what's up?

fun times

watched a kid playing around with this model car. he noticed me standing there watching, so he put it down.

quickly took a few sloppy pictures of it, for chuckleberries.

then i took a picture of it in front of the car he parked in front of.

this club was parked in a corner, soaking up the shade. sun starting to set, bounced the light around a bit, and flared off my lens, so it's slightly funky. just thought i'd post it, in case the kid and/or the owner happened to notice this post.

wistful

back to the grind, after a long weekend. i'd rather go back to the weekend, or farther back in time, or to some future point.

the current reality at home, is a minefield, and the only escape is through it, one day at a time. i have been trying to rest up, as my turn will be coming soon enough, to step up and give someone a break before they snap. there has to be a way to get some outside help, but it's not my place in this situation, so my ignorance continues.

meanwhile, i still have my pictures to get lost in. saw that the pomona swap meet is coming up this weekend. probably won't make it, but i do have some pics from past meets, like this one.

really, to get the best pictures there, you have to be there when the gates open at five in the morning, before the sun comes up. fewer people, fewer cars. by the time you park and get over to the show cars, the sun is coming up, and the light is warm and beautiful.

down low, i caught the light bouncing up and making the interior glow.

packard

back in whittier for a few hours. don't think i'll stay the night. stopped to say hey to the better half, grab some clothes, write this post. too late to hit up a picnic show in montebello, or is it?

leaving also means i'll miss the show over in la puente tomorrow...decisions decisions. i have a headache...probably caffeine related.

couldn't post this set of images from the app, without losing the format, so i'll just do it now, while i'm at the computer.

don't know why i shot this car, since the hood was up, and no one asked me to. probably because i was running out of cars i wanted to shoot at this small show.

don't get me wrong, it's a lovely car, i just don't like hoods up. but the hood ornament...love those, whenever, wherever...

miss you

my original plans for this holiday weekend included backing up files, going to several carshows, and helping out my better half at home, by going to the market, etc.

the opportunity came up, and i've been at my place for four days now. i like it a lot. i've done my usual cleaning and repair work when i stay here for too long.

those kids tell me they spend weekends cleaning, but apparently, that NEVER includes bathrooms. i mean, come on, how hard is it to swirl a brush in the toilet? sweep the floor? i could write a message in the dust bunnies along the edge of the wall. gave the showers a good scrub, so now i think i'll take a bath for a change.

they have so many clothes! i assume the dresser is full--i'm not a snooper--but they also have two closets crammed and at four hampers full, as well as a pile of clothes on the floor of one closet. i cannot tell what is clean or not, or i'd wash them. i did wash one of the hampers full that was downstairs, as well as re-doing what they had left in the dryer.

ugh. dug lint out of the dryer vent. and that load was too big (that's what she said.) i've told them before they'll start a fire. oh, and there were no batteries in the fire alarms...wtf.

ya, might be time for them to find their own place.

i think i'll drive up to see my better half today. i'm sure he's been too busy to notice that i'm not there. j/k. maybe i can can talk him into leaving the house for a walk or dinner.

saw this merc at the memo ortega anniversary show as i was heading out. it's different, and a beautiful, deep maroon color.

if i stay in whittier tonight, i can make it to a show tomorrow. otherwise, see you next week at the uptown show. except for that one guy, and richard; they know where they can go--someplace extra hot and crispy.

home sweet home

got my home back for a week. kid is in kauai with his wifey.

if the place wasn't so full of their stuff, i'd be tempted to not let them back in. ;) soon, they tell me, as they complain that rents are too high everywhere they look. yep, and good luck with that. pretty sure their dog will live out his lifespan here before they move.

that's ok, as long as my better half is good with me hanging with him.

here's another from manny's el loco cruise. squeezed in here between a big storage dumpster and the back end of this impala. i managed to get the shot i wanted.

i think the owner sent a kid over to ask for a card first, then he later came over and gave me a flyer for his club's upcoming show. seemed nice enough, actually everybody at the show did. i'll have to add it to my growing list of shows i read about, and consider going to. i think it's out in fontana somewhere; will have to pull the flyer from my camera bag when i get back home in whittier. for the deets.

spinner

hi there. just fiddling around, and thought this was interesting, even if it is slightly out of focus.

i spent an hour or so making some edits to it, but of course, i did something wrong, and it wouldn't export properly, so feck it, here's the thing straight from the camera.

always interesting to see how bikes are displayed. i try to determine what the owner is communicating about himself by what is included in the setup--sort of a forensic science. i can make up a story to go with this diorama. or just enjoy the bike—its kinda cool, even without the booze bottles, which don't impress me...and they're already empty, so what fun is that?

monday

another monday. empty parking structure at work. this early, not expecting too many, but monday is always empty. holiday is next week, right?

made it out to a cruise at manny's el loco this weekend. i seem to be only squeezing in one show a week nowadays...how times have changed. go with the flow at home. not expecting things to get better anytime soon.

anyways, what was i saying? oh ya, manny's...smallish turnout. not sure if that was typical, but there was enough i like to shoot to have made it worth the trip. saw at least two clubs i know, and am always greeted warmly by at least one of their members. good to know someone at a show i've never been to, and when my better half isn't with me.

didn't make it to a morning show, so waited till the end of the day, avoiding the heat for the most part. should have stayed later and worked on some night time images, but i'll settle for sundowners.

don't think my camera sensor is too happy about shooting the sun, but i like catching the rays and sun flares. it's a little different, and need to change things up sometimes.

at the bar

no car shows for me today. our family member is in the hospital again. i will have to go tag out my better half, so he can go home, shower and get a few hours of sleep.

this is a crap picture. i know it is a crap picture, but it is how i feel at just this moment...so close, but can't go. it was a different kind of shot though, through the bars, at cars driving into the show.

they didn't stop long enough for me to get a clean shot, but the idea is there.

hoping everyone at the shows today keep cool...going to be in the nineties by noon. hate summer, really do.

two weeks until the whittier uptown show...just down the street...that i can go to...

cinco de mayo

the annual season opening cruise night at ruby's in whittier fell on cinco de mayo this year.

first and last shows here are usually overflowing with goodness on wheels. being that it was a 'holiday' or excuse for a lot of people to get more drunk than usual on a friday night, it did not get as busy as i would have wished.

being that our family member was still in the hospital in the middle of los angeles at the time, i chose not to endure that traffic, and spent the day at home alone, cleaning, working, and running laundry in anticipation of the patient's return.

end of the day, decided to get out of the house, and headed over. i didn't really hit this show that much last year, and figured it would get a few cars i'd like to shoot, in spite of the party day.

i took some pictures, chatted with a few people i hadn't seen in forever (hey dave), and shook the cobwebs from my head.

got home, downloaded the pics, and promptly forgot about them for a couple of weeks. figured i should post one, for the hell of it at this late date.

i mostly have gotten over fifty-seven chevys, as they are quite numerous, but i still love to shoot the fins. didn't do it this time, since i was trying to get the building sign in the shot. that, and the speaker there was a bit loud on the eardrums to stand there for very long.

it was slightly hot out that evening, i started having a hot flash, and my head got swimmy, so i packed it up after about an hour and a half.

stepped up

staying at my parents' house this evening. went out for a walk after work. felt good to get out, though it was hotter than the last few days have been.

decided i needed a destination--seems to be the only way to make me take that first step. i needed dinner, so headed to sonic for a burger. i know, doing something good to get something bad, but i don't eat the whole thing, and only a few fries, so sorta ok.

well, my phone shows just under five miles to show for my trouble, so, got more than the mythical ten thousand steps the mythical "they" recommend.

therein lies the problem: finding the time to do it consistently and often. say if i don't post a picture unless i've put in my steps, i'd probably post as often as my better half...not anymore. easier to do at my mom's because there's no computer here for me to work on my pictures.

but then, i have my phone or my ipad, and a couple of pictures all ready, waiting for some words to go with them, however meaningless. my blog, my blather, doesn't matter.

this couple, (or brother and sister?) asked me to take a picture of them over by this car. not theirs, i think, but a friend's. no time to set up a typical shot of the whole car, and lots of people walking around at the time, so opted for my macro lens, for more of a quick portrait.

probably not what they wanted, since they posed in front of the car. guess i should have clarified that it would take a few minutes to set it up, change my camera settings, etc. maybe another time. i could have just flipped it into auto mode i suppose. brain wasn't clicking quick enough to flip from cars to people. stupid, right?

anyway, nice people, and have since let me know they did like their picture after all. and i had taken a picture of the friend's car earlier. turned out ok. maybe i should enter it in the fair.