The Road Leads Ever Home

This road leads to my front door!

The Road Not Taken

Robert Frost

TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

A view of a sunset over the Blue Mountains of Pennsylvania as seen from my back porch.

Biography: About me:

Short Background: I am a married mother of two lovely married daughters who each have three children and each have two girls and a boy. They are my life! I live in Berks County, Pennsylvania. I love this area. It is very beautiful.

Proud Achievements: I am also a published author of a book that is sold at Barnes and Noble.com, Amazon.com, Target.com, and all online books stores.Click Here To Purchase Diane's Book My book is a historical fiction with a paranormal twist. I am very proud of this achievement. My Ominous Adventures At True Blue Farm, The Secret Behind The Mirror is my first published book.

I also had dabbled in oil painting. I am not half bad, no Kincaid! I have only had limited training in High School. I have never taken any classes except one tole painting class in adult continuing education.

I've never gone to college. I would have loved to though. I have written many poems over the years.

People and Things I enjoy: I adore Rod McKuen, poet, lyricist, musician, all around great guy. He is my idea of not just an ideal guy...but ideal person. He most likely would disagree. He is also my friend, and mentor. www.mckuen.com .

I love old movies, the family oriented kind: Meet Me In St. Louis, On Moonlight Bay, By The Light Of The Silvery Moon, Pollyanna, The Lady In White(more recent but favorite Halloween movie), Shirley Temple Movies, Hallmark Hall Of Fame Movies i.e. Anne Of Green Gables Series, Little Women, The Little Princess, and I love movies shot in Victorian and Elizabethan England i.e. Dangerous Liaisons, & Shakespeare In Love.

Meeting Jan and Mickey Rooney

Although I love Rod McKuen's style, I lean toward the old style of poetry too. I must be an "old soul". I love the Cavalier Poets, Shakespeare, and Ella Wilcox Wheeler.

I love landscapes, and seascapes, and especially English Gardens and Cottages. I love the art of Van Gogh, Thomas Kincaid, Dan and Pauline Campanelli. I have a signed Pauline Campanelli with a Birthday wish to me. I cherish this especially since she has since passed on.

This is Suzy, my little red PT Cruiser.

I had loved entertaining friends and relatives, which has been harder and less often since my fall in 2004. But, my daughters and granddaughters help even the little ones. I used to be known as the "Martha Stewart of the working class poor".

I had previously enjoyed cake decorating, and made this cake for my own wedding in 1993 when Roger and I were married. My daughter Jamiann, followed suit and made her own wedding cake when she and Mike married in 2002.

I believe that everyone should add PIZZAZZ to parties, dinners, and well just every day activities. Why have ordinary if you can have extraordinary.

I love having a beautiful comfy home. I like the shabby chic/Victorian/country look. I want my home to have that old fashioned warm feel. I love to decorate for holidays. I always have a real Christmas Tree and decorate it with family heirloom ornaments as well as things my kids made or gave me. Each ornament has a memory that I cherish as I decorate the tree. I am of German decent on my mother's side being the roots that inspire the Christmas Tree being so important to me. My God Mother who is also a character in my book always told us this, "Your Christmas Tree is your Christmas Card to Jesus!"

Hopes, Beliefs, and Dreams:

I am a spiritual Christian of the Lutheran faith. I am a member of an Evangelical Lutheran church and attend on a regular basis.

In the past I had been a Brownie Girlscout Leader,Junior Achievement Leader, and Unity Youth Group Leader.

Friendships, Music, and Entertainment:I have several friends that have been my friends since grade school. I have friends who live all over the United States as well as close by. I value friendship and family above all else as material things bring fleeting happiness, but family and friends are forever. I am quite a talker and enjoy good conversation.

I love music and love to sing even though my voice is not the best...I will continue to sing and I know the words to many, many songs...just ask my grandchildren. I love John Denver, Celtic Woman, KT Tunstall, Rod Stewart, Big Band Music...all kinds except rap and hip hop.

I have achieved after turning fifty...

Diane's first book, My Ominous Adventures At True Blue Farm, The Secret Behind The Mirror was published in January of 2006.

My Ominous Adventures at True Blue Farm: The Secret Behind the Mirror is a nostalgic historical fiction with a paranormal twist. The heroine stumbles on a secret that reaches beyond the limits of memory and traditional time limitations. The setting is an eighty-five-acre, turn-of-the-century farm located in the picturesque Blue Mountains of northeastern Pennsylvania. This narrative journey begins on August 18, 1955, the day that Hurricane Diane made its mark on the forks of the Delaware region of northwestern New Jersey and northeastern Pennsylvania, and transports the reader to a time when infamous gangsters earned a living selling illegal liquor in speakeasies. The author presents the historical facts for the purpose of educating young readers in a manner that is accurate and entertaining. One point is certain: life was a little too ominous, certainly eventful and especially heartwarming at True Blue Farm.

Book Details

• ISBN: 1413797709
  
• ISBN-13: 9781413797701
• Format: Paperback, 56pp
• Publisher: Publish America
• Pub. Date: January 2006