A trip to Falmouth and meeting Susan Branch

 How can I call myself a blogger when I haven't even checked in in 2 months? I can't believe my last post was about my day trip to Maine! I am sorry and I am going to do my best to catch up this week. I've done some interesting things and I want to share them all with you before we get into Christmas overload.

Earlier this month, I took a trip to Falmouth, MA which is about an hour and a half south of where I live. The purpose was two fold, to catch up with my friend Wendy and to see Susan Branch. Oh and also to visit Cape Cod. It's been a long time since I've been to the Cape,

Falmouth is such a pretty town with a charming downtown. I was ecstatic when I got a parking space right away. Aren't the street signs adorable?

 Wendy lives about a half hour away so she had me pick a place to meet up. I turned to Yelp since I really didn't know the area well. I chose Maison Villatte. It had great reviews and the location was perfect.

I arrived about 30 minutes earlier than Wendy. I didn't trust the Boston traffic plus it was raining and windy when I left my condo so I gave myself 2 hours to get there. I faced very little traffic thankfully and I had time to kill. Luckily, I met a lovely woman from Charlotte, North Carolina named Ella. She sat next to me at the patisserie.  Her friend Pat joined us and I found out they were also going to the Susan Branch event at the West Falmouth Library. Wendy arrived and we had some quiche for a quick bite. We continued to chat with Ella and Pat.

 After our snack, we arrived at the West Falmouth Library. The outside looked so charming I just knew the inside would not disappoint.

And it did not disappoint, just look at those windows! There was a nice sized crowd for Susan's talk.
I wish I had been seated a little closer to the front, it would have made for better photos.

 Susan read from the first chapter of her new book which is going to be called Enchanted. It is not even out yet but we got a sneak peak! Susan read about taking her nieces on a trip on the QE2 to England when the girls were young.

Here's another view of the lovely library and the crowd.

I didn't have Susan sign any books for me. I think I have almost all of them and many are already signed. Susan is always so gracious to her fans. Conversing with each one as if no one else is in the room. She has a way of making you feel special.

She always has a smile on her face even after two hours of signing books.

I was lucky to catch a shot of Joe too. Joe is Susan's significant other. You may know him from her books. He is the sweetest man. I brought Susan a gift but didn't want to stand in the long line so I gave the present to Joe. He shook my hand and made sure he remembered my name.

Susan's book signings are always like a tea party with friends. I am not sure who baked but they outdid themselves. I couldn't believe the variety of treats, some had recipes posted next to them.

So many choices, so little time.

Here's a closer look at the goodies.

I didn't try the squash muffins but they looked good.

Ooh, lemon squares. My favorite! 

We saw Susan's van on the way out of the library.

We decided to head back to the downtown so we could check out some stores we had missed. Here's Wendy. We also checked out a tearoom for a future visit.

And here is the inside of Molly's Tearoom in Falmouth. Definitely coming back for a visit!

I love the word Emporium. It reminds me of the movie It's A Wonderful Life and I always think that something called an Emporium will have interesting things beyond it's front door.

Sure enough, I was right! Look at that tin ceiling from another era.

So many chocolates to choose from. I left with some dark chocolate sea salt caramels. Yum!

Again, I love those street signs. I need them in my hometown.

And who doesn't love a small business merchant who cares about dogs? Thank you to the owners of Eight Cousins bookstore for thinking of our four- legged friends.

 And speaking of four-legged friends, meet Roo an 11 week old bulldog. He was so adorable and well behaved! I wish I could remember the store where I saw him. I would love to go back and see him again.

Such a cute town, Falmouth and such a perfect day spent with Wendy and of course, Susan Branch. There's nothing like Autumn in New England.

If you are reading this post, I hope you will come back soon. I hope to write another post this week.