Post Halloween thoughts...

I cannot believe how long it has been since posting here. I guess we are all "snowed under" with the fall. Many times I have thought of connecting or responding, but it never makes it to the top of Grandpa's desk...the old roll-top that sits in my office at Curry College. His desk is a source of wonderful family presence in my professional life -- and gets lots of comments! I am only to happy to regale anyone willing to listen about our Grandpa who, fresh from his BS degree at New Hampshire University began teaching at UConn. Times have changed indeed. Anyway, I had heard that Alex is settled at Williams and that Larry has traveled East to visit -- but I'm not sure. I would love to hear how he's doing! Aunt Alice, I wanted to say how proud I was that you wrote a letter to Sasha and Melia -- which is something I might think of doing -- but you actually did! Deb I know I owe you a phone call but never seem to pick up the phone. Carol and Mark continue to amaze me with your energy and bottomless capacity to create adventure. I won't say anything to my brother since he has never contributed to this blog, but maybe this slight will prompt a response!

I just want my dear family to know that we are doing what we do, driving back and forth to school, trying to combat ignorance and anxiously watching the health-care bill traveling through Congress.

What are various plans for Thanksgiving?

love to all!

Happy Fall & Happy Halloween!

Greetings to all Manter's from a Boise Manter!! I thought I would include this picture I captured a week or so ago on historic Harrison Blvd... although the "City of Trees" does have some beautiful areas of town where the colored leaves decorate the streets, sidewalks and lawns... it's NOTHING compared to the displays out East. Oh how I wish I could have done a fall trip this year, but it just hasn't been the right time. I do so love this time of year, enjoy the change in weather and find those who complain about the weather are, well, just complaining. No matter how strong willed one may be, no will is match for Mother Nature! I embrace the change, at it signals the beginning of the holiday season! A time for laughing, getting together with family and friends, great conversation, special holiday moments and sometimes, slipping an extra splash of burbon to Grammie's "egg-nog"... Hi Grammie!! ;) (tee-hee!) Of course, it also signals the ending of a year and the start of a fresh beginning! I hope that this posting finds everyone happy, healthy and loved!

Happy fall!

Hi all,
Sorry I haven't been blogging, but being a teacher, September is the worst month for me! After teaching fifth grade special ed for over 20 years, I switched to working with 3rd and kindergarteners this year. What a learning curve! They are cute and I'm having fun coming home and teaching Mark some creative K songs. I go into three different classes and am getting to know the teachers' styles. It's been challenging, but fun.

Mark and I enjoyed our time in three National Parks late in August. We hiked over half way down the Grand Canyon and back in a day. I had very sore legs to prove it. Also enjoyed Bryce and Zion and would highly recommend visiting them.

Mom continues to amaze us with her stamina. I don't know how she does the things she does. She's very social and doesn't turn down an invitation.

Hope all is well with everyone. Love, Carol

Greetings from Binghamton University!

Hello everyone! I've been reading the posts and decided to take a minute and contribute today. I am currently on my break between psychology classes during my first day at Binghamton University :) It's been a difficult couple of weeks preparing for my new school and I was a bit anxious walking into my Social Psychology class of 130 students this morning. I am technically a junior but I feel like a freshman walking around campus and staring at the large buildings with awe. This is such a change from the community college I have been attending for the past two years.

It sounds like everyone has had a nice summer. We have had a very busy one here in Binghamton. My mom spent hers teaching summer school and mine started off with a fun tonsilectomy and then work, working out, and the weekly lazy coffee hour with grandma :) I got to learn the ins and outs of a commission job selling tools and fitness equipment. This crash course into the world of tools and men (and sometimes men who are tools) has been fun and I'm thankful to have a job.

The last week of my summer before college my mom and I visited Belmar, NJ. It was beautiful beach weather and we got to try parasailing which is an AWESOME experience! I attached a picture of us getting dunked by our very cool parasailing guides off the shore of Asbury.

I hope everyone is doing well and in good health. Good luck to all of us who are starting off new years and semesters in school (teaching and attending) and everyone else in the family!

Love, T

Talking about grandkids...

Talking to Debra last night, we were sharing stories about the little persons in our lives. Miss Alexa and Jaka, both in their third year, seemed destined for great things. Alexa may become president and Jaka a poet laureate. Whatever else they may become, right now they are pure entertainment. All our babies are wonderful, but here is a picture Carlye sent with a story created by Jaka. Unfortunately the print doesn't show well in this size, so here is the easy-to-read version: Mississippi Mrs. Sipp

"Tell me a story,” I say to Jaka one evening. "Ok,” she says. "This story is about... Mississippi Mrs. Sipp.” "Mississippi Mrs. Sipp!” I exclaim, "what a fantastic name!” "Yes,” says Jaka. "So tell me,” I ask, "what is the story about Mississippi Mrs. Sipp?” "No,” Jaka says, "she doesn't have her own story. She comes into other people's stories.” "Other people's stories?” I ask. "Yes,” she says. "She comes into stories through newspapers, milkshakes, and,” she cups her hand around her mouth and whispers in my ear, "PEOPLE'S NOSES!” We laugh, and Jaka continues. "She goes into ghost stories that love to paint and make pictures to make up a story. At the end you paint something that looks like the ghost's teeth..” "I don't understand,” I say. "Of course you do,” she says. "Just take a deep breath, close your eyes, and count to ten.” I do, and when I open my eyes again she is gone. Hiding. A few seconds later she comes running back.. "So, how does Mississippi Mrs. Sipp come into stories through...” She laughs, interrupting me. "People's noses is silly.” She explains. "Yes, it is,” I agree. "When she comes in through noses she jumps in, and when she comes in through milkshakes she is sweety and milky too. She just walks in through newspapers by painting a hole in them. But she doesn't like getting milky because then she gets sour.” "I see,” I say, "I see.” The End.

Manters in Myrtle

Went to Myrtle Beach with the family for 6 days. We had great weather and a wonderful time! 14 of us stayed in a 6-bedroom condo. Debra ate a lot of clams and oysters....while Greg chose to stick with land cuisine. Grandpa taught Miss Alexa how to use a boogie board while baby Christopher just ate and slept peacefully in a tent on the beach. We arrived a day later than everyone else and had to leave a day earlier due to the race schedule, but 6 days was plenty! Debra took her new laptop, concerned that she wouldn't be able to work while she was gone. When we arrived, there were three other laptops already hooked up! What on earth did we do before computers? We took one afternoon by ourselves to go to the Ripley's Aquarium. Dad Manter would have said, "It's choice." On the way back, we stopped at The Seafood Shack (shack was appropriately descriptive). The food was amazing and we loved the atmosphere.... shells on the floor...the beach outside...and everyone in flip-flops and beachwear! Fun! We are back to reality now, but looking forward to next year's trip!

A little late, but Happy Anniversary Bro and Sis!

Carol's post about tandem biking with the blind, reminded me of this timely event:

August 9th was Jerry and Michele's 5th anniversary. I'm not sure where the tradition came from (on Michele's side) but the first "test" of marriage after their vows was whether they could ride in tandem! Greg is in the far left, videoing the episode. We are glad to report that they managed well enough to get the blessing of the assembly.

Of course this blog was too late to post other summer anniversaries, but June 3rd was Cory and Katy's 3rd, June 8 was our 13th and July 8th was Mark and Carol's 3rd. Happy Happy!

Update from NY

It's been a busy summer for us in NY. I volunteered at a camp where 27 visually impaired adults were staying for a week. Some of the activities were tandem bike riding, hiking, canoeing,kayaking, and belly dancing. The participants have wonderful personalities and there is always a lot of laughter. I enjoy going each summer. I also spent a day in Hyde Park, NY touring FDR and Eleanor's homes as well as a Vanderbuilt Mansion. Last weekend Mark and I tried zip lining which included manuevering through many obstacles. Let me know if you're interested, and I'll send you the link to the pics.

Manters on the Move

Pictured in JT's Hawaiian shirt collection are:

(L-R) Melia (16), Alex (18), Jeff (20)

Melia has just returned from an 80-mile trek through the High Sierras. She will be providing the details of her amazing adventure.

Alex leaves for his first year at Williams College in September. (He will now be a "New Englander", for a while, anyway.) Part of his orientation is a 5-day camping trip with 8 of his new classmates.

Jeff moved to Portland, Oregon last week to seek his fame and fortune. He loves it there!

Rainy in Boise too!

For weeks, it's been HOT and DRY. 100 degree days, over and over, and in the span of 48 hours, we went through the most impressive thunderstorm I've seen in Boise in a long time, which brought in the rain, and it has been raining bringing the temps down to the 50's-60's!! We need it! Not too much though! Enough for our dam, but not too much for the foothills, as that would just be a huge fire waiting to happen.

Anyway, all is well for the Manter's... lost in the most red state of the union. As the bumper sticker says, that's all over the valley, I'm a blue girl in a red state! :)

Karen

Rainy summer in CT

You remember how, two years ago, the well ran dry here on Dog Lane?

Stanley dug the well by hand, of course, and in 50-ish years it had never failed. But in the dry, dry summer of 2007, we had six weeks of getting our water through a garden hose from the neighbor. Our drinking water had to be carried in from the spring in Willimantic.

Anyway, not this year! Here's a graph of the water levels in our well for 2008 (blue) and this year (red). The blue line is an auto-generated "trend" line -- I actually stopped measuring the well last year in mid-August. (I didn't keep records of the drought of 2007, but the bars would have been basically invisible throughout September.)

Today's reading, at 111 inches, is more than we usually have in the spring! The weatherman on the teevee last night said that Connecticut has had its wettest June-July (combined) since they started keeping records.

Hope you're dry, wherever you are.

Greetings from Endicott, NY

We've enjoyed your blogging. Haven't had much chance to post. Mark's been working a lot of hours as Lockheed goes through their "force reduction" and I've been volunteering at Sports for Health, a kind of "summer camp" for adult visually impaired participants.

We had a lot of fun when Larry and Melia came back east (and Alan, Bette, and Aunt Jean came out west?). Here's a photo of Melia and Tierney out for breakfast after a hellish bike ride. At least they have a good story to tell.

An old picture...

Found this a while ago on my last move... If you remember Bette, you could tell us what the occasion was?

Love,
Karen

Photos from Jerauld A. Manter

Here is a link to Connecticut History online, http://www.cthistoryonline.org/cdm-cho/search.php

Where it says Find Results with and enter Jerauld Manter under "all of the words", you will find 300+ photographs that Great Grampie took during his long career at UCONN as a campus unoffical photographer. I've visited the site before, and saved many pictures for myself. It's great to see where the love of photography history came from for our family.

Love,
Karen

Does anyone recognize this? Remember Stories?

NC Update

After three days of rain (which we desperately needed)....the sun is shining and the birds are singing! I'll take that! Larry, you didn't tell me that the flight home was bumpy! Melia, did you take J.T. to watch Harry Potter with you?

Have a great weekend, everyone! No races tomorrow.....going out on the boat!!!

Great Grandpa and Stanley (Storrs)

I was hoping to find a Manter croquet tournament in the slide archives, but it hasn't emerged yet. In the meantime, here's Grandpa and Stanley in our back yard (I think it wasn't at Gurleyville, but it's possible) playing Jarts. It was never the same as croquet, but Grandpa loved his lawn games!

This picture came through Cory; he took a digital camera picture of a slide shown on the screen and given all the mediation it went through, it's not that bad. Carlye now owns a gizmo that goes directly from slide to create a jpeg file, but she can't find this slide. It's a slow process, but I'm grateful that they are doing this. When married to Steve for 15 years, everything was on slides and that means all of our family gatherings and kids growing are unavailable to me!

It is strange to imagine those days; slides were cheaper than developing a whole roll of film and then we could make prints of only the good ones. This was more in ideal than in practice - we almost never actually took slides in to make prints! As a result I have very few pictures from that time and I love to see them. I thought some of you might enjoy seeing Grandpa and my dad too.

From Minnesota

I just wanted to check in quickly. I'm in Minnesota, visiting family, going to a niece's wedding, and also attending a conference.

My mom recently moved to an apartment in the same town, so us kids are getting started on doing some repairs and cleaning out the house. The best part of the house is the view from the dining room table -- the Mississippi river.

JT meets the Obama's!!

Here is the West coast Manter's first travel experience with JT. He was fortunate to meet the Obama's during our layover in DC!

What’s in a Gnome?

For those who do not know, Jerry the Gnome (J.T.) has traveled around quite a bit and left his mark on the planet. In honor of Jerauld T. Manter, J.T. continues the tradition of world travel. A year ago, J.T. began a journey with Alan and me and we left some of Uncle Jerry’s ashes along the way. The full story will unfold over time, but this weekend we passed J.T. along to Larry to continue his journeys. Our ultimate goal is to get a Legacy family video out of this!

In this series, we have arrived at the airport and J.T. doesn't understand that they don't serve Gnomes. What to do? Finally, J.T. settles for a sip of water.

After a long wait, J.T. boards the plane and is set for take off. He's really excited! Off to Poland via Germany!

Hello from Boise

What's up Manters? Not much here. Just pumping up the jam. Bringing the awesome.

- JERRY R.

Grandpa's Gnat

My brother commented on the manteri-bug under J.T. meets W and I didn't want others to miss it. How many of us recall this lovely family relative? Does it bug you?

Flight home

Melia and I had a good flight back to California. On our brief layover in DC, JT was fortunate enough to meet Mr & Mrs Obama, photo to follow. Melia was anxious to get home to attend the midnight showing of the new Harry Potter movie with her friends so I need to stay awake so I can pick her up at 3am. It was great seeing everyone. Our short visit together had many highlights including my quality bathroom time with Allen and Aunt Jean's cycling demonstration. I look forward to reading every ones blog input.

The Gang of Eight

So, Why a blog devoted to the Manter clan and extended family? Well, it is something that we decided to try as an experiment when we were in in Bingo-land on Sunday, July 12.

The "gang" included Alice, Jean, Larry, Bette, Carol, Mark, Alan and Melia (roughly ordered by seniority, not status). We were talking in the living room about how wonderful it is when we catch up, but how hard it is to do. For example, I have not seen Larry and Melia since Uncle Jerry died 2 1/2 years ago! In an age of constant communication, it seemed like we should try to do better, and the Manter-Blog was born.

Ours was a short trip for the Storrs bunch; Mom, Alan and I zoomed in for dinner on Saturday and left by 7 pm Sunday, but it was a great visit. Under Carol's guidance we played a classic Manter tournament of Croquet, introducing Melia to the tradition. Carol kicked some serious croquet butt!

We also made a trip to Uncle Jerry's memorial tree in the local park, which was our first visit. The various modes of conveyance included car, foot and bike. Jean even had a brief turn on the bicycle - video to follow when finalized!

The success of this project depends on ALL of us. Our life (Alan and I) is far too dull to maintain interest. With all the siblings, cousins and second cousins and in-laws, there is much to report.

And so, perhaps it is fitting that I wish to dedicate this blog in memory of Jerauld A. Manter, who began the tradition of historical recording via journals, photos and movies. This rich tradition has continued in his kin. Besides, I don't know of anyone else in the family who has a bug named in their honor: Apemon manteri.

J.T. meets W.

Here is Jerry The Gnome (J.T. for short) greeting the former POTUS.

This Blog is dedicated to keeping our small family informed about anything we wish, from the sublime to the ridiculous. Please be generous with photos, videos and stories to make us all want to come back and visit often!