what's up?

visiting

so i’ve been a bit of a shut-in lately. i do go for daily walks, but mostly, i’ve stayed home. i should be doing more cleaning out the clutter, but i seem to spend a lot of time catching up on tv series that i hadn’t seen before.

i enjoyed all the seasons of outlander; currently trudging through the fourth season of the witcher. henry cavill, i’m all about; the current season with one of the hemsworth brothers, meh. probably won’t finish, or watch the next season. he’s such a dud.

two of my better half’s nephews visited this weekend. picked through his books, guitars and skateboards. tried to get them to take some furniture, but they don’t need it. besides that, some of it is heavy oak, and one of the boys just had his appendix out, so no lifting anyway.

i guess i’ll be calling a junk hauler to get it out of the house, as i have no other way to get it out nor anywhere to put it. also would prefer to get rid of several of his computer monitors, which are actually smaller large screen tvs, but i have yet to find remotes for them. they’re good for the tall guy he was, but i don’t like them for computer use.

speaking of computers, mine is so old, i can’t update it to the current version of windows. i will need to figure out how to move over my files to his mac. mine now. finally hacked into it. take that apple. thanks for not helping with that.

anyway, one of the nephews intended to go to pomona for the swap meet. i hadn’t thought about it, but since they both said they were going to go, and be there at the opening of the gates, i told them i would go.

i’m quite glad that i did. perfect weather, lots of cars, friendly people. i arrived at five-thirty a.m., after about four hours of sleep.

i’d gotten a text message when i was halfway there, that the nephews had overslept, and would be arriving after six. they know where i hang out, and would find me when they got there, though they said it would be more difficult with their uncle nearby, since he was so easy to spot.

being there early, in the dark, it was kinda cold, but i hadn’t wanted to haul a jacket around after sunrise, so i quietly shivered while i waited out some long exposures.

one of the bridgetown guys came over to inquire how i was doing, and expressed his condolences. thank you, kind sir. i really am doing better than i should be, probably, aside from too much television viewing. a bit of escapism never hurt anybody.

as usual, i wandered here and there in the show area. i think it was more packed than i could recall it being in a long time. saw this lovely impala somewhere in the middle. told the owner i’d post a picture of it after i gave him my card.

i seem to remember it being more of a salmon color, but the sun hitting it, seems to have made it more red than i think it was.

it was good to get out and stretch my legs. i stayed just long enough to start feeling dizzy from skipping a full breakfast, so left after four hours, though i could have stayed the whole day otherwise.

only felt a little sad as i headed home, as it would have been the time better half and i would have chatted about what we saw and who we talked to at the show.

atypical

it’s been a weird couple of weeks.

standard work load. they gave me a new macbook pro to use. i hate laptops. i haven’t used a mac in years, so everything is so backwards in my head.

from shortcuts, down to the mouse wheel scroll, i just feel like i’m driving a car in london, on the wrong side of the road. and a bunch of network stuff is not doing what i want it to do. it doesn’t want to connect to my mom’s wifi, and i don’t want to change her password, that would screw up other stuff in her house. so i feel like i’m working with one hand tied behind my back.

almost to the point where i will trade my coworker for the pc laptop they gave her. she says it’s a slooooowwww pig, so not really selling me on the idea. might as well stick with it, as my better half left me with his mac studio, and this pc is going to crash one of these days.

other than that, i spent last saturday in temecula, visiting my kid and his children. then when we wore them out, i headed over to vail hq, for the ramble on the ranch show. perfect weather for it, and i was there early enough to still have some light to work with.

i started out in the parking lot instead of the space between the stores this time. in the summer it stays too hot out in the lot and i just can’t stay very long.

didn’t seem like there were as many cars as usual. i think there was some other bigger show going on that day. worked for me, fewer people in the way.

this olds was really spectacular. don’t see many like it. i probably should have posted one of the other shots, but this will do.

my daughter and her boyfriend had intended to meet up with me for the show. unfortunately, her dog sitter called to let them know one of her dogs was not acting right, so they had to turn around and head back home. fortunately, they hadn’t gotten to the grapevine yet, and all the terrible traffic waiting on the other side, so it only took them about twenty minutes.

she rushed him to the doggo er, and spent most of the day there. unfortunately, they had to make that terrible decision to let him go about midnight. heart issue, and though they drained some liquid off of it, it was not going to help, so decided it would be kinder to put him to sleep. he was an old, huge doberman, eight or nine. still didn’t think it would happen so soon, but big dogs don’t live as long as yappy little dogs. glad they were there with him at the end.

so i got a phone call at six am next morning, that my daughter wasn’t dealing with it well, so off to bakersfield i went. super foggy the past few days, and sunday was the same. was lovely and sunny up the grapevine, then descended again into pea soup fog on the other side. didn’t get a whole lot better for most of the afternoon.

long day there. considered staying in a hotel then driving home at three am, but didn’t want to get up early on little sleep. was home by ten pm. still needed to get up early for work and an appointment later on.

got through the week without much sleep. spent yesterday watching outlander. what a good show. i really have a lot of other stuff i need to do, but i just don’t have the mental capacity or energy to deal with it yet.

today, i pulled more of my better half’s shirts out of the closet, folded and threw them in a box. i need to get more boxes from storage. it’s already dark, so not today, and it’s supposed to rain most of this week. sorry, that’s what i wanted for xmas, and looks like i’ll get my wish.

p.s. - happy ninety-first bday mom!

come on and rain already

they promised it was going to rain all week, last week. then it didn’t. just a day or so.

they said it was going to rain sunday/monday, then monday/tuesday this week, and now it’s not at all or maybe ten percent chance. what are they paying these weather people for? “it’s beyond my control…”

well it looks cloudy, with no chance of meatballs from my window here. and i’ve seen and/or heard several classic cars drive on by down greenleaf, which seems to me a better predictor of whether it is going to rain or not.

better half woke up early today, and snuck on out to the sante fe swap meet to buy some shirts. said there was a vendor selling knock off pendletons. he jokingly asked if he was a greenspans outlet, and the guy said, “no, but a hell of a lot cheaper.”

he’s out again now, driving around in a car that was originally mine, then my ex’s, then my dad’s, now my mom’s. if he decides not to buy it, i suppose i’ll take it out to pomona next month. or my sister can craig’s list it. he want’s a spare car in case he needs to get his mom to an appointment, and i’m not in town.

i have new year’s eve and new year’s day off from work. there are several new year’s day picnics happening. seriously considering going somewhere instead of hiding away in the house. or maybe at least to the veterano’s cruise night on the weekend, since one of my favs dm’d me a flyer to tempt me.

truck from a not hugely attended fundraiser show at workman high school. i think it was supposed to rain that day (it didn’t), which kept more cars away that otherwise would have been there.

it’s the color of a ring i used to wear in elementary school, turquoise stone and silver, that probably wouldn’t even fit on my pinky anymore. maybe i’ll give it to the new grandkid (not here yet) when she’s old enough.

power slave

went to front street this morning. only photographer there for a while.

got home after eleven, and happily transfering pics from camera to computer, when the power went out. neighbors started emerging from their houses and actually talking to each other, so i knew it wasn’t just this building. hope the computer is all right.

better half says it’s widepread here in whittier. so no pictures to fiddle with for a while. should be interesting to figure out dinner if it stays off that long.

i’ll play a game. i’ll post a pic from my backlog each hour and see how many i get to. after all, they aren’t doing anyone any good

————

this backend was from mooneyes last month. i do so love cars with interesting back fins and lights. not sure i’ve seen this one before.

delray / sittin’

at my condo, picking up mail before heading to my mom’s for the night.

sad to be here; it smells because my daughter’s dog is a not so well trained doberman who has taken one too many dookies in here. that and a stagnant piss smell permanently in this ratty carpet. and just a hint of vomit. really need to leave, but i have to close all the windows, and this chair is just uncomfortable enough that i don’t want to sit anymore.

tired of it just being an expensive storage unit for her stuff. she doesn’t realize how good she had it yet—a rent-free, utilities-free place to stay. but she just couldn’t be on her own, and met a guy that lived too far away, then got a job in that too far away place and complained of not getting enough sleep, and the price of gas, etc.

well just tarantulas live here now, and i hope she stops to feed them sometimes.

gave her until the end of summer to pack, but i’m betting she’ll just leave it to see how serious i really am. that or she knows i’ll box it up for her just to get it out. she can put it in her dad’s storage.

soon, her stuff will be out and i can get on with the demolition that is needed in here.

————-

i did stop at the crossing church’s thirteenth annual car show last weekend. had to park a block or two away, after circling the neighborhood once. got there close to noon, never a good time for me with all the heat and all the people walking through the shot.

i still managed one loop around the parking lot. seemed to be fewer cars than past years, but it was later than i usually go, and there were many other shows going on at the same time.

i was pretty overheated after the sun came out, when i got to the last few cars. eh, i overheat in the middle of winter, it is just extra gruelling in the summer. had to stop inside the church kitchen for some cold water, shade, and slow moving overhead fan action.

i think this car was the second or third one i shot, up at the front corner. looks like an impala, but it’s not. can’t remember seeing it before, at least it wasn’t in this year’s files, so it was nice to shoot something different.

trippy

looking forward to pomona next month. wondering if it will rain. wondering if i’ll have time to go. my life is very much a day-to-day mystery of where i’ll be and what i’ll be doing anymore.

got this backend shot of a fifty-eight last month. nice car, but i just like this piece of it right now.

————

well, here i sit all down-hearted...in san francisco, but my heart isn’t here...he’s in whittier.

can’t say it’s all been downhill, but the trip sort of started that way. mom dropped me off at the airport after work yesterday. all good, short security line, plenty of time to sit on my ass and figure out what i was going to do in the evening. the one hour flight was supposed to take off at five, so i was going to hold off eating until i got to the city, and planned to go get a crab from the dudes with the big boilers outside at fisherman’s wharf.

plane boarded right on time. pushed back from the gate just a bit late, and started rolling toward the airfield. then the plane stopped. figured we were just in line for take off. nope. mechanical problems, heading back to a gate, but we had to wait to get an open gate now.

cap’n crunch in the cockpit says they hope it is just a matter of rebooting the computer, but has to wait for the mechanics to board and clear it. yup that’s what it was, but then we had to wait for offical paperwork and clearance before we could get going.

the guy sitting next to me was having coniption fits as he was going to miss his connection to sacramento. was up at the front door trying to change his flight plans for a good twenty minutes. he should have taken his crap with him and just left, but it was all the way at the back of the plane with me.

really hating the flights i’ve had to book through the travel agency at work. they are always double or triple the price of any flight you could book on your own, and pretty much every trip has had issues. bumpy rides aren’t their fault, but ya, there’s usually that too. we are required to use the agency, so whatever.

so, an hour and a half later, we were cleared for takeoff, and with sacramento man still onboard. he whined to the lady in the window seat, who had a connection to redding, but she thought she would still be able to make it. sacramento guy said the gate agent had booked him on a flight for seven am, but he was expecting them to put him up in a hotel. sure dude, maybe.

the flight was absolutely full, as were the overhead compartments, so i had been forced to check my bag at the door. at least they didn’t lose it. but i did have to go wait for it at baggage claim.

i’d intended to just ride the bart into the city, but now it was close to eight at night, and didn’t think it would be safe that late, especially when i’d get to my stop. never used uber at an airport and didn’t want to deal with that. work was paying for the ride, so i took a taxi.

named my hotel, and the friendly north african driver said of course he knew where it was, and started the fare and headed onto the freeway. he was listening to a podcast in his native language, which he’d occasionally translate the topic. sounded like one of those radio call-in for advice shows. women complaining about their men not helping more around the house, and the strict division of what was perceived as womens’ vs mens’ work. also learned a bit of his family history, with seemingly forced marriages and uncles offering up sibling’s daughters for marriage at age thirteen. wtf.

i’m looking out the window, and wondering about the route the guy is taking to the hotel. off the freeway, he’s taking us up the very steep hilly parts of san francisco; the hills where you are glad you are not driving a stick shift and get a red light. the hills almost as steep as a roller coaster at magic mountain.

passed grace catherdral, and as i’m wondering about that, he pulls up to a curb in front of the huntington hotel, and says here you are. i see the bell hop inside starting to open the door...i say this isn’t my hotel...i’m down by the water and the name, even in my mumble speech doesn’t sound anything like huntington. he just says oops, and makes a u-turn. of course the meter is still running. did he do it on purpose, or was he so distracted by his podcast? guess i’ll complain when i get home and argue the charge.

when i finally get to my actual hotel, he sits in the car a moment longer, so the meter clicks to the next amount before he stops it. bastardo. added an extra ten bucks.

no bell hops at the door for some reason, but i can handle one bag easily. it’s now about nine pm; i’d had my better half call ahead to let them know i’d been delayed. check-in was quick, and i got a room on the top floor as requested, just had to walk a hella long way around the hallways to got to the room at the opposite end from the elevator.

small room, but it was expected, since i was alone. through my stuff down, and headed back out. i was starving. didn’t think the crab guys would still be cooking this late on a thursday in the off-season. ended up at in-n-out, which had a line, but still had some seating available. burger was sort of not completely cooked, but i ate it anyway. fries were fine.

by the time i was back in my room, and ready to sleep, it was ten-thirty. meeting at nine-thirty in the morning, i’d planned to get up early for a shower and time to find breakfast on the way.

alarm goes off, reluctantly get ready. it’s cold, even with the heater on, it doesn’t really manage to cut the chill. probably didn’t set it high enough. thinking about where to eat while i dry my hair, i remembered i also needed to get on a teleconference at eight. no breakfast for me. well, i did grab a donut at krispy creme, but that doesn’t count.

————-

getting late now, and i’m super tired. will write more tomorrow.

granny watch

i’m seeing more shows happening at this location in covina. not terrific, especially when a lot of cars show up, but there is space if they need it, due to the closed supermarket next door. close enough that i can get back home quickly if needed, and i haven’t noticed certain a-holes attending this one. apparently, i do hold certain grudges when earned, and it has ruined my enjoyment of car shows more than i think.

should have kicked the guy in the nuts at the time, but i didn’t, and bitching about it here doesn’t fix it. he’s an ass, probably was a bit drunk, and probably doesn’t even remember. i do. asshole.

anyway, the veteranos show was quite full of cars, so i was in a happy place. better half kept saying things were fine, so i didn’t need to head home as early as i thought. i shot maybe ninety percent of the cars that were there before i left. i did skip a few. people in the way, hood up, not my type, the usual reasons.

a lot of them are just ok shots. need to get out more, to keep my eyes open to seeing a good shot.

i liked this one. usually shoot fifty-eights from the back end, since that’s the interesting part for me. i did shoot that, but i just like the crop and reflection on this angle.

better half just left to search for a couple of new internal hard drives for me to fill up. hoping to get a price match at frys, but they mostly never have what he’s looking for in stock. otherwise, he’s getting time out of the house to do whatever he wants, a break from watching his mom. i could recommend a few toy drives he could visit…

she seems to need a break from him as well. wish they were a board or card game playing people…i’d hit her up, give her something else to do besides sleeping or watching tv.

maybe tomorrow we will begin hauling xmas crap in the house. my annual crabby, gloomy mood is starting to descend already.

if i’m there, i’m there

story of my life lately. gone are the days of three or four shows in one day. lucky if i get to one a week.

last weekend there were a few bigger shows that would have been good, but timing didn’t work out. i did manage to get out to reality car club’s cruise at manny’s el loco.

me, and not even a dozen classic cars. pretty much shot them all. several times. no randoms going through the shots. even took time/stalled and went inside to eat.

i don’t blame people for not showing up, especially if they’d already been roasting under a hot sun all day. one person inquired online…seemed he didn’t even know about it. that might be the club’s fault.

anyway, made the best of the situation. these first two were my first two. a few more showed up afterwards. owners were hanging out behind them, out of the shot. seemed friendly enough. asked for cards, but sounded familiar with my m.o.

beautiful cars, that were there.

touchy feely

so i went to the uptown car show yesterday. didn’t get down the street until fife-thirty, and the sun was already coming up. oh well. better half walked me down to where the first bunch of cars were parked, to make sure i’d be safe. when he saw tudy, there, he knew i would be ok. familiar faces make him feel better about leaving me alone so early at a show.

intended to head out to the other end of the street, by the hotel, in the staging area, but the sun was already up, and those typical sun behind the car shots i get there, were not really going to happen. different day of the month, different month than they have done in the past.

besides, i got distracted by the big, shiny things parked along the way. volunteers get first dibs on parking early, and there were a couple of clubs that i saw—originals and socal tribe. so i shot some of their cars first. tried to take advantage of where the sun shown down between buildings and hit the cars. a few of those were busily being polished before they headed off to direct traffic, or whatever they were told to do. others, the guys were in the way, and it’s not my place to tell them to move...it’s their show, they’re doing a job, i’m just a fly on the wall, so to speak. i just come back for the shot later.

finally got to the staging area, shot the few cars i liked there—usually they are packed in and overflowing to side streets by that time, but this year they’d moved drive-in to eight in the morning. that’s ok, whittier shows always seem to be let in late...usually by the fire marshall’s hold up.

anyway, retraced my path back up the street, shot cars i’d passed up, and decided to head home for a break. it was already getting warm, and i was thirsty. convenience of having that option is nice.

noticed the groupe car club cars had filled in one of the last side streets i had to pass on the way, and decided to get some of them too. there were a lot of them—i think i heard someone say they had at least thirty or forty members there, and it looked like most of them where on that block.

unfortunately, it was after eight by then, and they were beginning to let them in to the main drag. i hurried up, but once they get going, they move too quick for me.

i spied this impala a block down. just by itself, the owner and another dude standing by, a street closed sign just beyond. i took a short break in the shade of an overhang, expecting them to get in the car, and head up to the line of incoming cars. i really didn’t want to head down the slight hill for nothing, only to walk back up the incline.

after a few minutes, him not moving, but rather talking on the phone, i headed over.

the other guy came over and watched me set up. he hovered around, out of the direct shot, but his shadow kept moving across the car. finally started talking to him, hoping he would move to a different position, but no. i think i’ve talked to him before...can’t quite remember which show, or maybe it was at pomona, but i did remember the accent. from the follow up email he sent me, and his email address, it must be french.

anyway, i moved to the other side of the car, thinking at least i’d get him out of the path of the light, and that did work, but he continued hanging around next to me. finally asked if he wanted to be in the picture, which really was what he wanted all along.

so this is how he wanted to pose for the picture. does the owner know him? i wouldn’t touch someone’s car without permission. at least it was just the tip of his gloves. not sure if they were for weight lifting or bike riding, but when i reached over to shake his hand, he stopped to remove the glove first.

i left to walk up the hill, and he went back to the car and the owner. he had told me that the battery had died, and the guy had been calling for a tow truck, which arrived by the time i’d reached the next corner. hadley tow must love these shows, as there are always cars that overheat or otherwise not start.

bbq

better half went to the market yesterday evening, while i stayed home with his mom.

got a call from him about an hour later—his van wouldn’t start, called aaa, but had frozen food, etc., melting in the back. so i had to make sure his mom was ok to leave alone for about ten minutes, with her pain pills, a phone, and wheelchair nearby the bed.

start to worry that i’m going to get in an accident, then he couldn’t get home, and she’d be stuck in bed for days...cuz his sister still isn’t back...and probably will never be...

i got there and we threw all the groceries in my trunk and back seat. just finished when the aaa guy showed up to check the battery. i took off, and was back at the house within about ten minutes, unloaded the car and got the cold stuff where it needed to be within another ten minutes.

better half calls and says battery is fine, driver thinks its a fly wheel or some other original part that has worn down. repair shop closed for the day, and they’re getting a tow truck to haul it home.

they show up and he wants it put in the street, in case i need to go anywhere, as parking is hard to come by. neighbor shows up, and wants the same spot, and the tow truck is blocking the driveway. she takes off pissed. roommate does the same minutes later. whatever.

so, didn’t make it out to a fundraiser in covina after all.

this morning, he had the van towed to the repair shop, only to be told there were no service people in on sundays anymore. so he left it there, and called me for a ride back. i guess he could have ubered, but it wasn’t that far. same deal—meds, phone, chair, and on my way. we’re back in twenty minutes. she didn’t miss us, just watched tv.

i decided to drive over to montebello park to see if anyone showed up to this first annual barbeque on an overcast mother’s day...because that’s just where mothers want to be on mother’s day, right? well, i do, and it’s my favorite weather for pictures, overcast and cool, but the parking lot was mostly empty, and the few cars that were there parked mostly around the edge of the park and across the street. oh well, at least there were some. shot the ones i liked, or were interesting, and had to head back.

as usual, as soon as i packed my bag, more cars started to show up. driving down whittier boulevard, saw several very nice cars going the other way. damn, i wanted to go back, but had other things and people to worry about. but it was nice to shoot for about an hour.

i’ve seen this rumberos car elsewhere. i kind of like this shot of the profile. looking at it again, i think i need to tone it down a little; too rough looking i think. maybe i’ll remember to fix it when i get back to my computer.

down at my mom’s for the night—my kids took me out for dinner—and now i’m done for the night.