It's the 10 words per letter meme! I like this meme because it feels like

1. Sesame Street, a formative childhood experience. I learned lots of Spanish words (and will never forget learning the word "Agua" by seeing a man pull himself desperately through a desert, moaning "Agua, agua", until he finally reached a miraculous desert water fountain...), and of course Cookie Monster and Bert were my favorite characters. Quirky, neurotic, lovable and out-of-control.

2. Snakes: I loved Sesame Street as a kid, but I was phobically terrified of snakes. Sadly, that's continued to this day, despite rational argumentation and exhortations to the contrary. I cannot stand being anywhere near a snake, even if it's completely harmless.

3. Schoenbrunn Palace: On the other hand, I looooove being at Schoenbrunn Palace, the Habsburgs' summer palace in Vienna. I spent my Fulbright year living in a terrible, cramped, ugly little apartment that didn't even have a working bathroom sink for three months, but the one consolation was that it was located just across the street from Schoenbrunn. (A bitter irony...) I sat in the beautiful landscaped gardens in the sunlight and I walked Nika around the wilderness area. Last time I went to Vienna, Patrick and I finally took the tour inside Schoenbrunn, and I took notes on every piece of eighteenth-century furniture/decoration I saw (and it's everywhere in Schoenbrunn). Schoenbrunn finally showed up in one of my novels, Congress of Shadows...and of course, the characters spend their time trading dangerous secrets of their past while walking around the gardens.

4. Silver: I've promised myself a gorgeous silver ring made by Diana Porter whenever I finally sell a novel.

5. Saturday: The best day of the week, every week.

6. Stream: My favorite walk is the path by the stream in the wooded valley near our house.

7. Silence: Drives me nuts. I have to have music playing (although if I'm writing, it's often best for the music to be word-less).

8. Sofa: Where I spent wayyy too much time over the past few months.

9. Sally: The name of a family Dalmation whom I adored when I was a kid.

10. Sense & Sensibility: My favorite Jane Austen novel when I was a kid. (I thought I was being dangerously radical by preferring it to Pride and Prejudice. Yes, I was a geek then, as now. However, now I actually prefer Pride and Prejudice...)

Patrick gave me the letter "S" for this meme. If anyone wants a letter from me, just let me know and then post ten words + meanings of your own!