Five Things

* Did you know you can rent Emily Dickinson’s room by the hour?!

The Emily Dickinson Museum recently announced the reopening of “Studio Sessions,” in which Dickinson’s room is available for up to two hours for poets, novelists, scholars, musicians, artists, just plain fans, or anyone seeking inspiration in an unusual setting.

Most of Dickinson’s wildly original poems were written in this very room. In one of them, Dickinson writes: “Sweet hours have perished here; This is a mighty room.”

* Boston’s School of Fashion Design is offering a workshop to help you make the Derby hat or Coronation fascinator of your dreams! It’s a mere $300 for one or a bargain $500 for both sessions – I think materials are included. Don't you think King Charles would invite me if he knew I had my fascinator ready?

* Hop on Pop was always my favorite Dr. Seuss – read many times to younger siblings, so I was amused when someone sent me a recent rap version!

* The house where Jane Austen wrote Pride and Prejudice is for sale for $10 million! Well, that's what the real estate brokers say; in reality, the original Steventon House where Jane was born no longer stands - what is there today is the gorgeous Georgian home her eldest brother Edward built. Still, it looks quite appealing and there probably would be enough room for my books, especially as I own no coaches.

Inside the current home, one may find six refurbished bedrooms, four bathrooms, and four reception areas. Echos of the period that it was built in manifest into ornately-carved fireplaces, high ceilings, intricate cornices, and hardwood floors, but modernity finds itself primarily in the modern kitchen amenities and a temperature-controlled wine cellar. Outside, there is also a heated swimming pool, kitchen garden, tennis courts, a coach house, and a two-bedroom cottage.

I don't require a butler, but a cook and a gardener would be nice.

* I have read several espionage books recently so it's hard not to wonder: could I be a spy? Try this quiz! My results say, There's a 64% chance you're a spy! You're quite a valuable asset!

I interviewed with the CIA after I finished college: the interviewer told me that it is easy to be brave oneself but could I take responsibility for other people dying?  I tried to answer confidently but I suppose whatever I said was unconvincing - I did not get that job.  Maybe it's worth going back: I am much tougher now than I was at 22 and could sacrifice a few lives for the greater good.