what's up?

still here

not feeling well enough to go out to car shows right now, but good enough to walk uptown. so, cruise on by, so i can take a picture. it's my own little car show driving past our window, most every day.

heard some news from an old co-worker today. bad times. that sucks. happened to check facebook messenger, which i hardly ever do, and there was a month old message there. they happened to be online when i replied.

then another former co-worker's dog passed away a few weeks before xmas. that had to be ruff. see what i did there. been there, done that. losing a pet always sucks.

hoping for a better new year for everyone.

here's an old shot from the bomb club show last summer at santa anita racetrack. an old truck with 'character.'

those spindly palm trees kind of bother me, but not enough to erase them.

out for a walk

walked uptown for breakfast/lunch. the last bunch of times that i'd been home and gone uptown, i'd get dizzy, because, ya, i was sick, and an inner ear thing probably didn't help.

today, i just got overheated, but that's because it's in the seventies weather-wise and i was wearing a hoodie. found it funny, when a sixty-plus year old woman drove past blasting usher's "yeah" song out her windows, so very loud. she just didn't look the type. then i don't look the type to be hanging out at car shows either, right?

noticing that my eyes seem to be more sensitive to the sunlight, and seem a bit blurry. that is a problem for someone who likes to be at car shows for several sunny hours, taking pics. hoping that clears up, and getting some new glasses too. doc says my vision is actually a little better, so the lenses may be the issue.

meanwhile, i guess if i do go out, i'll just go really early, as usual, or go in the evenings. it's been so long, i'll have to try to remember what i was doing with a camera. starting all over again.

still going through recent photos. here's a beauty from a blessing of the cars show out at the san gabriel mission. didn't know what to expect, as i'd never been there. inner courtyard/parking lot filled quickly with lovely cars, so i made quick use of my limited time that day. had to meet up with someone that day, who had bought one of my framed pics from the fair. should have gone back to the show, but had other places to be.

better late, than...

end of the year has been a minor hurricane in my life and time, and i feel like it's just the eye of the storm right now. there will be the other side to get through soon enough. so i'm gonna just sit here and breathe for a bit.

took a little thinking out of the box to get this post up. i guess while i've been away from home, better half discovered someone had been trying to hack into the home network, so he did some finagling of the router and stuff. so when i was here the other day, i worked on this picture, and when i was ready to post it, found i couldn't get on the internet.

better half has pretty much stretched himself a bit thin, between work and home, as well as trying to fight off a cold, so he was exhausted, not thinking clearly, and already gone to bed. couldn't wake him to fix this piddly little problem; it could wait.

also not getting the best vibes here, so packed some clothes and headed back down to my mom's for a few days. had stuff of my own to deal with there. took my dad in for followup appointments; his heart and pacemaker are working fine, see you in a year, thank you very much.

back home again today. better half in a mood, probably catching the cold he wanted to avoid. i'll probably leave again, and let him be a bear in a cave. my niece is in town for the holidays, in from japan, so i should probably go say hey to her anyway.

oh, so i did a workaround to get my picture posted today, as my computer is still not connecting, and it has to do with his router, and, well, i'm not going to wake him up again.

but, ya, been too busy, away, sick, and/or unable to post lately. waiting for the other shoe to drop in the new year.

meanwhile, this chevy is from the oc viejitos show last july, at the anaheim marketplace. haven't posted much from the show, from a lot of shows, actually. shame, cuz i have so many lovely pictures.

anyway, i wanted to post a shot that isn't already out there, and this one caught my eye, as i flipped through the past six months' of shots.

early morning sun is hard to beat, bouncing off a beautiful car.

random thoughts

last full day here in the cold north. maybe another time, i will go even farther, up into canada.

i've spent the day wandering around art museums, taking all the time i wanted to read about the artwork, or sit on my ass and watch the videos in the little display areas that loop about various pieces or art. was a decent mix of classic, native and local art. not anything too modern, which i find terrifyingly stupid, or maybe it's me, and i don't have my head far enough up my ass to appreciate or pretend to understand. maybe i just missed that class in college. i do enjoy the artist statements to try and explain why that crap is of importance, or justify it's existence, or price.

still trying to finish off this cold, especially before i get on an airplane tomorrow.

during my tedious hours on the road, i had plenty of time to ponder:

captain crunch is like broken glass when you have a sore throat
not one fast food place between home and here had fountain drinks that weren't flat, even those that used to be reliable. at least most had clean 'facilities'
while most of said dining establishments couldn't serve up meals that were quite right or edible, at least the employees were polite and friendly. just couldn't cook or do a sandwich for crap
i satisfied my daily wish to just keep driving, instead of going to work. maybe i should be a trucker, but then i'd grow to hate that
i do miss big trees and forests, rain and snow of my childhood, and glad i got to see it all again this trip
some people really shouldn't be given driver licenses and/or should study physics when deciding to swerve in front of eighteen wheelers.
oregon has xmas radio commercials selling guns. thirty bucks off on glocks for him or cute conceal carry purses for her. not to mention the adult edibles and smokables commercials. plenty for those last minute stocking stuffers.

i suppose there were other things, but i was driving and couldn't jot them down. mind like sieve sometimes.

i can't even

beautiful oldies chevy from the front street car show in norwalk last summer. i wouldn't mind having one of these in my garage.

so, i've made it to washington state, on my mission to test drive and deliver a new used car to my kid.

weather has been perfect the whole way, and here just in time, as it is supposed to start raining tomorrow.

she'd been texting me all morning, asking how far i was. so when i finally got to her hood, i drove directly to her place. a bit before check-in anyway.

never had been to this apartment, and got to see the spot where i'd been sending ubers for the last month or so.

anyway, parked the car, and her boyfriend walked the dog out to get me. turned out my kid had been up so early, and had been waiting to have lunch with me, though i told her not to, that she was in bed taking a nap. didn't even get up, though she did wake up when i peeked in the room.

uh, hello. i just drove eleven hundred miles to bring her a car, and she can't be bothered to get up and/or go check out the car. ugh. not out of character really, but still pretty rude.

pet the dog, got clawed by the cat, ignored the tarantulas and snakes. decided to go check in at the hotel and go back later.

she did apologize. said she'd drank two beers on an empty stomach, and about the time i arrived wasn't feeling good. well duh.

anyway, back a couple hous later, out to dinner with them and a couple of friends. (i drove). then out to point defiance zoo in the dark. it was decked out with xmas lights and music; a few animals were out in the cold. most were in for the night, but the small aquarium was open.

pretty cool, pretty cold--being right on the edge of puget sound.

back in the hotel, late and tired. not sure what i'll do for a couple of days. kid will be working, so i'm on my own.

one day in, then off again

i like this picture, lens flares and all. let's just say there's a ghost in the driver's seat.

i've been away from home for two weeks probably, taking care of getting my dad to his hospital stay, followed by another week of getting over the worst cold i've had in a long time.

now i've been back in whittier for about twenty-four hours. enough to get some laundry done, and walk uptown for lunch. heading off to work in the early morning monday, doing a couple of rescheduled doctor appointments of my own in the afternoon. then tuesday, i'm off on a road trip to seattle.

small window of good weather before xmas, so off i go driving my kid's car to her. better half can't go with; mom won't go with, dad won't go with, bro isn't in town, sister busy, so me, myself and i keeping company in an untested car.

and then i'll still have a bunch of vacay hours i could take...

uneasy

my dad was hoping to go home today. but, nooo. xray shows one of the wires from the pacemaker came loose and they won't fix it until tomorrow.

so i had to book another night in the hotel. means hauling the suitcase back over there. we've been leaving the car at the hospital since he has a pretty good spot and it's a lot cheaper per night. i checked, it's ok with the hospital.

seems i've picked up a cold being here, so today i'm wearing a lovely yellow facemask while visiting.

holiday weeked in a hospital seems quiet in the midst of all the activity. most food places closed, waiting rooms are empty. really weird.

----

just waiting to get this behind us and go home. like the backend of this impala...leave all the doctors in the rearview.

alls good

my dad's surgery went well yesterday. currently getting a pacemaker. they say he can go home tomorrow most likely. good news, right?

missing some good little shows while taking care of business, but enjoying other photographers' pictures from them.

loved this tovars' car. it drew a crowd when they drove up. family and friends took time to pose by it for pics. had to wait a while to catch it alone. shooting into the sun...screw the rules...screw the sensor on the camera. just take the picture already!

toy drive

made it out to the dukes/latin gents toy drive yesterday. more cars than i expected. several people i've gotten to know a bit, even just on a passing hello basis were there. always makes me happy that there are familiar faces where i go, since my better half can't go with me much anymore, ya know, in case anything happens.

ernie, with the latin gents, always comes over and says hello. happy belated birthday, ernie! perfect day for a show, perfect weather...you guys lucked out.

several well known cars made appearances too. this master deluxe is one of them, in all it's stretched glory, sitting down practically on the ground.

even after being there for about three hours, stopping to eat across the street, and the sun going down, i still saw cars driving in as i headed home.

i saw the sun was starting to set, and that the sky's colors were going to be beautiful, but i didn't have the energy and my legs were pretty stiff from sitting a bit, to stop back over there. things to do at home, getting ready for whatever happens with my dad this week. and apparently, better half is about to start decorating for xmas, as he's pulled all the stuff out of the garage already. my yearly grinch is already percolating to the surface...grumble grumble.

few more days

looking a wee bit back a few months. so many shows i've shot, and haven't posted much from them at all. always a happy surprise when i find a set that i've completely forgotten about—usually when i've gone to more than one or two shows on a weekend. that's not many, compared to what i was shooting a couple of years ago.

got to the los angeles bombs' cinco de mayo show a bit early, and was able to shoot a few cars with few distractions and all alone. got this one in a seemingly empty lot.

clouds in the sky are similar to what's out there now. a bit of sprinkly stuff here and there...same as that day.

time winding down till my dad gets his date with destiny. one more test—an angiogram—then they'll decide what they want to do to him. hoping they can go up his leg, and not have to fillet him to get to his heart.

i'll be working monday, then taking off the balance of the week to get him to his appointment and back home again. they tell him it will be an outpatient thing. i don't know about you, but if i was getting a camera up my veins, i'd say give me the good stuff, and keep me overnight, if not a few days.

so i'll pack a bag for a few days' worth of clothes. should bring a pillow for the uncomfortable chair that converts into a 'bed.' going to wear stretchy pants, no point in being uncomfortable sitting on my ass all day, on my day off, right?

thinking about going to one of the toy drives going on tomorrow. no, not first thing in the morning...don't think i can do that...better half probably can't go, and i haven't been out for a while, so i'm not sure i can actually carry my tripod and camera or pull the bag out of the car. maybe if i go later in the morning, i won't feel so sore and stiff, and i'll be ok. mostly just ignore the aches in my joints. still a few weeks until a see a doc about that, so i just cope and ignore.