what's up?

also stopped at this one

since it was sort of on the way home from the veteranos’ show yesterday, and also on the way to in-n-out, i thought i’d just drive by the pico rivera veterans day show. had i not driven up the street, and found a nice, big space to parallel park in, i would have just kept going toward my lunch. but there it was, right on queue. guess it was meant to be.

i did stop, pretty much for about half an hour. saw a lot of my favs, and also a lot of cars i could care less about. i was starting to feel a bit wavy, so just did a quick run around half of the cars. didn’t go anywhere near the stage. didn’t even stop and chat with the usual people i would have spent more than a few minutes shooting the breeze with.

in spite of the live performance going on there, plenty of people were still milling around the cars, and i wasn’t high on patience to out-wait them. skipped cars i would have normally happily shot.

anyway, there were several bomb club cars there, and those guys are pretty nice, and so are their cars, so i shot a few.

trying to think, but i’m tired; probably shot this one before. just figured i should put up something from this show.

sure there were a few other ‘obvious’ cars that may be ‘better’ cars, but they are too polished, probably got an award from that crowd. maybe another time.

freedom of speech

made it out to the veteranos car club show in covina today. thank you to @rosiecheeks8 for the invites/reminder about the show. was nice to see you and your husband again.

thanks for the water @porfs41.

saw the owner of this car again as well. he’s looking forward to seeing it on here again, so here it is, since you were so enthusiastic about it.

actually, he sort of stopped me from taking the shot before this—he really wanted his hat to be in the picture. asked if it was ok; it’s your car, man. if that’s what you want on your car, sure, i’ll shoot it.

i try to keep this space a politics-free zone, at least on my part. freedom of speech, freedom of expression, though. he has his hat, i have mine.

jet lag

so, i’m back at home. three weeks is a long time to be away. twelve hour flight back, followed by an hour in customs, and an hour and a half drive home. hint: after a twelve hour flight, don’t pick up people and make them sit some more in a space even smaller than what they had on the plane. almost wept cuz my legs hurt so much. almost told them to just pull over, and drop me anywhere…i’d call an uber, just so i could stretch my legs.

got dropped off at my mom’s, where i’d left my car parked. said my goodbyes to everyone i’d travelled with. mom had just returned from hanging out with my dad at the hospital, and she really hasn’t done a lot of cooking lately, so offered to go get me food.

on the flight, they’d fed us just after take off, and just before landing. food was crap. they ran out of the chicken option just as they got to me, so i was stuck with rice and zucchini, some weird cube of something that was neither vegetable or dessert, and something that wanted to be a cream puff, but wasn’t good. they doled out exactly one plastic cup of pepsi.

the latter meal was a cold sandwich, with italian ham, which is mostly fat, with some really crap apple juice, and another forgettable dessert.

so basically, i was starving, even though i’d also purchased oreos and a can of coke in between meals.

i was literally reeling from exhaustion, as i just can’t sleep on planes, so i’d been up for about twenty hours by then. told my mom, if she could just drive me to a fast food place, i’d be good. so the closest, quickest food was weinerschnitzel. quite a step down from all the pasta we’d been eating for the last couple of weeks.

anyway, felt somewhat better after that. chatted a bit, then went to bed.

next morning and today, have mostly been tired, but not crazy crazy jet lagged. i should keep the walking going, but just didn’t feel like climbing the nearest mountain/hill here in whittier. and it was almost completely fogged in around the house this morning anyway.

currently copying over about two-hundred and twenty-five plus gigs of pics from the trip, which will probably never be looked at more than once, but i’ll keep them anyway. better half, mom, and my sister all want to see them anyway.

still haven’t had time to go visit my dad in the hospital. better half needs to go the market, except he has overtime he is currently working on at home, and will still need to go to the office later, so i’ll be here watching his mom tonight.

i satisfied my in-n-out craving yesterday, and today od’d on guacamole. just not looking forward to work tomorrow, am a little sleepy, but resisting the urge to take a nap.

it’s good to be home.

back to a back end of a deluxe from the viejitos’ show last summer. in the shade, the details get a little hard to see, but there are some subtle pinstripes going on.

been a long time since i’ve seen a classic car that isn’t a fiat, bmw, or a vespa. not going to count the red fifty-six bel air that i saw uptown today, since that dude is always cruising uptown, and i’m over that car.

go dodgers

almost midnight in florence, and my kid has found one way or another to get online and watch the dodger game. lol. would have thought the wine they drank at dinner would have knocked him out, but he’s all keyed up to watch the game.

no real plan for the morning, so sleeping in anyway. we ended the evening early with gelatos, but trying to upload pics for family to see just seems to make the time scream by, and now it’s later than i’d expected.

going to climb four-hundred-sixty-three steps tomorrow, to the top of the duomo—top of the cupola of this famous church—which is about double what we did today, so i need the rest.

posting this bad-ass truck, cuz it’s a beautiful color, and oh so shiny.

where the naked ladies dance

spent a few days in france. i like the feel of it, can almost imagine living there, but then i don’t think i would. they do have large, beautiful open space parks, where you can really relax, listen to music, eat a croissant, and drink an expresso, if you are so inclined. i am not a coffee drinker, so coke works for me. and when they do not screw up and give me diet or zero, it is the same stuff we drink. they do not seem too big on using ice here though...have only had it in my drink once or twice in restaurants. really strange.

finding i do not have enough time or energy at the end of the day to get to writing here, but i am trying to post vacay pics on instagram, if you have any interest. not that person to foist them on unwilling viewers, and this space is just for my car shots anyway. i suppose i should be taking pics of their cars, but they just seem a little odd and nothing special, aside from their size.

have already been to venice, italy, and stayed in a very nice home, with far too many stairs. we’re airbnbing everywhere, btw. perhaps i should write about just the homes. common so far is the size. spacious, but economical in the use of the space. they have modernized the centuries-old buildings they are in, and have all moden conveniences, including wifi everywhere, hence i can post my pics.

we seem to me walking about ten miles a day, so i’ve gone from about a thousand a day to twenty-five thousand pretty quick. i’ve adjusted, with a lot expletives. the backpack doesn’t get any lighter, and though it really isn’t very heavy, i’m getting too old to be hauling stuff around on my back. i am using almost everthing i did pack, so i didn’t overpack.

sounds like others are waking up and/or back from a morning jog. i should have gone out for morning pics, but i hadn’t set an alarm.

hopefully i’ll find a moment to write about venice and florence before we move on...two more stops before going home.

stopped at a weekly monday evening show at sonic in anaheim a few months ago. surprisingly crowded, but i managed to find pockets of cars with no people milling about, even if it is next to a clothing bin. still a nice car.

paris

here in france for a few days, for the first part of this vacation. never been here, and finding it charming in an historic city way. not too difficult finding our way around, mostly because my kid and his wifey have been here before, and he is refering to maps on his phone to find routes to wherever. i did not take french in school, but seem to understand a lot of words, and can pick my way through the menu well enough.

lots of walking, and discovering neither of my broken in shoes ar very good to my feet for these miles long marches across the city and back. one pair is attacking my big toe, as it slides forward a bit, and the other pair jammed my little toe into the next, as well as having got some sand in it from crossing a park.

but ignoring that, have seen a lot in two days, and contemplating whether i want to watch sunset from the observation deck of some tall skyscraper. i may just skip that tonight. seems more tough to get four people to agree on what to eat and when to eat it. our time zones are scrambled, but i am ok, but the others snack often then do not seem interested in a meal.

taking lots of pictures, most will probably never be seen, but there are a few up in my instagram, for my mom and daughter to see.

not seeing any classic cars here so far, unless we’re talking citroen and puegot. three wheel motorcycles (two in front) and vespas abound.

so, i’ll put up this good old chevy to tide me over for a while. from pomona a while back. since i’m gonna miss it tomorrow. and dia de los muertos in uptown. and huffarama at san manuel. le sigh...

also, i have someone whose father was an original member of 13 gents car club, who recently passed away, looking for other original members that would talk with them. if you have any contacts, i would be happy to pass along info to them.

do not enter

dad in the hospital again. mom and sister with him.

i'm exhausted but can't sleep. frequent updates help/don't help.

gotta photoshoot tomorrow at work--12 headshots. gotta put on a happy face and carry on. really hard for an introvert to get through more than a few, and this will be over two hours. oh well.

----

can't remember; did i already post this one? last month, local little barbeque. shiny, black cars are easy to shoot.

mfeo

my dad was happy to see me the other day.

middle of the night he was so sure that my sister had called to tell him that i’d been driving to whittier late at night with my daughter’s dog beast, and that i’d fallen asleep behind the wheel half way there. apparently i’d plowed into a divider at an off ramp, and both dog and me presumably died instantly.

he had the phone in his hand and was going to call her back to see if it was a joke. then decided maybe he was just imagining it.

my mom came upstairs to bed soon after, and was able to confirm it was just a really vivid dream. i guess a few days earlier it had been my sister’s turn, but i can’t remember how she met her fate.

he has been hallucinating lately, probably a side effect of one of his meds. doctor had him stop that med, so they are not happening as realistically anymore, hence he is able to stop and recognize it may just be all in his head.

but still. i don’t remember most of my dreams anymore, but when i do, a lot of them do happen. deja vu? so i sort of don’t like that he’d told me about it.

on the other hand, there is no reason i’d be driving up there with that dog, as he wouldn’t be allowed in the house. but i have driven southbound very sleepy before, and that isn’t good either.

———-

anyway, la patina and his friend here, parked in the lot behind the whittier cinemas a few months ago at the uptown car show. they seem to be made for each other, studies in rust, perseverence, and restoration.

though old, they get around easily, so probably didn’t need to park in handicap spot.

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.

dark water

started my day off by walking into a spider web. nothing like doing the heebee jeebee dance at five in the morning, imagining a giant [1/2”] spider with a big bulbous ass is somewhere on you, pissed that you ruined his masterpiece and his breakfast.

days are flying by, and my poor pictures and blog are being neglected. stuff happens, and i gotta pick my priorities. these fall pretty low lately.

only have time now because my kid’s doberman is currently occupying the bed at my mom’s house, and i haven’t taken the time to move him off. my hair needs to dry anyway.

i’ve been spending the last few days here, cleaning my mom’s carpets with our carpet cleaning machine. third day, and my back is feeling all the carrying of the water and the clean up. moving furniture is fun too. not. they have too much stuff. gonna need help moving the couch and other big stuff, but she seemed more concerned with the main paths through the rooms.

i thought her carpet in the front room was brown, but it’s really a ninteen-seventies orange on the deeper side. yep, original stuff. and never cleaned, only vacuumed. let me tell you, the water tanks on the machine are pretty black when i dump the water out of the machine.

did a patch in the back room today. lime green carpet. lovely.

other than that, i’ve got too much going on at work, and an unplanned vacation to prep for. totally, just now realizing that i’m gonna be out of the country for several of my favorite car shows, my eleven-year anniversary, and my kid’s birthday. go me. not my fault. i’m just along for the ride on someone else’s trip.

anyway, gotta get some sleep. looking back, found this picture of a car from the viejitos’ carshow a couple of years’ ago now.

thought it was a pretty car, and parked off out of the way for a bit, so got a few shots while there was the opportunity.