Category Archives: Family

A little piece of history

April 20, 2020Familysusanmanzke

I was looking through some old photos and I came across a photo of my Grandma Jo and her sister Mary. The odd thing about this photo is that it is ripped.

I don’t know when that happened, probably a long time ago, but I have the photo and I thought I say something about my relatives.

Grandma Jo is on the left and her sister Mary is on the right – Maybe late 1940s or 50s.

Notice that both women are wearing hats. It was what women did back in the old days. Things changed after the Catholic church didn’t require hats at mass.

I loved both these ladies. Grandma Jo was the best cook ever. She even made wedding cakes. One time, when I was about ten, I helped take a cake to a reception. I don’t know how the large part of the cake was moved, but I was sat down in the back seat of a car and handed the top tier of the cake.

This was a great responsibility and I was scared to death that I’d ruin her beautiful cake. I guess the cake arrived in good condition because I don’t remember getting yelled at for messing up.

Aunt Mary and her husband, Val, always wanted to adopt me, and they weren’t kidding. They couldn’t have children so they pestered my parents to let them have me or my sister–Mary and Val never adopted anyone.

I remember going to their home and having orange juice (and other snacks). I especially remember the orange juice because Aunt Mary had little glasses and a pitcher with oranges painted on them. It made me feel so special drinking juice out of those glasses.

When both Grandma Jo and Aunt Mary were old, they lived together for a while–I don’t remember how long. What I do remember was that the two women sounded like my sister and me. They didn’t always agree and argued some. Hearing those two ‘saints’ disagree made me laugh. They seemed so much more human to me at those times.

I don’t know where this photo was taken or when, but I’m happy that it wasn’t thrown away. There are still good memories there to go around.

Saving a little family history doesn’t have to be long or hard. Even a snippet like this has its benefits.

Finally in the mail

April 17, 2020Family, Friends, Memories, Odds and endssusanmanzke

I write every day on my blog, but writing individual letters seems like a lot of work for me. I’ve found a solution.

After digging through a box, I found a bunch of postcards Bob and I had gathered over the years. The oldest is from our honeymoon in 1973 when we stopped at the Arch on our way home.

Anyway, I used these cards the other day to write short notes to people–the space limits what I can write and if the cards are small enough, they only cost 35 cents to send.

Anyway, now a few people will find a little greeting in their mail that isn’t a bill, an advertisement, or political.

I hope they enjoy my efforts.

I even sent some to grandchildren. Of course, they like to get mail, too.

This is nothing earthshaking, but it is an idea of how to use those vacation postcards that never got mailed. Postcard souvenirs will now brighten up someone else’s day.

If your vacation souvenirs are postcards like mine, maybe it’s time to send them winging on to a mailbox. You’ll brighten someone’s day, I guarantee.

A favorite photo

April 16, 2020Family, Memories, photographysusanmanzke

Years ago, I was a member of a photography club. To learn, we were often given assignments. At the next meeting, we brought back developed photos to be critiqued.

I have no idea what they told me about my photos, but I do know the ones I liked. The one I’m sharing here is one I continue to love.

This photo was taken at the Black Creek Depot. The building was empty and I asked Russell to look inside. This is one of the snaps I took with my 35mm camera that day.

Little Rachel was trying to catch up with her brother, stumbling and almost falling–wanting to be like the older siblings often got her in trouble. She fell once while everyone was wrestling and broke her collar bone. Good thing nothing bad happened to her this day.

It was a fun day to practice my photography and to enjoy time with our two youngest. I think this was fall 1984.

Keeping family close

April 14, 2020Family, Odds and endssusanmanzke

These days it isn’t easy to keep family close as we are all living at a virus-induced distance.

My family and I keep in touch by phone, instant message, and video conferences. The kids check-in to make sure I’m well and safe, sheltering at home–I am. I haven’t been away from the farm for weeks. Rebecca brought essential groceries to my back door, only to visit from a distance on our last nice day.

Even when not connecting with family members, I connect with them every time I go to the refrigerator. That’s where I have a photo gallery.

There are other odds and ends attached to the front of the refrigerator: pressed flower art from Carol, an unfinished family tree, a printout of Bob and my name that will end up with thousands of others on Mars, and a Pickles cartoon. Mostly, I look at the photos.

I’m connected to my family when I get breakfast, lunch, and dinner…and a snack. They are there smiling back, even if the photos are a little old and they are much more grown-up now.

They are there for me to see and admire, even when we are living at a distance.

Yep, I’m proud of my whole family. It would be better if we could get together and hug and laugh, but that day will come. Right now I’ll just admire all the Manzke offspring as I head for milk for my coffee.

The family storyteller

April 10, 2020Familysusanmanzke

My dad passed away in 1991, yet I remember him every year on his birthday–of course, he comes to mind many other days, too.

I think I got my storytelling gene from Dad. He was always telling us stories, entertaining my sister and me and our extended family.

When I moved to Wisconsin, I couldn’t hear him telling stories so I asked him to write them down. Dad dragged his feet at first–he said he wasn’t a writer. He only had an 8th-grade education. Eventually, he started writing.

Though Dad wasn’t as good a writer as he was a teller, I’m honored to have some of his stories in print and I do mean in print. That’s how Dad wrote, he printed everything, all caps and only rarely punctuated.

Here’s one of my dad’s written stories that I think is perfect for his birthday:

Layer cake by Charles Paska

I can remember coming home from school and my sister Bea calling me. “Charlie, come here. I want to show you something.”

Downstairs, in the kitchen on the table sat a giant layer cake, at least four layers high and very big around.

“Wow!” I gasped. “Can I have some?”

“Sure. Help yourself.”

“Can I have two hunks?”

“Sure. Have all you want.”

Well, that remark was a big mistake. Sister went upstairs and I stayed with the cake.

About an hour later Bea came downstairs looking for some cake. “Charlie, where did you hide the cake?”

“I didn’t hide it. I ate it.”

Bea could not believe her ears. “What?! You ate it all?”

“Yup,” I said. “You said to eat all I wanted and I did.”

You would think I would have been sick of cake for a while. Sure I was! ‘Till the next cake.

Happy Birthday, Dad. I hope you are getting together with friends in heaven, telling stories and playing music.

Susan Manzke

Writer, Speaker, All-Around Good Person