Back to Reality

Well, vacations can only last so long. Reality has to intrude at some point, and it did today - my first day back into the workforce. I met a lot of people, will undoubtedly forget nearly all of their names, and was elated to be assigned a cubicle with a window. My co-workers are quite nice and the job is interesting and fun. Sure, there will be challenges, but all in all, I'm looking forward to it.

Now that the first day of the new job is over, the vacation past, and life starting to resemble some semblance of "normal" (what is normal in my world, BTW?), I can now return to my fiction writing.

Next up - the Italian Duet novel.

And to get me inspired to write this novel, here are some pictures of my Italian relatives that I acquired over the weekend. Specifically, my great-grandparents - Pietro and Domenica Amateis from Volpiano, Italy. The picture above was taken at the christening of their first child, John.

Above: Domenica (we call her "Nona") either on or right before her wedding day. Not long after they were married, they traveled from Italy to Le Havre, France, and set sail for New York City and a new life.

My great-grandfather, Pietro, is the one on the far left in this pic. Isn't he dashing?
Don't you love this last picture? It's rather rare to find my great-grandparents in such a jovial pose. Life was hard when they came to America. They had nine children. I grew up on the farm they homesteaded and my brother now farms the land. I hope to explore some of the immigrant experience in my novel, and I have no doubt that I'll turn to my roots for inspiration. :-)