This e-mail courtesy of Maria, from Uncle Pat who no have a computer.

ALOHA FROM SUNNY HAWAII......to all in the family, SEASONS GREETINGS.  I wish you a MERRY CHRISTMAS and a joyful  NEW YEARS that brings good health, good fortune and more income for "LA DOLCE VITA' and to pay bills.  Some of you may be thinking what a tacky way to send holiday greetings.  Hey, e-mail is the way to go since a lot of people are communicating with each other that way.  I think there is more telephone calls too now that those tiny phones are popular so people who carry them around can make  calls anytime, any place.  WHOOH!  What next?  Uncle Pat is still well  and enjoying life in sunny Hawaii.  I see my gatekeeper at Kaiser every 6 months for medical check-up, with lab report- numbers all good, only for a few low-(H).  I take only 4 pills daily.  I can still sleep well, walk a lot an go often to the nearby beach, in front of the Hilton Hotel, where I nap in the shade of a coconut tree, then go in the ocean to splash around a bit , before going home.  Hey, I also can still travel.  I went to Kate's wedding, (Mark's daughter) who lives in Denver, Colorado.  Thanks to Joe and Suzanne, I was able to get a ride to and from the airport and get around in Denver with them, in their rental car.  I enjoyed myself in Denver.  With other out-of-town guests and Mark and Sandy, we drove to the mountains to see their mountain house.  At the wedding reception, I danced with a gal who wasn't as old as me who knew how to dance in-step like we did in the forties when I was a kid.  At the wedding reception, I sang "That's amore" an Italiano love song.  No one yelled "Hey caruso, take five---five hours."  I left Denver the following morning with Joe who was staying at the same hot and our flights were leaving about the same time.  I flew to Tucson, AZ for conning flight to Los Mochis, Mexico City for a weeks tour of Copper Canyon.  I wanted to go there for years but never got around to it.  A guide met me at the airport.  There was only 3 of us in the group.  Me and a couple from VA, nice friendly people.  The guide  was a nice guy who spoke english well.  We spent the night in Los Mochis  Following late morning, we boarded a train for Copper Canyon tour with a stop at El Fuerte, a small town, staying at an old spanish style hotel, that looked like a motel.  The train ride from there to Copper Canyon was 4 hours .  We rode through some of the most spectacular scenery in the Serra Madre Mountains.  I agree.  It's amazing that they could build a railroad through this area.  The brochure states that the americans started thr railroad but gave up and the mexican government completed the railroad taking 75 years to complete.  There were other tourists on the train.  Some were from Germany.  The train wasn't crowded.  We saw a lot deep canyons while riding that train.  WHOOH!!  The hotel at Copper Canyon was built on the rim of the canyon, with a  huge veranda where you enjoy a margurita drink and look at the "big-a hole" in the ground.  A bunch of  american seniors where at the hotel having a ball, drinking marguritas.  I chatted with a couple of them.  They were traveling with vans, that were on flat bed railway cars.  They had their evening meal at the hotel and stayed a while to listen to the music and do some dancing before returning to their vans for the night and leave the next day.  I guess I did some dancing to with the ladies in that group.  We had one full day at Copper Canyon.  After breakfast, with our guide, we walked down a path  along the rim inside of the canyon to a level wide enough where there was a cave with an Indian family living there.  The mama, holding a bambino and a young boy were at home,  Naturally, they had souvenirs , wood carvings for sale.  We stayed a while looking arouond.  I bought a small statue made from the bark of a tree, per guide.  We went back to the hotel , spent the rest of the day touring around the canyon, per guide.  There are  4 canyons that end in that "big-a hole" where some locals are living.  I could see the houses.  We saw some Indians in the area and at the hotel who were selling souvenirs.  The Indian women's clothes were clean and colorful.  I saw one elderly woman who was wearing bright red, heavy wool ankle sox  folded down at the top.  She looked like a teenager.  We went back  to Los Moches spent   the night there and took an early morning flight back to Tucson, AZ where I spent the night because a earthquake hit Hawaii.  Not much damage but the lights were out on Oahu for a full day.  I flew back to Honolulu the following day with a lot of fond memories thinking what a lucking guy I am for an old man who can still travel.

Let's keep in touch!  CHEERS!!!       Uncle Pat