what's up?

charitable

i received an email last week from someone who’d seen my better half and i shooting out at pomona. asked if they could see some pics of their black forty-seven chevy.

luckily for them, there were not so many cars there, otherwise, it would have been a question of “which one?”

i responded promptly, that i was super busy at work—i totally am —but that i’d have my better half look through his pics to share until i could look through mine.

not saying that it bothered me that my response wasn’t acknowledged, since i’d later forwarded some of better half’s pics of it, but it would have been polite. i guess the thank you in the original email will have to suffice. maybe they went to junk mail.

so here’s another cloudy pic that i fiddled with the other day, one which happened to have been a long awaited rainy day (it rained most of last week). pretty sure it’s the car they were asking about.

i have a hard time unwinding after a long day at work, and can’t sleep, so i took the time to flip through my photos and find it. i had a side view of it as well, but i wasn’t thrilled with it.

if you’d like to see my better half’s pics of this car, check them out on his website.

going to throw in a shameless plug for my daughter’s dog rescue, in case you’re feeling charitable and love dogs and cats.

she lives in hell, i mean bakersfield, where there are so many strays, they either will die of starvation, get hit by cars, be abused, suffer heatstroke or freezing to death, or a combo of those. unfixed animals fare no better, and unwanted puppies do not thrive. she’s doing her best to help them, but she’s looking for funding for food, transporting them to no-kill shelters, medical care and fosters. her heart is in the right place, and where there’s a will, there’s a way, as they say. thank you in advance for whatever spare change you might have.

a weekend

better half and i got off our butts this weekend, and hit up a couple of events, heavily attended by cars to our liking.

not difficult for him, since he wakes up at three in the morning every day for no reason at all, but lately, i prefer to sleep in on my weekends. i was the one that mentioned wanting to go to said events, so i managed.

my older brother and his wife were in town visiting my mother. being from the east coast, we invited them to join us at the pomona swap meet this past sunday. apparently, they also like to sleep in, but rallied, and were up and going when we stopped to pick them up at four a.m.

we were in the unusually short line to the gate before five. apparently, the threat of rain kept people away, at least until they woke up and noticed it was hardly a sprinkle. while not as impressive in the quantity of cars in the show area, as there are in the summer, my bro was still quite impressed. they went off to wander the aisles of things for sale, whilst better half and i headed off to do our thing.

was wonderfully cool…i do so hate the heat of summer. the off and on sprinkles of rain before sunrise did not deter us. better half had brought several camera lenses to play with. i stuck with what i know, and tried to refamiliarize myself with my camera.

better half seemed to ambush cars as they arrived, with the owners barely parked, before he was asking for headlights to be left on. i caught a shot of this red truck, after he had his pics, and still chatting with the owner.

i could have happily kept shooting until the swap meet closed, but my bro and his wife had already wandered through the booth area, the cars for sale, and were getting hungry for brunch, so we stopped.

they also wanted to leave. things that caught their eye wouldn’t fit on the carry on luggage, and my brother was in danger of buying a car, but couldn’t decide between two, and knowing he had no other spaces to park one back at home.

brunch in uptown whittier, before going home, where my better half took a long nap, while i downloaded my pics from a busy weekend, followed by a hard time choosing which to start first...

wet

just out of the shower, and waiting for my hair to dry. better half has already drifted off to sleep. windows are open, and chilly air is wafting into the room…much preferred over the summer heat. it will feel so good to slip in under the winter blankets, knowing i don’t have to get up early tomorrow.

flipping through some older pics, and this one is so shiny, it looks as wet as my hair feels.

older pic from twenty-nineteen, from a random barbeque at legg lake. doesn’t appear to be very busy—either because of the pandemic at the time, or possibly some other car show going on the same afternoon. i’d have to dig up my archives to see what else was there, but i’m too tired right now.

i guess i’ll look through pics from a few shows we went to recently…so many to choose from…saved up for the rainy days coming soon. :)

tis the season

2024 dia de los muertos in whittier. went out of our way, and planned to be there. fortunately, the weather played nice for me, and we were able to stay until around noon, before it got too hot, and crowded with people.

early in the morning, while cars were still rolling in, we found many outstanding cars. we were able to shoot a bunch before too many observers gathered around, or before the altars got set up. some we shot, then found them later in a different spot, so we shot again.

this really nice caddy stayed put, out front of the old folks’ home.

added bonus, there’s the “mayor” of whittier there, probably preaching to a friend. he’s a nice guy. sounded like he’s had a tough few months since i’d last chatted with him. same, brother, same.

i used to be all about halloween. i’ve got a big box of costumes from years’ past. my daughter typically has rifled through it by now, and pulled out some favs. now the box is somewhere in storage, and the memories are in tatters or rotting away in the heat. that might make some of them even better…

tonight i’ll be tossing candy at what few kids come by at my mom’s house. never can tell if there will be a lot or no costumed visitors, but at least this year, she got candy i like. tootsie rolls will probably pull out my fillings, and the chocolate will probably go straight to my waistline. oh well.

aware

i think i’m trying to block the sadness i’m feeling from losing my brother with something that makes me happy—going to cars shows and posting pictures again. it’s a nice distraction. i’ve missed it. i don’t miss the heat.

i am supposed to be scanning old family slide carousels to digital, but the little scanner my older brother loaned to my mom sort of sucks. fifty slides in, i decided to check the quality. i’m not liking the color. i guess i’ll reset the little scanner to the defaults, and just be done with it. but i’d rather work on my cars…

this week, better half and i decided to go to the latin gents’ cancer awareness cruise. forgot to bring my hat, but i did smear sunblock on before we left the house. i am aware that my pale skin and genetics will predispose me to a lovely sunburn, at the very least.

better half had to be out until about one in the morning, so we both slept in a bit later than we otherwise would have liked. we didn’t arrive until after ten, and the sun was cooking already.

we spent about an hour, shooting just two aisles of cars, before i needed a break from the sun. we went into carl’s jr for about another hour, having a burger and chugging some water. figured the light wasn’t going to change much in the middle of the day to make a difference in the pictures anyway.

only spent another hour and a half after that, and i’d had enough sun for the time being.

this is one of the latin gents’ club’s cars. i don’t remember a red fleetmaster from anywhere, but i haven’t been going out much the last couple of years, so that doesn’t mean anything.

silly us, after this show, we decided we’d drive out to legg lake, and check out the bbq show going on there. another forty minute drive, we could cool off in the air conditioned car, and be ready to take more pics.

well, we drove to the gate on rosemead boulevard, which was closed, but had a sign to take the freeway one exit to another gate. this allowed us to pass by where the cars should’ve been. well, by about two pm, there really wasn’t too much there to justify paying the entrance fee, so we skipped it. headed back to our old hood in uptown whittier, and better half picked up some overly zealously garliced chicken and some sides at the chicken koop. it’s currently stinking up the refrigerator. he says it’s very good, but i haven’t ever tried it. maybe another day.

headed home after, and we both took naps for a few hours.

thinking about hitting up huffarama next weekend, if the fires in the area are out…

back to it

we decided to get of the house today. try to get happy again, after the terrible stuff earlier in the month.

got up early, and headed out to the southeast classics fundraiser at pico park. i figured it would have enough cars to keep me happy, while i figure out how to use my camera again. better half came with me, he’d never been to a meet up at that park, and he wanted to play with some of his lenses that he’d never really had a chance to test out.

we started around the side of the building, after finding a bench to pull the cameras out of the bags. better half thought we should have left earlier, once he saw the cars already there. official roll-in was at eleven am, but here we were at just past eight.

this was the first car i took shots of. i liked the color. i took some pics of the back end, but didn’t like them so much, with a couple of modern vehicles in the background.

the owner enquired where he might see a picture of his car, as i was waiting for my better half to finish taking pictures, for a change. the sun came out after ten, so i was overheating, as usual, and was ready to go.

overall, it was a good turnout. more cars were showing up as we were leaving, but we were done.

fire

cool paint job.

———

if all the other stuff going on in my life isn’t enough, we just evacuated because of one of the fires going on today. mile from home is too close.

what the hell?

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.

get on with it

went to the azalea festival show last year. i think we are done with that one, the attendance is low compared to past years, and the people at the gate, while friendly, just won’t let me in before it gets too hot.

here’s the back end of an impala. the front is pretty plain, so i always prefer the tail lights on impalas of any year.

kinda wished they’d closed the trunk, but can’t have everything.

whoa, it’s been a while since i posted. so much going on.

last post found me temporarily in chicago. later that day, i was in washington, d.c., where i spent a week at a conference. it was so hot outside, i did actually attend the classes. i had scheduled a free day to get out to the museums, but i so could not tolerate the humidity, i only managed the national archives, since the metro station was very nearby.

about half-way into the week, i found myself feeling so very sick, that i stayed in my hotel room and watched the video feed of the conference, and otherwise slept.

better half was unable to join me, so i was on my own, and had to stumble out for meals, and ultimately in search of some cough drops, nyquil, and tylenol.

standing by the metro tracks, i found i got really dizzy if i watched a train pull in to the station, passing me quickly. turns out i was running a fever over 101.

last couple of days there, mostly just coughed a lot.

flew home, to find i was positive for covid, though i mostly felt fine by then. locked in the bedroom, better half would fetch me food, and i didn’t see my mother until i went negative.

was very busy at work, with a big tradeshow in process, and another coming up.

lately, my brother got sick, and he’s been in the hospital for about a month now, and probably for some time to come.

better half’s sister is also in the hospital, and he’s gone north to sit at her bedside.

my daughter was here for a month with her dog, while she worked at the oc fair. i mostly watched the dog at my mom’s. at least a big barky doberman keeps the salesmen away from the door. no, we have no interest in bug exterminators or solar panels, thanks. they really are very pushy, and don’t understand no.

i’m doing some physical therapy, to help with the dizziness i’m still experiencing since i fell.

hoping to get back to swimming in the morning, before work, now that the dog is back at home, but my sleep schedule is all screwed up, so have been unsuccessful getting back to that.

i’m still rotating between visits to my brother, then working from my house or my mother’s.

not a lot of free time, but this past weekend, because of circumstances, i was able to sit in my home; in silence; in the dark; turn the tv to whatever i wanted to watch, as loud as i wanted; got to see a movie—wolverine and deadpool—which the better half would never want to see; and go clean my mom’s carpets.

i need to head over to see her shortly, but i’m delaying. got the ac going here; she keeps hers turned up to at least seventy-six.

expecting another busy week at work, though my boss is out of town, the show must go on.

layover

1948 chevy fleetline

i liked this car. i think i entered this picture in the fair last year, but they didn’t select it for judging. maybe they’ve had enough of my pics, and let someone else use the wall space.

it rained off and on that day, only it was chilly. had to cover the cameras once in a while.

————

i find myself sitting here in chicago, at o’hare airport. weather outside is sunny and about eighty. in here, it’s very cold, and i like it.

i have three hours to kill, until i board to my next destination. the city is so close, yet just far enough there is no point in leaving the airport.

would love to get a pizza at lou manalti’s or any number of smaller, out of the way pizza slinger shops.

wouldn’t mind visiting a certain piece of sidewalk on dearborn street, and spitting on it. didn’t bring my camera, so i wouldn’t be able to take the sunset picture by the river better half had been looking for.

didn’t have a chance when we were here in may. i think my better half would rather not revisit it anyway.

now i’m here on my own, which isn’t as much fun as when he’s with me. better half doesn’t fit in airplane seats; the rows are too tight for his long legs, and he refuses to fold into a birthing position.

watched a quiet place 2 on the plane. interesting. room to continue in another movie, if they choose to do it. at least the little kid nearby was busy watching cartoons, and laughing as only kids can. the monsters would have scared him.

better half would have watched a pixar movie.

i guess i’ll take a walk for a bit, before i sit some more, and sit some more.

where i’m headed will be a hot, humid place, and the rain that is expected will make it even more yuck. is that better than a hot and dry yuck at home?

i like air conditioning. it’s my favorite.