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1963 mercury comet s-22

1934 ford sedan

car enthusiasts

1934 ford hood ornament

1963 mercury comet emblem

1959 edsel ranger

2026 doria park-04009And8more.jpg

realtors sponsored a community car show in my mom’s neighborhood yesterday. her neighbor is part of a group of enthusiasts, not an official club, so she asked me to go take pics of his cars.

the neighbor’s cars are the edsel and the fairlane (for sale btw).

since mom is willing to watch my dawg when i want to go to some bigger car shows in the future, i agreed.

i got up early, walked my doglette for a couple of miles before breakfast, dropped her with my mom, and walked over to take some pics.

my sister showed up soon after. she likes to talk to everyone, and enjoys cars as well.

it was about what i expected in her neighborhood: a few classics, hot rods, muscle cars, and some random stuff. only about twenty cars parked along the curb by the park. if it wasn’t so close to mom’s house, i wouldn’t have bothered, but being car show starved lately, i’ll take what i can get. i’ll add a few more…but i have to go walk the dog again…

toasted in bakersfield

was asked by my daughter to attend a car show fundraiser up in bakersfield this past weekend. she is involved with helping to rescue dogs and find new homes for them, so it was important to her. i ditched a couple of other shows to do her the favor.

here are a few of the cars i shot, and i’ll post more as i am able.

it was going to go up to ninety-four, so i tried to get started early. i arrived about eight a.m., and it was already warm. i was pretty much done by eleven. hadn’t had any breakfast really, and did get some water from the guys in the booth next to the forty-six ford. mostly stopped, because i was starting to feel dizzy out in the sun. don’t have that big guy following me around anymore to tell me i need to stop, so there you go.

i happened to have some cheetos early in the morning, and while i was eating those, one of my crowns on my teeth popped off. so, one more thing to worry about on monday. probably because a black cat crossed my path the night before.

i adopted one of her rescues about a month ago now, and i find myself walking about ten thousand steps a day against my will.

i try to work my eight hours a day, in between walks, but it’s tough. if she isn’t sleeping, she’s staring at me wanting to go go go. basically, at the end of the day, all i want to do is sleep.

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.

super shiny

late night post.

had a busy week at work, then got called in for jury duty for two days, until they finalized a jury. that really threw a wrench into things, but my coworkers are great, and picked up where i left off.

there’s a car show tomorrow, that i would like to go to, but i don’t know if i have the energy. i have so many pictures saved for a rainy day, like a crazy squirrel bogarting all of the nuts. maybe when i retire, but then who wants to see years’ old pics?

for example, this tovar’s car, way early in the morning, the field lights are still on. how the heck does it get so shiny? sweat equity? a thousand fairies fluttering their wings along the curves? molly maid? liquid gold? wouldn’t mind my car being this shiny, but i’d be afraid the crows would target it more than usual.

hat’s off to the man—it’s a beauty.

death becomes her

i find myself spending at least one day each weekend in san diego lately. so, a quick revisit to last year’s chicano park show is in order.

get there early. less people. sunrise shots. no interruptions.

viejitos always seem to park at this end of the street, near the basketball court. no doubt i’ve taken pics of these cars in previous years. just liking the sunrays behind the hood ornament on this lovely packard.

drove my mother, sister, and older brother down very early this morning to visit my younger brother in the hospital. was a beautiful sunrise over the waterways down towards del mar. the bluish cloud layer in the sky gave way to a bright orange sun and some unusual orange rays…not the typical god rays…but somehow nicer.

found out the other day, that they will be sending him to hospice in the next couple of days.

i had visited last week, in the afternoon, and he was already sedated, so i mostly did what older sisters do to little brothers—poked him, flicked his leg, called his name, trying to get some flicker of recognition from him. he half opened an eye, but that was about it. left after a couple of quiet hours.

we went first thing this morning, hoping to catch him awake and/or before they knocked him out. success. had an lovely, and emotional visit for a couple of hours. he was unable to do much, but we did get him talking a bit, cracked some jokes, got him to smile a little. dredged up old memories from childhood and his days in the navy. got some sips of juice into him. he started drifting off to sleep, so we said our goodbyes, promising to be back.

at the same time we were entertaining my brother, my better half was up in northern california, with his sister, in a hospital.

unfortunately, she passed away, soon after he arrived to her room this morning, almost as if she had waited for him. she was surrounded by family, and went peacefully.

perhaps he will write about it on his own blog. perhaps he’ll ask me to edit my post.

she was well-loved, and will be missed by many.

i'm tired

i’m thinking that i need a new computer and more hard drive space. hoping to get to more shows in the future, and this camera pops out big files—but not as big as the files on my better half’s new camera. he’s already got himself a new gift for the holidays, and hopes to join me at some car shows.

he came with me to the bomb club show in october, and had a good time. was using his old camera with a lens he hadn’t used in a while.

we both shot this car. i just saw it over his shoulder, on his computer. he’s thinking about posting again on his website, which he’s ignored for far too long. not sure when or if he’ll share his version, but i like mine.

cars are moving in the background, and the owner is in the car, so this from the end of the show and drive out.

i’ve had a cold since thanksgiving. probably a bit earlier than that, when i complained to my doctor about my earache. earache, my eye. she said nothing was wrong then. nothing is ever wrong when i bother to go to a doctor’s office.

this thing moved from behind my eyes down to my throat and has pretty much stayed there. i’m coughing up a lung, even after two weeks, though i have no other symptoms. tested negative for covid at least four times now, so just a boring old cold, i guess.

i’m hoping to shake it off before the next vail headquarters car show in a couple of weeks. all the better reason to go out and see my grandkids there in temecula.

as you would expect, if you’ve read this blog for a few years, i’m not in the mood for xmas, and haven’t even looked at buying gifts yet, if at all. i’ve got some time off coming up, so maybe we’ll get out of the house, or help my mom put the decorations away after the holidays.

can’t believe my dad will have been gone four years come xmas eve.

different volks for different folks

not my usual car. in fact i don’t think i’ve ever posted a slug bug up here.

but i’m a sucker for sun rays, and when i’m at huffarama, and the sun is coming up, and there’s nothing around ready to shoot at that moment, i just gotta take the shot.

it’s a bug. it’s a convertible. it’s lowered. it’s shiny. trying my best to be enthused. can you feel it?

my ex had a bug project car. it was cool. big, custom engine hiding in the back, custom interior, big tires, chrome rims. he let me pick the color—a mint aqua green—he even let me drive it. pretty sure i’ve mentioned it before, but i was the one that got the fix-it ticket, as it was too low to the ground, and the windows were tinted too dark.

been preparing to get my taxes done. better half over in the other room turbo taxing. says next year he’ll have my tax person do his as well. eventually we’ll file together, i suppose. still filing separately after all these years.
been working a lot and just tired at the end of my work day, so if i work up the energy to take a walk, i should get a gold star. mostly recovered from my slip and fall, and slowly working back into doing daily walks. so easy to just get stuck in the lazy-boy watching you tube all evening…
haven’t been to a show since huffarama, but thinking about going to something in the next week or so. guess pomona isn’t until march…oh well. i better charge my batteries. pretty sure that camera is dead, and will need all the settings and time reset, as i haven’t touched it in so long.
finally bit the bullet and went to ikea for a new desk. couldn’t find the screws for my old one that i’d had since college…they’re in a bin, in storage, where the desk has been for about a decade, and i just can’t find them. we’re back to working from home for the last few weeks because of the cootie surge, so might as well get my setup off a card table.

bird feeder

i’m sitting here waiting on a delivery my kid ordered to the wrong address. the people on the hotline were too lazy to do their jobs, and didn’t want to bother changing the delivery location, so there we are.

out the front window, i have a hummingbird feeder. initially, it was very popular with the birds.

then i bought a new mix of food. not so many birds. then another brand, same.

there’s a cat, that likes to sit on the edge of the porch and watch the feeder intently. the dog barks at the cat everyday,

they went away for a while. my work day was a little more dull.

then i started mixing my own bird food with recipes from the internet. and i’ve found one they like. basically sugar water. so what i’m figuring, hummingbirds are just tiny little diabetics. or sugar addicts.

was confirmed this week that we’ll be required to be back in the office next month. i’ll miss the little flying spastics, the barking dog, and the cat that likes to pee in the neighbor’s planter early each morning. that neighbor is an asshole, so my hero, the cat.

i need to go shopping. i hate my old work clothes. i need shoes. i hate shopping. this will not be fun. i’ll miss working in my jammies with messy hair.

i had cut my hair the last time they said we’d go back to the office, then everything shutdown before we did. maybe i should cut my hair again…

i work late, because the work can’t wait, and my better half is still living in whittier.

they gave us a second computer, so i could still do work from home if needed.

better half gets to work from home permanently. he’s moving here next month, so the timing is great. i go back, and he stays home. sort of jealous.

————

watched this beauty drive up and drop down. waited for people to move along to get a decent shot. it’s all right, i guess.

new camera. color is a little off, so i guess the color balance is a bit out of whack.

————

these delivery boys are almost out of their delivery window. i guess i’ll hurry up and keep waiting.

————

update: they just called. almost didn’t answer because of another situation. their truck broke down and had to reschedule. [shocker] did it really, now, or did you just not want to deliver at five o’clock? day wasted, sort of.

right. i’m off to whittier then. ttfn.

superfly

i fly in the air, like i just don’t care. no choice, really.

hoping the bomb club show at santa anita won’t have to be postponed again. [edit — as of 7/29 this show has been cancelled] october usually means travel, celebrating our anniversary. lucky number thirteen coming up.

at least the weather then can be so unpredictable, and hopefully not so summer hellish hot.

this topless babe is from a couple of years ago, early morning overcast. i do love that.

—————

my mother-in-law died a month ago. she was a month shy of ninety-three.

a long time coming, it happened too fast, after all.

the house is quiet.

better half was directed to not “dawdle,” and take care of her personal effects quickly. going through papers, boxes, and items stored in the garage. a lifetime of living doesn’t disappear fast enough.

the xmas tree finally had to come down; won’t be able to get her furniture out the front door otherwise. ten thousand lights took five evenings to unwind off the branches. how will we be able to navigate the streets, without that fruity beacon in the dark?

now we are free to travel, yet we cannot go anywhere. every day is exhausting. there is a piece missing.

we each hear her call to us in the middle of the night, as she used to; better half gets down the hall to her doorway, only to realize the room is empty of the life that was his constant companion these past few years, these past half dozen decades.

so you might say we’ve been a bit preoccupied. you’d think there would not be enough water inside yourself, to produce all of the tears. they are less sad, and more the happy memory variety now, but those have been hard won. just have to let them have their way with you, and get on with it.

goodbye, enedina. you were well loved, and sorely missed…