jealous (a good jealous!) when I saw photos on her blog.

And then I realized (terrible me!) that I posted photos on Facebook earlier this week of our new landscaping, but didn’t share here on my blog for you, my dear readers, as I had promised. I’m going to blame it on all the excitement and menopausal brain. Grin.

But since our landscaping has been complete I’m feeling like Susan Branch with a bit of Tasha Tudor and Beatrix Potter rolled in. In fact, John has been calling me Tasha Jr. as I work on keeping up with the watering (tee hee!).

But every morning, I can hardly wait to open the blinds and look outside. And sometimes I just want to cry – happy tears, of course.

I’ve always been a homebody and I can’t help but think back to when times were tough with the economy crash in 2008. We were scared of losing John’s construction business and our home. But we hunkered down and knew we could ride the storm out and live frugally. And we did.

And in many ways we still do. But having landscaping done has been all the more sweeter when we think about the tough times. We are appreciating it and enjoying it even more now.

I keep pinching myself when I walk around my writing cottage each day as I take in all the beauty of the sweet little shrubs and the perennials that will bloom in the near future. When we built my little space in 2007 we had planned to add plants, but then had to buckle down with the bad economy.

I’m especially tickled pink at the rock hill that leads down to the egress window of our lower level (well, okay, also known as a basement – but it does not feel that way because it is all fixed up).

Downstairs is where I hold my SoulCollage(r) workshops and the view out the window now is stunning!  Here is the view below looking out from lower level.

It feels like the outside is part of the inside, and I couldn’t be happier!

When my friend, Shannon stopped over the other night, I gave her a tour around the house. She said, “I remember when we got new landscaping at our house up north. I felt like the luckiest girl in the world!”

And you know what? That is exactly it! I, too, feel like the luckiest girl in the world!

Thank you again to Willow Wood Acres and Land Steward for a beautiful design and job well done!

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