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pardon the delay

here’s a beauty from the azalea festival car show out in south gate. sun still going up, shadows filtering through the trees.

a week ago today, i was set to be taking pictures at the bombs on the bay show in san diego. i had a three-day weekend scheduled, hotel booked.

instead, saturday morning, i hear my name being called. i roll over and instead of bedsheets, i see carpet. i turn over and see my better half coming toward me quickly, looming over me. it’s a weird, worms-eye view of the world…how did i get here? i’d gotten up to use the bathroom, and remember standing in the doorway, but don’t remember how i ended up on the floor.

i get sick, explosively, a couple of times. apparently i passed out again, eyes rolling up, turning whiter than i already am, foaming at the mouth. i don’t remember that. i remember seeing my reflection in a mirror, and thinking i look kind of pasty, like maybe the light bulb has a bad color cast.

i get walked down the hall to the bed. better half is calling my son, asking him to come take me to the hospital. kid is forty minute drive away with no traffic; he is there within thirty. better half has been checking my o2 and pulse. o2 is low, pulse is racing.

i have a dream with the bright light, and shadowy figures in the distance. better half wakes me up, an ambulance has been called.

emergency personnel are concerned, and question everyone. stupidly ask me questions, that i can’t recall; apparently i was still being a smart ass with some of my answers–my own kid said it wasn’t the time for that–i don’t remember him saying that or being a smart ass. nice to know i’m consistent, normal or fucked up.

ambulance crew decide to carry me out the front door and down the steps instead of listening to one their own, who have been there before, saying out the back, a ramp, no stairs. a female officer has me under the arms, around my chest, and a male has my thighs. by the time they get me to the stairs, my boobs are being pinched by her arms, her strength is slipping, and the guy is pinching my leg with his grip. i’m saying, just let me walk. by the time we are at the bottom, on the sidewalk, the girl is almost dropping me, but the guy has let my legs go, so i can stand and get on the gurney.

i’ve only been in ambulance once, but not as a patient. let me just say, whittier has some bumpy roads, as the guy tries to insert an iv in my arm. turns out to be a crap iv, and the hospital can’t use it, but it is left in for the balance of the day.

better half can’t leave his mom, and is left helpless on the doorstep. my son is sent to sit with me in the emergency room, which ends up being about ten hours, before they admit me for the night.

after all the tests, they still didn’t know what happened. all the doctors stopped by the room for a minute, so they could bill me for their time, guessing stomach flu or dehydration. sent home the next day, late afternoon. arrive at home, with a fever i didn’t have at the hospital. took a pill, it went away and didn’t come back. very weird.

took a couple of additional days off past what was my three-day weekend. saw my own doc, so i have more tests scheduled. i’m guessing dehydration, but why so suddenly and grossly violently, is the question. i did go to work for a couple of days, and other than tiring, was ok.

i’d meant to go to chino yesterday for the corn fed run, but frankly, i’m a little scared to go too far. i went to covina instead, where i expected some friendly faces, just in case anything happened. i wasn’t disappointed, and saw several people i knew. they would keep an eye on me.

i’ve got a second trip planned for chicano park this weekend. hoping all will be good to go. will try to talk my mom into going with me. better half is worried. he’s a worrier. if i don’t feel good, i won’t go. simple.

at least my kid got the hotel to refund one night on my reservation.

short and sweet

1948 chevrolet stylemaster

SONY DSC

late. gotta get to bed but wanted to get something posted from the azalea festival car show.

used to be packed at this show, with cars parked in the lot in the dark waiting for the gates to open.

this year and last year, not so much. just me, a cop car and the groundsmen sitting out there before sunrise. then some little kid baseball/softball people started arriving. briefly thought about taking pictures of them practicing, for old times sake, but my kid is all grown up and i didn’t want to be the creepy stranger with a camera.

at least i got my car parked in the lot and not down the street.

a few show cars arrived a little after seven. a few impalas and some year suburban.

then this veteranos’ car shows up and alls well. getting to know the owners more, since i’ve chatted with them at several shows now. not the first time i’ve posted the car here, and not the last.

since it was a bit away from the other cars, i had a little room to play. they just recently had some pinstriping added too.

had to use my better half’s cameras. he loaned me three different wide-angle lenses to use, since mine wasn’t meant for a full frame camera.

his were all prime lenses, so i needed room to move, since there was no zoom at all with them. i took a few shots with the one he said was best, then tried the one he said was similar to mine. never did try the third lens. didn’t want to get dust on the sensor anyway.

whole point of getting there early is to catch that low light, but since it was already over an hour into sunrise, best i could do was work with where the sun was at the time. got a lot of pictures with sun flares testing these lenses. sharp, but flares are octogons instead of circles.

this one came out ok. i have others from when it was parked on the grass later, but this was pretty satisfying.

greeter

lafayette

strange car i saw once at a weekly evening show they used to have at a sonic in anaheim. not even sure it still happens in that location now; i want to say i saw a flyer for a different spot recently.

shame it was parked under the walmart signage, where it welcomed cars into the lot by the entrance, though the sporting goods sign might be more appropriate with a car like this.

walked uptown today. totally wasn’t thinking, or i’d have gone to the little museum, where there was a small car show and an exhibit unveiling. walked to lunch, and was just a couple of blocks away, but didn’t notice any strange activity down the street. usual couple of cars cruising through on greenleaf; there’s always a couple of cars cruising through.

in fact, i didn’t remember the show until about three pm, and figured it’s too late, people leave after trophies are given, and it’s too hot today. yesterday was in the sixties, today over eighty. tomorrow the same.

going to south gate tomorrow morning early. last couple of years, i was there before anyone, and though maybe i’d gotten the date wrong. some years, they let me in before show time, other times, there is some stickler for rules at the check-in table, and i’m stuck outside the gate, shooting video clips of cars driving in. sometimes wonder why none of the people i know don’t offer to let me hop in their car to get in the gate. i’ll get you a free print…ah well, don’t want to crush your upholstery.

going to use better half’s cameras, the big heavy things. don’t think i’ll use the battery grip, makes it too damn big for my hands, but just right for his big hands. i suppose the wide angle lens will also be one i’m unfamiliar with, or will be that big heavy chunk of glass he used to use. nice pics, but my arms will be screaming by the time i leave after hauling it around. it will probably kick my butt into gear about looking to get my own cameras fixed and/or buying something else.

failed

not quite the last shot from this particular camera, but close, shot into the sun. sun fucks with the colors, makes flares, screws the sensor; break that rule often, and shoot right into it.

not that it had any part of the failure, but now i’m calling this second camera out of service. the motor inside makes noise, and if i shoot enough, i’m sure i’d get the dreaded “camera error” again.

these last two cameras i only got a couple of years ago, so they shouldn’t have failed. better half points out that i do take an excessive number of shutter activations, and use the hell out of them, so he’s not so surprised.

so, now i really will need to either junk them or pay to have them shipped to a repair shop and fixed. bad timing though, with big shows coming up. should i only get those two fixed, or also my original two a700s?

better half is taking the opportunity to push me toward full-frame cameras, but offering to let me use a couple of his, as he isn’t going anywhere shooting anymore. i think he may regret letting me use them long-term. i’ll kill them too. he’s not worried.

he is also pushing me toward a sony 7rii. ugh, i hate the small body style, but he says it’s a way better camera than what i currently use.

earlier, i’d been working on tudy’s fifty-six bel air. was about three-quarters done. hadn’t saved the file. better half uses the microwave, while forgetting he was also heating up his mother’s dinner in the toaster oven. old house. fuse blown. apparently i haven’t got my computer plugged into the proper sockets on my backup battery, and the computer goes down, the file with it.

the backup file that opens is fried, so i’ll have to start over some other day.

strange that i didn’t break out with a flood of expletives that sailors would be proud of. just rebooted, and picked another picture to work on. so here it is.

tut tut

1939 chevrolet master deluxe

looks like rain.

two hour drive home and out for a quick dinner so my better half can go shopping.

bro flew home today. hope he made his connection. hope he can figure out uber since no one in his fam wants to drive to the airport at midnight. if i could, i would have gone with, just to be sure he’s ok.

kid called wanting to do dinner , i.e., have me buy, but not down there tonight, so she’ll hit up gramma.

snagged a bottle of vino someone brought back to work from a meeting. i don’t drink, but my daughter-in-law does. she said she’ll take it.

pretty paint combo on this thirty-nine out at pomona a couple of months ago. so late in the morning, and a relatively empty parking lot, still surprises me.

on my way home...

1939 chevy master deluxe

i left my mom’s late on saturday. had a few errands to run and a dog to walk.

i happened to have my camera bag with me, as i’d been asked to retake a group photo at work, and i like my lens better than the one for the company camera. one person was late, so they will reschedule some other time next week.

well there were several later-in-the-day car shows running on saturday, so i figured i’d just make a quick stop at one of them. this one on front street at the nights of columbus was a fundraiser for someone i’d never met, but i always donate anyway. may not be much, but hope it helps in some way.

just a street of about twenty or thirty cars, was just about the right number of cars for the limited time i had to shoot.

this car pulled up while i was shooting another car a few spots down.

when i was done at that end of the road, i walked back, and set up my shot. popped off a few frames, and then my camera decided to be a dick…camera error message. did as it said to do, and shut it off, and when it continued to show the message in spite of being turned off, popped the battery out to kill it.

after a few resets and continuing error messages, i resorted to another camera that i usually don’t use, except as a backup camera. the lens is an 18-105, and the zoominess on the thing forced me to stand further out in the street to get the shot.

did i mention the road was not shut down to traffic? nice of people to just drive around me, though i did get a few glares as they did so.

anyway, this is the same error that started on my other camera, that eventually rendered it useless and/or untrustworthy. it could also be that it doesn’t like the brand of memory card i was using. all i know is i can’t trust it as the main camera for a bigger show. will have to figure it out before i head to chicano park next month for sure.

so this shot is with the back up camera. did not like the color it captured, but the black and white version has an interesting moodiness that didn’t bother me so much.

tgif

harley davidson heritage softail

busy week. so burnt out, i didn’t know why the parking lot exit gate wouldn’t go up for a minute.

then i realized i was angrily waving my iphone at the sensor instead of the transponder.

hoping to get to whittier at some point tomorrow...i’m so tired.

———

harley from last year’s bomb club show at santa anita. wonder if they will have figured out what’s killing the horses by the next show in july. lots of cars/lots of horsepower...

——- -

happy birthday to my big bro...who is just now flying to saõ paolo.

such a mess

1941 chevrolet special deluxe convertible

brother and his wife were in town this past week. each day, as soon as i walked in the door from work, the wife would put me to work clearing junk out of the garage and attic. she’s a teacher, and very used to bossing people around.

finally had to start telling her i needed a moment, i just got off work, lemme eat something. junk can wait.

she didn’t realize how traumatic it was going to be for my mom, clearing the clutter, and filling two big junk trucks and a dumpster with stuff, and it barely put a dent in the garage junk. there’s still another attic to do as well.

the stuff is useless, but mom still would pick through the trash bags and pull out arbitrary items. i doubt she needs video 8, beta or vhs tapes of the gulf war or some cartoon my kids used to watch, but they’re sitting upstairs in her bedroom now. maybe it’s that the sticker has my dad’s handwriting on them. i think the players for them already went into the trash, or otherwise didn’t work and went into the trash.

was a battle of wills clearing out the pantry of out of date food items dad had bought over the years, and promptly forgot about. he used to eat stuff no one else would touch—oysters, anchovies, sardines, pickled pig parts, etc.—and yet she wanted to keep stuff in case anyone ever asked for it. i had to ask her how often a guest would arrive and ask if she had any prince albert in a can? never, but she doesn’t want to waste anything. well finally said, stuff is way out of date, and you wouldn’t even be able to donate it to a food pantry, so it needed to go.

sure, we’re disturbing her comfort zone. all this could wait another decade until she’s gone, but we’re trying to make some room, make it safer, make it her own.

took a few days of her in tears, and cussing—which she doesn’t do—for her to mourn her lost stuff. sister-in-law has said she is done, and probably won’t be back. she’s on her plane home by now.

my brother stayed behind, so they are still emptying stuff from the garage attic. his find for the day so far was my dr suess lunchbox from first grade.

i’m in whittier, for what seems my weekly cry. somehow we end up talking memories of my dad, so then the tears come again. it’s ok.

better half got out in the morning and got half his shopping done. i should be able to be home a little more often while my bro is staying with my mom. she was telling me the other day that she is perfectly fine being left on her own, but, when i called her earlier, she asked if i was coming back tomorrow. and she isn’t on her own.

looks like it wants to rain, and usually looking out this window, i’ll see old cars driving by; not one has noisily rumbled by today. we’re also in the flight path for LAX, but the planes must be coming in from the other direction—not seeing those either—and they would typically be coming in low, under the clouds on a day like this.

good car shows coming up. already booked a hotel for chicano park show. wonder if my bro will still be around, so he could go with me; doubt my mom will. padres are in town that weekend too; hoping to hit up a ball game while i’m there.

looking at the calendar, and some days have several shows. flip a coin, throw a dart, pull a show from a hat…need to decide somehow and get out and shoot.

shot this car at last year’s whittier uptown show. early. best early. the light and no crowds yet. and no heat…some years get so dang hot, i can’t even get around to all the cars before i start to feel ill. not tolerating it well anymore.

almost like they purposely parked that red car under those red banners for a reason…so color coordinated.

skipped it

1956 chevy bel air wagon

ya, ya, i was lazy this morning. didn’t rain as i had hoped, but was misty and sprinkly off and on today. still looks like more is coming tonight.

so i stayed huddled under the covers instead of cruising through the miles of cars at pomona.

here’s a shot from last month to compensate. penance. whatever.

i suspect there were just as few cars there this month as last, because of the cold and the possible rain. have only seen a couple of pics from other photographers so far today.

maybe next month…

a bit late

1938 chevy

workman high school fundraiser from last year. such a pretty green on that chevy. must have been a windy day, since the clouds seem to have moved during my shot.

so, it’s been a week since i’ve written. just one thing after another. time gets away from me lately, even on a weekend away, on my own.

this is becoming a once-a-week blather while i am home in whittier, and the better half has gone to market. unfortunate, since i have over sixty other cars sitting in draft mode, waiting to be posted. i guess i could just post them and not write anything, but then what’s the point of a blog? might as well just keep it on instagram or flickr.

i don’t have stories from car shows to write about anymore, since i haven’t been out much lately. my boring problems are stuff no one wants to read about. so here i am, yet again pondering shutting this puppy down. i’ll keep thinking.

meanwhile, a synopisis of my boring last week:

the day after my meeting, i took a ferry to sausalito. i was looking to replace something i’d lost or misplaced. i’d bought it there in a small store, with a most unfriendly bitch of a lady at the register, more than a dozen years ago. surprise surprise, out of business.

briefly thought about lunch, but really wanted to eat some crab back on the other side. also thought about taking the ferry back over, but i hadn’t bought a round trip ticket. so i did the thing i’d thought about the night before: i walked back to san francisco.

always used to ride the rental bike to sausalito. i figured i’d take that route back, and maybe get some photos i otherwise would not have gotten.

over twelve miles later…i got back to the hotel. even made a stop at fort point, where dweebs were doing civil war reenactment…dressed in uniforms and ladies in petticoats. took not quite five-hundred pictures along the way.

was ravenous, and treated myself to crab at aliottos in fisherman’s wharf. crab and bread and dessert. they didn’t have coke—just some frilly local made drink, but it was similar. i highly recommend the place, but going into the restaurant vs just the crab bar outside, is greatly overpriced. reconciled it in my head calling it both lunch and dinner.

about half way through the journey, my hip had started hurting. decided i’d pulled a muscle trying to climb up to some stairs from a rocky piece of beach back in sausalito. by the time i’d headed up for dinner, i was gimping. got hardly any sleep because of the hip, and getting ready to go to the airport was really dicey.

i got up early, hoping to get another crab from one of the crab bars. i gimped slowly over to fisherman’s wharf. they had crabs. but they weren’t open, and wouldn’t sell me one. not any of the crab carts. shit. damn off-season hours.

ended up with a subway sandwich as i was running out of time. ended up calling an uber this time. standing at the door of the hotel, wondering where the hell the guy was. several minutes later, noticed he had been sitting right there the whole time, just blocked from view by a couple of taxis. so had to pay the wait charge. oh well.

flight was uneventful. my daughter picked me up instead of my mom. older brother and his wife had arrived unannounced about the time she was getting ready to head to the airport. daughter happened to call to see what she was doing later, so she was sent to pick me up on her way home from work.

bro came to help sift through dad’s things, to tear down garden netting in the backyard. whole other story about trying to help clear dad’s stuff that is of no use to mom, but she ends up picking half the stuff back out of the trash bags when you turn your back.

other brother should be here on monday. in town for a friend’s funeral, but staying a while to help around the house. meaning also, i can go home to better half for a few days, without feeling guilty leaving mom alone.

work-wise, so so busy. been staying an extra hour or two, to meet deadlines. they won’t hire anyone, and no business group wants to pay the fee for the outside contractor, so the in-house designers are overloaded. i’m getting to that point of burn-out. been there before, and i feel it coming. new boss just doesn’t recognize it yet.

so tired. just not as tired as my better half.

raining today. sadly hoping it will be raining tomorrow, so i don’t have a reason to get out of bed and go to pomona to take pictures. i want to, really, but i really rather sleep.