1.      What are your feelings about horses?

 I love horses. I still vividly remember the first (and sadly last) time I went riding in November, 2002 on Mount Toby, which lies between Sunderland and Leverett, Massachusetts. My friend, Diane, who worked for my husband, innocently asked me if I’d like to go riding after the last football game. Of course, having never ridden a horse, I immediately said yes. It didn’t even occur to me to be afraid until I actually got to the farm and thought about it. The only thing I knew about horses (but an important thing to know, nonetheless) is not to approach them from the back. Needless to say, nobody was surprised when I asked the trail guide how to steer my horse. It took about 20 minutes for me to get used to the rhythm of the horse, a beautifully 20 year old Morab (cross between a Morgan and Arabian). I can’t remember her name but she was expecting her second foal and was extremely gentle. I had 20 miles to get used to it and by the end of the trail ride, it felt like the most natural thing in the world. I really could have kept on going, off into the gem-colored sunset of a New England fall afternoon. I could barely walk for days afterward, and I can truly say I can understand now why cowboys are bow-legged, but it was, hands down, one of the best spur-of-the-moment decisions of my life.

 2.      How far would you have to go to ride a merry-go-round?

 Only thirty minutes away, to Six Flags New England.

 3.      When did you last eat something with pinto beans?

 I really couldn’t say. I love beans but lately my bean consumption has been mostly black beans. They’re my favorite for some reason.

 4.      How’s your mane?

 At the moment, not the greatest.  All the hormone treatments I’ve been doing for ivf have killed my perm and my hair is growing so fast I can’t keep up with the haircuts. That being said, my hair is totally different than it was for the first 25 years of my life. Then, it was stick straight and I had bangs (until I realized they made me look 12 years old and I grew them out).  After I got married, I started highlighting my hair with light red tints. It always gets a little red in the summer anyway, so I thought I’d improve upon nature. Then, in 2002, my mother offered me the gift of a perm for my birthday. It was a huge step because I never did much with my hair as a child, and the only person I ever trusted to cut my hair was my mother. I took the plunge and in the end I was happy with it and have been getting perms twice a year ever since.

 5.      When did you last go hoarse?

 This happens to me all the time when I’m sick with my sinuses, so I’d have to say last fall when I got a sinus infection that went into bronchitis.