Visit the kelpforest....

1. Favorite fish?
Ah, well, my namesake of course, but I also get very attached to fish I work with; Pacific mackerel, sardines, and mako sharks are just one of the most beautiful fish in the ocean - so sleek and powerful, and the most gorgeous shades of cobalt and metallic blue. And I love to watch the sea dragons (both leafy and weedy) at the Aquarium.

(Eek, someone stuck me in a mako shark report!)

2. Favorite invertebrate?
I have always had a fondness for sea hares, ever since I wrote a paper about them in high school, I think. But I also have much love for nudibranchs and almost any type of cephalopod - I would spend hours in front of a cuttlefish tank if people weren't piling up behind me....

3. What would you do if you couldn't live by the sea?
I would have to be involved with something to do with moving water; rivers, creeks, etc. The short time I worked for the USFS (one summer) in the eastern Sierras, I spent most of my working hours around trout streams. One of the reasons I broke up with my college boyfriend (aside from the fact that he wanted six kids) was that he was a geologist and would've most likely wound up working for an oil company, in a landlocked part of the country. I've never lived permanently more than 10 miles inland - even when I lived in Dover, New Hampshire, I lived within a block or two of the Cocheco River, which emptied into the Great Bay and the Piscatequa River to the ocean - it was still tidal in Dover. Away from the ocean it just seems too quiet; it seems I'm subconsciosly aware of the ocean's sounds underlying everything.

4. Do you find three kids to be overwhelming?
No question, they can be; when Avalon was born, neither of her brothers were potty trained and we had three kids in diapers at the same time. And especially when Avalon will NOT leave Gareth alone and they are constantly squabbling, or trying to get them all to do their homework is like pulling teeth. Other times, it's easier, as when we all go out to do something fun and they're getting along and cooperating. It's getting easier as they get older and more independent.

5. What would you wish on a star for tonight?
Sarah Palin to come down with a month-long case of crippling laryngitis? No, can't wish harm on even people I don't like...how about someone else to make dinner? (Hey, it worked!)