Where did you grow up?
Billings, Montana. 
What are your earliest memories of Yellowstone National Park?
Waiting with my sister and mother for geysers to erupt, particularly Great Fountain and
Lone Star; playing hide and seek in Old Faithful Inn and watching my father load the big
yellow tourist buses, calling names through his big red megaphone; living in two rooms
in the "bunk house"—where the large parking lot is now behind the Visitor Center.
Who would you say was the most important mentor in your life?
My sister Joan, who always loved to teach and began teaching me to read, write, and do arithmetic at about 5 years old; also both my parents.
How did you end up in Rhode Island?
My first husband, structural geologist Bill Chapple, accepted a teaching position at Brown University.
As a professional cellist, would you say there are any lessons learned from performing and teaching that applied to your research and writing effort?
The only lesson I can think of relates to my having developed strong self-motivation (or the Puritan ethic?) from being expected to practice two musical instruments starting at an early age. This carried over into helping me stick to the research and writing for this project over a long period of time without any outside encouragement.
In addition, teaching experiences probably helped both Bruno [Janet's husband and contributor to the book] and me—knowing that we must find various ways of saying the same thing until it might be clearest to the student (or reader).
Tell us about your experience as editor and co-writer of "It's Up to You! A Handbook for Practicing Music."
This is a 70-page booklet about how to practice music, conceived as a help to students by the faculty of The Music School of Providence. I offered to coordinate it. I had help in recruiting contributors from then-assistant director of the school, Kathy Czerny. I ended up editing the writings of about 20 contributors and writing about 1/3 of the book myself. I found I really enjoyed gathering and putting down my thoughts as well as doing the editing.
How did you decide to undertake a project as big as "Yellowstone Treasures: The Traveler's Companion to the National Park"?
It wasn't exactly a decision! A friend who enjoys the park knew that I had a large Yellowstone library and asked if I'd like to collaborate on bringing out an updated Haynes-type guide. I was retiring from teaching, so I felt I would have the time and would love to get into writing something about Yellowstone. Bob soon dropped out of the project altogether, but by then, I was hooked! I didn't realize what a large book I had put together until we began getting it ready for publication.
This is your first guidebook, but you're not new to writing, right?
I've only been involved with one other book, but I was the editor of Billings High School's newspaper, the Kyote.
What did you like about the Haynes guides, the last one of which was published in 1966?
We could find something about everything we saw in the park in these guides—they had an excellent index, clear organization, attractive maps. Joan and I delighted in following along in the guide as we drove through the park, learning new things every time we opened it.
What kinds of people did you talk to in researching the book?
I talked to rangers, park staff in the archives, planning, landscape architecture, maintenance, and other departments; my geologist husband for a million questions; my Yellowstone Association course instructors. In five summers, I attended seven excellent classes in the park.
How did you like working together with your husband on the book?
Amazingly pleasant! I say this, because we have a hard time working in the kitchen together—very different styles and ideas about preparing a meal. But on this project, I would have a question or a concept I wanted to understand. Sometimes he would write a draft explaining it and I would critique it, sometimes vice versa. Neither of us is defensive about what's on the paper.
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