Describe your ideal picnic lunch. Where would you go? Who (if anyone, and yes there can be multiple people) would accompany you? What sort of food would you take? And, of course, if a picnic lunch sounds like a horrible idea, feel free to say so!

Oo. Can I have two? The first would be DH & Tiny C & our friends M & J & their little guy & C & E & their three girls - a big kid-friendly picnic. We'd find a grassy area overlooking a nice sandy beach - it'd be a New England summer day, not too hot. The food would be straight out of Donna Hay - pressed loaf sandwiches, bahn mi, grape leaves, pasties, brioche pockets, raspberry coconut slice, a big jar of lemonade, G&Ts for the big people. There would be kites & coloring books & digging in the sand, and shoes would be forbidden. We'd spread out on old cotton quilts & watch the birds sail overhead...

The second would be also on the beach, but at dusk, with a pit fire. In attendance: Tom Waits, Georgia O'Keefe, Kate Winslet, & a bunch of goofy indie rock boys. Tom & Georgia would get intensely drunk & sit around the fire thrashing out The Artist's Way. The boys would be off in the distance cavorting & doing stupid boy tricks. And Kate & I would get tipsy & cuddly & lie with our heads together & look at the stars & talk like we were 14...

Do you like pinup art/images?

Not a rabid fan, but I do appreciate some artful curves

Who are your BPAL forum buddies? You know, people I could conspire with to Witch you!

Hoo boy. You'd have MORE than willing accomplices in zankoku_zen, Wwindy, Apple & ifinena. They are all deliciously evil & I love them

What are your plans for Halloween? Have you made any yet? Do you have any traditions?

Once I get John the Baptist's head on its way We'll get Tiny C dressed up, and he & DH will make the neighborhood rounds with the rest of the kids & dads - we moms sit on the porches & dole out candy. I demand a song or dance from the older kids! Some of the offerings are pretty entertaining

You're in the kitchen at the end of a pay period and groceries are pretty scarce. Do you take the five ingredients you find first and make something fabulous, or do you order take out?

Depends on time, mood & what I've got. We've ordered sushi faaar too often recently. I am the queen of making something out of nothing, though.

If you could decorate/redecorate any 1 room in your home, what would it be and how would you decorate it?

The bathroom - it needs a complete gutting, down to the studs, so it's a long-term project. When we finally re-do it, I WILL have a decent bath tub. A clawfoot would be lovely, but I'd settle for a nice deep cast iron & enamel inset tub. I'd love to put in original tile, too - something in jade/verdigris green, with gingko or oak leaves. I love those really heavy wood ice-box-style medicine cabinets - big & square with a beveled mirror... A square sink on chrome legs, a corner shelf for wall storage, and a small wood bench with a box for towels under the seat.

Not that I've thought this out, or anything

Any rabid sports fans out there? What teams do you root for?

DH quietly helped me fall in love with baseball, and I am a White Sox fan, do or die. I'll watch rugby, footie, cricket... just don't ask me the rules

What's your favorite animal? (You can have more than one.)

BIRDS. Especially impossibly tiny songbirds. Wrens are my absolute favorite, but I also love chickadees, English robins, nuthatches, warblers, barn swallows... I am a nerdy birdie DH & Tiny C are both partial to penguins.

This is how the world ends... zombie apocalypse, robot uprising, alien invasion, return of the elder gods... which doomsday scenario do you prefer (or make your own!)?

In the year 2525... if man is still alive... what sort of future do you imagine? (apologies to anyone who gets that song stuck in their head!)

Do you believe in magic (or magick, if you prefer)? What does it mean to you?

If you found the puzzle box from Hellraiser, what would you do with it? ( and would you be able to resist playing with it? icon_cool.gif )

Er, whut?

What's your favorite candy to stock up on at Halloween?

I can eat my weight in candy corn. The classic stuff, not the abomination known as Indian corn. And not the pumpkins - there's something not right in the texture... Anything peanut butter + chocolate isn't safe from me, either.

What is your favourite flower (or plant)?

Oh man. Not fair. Cut flower? Freesias. Potted plant? My Red Cross & burgundy oxalis. Garden plant? Too many to pick a top favorite - I love bleeding heart, columbine, crocuses, narcissus, peonies, grape hyacinth, lobelia, harebells... if you can imagine it in an English garden, I'm probably a fan.

What are your phobias?

No real phobias, but I am a little anal retentive when it comes to my hands. I hatehatehate having sticky hands. Hey, good thing I was a pastry chef, huh? It does mean I'm fussy about hand lotions - anything greasy or heavy is right out.