It was back to the parking lot for my latest interview with Renee. The wind was blowing or we would have been under the umbrellas at a nearby Coffee Bean. Instead, we took refuge in my car and then hers.

The phone rings and someone picks it up. But I don’t hear a voice at first - I hear the gentle sound of wind chimes. “Have you got wind chimes?” I ask Renee.

Last time I saw Renee, she was a redhead. Now she was preparing to start filming a movie and the production company wanted her to go back to blonde.

Renee has just finished filming an independent feature film called Diamonds and Guns. I wanted to give everyone a peek at the “Coming Attractions.”

Renee and I are rummaging around in the Xena video library again. We're up to episode three, “Dreamworker.”

They’ve got classes for everything in Hollywood. Spinning to keep your body in shape, swordfighting to help you get along with your co-stars and sitcom classes to teach you, well… I'll let Renee tell the story.

Actually, I made up a videotape of clips of all the Gabrielle and Gabrielle/Xena scenes strung together starting with the first episode, “Sins Of The Past.” It turned out to be a great way to catch Renee’s memories before they fade away.

Renee is four performances into her portrayal of Lady Macbeth in the Shakespeare By the Sea production of Macbeth. And she’s having fun.

They asked three people to do the commentary for the DVD of “Friend In Need” - Lucy, Renee and Rob. But they got a fourth voice for free, Miles William Muir, age: two months.

Every time I met him, I thought, what a talented, amazing man. And he was such a humble, loving person as well.

This interview was conducted on September 14, 2001. One week and one day later, Renee gave birth to her son, Miles William Muir.

Renee came over to the hotel where I was staying in Auckland and settled herself onto the chair opposite me. There was a glass-topped table between us upon which I had spread out all my notes and the tape recorder.

This interview with Renee took place over the course of two weeks and four phone calls. And noting the breaks in the conversation will give you a much better idea of what life on the set is like as the show is going into the filming of the final two episodes.

Renee’s on her lunch break when I call her down in New Zealand and the first question on my list concerned the maggots in the food during the opening scenes of “The Haunting Of Amphipolis.”

I had never done an interview in a Turkish bath. And I still haven’t. But Renee and I came really close during this one.

The newly engaged Renee O’Connor sits down to lunch, picks up her phone, puts a call through to the Official Xena Fan Club editor - that's me - takes a bite of lettuce and proceeds to choke! Yipes!

There’s no easy segue from babies to demons, but “Fallen Angel” was the first item on my list of things to talk to Renee about, so I dived right in.

Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays this interviewer from the swift completion of her appointed interview.

Renee's yellow robe, with an embroidered “G” on the back, reveals nothing but her sandaled feet. I'm glad it's not raining and there’s no mud. A cold, wet bard with muddy feet and a staff sounds like a dangerous combination.

It was on the tip of my tongue and I couldn’t wait for the phone to ring. Had the deed been done? Were Gabrielle's locks actually going to be shorn?