The last of Christmas photos

The last but not least of my Christmas Day photos are finally posted! There are some really good ones of both Sammy and Valentina. 

I love all these wonderful smiles!

Dave's first time holding Valentina!

I wanted a photo of the cousins together. 

I made her this dress. It looks great on her!

Cia was nice enough to take these photos of me and Val. 

Christmas Day continued

Another batch. 

Christmas Day

Once again I'm having troubles posting. So I'm using fewer photos this time. 

Westcott Family Christmas Eve 2015

 We hosted the annual Westcott Christmas Eve brunch, which has been going on in some form since we were kids, I suppose. My siblings and I meet, with our families, and the menu rarely veers too far from custard, bacon, cheese fondue casserole, and fruit salad. This year my son and fam were unable to make it - life is hectic for them, having a very young baby just getting over her first cold. But they did arrive later, thank heavens. 

When it was time to take the annual family photo, no one brought a camera! But we figured out the iPhone timer and leaned it up against a potted plant, lol. 

We also miss our late brother, and his family, who live in Roseville and Seattle. 

Late afternoon, we greeted Warren, Cia, Valentina and Lily. 

Lily and Sammy became fast friends. 

After dinner the others had retired, and a few of us stayed up for a few more photos. Notice Lily and Valentina sharing Warren's lap!

Lastly, we used our newfound skills with timer and propping of the iPhone, and managed to get all five of us in the photo.  

Christmas Day photos next post.   

Sad news

I already posted this on Facebook, but my oldest brother Jim died on the 19th. He had been incapacitated for almost a year by a brain aneurism. We are surprised that he survived for so long; it showed a tenacity and inner strength. My niece Amity made a tribute on FB much better than I can do. What can I say? We will miss him a lot. We didn't get along so well as little kids, but he grew into a gentle, good natured man, always curious and finding joy in many things. He was a talented artist and an able teacher at a Los Angeles middle school. After he retired, he and his wife Kathy embraced retirement, taking all sorts of classes and activities such as bowling, ukulele, kayaking. They moved up to Roseville a few years ago to be closer to their grandchildren, and that is where we will be saying goodbye to him, soon.

Here are a few photos from when we were young. We always looked happy in those old photos. Maybe we got along better than I remembered. 

Okay, just a few more photos

I am trying to get caught up with the plethora of photos in my phone. Here are a few of my favorites from a little gathering of local family members and a few old friends...

Sammy and new friend Madeline. 

My brother Bob's family photo bombed by Ava. Cute!

Lily and Warren. 

Family photos

We had a family gathering on Sunday, with a few friends. So nice to get the family together! These are the first of a collection of photos taken while our daughter and granddaughter were in town. That's our friend Linda with her granddaughter Madeline in the first photo. 

Erie Canal part two

This photo was taken on the return trip on the Erie Canal, approaching the lock. You can see how high above us the walls are.

After the rear lock doors were shut, water started gushing into the lock area.

The water is rising up, up, up.

There is a man in this tiny building who operated the locks and raised the water up for us.

The view on the way back.

Sammy got to steer the boat for a while!

Nice shot of Martine and Samantha.

Westcott group photo

Westcott family gathering on December 15th at Zov's in Irvine. Jim and Kathy were visiting down south. It's a good photo of everyone, although Pam is partly obscured.

From left to right: James, Cindy, Dave, Kathy, Pam, Bob, Denise with Alex, John, Jim.

Sagamore

 Bear with me. I'm trying to finish the photos from our trip to NY, and I am almost done. This is fall color along the way there.

 Sagamore is a resort on Lake George in NE NY.

 There is an indoor pool.

 We rented a boat for an hour, Dave drove.

 Breakfast on the veranda.

 This might be my favorite photo from the whole trip. She is holding a piece of bacon.