Orange Blossom Special ??

We watched the Capitol 4th on PBS the night of July 4th; all the entertainment was top notch and this year seemed better than any we remembered with Josh Groban, Michael Morrison, Jordan Sparks, etc.  What was most surprising was Steve Martin playing a mean banjo  and his Blue Grass Band,  do they call themselves the Canyon Stampede?  Their fiddle player  did an excellent job with one of our all time favorites, Orange Blossom Special. 

And that reminded me of a photo taken by my Uncle Carl about 1989; I am guessing the date because while it was amongst others from 1989 he did not note it on the back where  he only wrote, "train up at the Marionville, Pa. Mts."  I think this photo is good enough to be a postcard or  enlarged and hung as artwork.   I don't know anything about Marionville, PA but will have to Google and check that out.  I wonder if it was a special steam train excursion such as we took a couple years ago  here in MN from Winona.  It does remind me of the old steam train that operated in the forests out of Ft. Bragg on the northern CA coast too.    

From the Folsom Prison song  by Johnny Cash "I hear the train a'comin, she's comin'round the bend....."

Uncle Carl's steam train

Well, this also gives me a break from indoor domestic chores which have taken my attention this afternoon, the downstairs study, TV room and all that floor is now vacuumed and dusted and  the ironing caught up.  We will head  out to PA on Sunday and the next couple days I will be busy getting my hair cut, lightened, pedicure and clothing out to the motor home for the trip.  But my grandma's spirit stays with me as I am compelled to have my house sparkling clean before we go.  We don't get that dirty here  but I do clean myself out the door much as she used to do on our way to church on Sunday mornings. 

Curtisville PA Sepia Saturday 61 (Click here to the Sepia site)

I browsed my  collection and could not find a single photo of a silo to match Alan's this week.  Today we see silos all over on farms in this area, but in the older photos from Jerry's family no one thought to capture a silo. 

However while looking, I found these two photos from 1910 and 1920 in Curtisville, PA as featured in the Valley News Dispatch in 1990's  which my Uncle Carl had kept.  Carl was born in Curtisville, one of the many  coal mining towns where the family lived; today all those towns are the area that is known as West Deer.

I hope this horse was  the trotting  type else the milk might have been warm on delivery routes.

On the same page was this photo of mail delivery, the Railroad sign, "Stop, Look and Listen" reflects the care given to crossing near the railroad lines.  And that looks like a big load of mail being delivered or sent out by the men.   

I have shared this photo before in writing about Uncle Carl, but here is a photo outside his  school in about 1929-30.  He will be 93 on March 18 and will be honored with a birthday  party in the assisted living center.

As always click on the title to this post to get to the Sepia Saturday site from where you can link to see what others are sharing this week and check out Alan's featured silo.

Sepia Saturday Week 59 Mystery men awaiting (Click Here to Sepia site)



Men waiting for the train
Leechburg, PA   1900

 I found these two photos among  the collections of my aunt Virgina (Jinx) and although I know nothing about any of the people and the photos are  ragged, I thought they were interesting historical slices from the past.  This first  shows six men at the train station, so it was marked on the back, writing nearly faded away along with the year 1900.  No names, no other information.  Four of the men appear to  be smoking cigars.  All are wearing hats which would have been expected at that time, but I find the variance in dress interesting.  Check out the  middle man with long coat and derby and the short swing style jacket sported on the 2nd man from the right.  The 2nd man from the left looks like he is ready to bolt.  I wonder if they were meeting passengers on that train or waiting to board. Are any of the men relatives?  The man standing on the far right  resembles  my Grandmother Roses'  brother,  Bill.  Far more questions than answers here now. I expect they  must have known one another, else why would they have posed for the photo.  I could make up a wonderful tale using this photo and just may do that someday.   Leechburg, PA is a borough  about 15 miles from my home town in PA and was founded in 1850 by David Leech who purchased land from a local Native American, White Maddock.  In  better times it was a major port on the PA canal and home to steel mills, foundries, coal mines.  It is the first place where natural gas was used for industrial purposes in the country.  

The second photo is another historical snap and interests me, the decor of the place and the flashback to a time when hats were cleaned and shoes/boots were shined as a way to make a living.  I suspect one would starve today making a living at either or both services combined.  Again I know neither who the man is nor why my aunt had this photo.  Looks like he had a great business.  Is he the owner or a customer?


Apollo, PA Hat Cleaner  1926

I wonder if this photo may have been taken in the summer, around Memorial Day or the  4th of July with the flags and all the straw hats on the shelf along the right.  The back of the photo stated only "Apollo, PA 1926"  and I have added Hat Cleaner.  Apollo, PA is another  of the small boroughs near my home town.  As I was writing I recalled  learning in elementary school that Apollo, PA named after the Greek God is a palindrome,(before you grab your Funk and Wagnalls that is a word that is spelled the same forward or backward).  It was another steel town along the rivers out of Pittsburgh founded in 1895. 

These are my two mystery photos.  Both in poor condition and both intriguing.  Wish I had known about these when I could have asked my aunt for information.  As always click on the title to go to the Sepia Saturday host site where you can see other's photos.