On the Road Again

diane grn wllJust a quick post tonight, since I’m traveling. We’re staying at a B and B in a cute little town in New Jersey. This is a trip for pleasure as opposed to work, although I did bring my manuscript with me and am working on revisions during the down time– plus I’ll be breakfasting with my agent Tuesday morning. Aside from that, it’s family time.

We arrived Friday evening after hours of delays which culiminated in a safe and easy flight. My sister, having read my recent Jersey Girl blog post, had the pork roll sandwiches waiting for us. LOL! Yesterday we went to my nephew Chris’s new New Jersey Film School open house. Here I am in front of the green wall, which has a technical name I don’t recall. Here’s one of the little films one of his teen classes made this summer. Back at my sister’s we ate diner take-out food and watched an excellent movie, Innocent Voices.

Today, while my sis and I did church and talked a bunch more, John and my brother, Tom, made a photography trek around Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty and they are now tired. Tomorrow, I’m meeting with my sister’s bookclub. The members could read any one of my books for this meeting, so I guess we’ll have a general discussion about my writing. Should be fun!

 But I’m really looking forward to tomorrow night when my younger brother, Rob, and his wife, Terri, will be in town (they live in Washington State). We’ll all be together for dinner (yummy pans of lasgana and eggplant parmegiana coming in from a yummy Italian restaurant. I love New Jersey!) and to celebrate both my brothers’ birthdays (Sh. They don’t know.). It’s so rare for all of us to be in one place at the same time. I’ve mentioned this before, but between us we have 3 writers, 3 musicians, 1 theater director, 2 photographers, several actors, and I know I’m leaving something out! Unfortunately, the entomologist can’t make it (she’s also a klezmer musician, so she fits in better than you might think…)

Family’s so important, isn’t it? Mine is talented, easy-going, big on social justice, short on intolerance, calm and quiet (very odd for a mostly Italian family. John, also Italian, thinks we must be fabricating our roots). We are in each other’s corner.  How about your family? What are they like?

11 Comments

  1. Margo on September 14, 2009 at 10:00 am

    Lov the pic D!!…I lov my family but we do not agree on politics and many other things…my mother and I are extremely close and altho she is of 1 poltical persuasion, she has come around in the last year to start thinking more like Gary and me. (Yeah!!)…Sis and I are completely different but we love each other all the same…same with my bro…but, that’s what makes a family interesting, right?

  2. Margo on September 15, 2009 at 12:25 pm

    Sounds like noone else wants to comment on family…I wonder what that means…

  3. Diane on September 15, 2009 at 2:59 pm

    Margo, I was thinking the same thing. Family is a loaded subject! That’s why they’re so much fun to write about. We had fun last night eating and singing.

  4. Margo on September 15, 2009 at 4:23 pm

    I’m happy you’re having a great vacation and seeing family too…John is amazing with his photography and it’s wonderful that your brother is taking him around to do photo shoots…I bet his prints will be amazing.

  5. brenda on September 15, 2009 at 7:05 pm

    I only have my daughter and her family and my son-they are wonderful. When we are together, it is absolutely fantastic…Love them to death. Sounds like a lovely trip, Diane-and you look fantastic!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    • Diane Chamberlain on September 15, 2009 at 10:04 pm

      Your kids sound like they’re so good to you, Brenda.
      We said good bye to everyone tonight after two evenings of fun and music and laughter. Tomorrow we scatter to the winds again. So hard. But it makes me think about my readers who have no family at all, or whose families bring up negative emotions instead of positive. That’s where friends come in, I guess. And books!

  6. Denise on September 16, 2009 at 11:44 am

    Family is definitely a loaded subject! My mom’s family is Greek but unfortunately she is the only living survivor out of five children. When my grandmother, aunts and uncles were alive, though, there were definitely some incidents that were similar to “My Big Fat Greek Wedding.” Lol!

  7. Margo on September 16, 2009 at 3:23 pm

    LOL Denise!!…your mother must have some great stories to tell…(-O:

  8. Diane Chamberlain on September 16, 2009 at 6:17 pm

    Denise, John is half Greek, half Italian, so you can just imagine. . .

    We are home! Tons of mail, newspapers, laundry and two happy dogs who were spoiled in our absence. I didn’t get much work done on the road (although I ambitiously took the entire manuscript with me. ha!), so I will have a very busy week ahead of me working on revisions.

    Exciting news coming up next week (I hope!)

  9. Margo on September 17, 2009 at 8:14 am

    Denise & Diane, my Gary is also Greek as were his ancestors.
    Diane, can hardly wait to hear the news…I’ll be sitting on pins and needles all weekend…

  10. Gina on September 17, 2009 at 11:36 am

    I am one who is truly blessed with a wonderful family. I wouldn’t trade them for the world. Of course, we have our token quirky family members. What family isn’t complete without ’em. LOL

    But all in all, I don’t know what I would do without my family. They are the best.

Leave a Comment