The Hat

I found the perfect hat in 1998. First of all it fit - no mean accomplishment for my outsized noggin. It's wild elegance, a rumble of browns, mismatched colors and chiffony ribbons to wrap around - and it looked great with long hair. Even with my short hair, it's fabulous, and perfect for a windy fall day ... and I accidentally left it on a plane. They say they can't find it. Bah. I STILL haven't found a good replacement.

Hats

I love hats. When I was in 10th grade, I went as the stereotypical opera soprano to my school's halloween party; I couldn't find any viking hat (shocking, in my house), so I made a princess hat - a 2.5 foot cone, upholstered in pink satin, with a long floaty rose lace trailer. It came in handy when I was a senior at Smith on those functions when Seniors wore hats. I had a lot of pictures taken of me in that hat. I ended up willing it to the woman in my house who had the best combination (far better than mine!) of chutzpah and a sense of humor - both being required to wear it.

Heist Movies

I love heist movies, even more than I love con artist and spy movies. They could be going in to steal a stick of salami, and if there's a complex plan and trickery involved, I'll watch it.

Hitchcock Movies

The Top 3 Hitchcock movies (unranked) are: Shadow of a Doubt, Foreign Correspondant, and Rear Window. The Birds scared the everloving snot out of me, and North by Northwest is terrifically iconic, but those first three are tremendous on multiple levels.

Horsetail

My favorite waterside plant. Wonderfully textured and extraordinarily prolific, these clusters of ridged stalks sit on the shallow shelves and in the bog garden.

TV's Horshack

A personal hero. Ooh! Ooh! Ooh!

House

I used to own a house. Well, it wasn't not really a house. The builder called it a QuadrentHouse; my realtor called it an attached house. The MLS calls it a townhouse. Whatever. It looks like a house, quacks like a house, and - okay, it doesn't actually quack. But wouldn't it be cool if it did? It was quasi-open plan, wider than a typical townhouse, with a nice backyard. I painted the bathroom deep orange, added a patio and fish pond, and swapped out the carpeting for wood. It was a great place to live while I was more traditionally employed.