THE SONGS OF A NIGHTINGAIL

  From a PR photo for a play I was in, I was an old granny who spent most of the play sitting in a rocking chair knitting, wearing a homespun gown with a lace capelet over the shoulders. Sometime later, another actor wore the gown with the lace capelet to play the part of Mother Goose. A large sheer lace collar becomes a faux capelet for this dress. A sheer capelet turns a strapless gown into the perfect wedding dress.  Bridesmaids could do the same over formal gowns they could wear again without the capelet. These lace capelets can change the look of any dress. This is a gorgeous sparkling sleeved slipover capelet atop a slim dress worn by Doris Day in the movie “Lover Come Back”.  I love it.  She got to wear the best clothes in her movies! I made a black cape much like this in style to wear for a part I was playing in a melodrama.  The only difference is the cape in the picture is in black velvet.  Mine was done in black water-silk taffeta. I was another ...

  I have always loved backroads because when I was growing up one of the family’s fun things to do – usually on a Sunday – was go for a drive out in the country and Dad & Mom were always curious about side roads wondering where they led to, and I inherited their curiosity about that.  So wherever we’ve lived over the years, I’ve delighted in finding the backroads in the area and today I’m showing you a couple of backroads I’ve been on in the area where I currently live. Rock Creek Road out of Milton, Calif.  My great Grandfather, J.K. Smedley, took this road in 1874 on his way to Yosemite, and I traced his route in 1990 – driving this little one-lane road with just enough room to pass.  It was paved – more or less – when I drove it, but was a dusty dirt road in his day, of course. Approaching the community of Oak Grove it becomes a striped two-lane road . . . . . . but turns back into a one lane road again going across Salt Valley and on up into the foothills. Ma...