I'm mainly a gardener. I'm especially drawn to plants that seem nondescript but have a secret beauty: fragrance, tiny intricate flowers, cladodes rather than leaves. I cherish quiet originality in plants and people. Words and language are important and a connection to my significant people. A few protective talismans that I've learned to count on: the trio, Soave sia il vento from Così fan tutti, El Greco's The burial of Count Orgaz, the Duomo of Orvieto, Donne's Valediction Forbidding Mourning, Charlie Haden's collaborations with Gonzalo Rubalcaba, maybe especially their version of Tres Palabras.