My Story
Personal Side Of Diane
- I live with gratitude and joy each day alongside my amazing husband, Dennis, and try to exude that with friends, colleagues and people (and animals!) I meet
- I believe strangers are just friends I haven't met yet
- "Weddings On Wheels!" means I am in an electric wheelchair that lifts to regular height
- The wheelchair is both my legs and my car so you've likely seen my red hair flying as I'm cruising the streets of Stratford! I pretend I am still slalom waterskiing pulling off some wild rooster tails!
- Music is always playing at home with a penchant for '60s rock and any folk...Eric Bogle, Stan Rogers, Lennie Gallant, Bob Dylan, The Beatles, The Stones, The Righteous Brothers are staples
- I grew up in Sault Ste. Marie with my Dad teaching me about ships, workboats and a certain sailboat so Lake Superior is in my DNA!
- Espionage, WW II and biographies are among my favourite reading
- Ditto for movies but add chick flicks (Dennis always cries at those!)
- We have been home to seven rescue cats; we have four now with Sassie the oldest at 20
- I am a beginning artist and sketcher and I treasure the contemplative time and peace it offers
- I'm having fun exploring my Swedish and Scottish heritage and have become friends with distant cousins
- I treasure the sounds, colours and textures of my garden flowers and all the trees I planted
- I love remembering the day Dennis and I married in our garden and the blessing of having family and dear friends with us
- I enjoy making white wine, sharing any Proseco with my best girlfriend when she visits and dark chocolate anytime
- I love giving much more than receiving
- I love Manitoulin Island, where I worked for several years as editor of The Manitoulin Expositor, and love my cherished friends there
Professional Side Of Diane
- I am a Certified Wedding Officiant and a member of OAPWO (Ontario Association of Professional Wedding Officiants)
- I am a print/broadcast journalist, editor, author so I am a wordsmith by craft
- I have a bachelor's degree in Religious Studies, a bachelor's degree in journalism, a Master of Journalism degree and coursework towards a theology master's
- I serve on the Accessibility Advisory Committee for the City of Stratford
- As a journalist I worked for weekly, daily newspapers, wrote and edited for several national magazines and CBC radio/tv
- I can attest that relationships are built with love, time, respect, gentleness and integrity and those attributes give strength sharing experiences within a marriage
Passionate Side Of Diane
- Coffee!
- Hanging out with Dennis and holding hands whether strollin' and rollin' uptown or leaning into the wind as we cross to our beloved Manitoulin or just lying in bed watching the news
- Writing just the right piece for whomever the audience
- Feeling the paint glide across the canvas
- Blaring The Tragically Hip
- Reading the Saturday Globe and Mail
- Expressing joy and gratitude for the little things Dennis does for me such as stocking up on Fresca or the coffee with flavoured cream he brings me each morning in bed
- Live music
- Colour in my art
- Laughing until tears come
- Ensuring my friends know how special they are
