Move over, Princess Saya.

Make room for more royalty in the Seagle family.

Uncle Dave was passing out tiaras this Christmas and managed to crown Saya all the way from Morgan Hill, CA while she was in Cortland, OH.

Love you all! Grandma Seagle

One more time with the Christmas videos

Ben finishes off our series of Christmas Stockings. It would have been fun - and funnier - if I could have shown the first take of this story when Ben needed an attitude adjustment, which he got and we re-did the video. He's learning the guitar; Justin the drums (earplugs please) and Anna the trumpet. All kidding aside, they've made tremendous progress.
Love you all! Grandma

More Video - This time it's Anna

Saya is cute.....

.....but we're not suppose to say so. She's modest. More videos on the next posting.

Ho! Ho! Ho! It wasn't even Christmas yet.....

......but Ben, Justy, Anna, Saya and Aly were allowed to open their Christmas stockings from Aunt Helen and Uncle Dave - just trying to stretch the gifts out a little so they wouldn't all hit at the same time.

After you watch these videos, go to the next posting for more movies. I think I have a limit on how much video time my blog has per posting.

This is a puzzle.

Can you locate Joyce Ann's (your cousin for you too young to know) cat in this photo. I must say, her tree has very unusual decorations. Love you all! Grandma for both of us

And the band plays on

It's Christmastide and we are busy. Even so, as Grandpa plays clarinet with the Cortland Community Band, when duty calls he grabs his horn and we head for the concert hall or a lawn or the back of a truck or somewhere. This video was taken at the Shepherd of the Valley Retirement Community (spinoff of the place where Great-G&G Seagle lived) and starts off with a sweet solo of Grandpa on the clarinet. Have your fingers ready to poke into your ears, though, as I had to stand behind the band to film and, unfortunately the acoustics were mamahuhu (that's Chinese for so-so or mediocre) and my cameraship is not exactly exemplary. Anyway, we hope you enjoy the collection of snapshots from many concerts, the solo and sort of pretend the most of the music didn't happen. MERRY CHRISTMAS! Love you all! Grandma for both of us

How is this for funny?

Mission Accomplished!

Didn't I say we were going to visit Matt's apartment and then pick up Heather at the airport? We did and here's proof of our success.

Matt is standing beside his oft-used, spanking new, stacked washer-dryer combo at the start of his apartment tour. I hope (and pray) that when Grandpa and I get home from this brief stint in Los Angeles, we'll be able to edit the video we made of his luxurious digs. (Many adults are saying, 'No student deserves lodging this refined.') If and when we do, Grandma's Gazette will present if for you.

And speaking of videos, we hope you enjoy this one of Heather as she arrived at the San Jose Airport. Do you think her family was happy to see her? The photo beside the video will show you how happy Marsha was to see her. Or was it her burrito? I'll write again when we have time. Love you all! Grandma for Grandpa and me

YIPPEEE!!! A visit from Aunt Kay

Aunt Kay drove up from San Luis Obispo and Aunt Helen, Grandpa and I met Uncle Dave for lunch at the Olive Garden. It wasn't the same as sharing an Elderhostel with her, but we had some good conversation and an all-round great visit.
Heather is coming in tonight from school at Boyce College in Louisville, Kentucky. We'll pick her up at the San Jose airport after we check out Matt's condo.
Uncle Dave says Matt and his roommates hoard their garbage, so we may have a hard time walking through. If you don't hear from us, we may have gotten lost there. All kidding aside, we hear it's a fantastic and new apartment. I'll have a better report in a later posting.

Love you all! Grandma

A Man and his Motorcycle

Uncle Dave will turn 50 on December 19, so he's enjoying a couple of advanced birthday presents. His hat echoes the thought on the front of his shirt. From behind him you can read: "A Legend in my own mind." He'll wear this costume when he rides his motorcycle - as soon as he gets the flat tire fixed.

Love you all! Grandma

Please comment

The first artificial Christmas tree in the States was manufactured in the 1930s by a company that made toilet brushes, the Addis Brush Company

Chris says, "Let it snow!"

The snow scene is what we saw as we left Reno earlier today. (Marsha and her friend is what we saw when we arrived in Morgan Hill.) We had no trouble coming back across the mountains. It was sunny, with deep accumulations of snow, but nothing on the roadway itself and we did see a few skiers. We’re glad, because Christopher has e-mailed us to say, "Let it snow!" He plans to be skiing at Tahoe this coming week after a visit to San Francisco.

Victorian Christmas

Today (Thursday, December 6, 2007) Grandpa and I came through Donner’s Pass in the Sierra Nevada Mountains on our way to Reno to see a long-time friend who worked with Grandpa way back in the 50s. We traveled through snow, following the truck pictured here, and thought of the dreadful snowstorm that occurred back in the 19^th Century, which caught the Donner Party by surprise and forced them to struggle to survive until spring or until the end of their lives.

We had been in Nevada City, California for a Victorian Christmas Holiday with Elderhostel. (I believe it is our 26^th vacation with this fine organization!)

While we were there, a crime was committed in our hotel; a hotel built in the 19^th Century and that has not changed much in its approximately 150 years. It’s location, right in the middle of this small town, is perfect for the tourist. About a half block from our lodging was a small park, crawling with homeless people. (Hear that, Heather? You could find a full-time ministry here.) During the night, a man in a black sweatshirt, with its hood up and nearly covering his face, stole through the halls of the hotel and less than 10 feet from our doorway, pulled a rollaway bed from its compartment and took a nap. Leaving in the morning, he strolled past a suitcase a guest left momentarily at the top of a stairway and decided to take it with him. When it was discovered missing, everyone in the hotel put together what information we had and pieced together the story. Two hotel employees remembered seeing this man leaving with a suitcase, so they tracked him down. When the thief saw one of these men, he fled and the luggage was redeemed, but that was not the only exciting thing that happened on our excursion to Nevada City.

We visited a gold mine museum and the gold mine itself. We heard a talk by a veteran miner. We heard and learned enough we could become miners ourselves – but we won’t because it sounds like drudgery. Nevada City is drenched in history and we absorbed a lot of it. The town (not including the Indian culture there) was born of the gold rush in 1849 and is full of tales of both the good guys and the bad guys with a surprising number of prominent national figures thrown in. It was interesting to see how the California politics connected with our national government. We got a good look, too, at some of the local talent. One married couple did an evening program on The Golden Years of Radio. We also enjoyed a trio of musicians singing and strumming Appalachian music and a group of Christmas Madrigals from the local high school. On the last night, Nevada City closes two of its streets to traffic and holds a Victorian Christmas. There were booths with vendors of edibles and non-edibles. (We bought popcorn for our room.) Carolers were everywhere; including a choral group dressed in Victorian garb singing beside a living nativity tableau. There were dancing groups and lone children playing violins. The best part was that all we had to do was walk outside our hotel doors and we were there; playing a part in a Victorian Christmas.

About this hotel: it was historic and lovely, however, - why does there always have to be a however? – to survive its amenities, or lack of, a guest really needs a sense of humor. Our 3^rd floor room was not, repeat NOT, serviced by an elevator. Strong water pressure was as rare as the elevator. The bed, genuine antique, fell apart and had pillows as thick and fluffy as the sheets. There was no light to read by. One night I arose from my extra-hard chair to turn on the light; and realized it was already on. When Grandpa and I discovered the sleeping guest outside our door, we merely thought the hotel rented him sleeping space, which shows our lack of faith in the management. Oh well, you can’t have everything. The program was superb and the group of Elderhostelers was easy to live with, so we rate it five stars and would recommend it to anyone 55 or over. (Guests should bring along a reading lamp and a fire escape ladder.)

I can’t leave without telling you how much we’ve enjoyed Uncle Dave, Aunt Helen, Matt and Marsha. We’ll start seeing them again tomorrow. Remember………

Love you all! Grandma for both of us P.S. Grandpa wanted to include these shots of the Elderhostel.

Nevada
City
at
Night

The Rat Story

Aunt Helen had a rat. She didn’t know she had a rat, because Uncle Dave’s hamster, Doug, was lost in the house for some time and she thought he was responsible for the entire strange goings on. (Reminder: Aunt Helen is blind.)

Doug was not like other hamsters. He was often lost in the environs of the Seagle household. Once he showed up two weeks later on the rim of Marsha’s dog dish, getting a drink of water. Another time, Matt opened the back door in answer to some scratching sounds, expecting Marsha to appear, and Doug scampered across the threshold into hiding.

After a couple of weeks, Aunt Helen discovered he had eaten a huge hole in the steel-hard – excuse me, titanium-strength – plastic of a pretzel box.

Arising one morning, she discovered her bananas were empty skins hanging from their hook. She could hardly believe Doug had devoured them; after all, he’s only a hamster and how could he eat a whole bunch of bananas.

This was just too much for Aunt Helen, so she said, “Dave, I know how much you love Doug, but he has got to go. I’m getting a box of rat poison to put under the kitchen sink before he destroys the house.”

So she did. Later, standing beside the sink she heard shuffling below. The shuffling grew louder and more powerful and Aunt Helen thought the plumbing might go. One little hamster is doing this?

When she checked the box, the poison was all gone and she commented that Doug must have pigged out. It was hard to believe he could eat the whole boxful.

After that, peace dwelt in the house. Apparently Doug had gone to hamster heaven.

Relaxing in her easy chair some days later, Aunt Helen’s super-sensitive nose smelled something putrid so she sent Dave scouting. When he lifted the big upholstered chair, he asked, “Have you been missing your black bra?” She answered in the affirmative and wondered what that had to do with Doug. “Well, said Dave, Here it is and “cupped” inside it is a DEAD RAT!” Ugh.

When Helen settled down, she laughed at all the misconceptions she had harbored about Doug. She said it is alright to tell this story, but I must add that she is an immaculate housekeeper and rats and other large rodents are foreign to her household. I can attest to that.

The picture below is of Dave, Marsha and Helen. I'll bet you figured that out already.

Love you all, Grandma