THE SONGS OF A NIGHTINGAIL

  The two fellows in the prompt picture appear to be on a ship of some kind - a cruise ship, perchance?  From their white jackets I assume they're part of the staff. Are they, perhaps, chefs or other service members? Cruise ship staff members– the middle fellow’s jacket looking somewhat like those worn by the duo in the prompt picture.   Is  he a chef?    He has epaulets on his shoulders?    Perhaps he’s an executive chef? Here’s a happy cruise ship chef. A lineup of cruise ship chefs. A staff member bringing a meal to a passenger’s room. I wouldn’t mind having this handsome fellow captaining my ship – or maybe I would?  He looks a little young for such an important position.  But I’d appreciate him as any other officer! J Now then, a cruise ship is not the only place you’re going to see men in white jackets.  In the 1960’s men in white dress jackets were often seen in wedding pix such as the ones below . . . This was my youn...

My husband posing beside a ski plane display in Alaska Now he’s posing by the plane that took him and our eldest daughter up over Denali (Mount McKinley) to see its glaciers . A field of glaciers on Mt. McKinley (Denali) as seen from the plane.  They were supposed to be able to fly over the top of the mountain, but unfortunately, by the time they got up in the air, the top had clouded over.  Too bad.  But they still saw some beautiful mountain glaciers. My youngest sister’s husband built this Sonex airplane and is seen here flying it over the Sacramento Delta . A granddaughter is a passenger in an airplane ride on the boardwalk at Santa Cruz, Calif. Thanks to a spotter plane's direction, the pilot of this air tanker knew right where to drop its load of fire retardant on the “ Rim Fire ” in Tuolumne County in 2013 – an official photo.  Likewise the pilot of this helicopter on a different fire, having just loaded up with a bucketful of water from Pine Mountain Lake ...

  I was really ready for this one! J   All photos, one way and another, are related to my Great Grandfather, J.K. Smedley’s trip to Yosemite in 1874. J.K lived in Sacramento at the time of his trip to Yo-Semite – I’m guessing on a quieter street, however. From Sacramento he took the train to Milton where he and three others hired a coach & four with a driver for the rest of the trip.  Several folks he knew opted to take the stage – seen here – instead. Before heading for Yosemite they took a little side trip up to Calaveras Big Trees to see the giant Sequoias there and stayed at the Sperry & Perry Hotel in Murphys. They had lunch at the Mammoth Grove Hotel owned by Sperry & Perry at Calaveras Big Trees. Leaving Murphys, they took the Pendola Ferry across the Stanislaus River The road from the ferry brought them to Sonora where I live now, but this is the way they would have seen it back then. They stopped and had some libation at the Sonora City Hotel before...