THE SONGS OF A NIGHTINGAIL

  My Dad fixing the engine in my Grandma Louise’s car during a trip to Big Basin Redwoods State Park in 1947. No motor here, but some sort of adjustment was apparently needed.  My husband tweaking our son’s tricycle in 1971. Father & son checking out the engine of a possible truck for son in 1985.  They grow up so fast! Father & son checking out the engine of another possibility . . . . . . which became the truck of choice.  He let me drive it once. ;) Sometime later our son bought another truck & took it apart to get it running.  Only problem was the gas gauge didn’t always work properly.  I remember getting at least a couple of calls:  “Mom?  Could you bring me some gas?”  Luckily he was never too far afield. In this case, however, it was the battery.  Cousin George in 1997 giving my daughter’s car a charge. :-> La Nightingail

  Mutton sleeves & long voluminous skirts. Still puffed but shorter sleeves.  Hats had best be pinned on tightly. Long tight-fitting sleeves might cramp your swing a bit? Matching outfits with long sleeves loose at the top and pretty decorative skirts. Looser long sleeves and slimmer skirt, but now you have a tie flapping in your face.  In the photo she does have her tie tucked into her belt, but you know it's not going to stay there. Mixed Doubles Gradually skirts began to get shorter and tops more easy-fitting.  But again, with the ties?  Why?? (flap flap)  At least two of the gals are smart enough to know better. There was the occasional publicity shot, of course. Back to the sedate ‘30s. A couple of these gals appear to be wearing knee-length shorts. Lucille Ball in the 1940s Rita Hayworth.  I love the outfit. :) Women’s 2-piece tennis outfit in 2026.  Are women’s tennis outfits headed in the same direction as those worn by beach volleybal...

  An old time shoe factory. A fanciful image of a cobbler shop – perhaps in “Hobbiton” where Bilbo and Frodo Baggins lived? Looks like this ‘shoe hospital’ did a lot more than just fix shoes. That’s quite a stacking of old suitcases!  Cobblers took on more than shoes, of course.  Purses, belts, caps, aprons, suitcases, briefs - just about anything leather. Today’s cobbler hard at work. I remember as a child stepping up on that second step, shoving my shoe-covered feet into a hole, and looking down to see the bones of my feet inside my shoes. The machines were known as fluoroscopes although different shoe stores had different names for them like ‘Ped-o-Scope’ or ‘Foot-o Scope’ or ‘Xray Shoe Fitter’. When I was young I wore shoes like these.  I don’t know that they were Buster Browns, necessarily, but they were very much like this style. By the time I was in 6 th grade I was wearing more fashionable shoes and by the time I hit Jr. and Sr. high schools I was wearing ...