ellen kanner

2008 began festively in Boston: we marched with paper mÃ�¢chÃ�© puppets in Beantown’s New Yearââ�¬â�¢s Eve “First Night” Parade, thanks to friends involved with a local theater that provided us with the puppets. Ray’s seemingly endless job search finally ended when he landed his first professional librarian job at Keene State College in mid Januaryââ�¬â��an adjunct position that lasted for 4 months. Ray then had 2 blissful summer months off while searching for a permanent positionââ�¬â��I can assure you the house was immaculate after this hiatus. He eventually landed a permanent job as ââ�¬Å�Head of Referenceââ�¬Â� at Elms College, a small, Catholic Liberal Arts institution in Chicopee, Massachusetts. So this leads to the question, “How’s that work?”

Well, Ray lives in Easthampton, MA, 125 miles south of home, where he rents a place M-F and is back home in Lebanon on the weekends. The weekly commuting and living apart has not been easy, but Ray loves his job, and the Toyota Prius he purchased in July has taken the sting out of gas expenses. Thank God for Nokian snow tires, Yahoo! chat, and Skype! Ellen continues to work at Dartmouth, having been there for 4 1/2 years, her longest stint with any employer. Dartmouth doesn’t know how truly lucky it is.

Four trips this year: Austin, TX for SXSW in March, an all Kanner Girls vacation to Puerto Rico, a summer week on a Maine island, and a trip to Germanyââ�¬â��including the place where we got married in 2004ââ�¬â��the Mirabelle Palace in Salzburg. The Germany trip was centered around the famous Christmas Markets or “Weihnachtsmarkt” in NÃ�¼rnberg, Regensberg, and Munich, and ended with a visit to see Ellen’s aunt in Bad Reichenhall.

A quiet year overall. Friends all around us are having babies in record numbers, and we’ve embraced being a part of the many new lives. We look forward to figuring out how to bring our two lives together under one roof, and the adventures and new opportunities we expect we’ll encounter in 2009!

Both Ellen and Ray (Ellen made me do it!!) are on Facebook – look us up!

Health and happiness to you and yours in 2009!

Ray and I just got back from our trip to Germany – a tour de Bavaria, to be more specific. We went from Munich, to Nurnberg, Regensburg, Bad Reichenhall and Salzburg. Fun, as we checked out the traditional Christmas Markets (Weihnachtsmaerkten) and saw the country with snow, which I haven’t seen in the winter since 1976! It was great to visit with my aunt and all head to Salzburg during this festive time of year. I planned it all through the internet, and have posted all where we stayed, etc., on my netvibesp public page (to those who have the link). It was very handy and a great way to share information regarding our itinerary, resources for planning, etc.