Cooking dinner and hanging out with my kids.

Wow, these are big questions! Happiness, as I’ve experienced it and observed it in others, seems to be random—some of us are happy fairly regularly (I am, mostly), and some of us not as much—but there seems to be no clear explanation as to why. It comes and goes at unexpected moments, too. The graph of happiness doesn’t even seem to match what is going on in our lives. Or maybe it does and we don’t know it. Money—is there a connection between money and happiness? It takes away a world of worries and anxieties, but are rich folks all happy? Are you kidding? Donald Trump is ALWAYS scowling. That said, it’s hard to be happy if you don’t know where you’ll sleep or where your next meal is coming from. The pursuit of happiness? Where are we supposed to look? Are there clues hidden somewhere? The very act of searching and striving for it can lead to frustration and unhappiness. I suspect that happiness finds you—I’m not sure you can find a road that leads to it. Happiness is everywhere, though some cultures are, I’ve read, happier overall than others—G.N.P. be damned. Is sunshine one of those things? Are tropical folks generally happier?

A picnic in my garden in Kerdalo, Brittany.

A glass of wine, a good dinner with my husband, and a day ahead of me without a deadline is close enough.

I’m disorganized.

It’s a toss-up between mean and petty.

I’d like to die anytime after the age of 90—in my sleep!

Oprah Winfrey. She always does the right thing—even when no one is looking.

The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

I know we all have to die, but when my time comes, I’d rather it not be because a goose flew into the engine of a plane I’m on.