Books I Love: Charlotte’s Web; Cold Sassy Tree; The House on Mango Street; Catherine, Called Birdy; Persuasion; Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry; Peace Like a Rive; Pride and Prejudice; True Grit; A Thousand Acres; A River Runs Through It; Wish; The One and Only Ivan; Flora and Ulysses; Merci Suarez Changes Gear; Heart of a Shepherd.

Books I loved as a child: Everything by Beverly Cleary (including Fifteen, The Luckiest Girl, and Jean and Johnny). All of Judy Blume, but especially Tiger Eyes. Homer Price; Encyclopedia Brown; Stuart Little; Cheaper by the Dozen; Charlotte’s Web; The Little House on the Prairie series; Mary Poppins; The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy; the Frog and Toad books; The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.

Imaginary best friend(s): Ramona Quimby, Ribsy, and India Opal Bulloni.

Real life best friend: My husband, John.

Things I love:  Ice-cream, road trips, rivers, barbecue potato chips, heavy pens, singing while driving, Crater Lake (and the trail up Mt. Scott), sunflower seeds, animals, the Klamath Basin in the spring, bookstores, puns, spaghetti, birds in my feeder, a new journal, The Guardian’s Blind Date column, The Guyliner, lilacs, Petroglyph Point (and the Lava Beds National Monument), freshly cut hay, blue ink, the Oregon coast, when things work out.

My super powers: Finding lost items, letting other people talk, attracting strays – pets and people.

Things most people don’t know about me:  I once discovered an opal deposit in the woods and filed a claim on it like an old west gold miner. I’ve rafted the Colorado River through The Grand Canyon. I summited Mt. Shasta despite suffering from altitude sickness. I have a black belt in aikido. I bake a pretty amazing batch of brownies. I hate folding laundry. I’ll share the last bite of chocolate.