Central Valley Roots

California' Central Valley (the Sacramento & San Joaquin valley is not a place for the weak of heart in the summer months. Daytime temperatures of 38 ~ 45 degrees centegrade are not at all out of the ordinary. Our July visit to the burgs of Modesto, Fresno and Hanford promised blistering heat and low humidity.
I was actuallylooking forward to our journey because the weather conditionswould provide some relief for my aching knees and feet. It wasalso a chance to visit some family members whom I hadn't seen in years.

Aunt Ruth, my mother's sister is, at 84 years of age, my last
surviving aunt or uncle. It could be my last chance to see her
alive. I didn't want to miss the opportunity. My brother and
some of my cousins and their kids decided to all pay Aunt Ruth a visit in Hanford.

First top was at my brother and his new wife's (Roni) house in
Modesto. My nephew David (my sister's son) his wife, Thuy (born
in Vietnam), their kids and my brother's son & daughter and her
two sons, stopped by to visit. There were way too many neices,
nephews & kids to name them all, so I'll just name some.

The first photo is with Chizuko, Destiny (my nephew David's
daughter) and me. Destiny's school class had a "Flat Stanley"
project which proved to be a lot of fun. "Stanley" is a flat
cut-out character that the students were to send to friends
or relatives who would take photos of him in different places
& the student would then tell a story of Stanley in the
different locations. Destiny sent Stanley to us in Japan
where we took photos of him at a temple, a park, in a
vending machine,etc., and mailed him back to Destiny.
He was a big hit with the American kids.



to be continued......