Category Archives: Brockville Ontario

Happy Monday!

Floating in the St. Lawrence River near Brockville, Ontario, Canada

I know it’s hard coming back after a long holiday weekend (those of you in the U.S.) but let’s put a smile on and try to enjoy ourselves and the fact that we have jobs.  (As a former actress and writer married to a writer I can tell you that a job is not something that’s always around these parts.)  

If you’re in Los Angeles today, and haven’t figured out what you’re doing for breakfast, I’ll be speaking Literary Affairs’ Books & Breakfast at the Hotel Bel Air starting at 10:30.  It’s too late for a reservation but they are very lovely people and will, I’m sure, accomodate you.  After that, it’s back home to my desk where I’m hard at work on the sequel to Chanel Bonfire (tentatively titled “Untitled Girl”).

I know many book groups suspend meetings for the summer but if yours is still on and you are reading Chanel, I’d be happy to schedule a Skype Q & A with you.  I’ve done them with groups all over the country and all over the world and they’re great fun.  I love meeting readers, hearing about their lives and reactions to the book and answering questions.  Email me at chanelbonfire@gmail.com to schedule.
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Uncle Chuck’s River

Me and Robbie on Uncle Chuck’s River

My father’s hometown, Brockville, where he would take us sometimes in the Summer is on the St. Lawrence River in Ontario just downstream from The Thousand Islands and just north west of New York State.  We called it Uncle Chuck’s River because our Uncle Chuck (my father’s brother-in-law) lived in a house on stilts over the St. Lawrence.  
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Happy Canada Day from Chanel Bonfire

Robbie with Grandma Lawless
My father (a “landed alien” who never became an American citizen) called his mother, Anne (Annabelle) Lawless the Iron Duchess.  She went to church every day and spent most of the rest of her time ruling the family from a seat at the kitchen table in Brockville, Ontario, drinking seemingly endless cups of tea.
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Canadian Summers

Me and Robbie with Uncle Chuck
Some times when we’d go to Minneapolis to see our dad, he’d take us to Canada to spend time with our cousins, uncles, aunts and grandparents in Ontario.  Uncle Chuck lived on a house on stilts over the St. Lawrence river.  He was a lot of fun in the summers.  You could fish through a hole cut in the basement floor over the river.
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