Roots

This past October, I went on a fishing trip with my father. If you go back to the October archive, you'll see all of my entries from the trip.

During the trip, I sat down and gathered some very interesting information about my father and his family. Here is the one that most stands out in my mind...

My great grandfather, on my grandmother's side, was an artist. His name was Manlio R. Ciani.

When I say my great grandfather was an artist, I don't mean that he painted pictures. That is, he didn't JUST paint pictures*. He painted a church once.

My great grandfather lived in Colony, NY, just outside of Albany. Almost across the street from the house where he lived was a church. Inside that church are murals and inlay and details that my grandfather painted... by hand.

Dad told me the location of the church and I have that on tape. Some day, I am going to visit that church and stand in awe at the beauty of my great grandfather's work.



*It was with a sense of loss that I listened to my father describe how one of his cousins found several of Manlio's paintings in an attic and destroyed most if not all of them.