1. The Poetry for Young People series of books: When I was a child, my favorite book was A Child’s Garden of Verses, by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by the wonderful Alice and Martin Provenson. I found this book again recently and the delicious illustrations reminded me how much a book becomes part of your soul as a kid, and shapes who you are. The Poetry for Young People series gives me the same feeling now, and the illustrations and text together are so beautiful I wonder where these books have been all my life. What better way to have your first taste of Langston Hughes, Emily Dickinson, William Wordsworth, William Carlos Williams, and MANY others…than this? The fact that I get to lay them around the house for my boys to pick up and plunder through with wonder and delight is just gravy...
2. Bethanne Bethard Hill’s Goats; but really any of her paintings. All of them. Her goats are wonderful because they possess an awesome personality of austerity and ostentation together. Her work has always made me happy. Always. For my boys, who love to draw and sketch as much as they love to wrestle in the dirt, her paintings let them see the glimmer of beginnings in them—sometimes some pencil sketching hidden under the scales of a fish, or snake’s tongue, or a dog’s tooth. They love that…
3. A margherita pizza. The most comforting and satisfying thing I like to make…crust and all...
4. Van Gogh’s Letters. I found this book one day and was so excited to have it, I read the whole thing that night. It was everything I thought it would be. Words and paintings together aren’t always great. But these are positively luminous together. And reading the letter that his brother found on him, after he had shot himself in the chest in a wheat field…
5. The last scene in the movie Big Night. Secondo (Stanley Tucci), the younger brother, is making breakfast for himself, and his helper, Christiano (played by Marc Anthony, who is soooo young and so adorable). This scene follows immediately on the heels of Secondo and Primo’s definitive “Last Supper” for none other than Louis Prima — said “big night” which not only exhausted them physically, but also exhausted their finances, their restaurant, aptly named Paradise, and maybe even their relationship as brothers. In this entire scene there are three words. Secondo asks Christiano, “Are you hungry?” Christiano nods. And with the above, four ingredients Secondo makes the most beautiful, perfect omelet I have ever seen. His pace is steady: the gentle, quick crack of each egg, the slow beating and pouring into the stainless steel skillet, the sizzle of the oil against the cool eggs. The entire forty-or-so second scene is so comforting you wish you were sitting on the counter with Christiano, watching him flip the eggs without flinching. The eggs are cooked, he turns off the eye, and the two sit down and tear into a loaf of day old crusty bread (which you can practically smell through the screen), and eat. At last, Primo comes in, stands awkwardly in the kitchen, saying nothing. But there is a third of the omelet left. Secondo gets him a plate, and the brothers begin to eat side by side. They each put an arm around the other, keep eating. And you feel it: All is forgiven. Love is palpable. This scene? Is why I really love to cook for my family. Not the only reason…but one of the main ones. I am no Secondo…but I make damn fine meatballs and spaghetti…
6. Pumpkin chocolate chip cookies…
7. Tim Gunn. The man has humility, grace, class, manners, and the best goddamn posture of anyone I have ever seen...
8. Elvis Costello’s “The Angels Wanna Wear My Red Shoes”…

…since their wings have got rusted,
you know, the angels wanna wear my red shoes.
But when they told me ’bout their side of the bargain,
that’s when I knew that I could not refuse.
And I won’t get any older, now the angels wanna wear my red shoes.

I don’t know how the man thought of these lyrics but they make me happy. And they also completely rationalize buying that pair of red patent leather pumps I want…
9. Polaroid pictures are definitely a thing of the past, which is why I like them. My grandfather used to have his polaroid camera with him at every family event, every holiday, every time my brother and I visited them. Flipping through a stack of these is so tactile, familiar, familial, and evokes all kinds of memories that digital pictures don’t...
10. The Gulf of Mexico. After the oil spill I was depressed, and scared….not just because of the death and destruction, but because I really thought I’d never be able to see it again. And since I can see it again now, it makes me love it more. But I’m also in awe of it. I like watching it. The power of the survival of nature, despite what we do to it over and over, is terrifying and humbling. There is no place like it…
11. Van Gogh’s Poet’s Garden. When I saw this painting at the museum in Chicago, I stood in front of it so long I think I annoyed people…
12. Max and Harry’s (my two sons) superheroes are new to their repertoire of drawing, and are named, respectively, “Woods Boy” and “Maxoman.” They have adventures. They shoot bad guys. They make effing history...
13. “Twentieth Century Man” by the Kinks. This song is so timely…and reminds me of the many reasons why I feel weird every time I log onto facebook….technology and I just have a difficult time understanding each other. I love it love it love it…
14. Lena Horne’s voice. Singing Anything, but specifically, I’m Glad There Is You. Find it, play it. You’ll see…
15. Georgia O’Keeffe’s Ranchos Church…
16. The Mark Cross overnight case which belongs to Grace Kelly’s character, Ms. Lisa Carol Fremont, from Rear Window. I have looked for one of these…and haven’t found one…yet…
17. Japanese koi fish. My mother has a pond which she built herself, and these fish have lived in it twenty years. They are like a bunch of ornery, hungry, codgery, old men..yes, I’ll say it…A Koiwanis Club…
18. Ella Fitzgerald’s voice, singing anything. My favorites: “April in Paris” and anything from Porgy and Bess…
19. Frank Sinatra’s “If You Are But a Dream.” The note he hits in the last phrase breaks me in two, or more…
20. Georgia O’Keeffe’s Train at Night In the Desert (1916)…
21. Chattanooga, TN. I grew up in this city, and whenever I go back, I am more proud of it. They do everything that Atlanta doesn’t, which makes me happy. Once they figured out the Tennessee River actually was close to downtown, there was no stopping them. I love you, Noog…
22. The Chesapeake Bay. My mother grew up on the Bay, and now her sister’s family lives there. It isn’t like the Gulf, and it isn’t beachy. It’s just very old, mysterious, and beautiful…
23. A blank piece of paper. My second favorite thing…
24. Letters from people. Which go through the USPS. Which have stamps. Which leads me to…
25. Handmade letter press stationery…
26. Missionary Mary Proctor’s artwork…
27. Anna Karenina. Yeah, that one. Still my favorite book ever read. When I finally fell in love, I understood Levin…
28. My son Harry’s paintings of flowers…
29. My son Max’s drawings. The latest one was a picture of his brother Harry dressed up in his alien costume for Halloween, putting a candle in a jack-o-lantern, surrounded by ghosts, skeletons…and with himself nearby waiting for Harry to go trick-or-treating…
30. My very favorite thing: A letter which my husband wrote to me on our anniversary, when our sons were 6 months old. He left it on the mantel for me when I got back from visiting my parents in ‘Nooga. I carry it with me everywhere. Yep. I do.