Friday Five:
 
1. What is your favorite time of year? Actually it’s weird. I pretty much like all the seasons, as long as the sun is shining. I think I have Seasonal Affective Disorder. When it’s bright out, I’m happy and energetic. When it’s dark or rainy, I just lack the will to live. (I was pretty depressed in England, as you might imagine.)
 
2. What is it about your favorite season that, well, makes it your favorite season? Well, like I said, I like the sun. A bright spring day is full of anticipation for a glorious summer. The air smells fresh. Everything is new. A sunny and hot summer reminds me of school holidays in Indiana, swimming in the lake, eating just-picked sweet corn, and heading to Cedar Point. In the fall I love the changing colors of the leaves and being able to break out my sweaters and long-sleeved shirts. Then there are football games and bonfires. A bright winter day is about playing in the snow and preparing for Christmas. It means sledding with my sister and brother. See, I can enjoy any season. I just need the light.
 
3. What is your least favorite time of year? Why? Again, anytime it’s dark. During the winter in England, the sun would set at 4:30 p.m. I’d NEVER see the sun. South Bend in February is almost as bad.
 
4. Do you do anything to celebrate or recognize the changing of seasons? My family used to always go camping for the weekends of Memorial Day and Labor Day. It was a nice way to bookend summer. Here in Australia I’m still trying to come to grips with the seasonal flip-flop, so no celebrations just yet.
 
5. What’s your favorite thing to do outside? My favorite thing is just to spread out a blanket on the grass on a warm day and lie there and read. I had a special spot in Hyde Park where I’d often go. (It’s down on the east side of the Serpentine not far from the Italian Fountains, near Rudolf Steiner’s bench, if you’re interested.) The first weekend we spent together, Snookums found me there and brought me strawberries. It was lovely.