1. What’s the best beach or lake day you can remember? I'm breaking rules and answering about a river. My uncle had a cabin on Rock River in Fort Atkinson, WI. I was having trouble with my then-boyfriend and escaped up there. I remember a lovely, peaceful day, drinking santgria in the sun.
2. Describe your ideal picnic lunch. Cold fried chicken, potato salad, watermelon, Coke.
3. What flowers are in your bouquet? I like carnations. It makes me sad to watch flowers die, so hardy carnations are my favorite. They come in so many colors and last so long.
4. Silly ways to pass the time during a snowstorm. Games are good. I remember a snowy day with my nephew when he was very young, playing Yahtzee and Clue (which is really silly with two people but he was little and it kept him amused).
5. The most beautiful house you’ve ever visited. I don't know that it's the most beautiful, but I really enjoyed touring the Peyton Randolph House in Colonial Williamsburg. It gives you a very good idea of how well-to-do Americans lived at our nation's inception. George and Martha Washington and Thomas Jefferson all hung out here. The Randolph family prided themselves on being good and benevolent owners because they taught their slaves reading and math. However, there was also no missing the difference between the glorious big house and the humble slave quarters. Once the children became of age, the Randolphs had no problem selling them, thereby tearing families apart. It gave me a sobering lesson about slavery's effects and how the slave owners deluded themselves about what they were doing.
6. Best place you ever dined. Last winter I had a completely awesome slice of prime rib, a baked potato and a bowl of onion soup. I remember it well because the restaurant itself was so deceptive. Lots of dark paneling and a neon Old Style sign over the bar. The tables were too close together and waitresses call you "honey." Very old-school Chicago. When you come in, you have no idea you're about to enjoy a genuinely sublime meal.
7. How many layers to your ice cream sandwich. Three. Cookie/ice cream/cookie.
8. Pretty things which are faux patent leather. When I was a little girl I had a black patent leather purse with a gold clasp that I carried to church. I kept cough drops and Kleenex and a comb and my quarter for the offering plate in there. I loved it, but it cracked and got icky pretty quick.
9. What is the best way to eat chocolate. I can't think of a bad way to each chocolate.
10. Describe your unicorn’s special magic. I have a unicorn? Well, maybe I will if the Cubs sign Shohei Ohtani in the offseason, but right now, to my knowledge, I am unicorn free.
11. All the fruits in your fruit salad. Watermelon, bananas, apples, grapes, raisins. (Are grapes and raisins redundant? I'd like both because of the different textures.)
12. Describe the soil, grass, trees, flowers and rocks in your magical forest. The soil is rich, the grass is green, the trees are leafy, the flowers are colorful and the rocks are big enough for me to perch upon when I come here to read.
13. The lyrics which move you the most are: "I'm ready to grow young again," The Boss, No Surrender.
14. What are the best sauces in the world? I like marinara sauce, barbecue sauce and mild sauce -- though not together, of course.
15. Write a haiku about nature.
Don’t be so bossy
I don't perform on demand
I don’t like haiku
