what's up?

it's the medicine

i've decided that i feel like shit because of the meds i've been taking for the past week. three more days to go. because if it's not that, then there's something else, that i will not want to deal with, things being so beyond my control just now.

my dad says his one doctor is recommending that he opt for open heart surgery vs the up the leg bit that he'd settled on. i know he has more appointments scheduled to discuss it with several docs this week, so we shall see what happens.

we had been talking our tenth anniversary/vacation just a couple of weeks ago, but that is totally on the shelf now. life happens. as my better half says, it's the tenth year all year, so we can go some other time.

still hoping to squeeze in some car shows when i can, when i feel better, when it's not so hot out. i still have time to get over to legg lake, if i just feel a bit more myself. i'll think about it. batteries charging, just in case.

saw this car out at the bomb club show at santa anita. here it is, sitting out in the parking lot, waiting for them to open the tunnel to the infield. interesting paint job. color coordinated hood ornament. nice car, overall.

when it rains...

labor day weekend. welcome to hell. this weather. this house. no air conditioning. fuck.

stayed at my condo on friday, to enjoy the new air conditioning i had installed recently, and also to avoid friday, holiday weekend traffic. it sprinkled and there was lightning, but no thunder. the sky must be constipated.

then i went home to whittier.

welcome to the sleep deprivation test lab and now an additional wing, ye olde sweat lodge. i am tired, but do not feel spiritually cleansed. only words in my head are, "fuck this shit." not ommmmmmmmmm or namaste.

sometimes an old house is just an old house. i suffered through it yesterday, truly. wanted to be here to support my better half, run errands as needed, while he cares for his mother. pretty much have decided to pack my bags, and head south. just online paying some bills, now writing this bit up quickly. too hot to do anything i would normally do on a holiday weekend.

top that off with my eyes still being all swole and not in a good way. totally look like i have allergies, but i don't. then add food poisoning, let's just say i'm just not going to any shows this weekend.

oh, and an even better kicker to cap off the summer: my dad needs heart surgery. open heart or up through the leg...his choice. now i really get to be simpatico with my better half. i should take that vacation now, while there's still time to go...

ya, no stress here. i should just keep sweating it out...out with the bad air, in with the good...

a surprise

so got my better half away for a night. didn't go very far away, but he got the rest he so much needed.

we were out in fullerton, picking up some breakfast/lunch at a northgate market before heading home. this particular location doesn't really have a dining area, and it was way too hot to sit in the car under a blazing sun.

so i suggested we stop over at the sonic around the corner, order drinks and just eat under the overhang. that, or go to a local park, or we wait to eat until we get home. we pull into the first spot, roll down the windows, and just order drinks.

roller girl waitress brings the drinks and goes away. we start eating our carnitas, listening to the music in the background. then better half notes that they don't seem to be able to select a song to play.

i'm looking in the rearview mirror, and note that there are two lowriders back there. figure that the sonic employees are playing more appropriate music for their customers, or are taking requests.

then i note that there are pop up tents, and i see a guy in a club shirt seeming to be setting up traffic cones in the lot, and carrying caution tape. i joke with the better half that i believe a car show has found us, and i don't have my cameras with me.

from my window, i ask the club guy if there is a car show today, and he explains, yes, he's the club president, he actually works at the establishment (he didn't use that word), and they're just setting up. hoping to get it to be a more regular show. maybe start with a flyer?

then a couple of viejitos cars pulls up. my better half is finding this all very humorous, as he starts thinking i'd planned it this way. come on, if i had, i would have brought the cameras! lol.

anyway, we get out and walk around. say hey to the viejito that i have met before. he said other guys were going to show up. the club president hosting the show said they expected up to seventy cars. i think that should always be taken with a grain of salt...it's more of a hope.

anyway, we tell them we are going home to fetch our gear, and we will be back.

i don't think they believed us, and better half said they seemed surprised to see us again when we showed up a couple hours later.

hmm. not so many cars as mentioned. no additional viejitos, or either of the other two clubs that had been mentioned.

oh well. we're there. we take some pictures.

found this one on the other side of the building. told the owner i'd post it. i want to say we've shot other cars from this club elsewhere. i think i may have even shot this one before...go look on my search page, type in 'one family'...i think it's the first one that pops up.

lico

got chatted up by a very friendly viejito at the bomb life show in santa ana yesterday. two shows in one day, just like old times, right?

i'd seen a picture posted on instagram (hey slick51), and recognized the location. i inquired if it was from today, because i know he travels around from show to show a lot. he said it was.

i just happened to have to be in the area, so drove a little further down the street to see what might be there, though i was running a bit late for a show.

sure there probably weren't as many cars left in the lot as there might have been earlier, but plenty to shoot. i did have to get back home, so i just did a relatively quick run through.

i'd taken a picture of this freaky, different doll and the front of the car already. then a bit further down, was the viejitos tent. there sat raynbow and some other guys.

one of comes over, introduces himself and asks if i'd shot his car. says they call him lico, and then tells me the story of why. i hand him my card, he notices the back end of the fifty-nine on it, and some other car on the back of the card. then starts talking about how i should shoot the back of his car like this. has a wheel package on the back.

so he walks me over to show me what he's talking about. keeps talking while i proceed to shoot a few angles. was kind of a tight spot, against the hedge, so i sort of squish in a gap, and took this shot.

liked the little homie head on the placa.

was nice meeting you, lico.

mission possible

made it out to san gabriel today. never been there, not even as a tourist. i did not visit the gift shop.

blessing of the cars. didn't get to see that—i had places i had to be at a certain time. so i got to work shooting the cars that were there early. two and a half hours, and i got most of them, at least the ones i liked.

chatted with other photographers that i run into all the time. i chatted with owners of the cars. i was just in a good mood, i guess.

owner of this car asked for a card. went over and took a picture of it before i got distracted by all the shiny, shiny chrome. told him i'd post the picture...

lick it

i think this went way more shiny than it actually was in person. too much spit, maybe.

i do love the lines of a fleetline. i have a couple of shots of this car. i liked this vertical version better, probably because of how the tree frames it versus the other...more of a typical shot, not as interesting, comparatively.

on the front

made it out to the historic front street car show yesterday. had never been, but have seen pictures from past years, showing an impressive assortment of cars.

i was somewhat underwhelmed that there seemed to be only a lot full of cars. sure i can understand that there were more than a few other shows going on, and i was there earlier than move in was really expected, but still. other streets were not closed off for the show, as should have happened per past expectations.

well, fewer cars, fewer people, this early. i had time to shoot what i wanted, without much problem. i did have a minor problem, with a particular person who'd pissed me off in the past, so i mostly skipped shooting any of his club's cars. petty, perhaps, but i remember, even if he didn't.

found this impala toward the far corner of the lot. owner, and i believe his son, sat behind it, and i hate to inconvenience people, so was just going to shoot without disturbing them. when the owner asked to see what i was shooting in the camera, i took it as an ok to move in closer.

opted not to show him the camera images, as i happened to have a book of old prints with me. let him look through that instead.

anyway, nice chat. so i'll post this shot, with the presumed son standing in my shot.

wasn't there

early morning shot of this burb. owner talked to me later in the morning, and i took a few more shots, but i like the lighting better here. even if the hood is slightly popped open, and it's not in the other pictures. at least it isn't fully up...that's what she said.

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two equally excellent car shows occured this past sunday. but i didn't go to either one this year. not the first ones i've missed this year, but most of the others i was out of state, so...it's just been an upside down year, and other priorities are taking over.

i couldn't decide which of the two shows to go to, so chose neither. probably more importantly, with family in town (better half's, and mine), family should come first sometimes.

the previously mentioned invasion of a dozen or so relatives started friday; most left on sunday. left the two-month old baby behind for a few days to give the mother a break and more time with the two-year old. baby sleeps most of the day, so easy peasy. sister-in-law is gramma, so it's her problem, on top of helping with her own mother. i'm out of practice with dealing with babies, so most i've done is give it a bottle.

the birthday party was a success on saturday, too much food, huge cake. i still managed to sneak out to legg lake for los boulevardos' cruise to the lake show and bbq for a couple of hours beforehand. those pictures coming soon.

went to bed with a stomach ache, too much food, too much sun. slept in sunday. i could have gone to a show, but still felt, meh, so decided to take it easy, and went south to hang with my bro and parents. just stayed in oc for the night.

so here i am looking at my calendar for the next show, looking for flyers...maybe i'll just catch up with pictures i have for this weekend.

visitors

so my younger bro and one of his kids are in town for a couple of weeks. i also hear that the house here in whittier is going to be invaded by about a dozen relatives this weekend to celebrate my mother-in-law's ninetieth birthday. no idea where they will all sleep, much less how the one bathroom situation is going to work out.

i think that happens saturday, leaving me free to decide which car show to go to on sunday. two shows that i like very much running on the same day this year. hate when that happens...coin flipping time. best two out of three... one i really want to go to, the other more convenient, and probably not as hot weather-wise...

here's another car promised. fleetlines car club member, an older couple.

wonder where danny was? maybe he showed up after i left.

shady grove

quick post, gotta get to bed. been a long day, and i didn't even go to work.

owner of this car caught me on my way out of the show. nice green car sitting in the shade of the trees. why the birds didn't hit the show cars, like they got mine, i'll never know.

this was parked next to some reflections car club cars, but i'm not really sure if it is part of the group.

i was getting overheated, and in need of something to eat right about then. but i'll still shoot the cars on the way back to my own car. my better half knows if i say i'll be there in a minute at a show, i'll be ten or more, as i've stopped to take pictures on the way.