what's up?

what holiday?

so i’ve been sick since my mom’s birthday on the twenty-first. better half got sick after getting back from visiting his sister, so he sent me over to stay at my mom’s house.

then come xmas eve, she wasn’t feeling good, so i mentioned she should take a covid test. she didn’t really want to stick a stick up her nose, but she finally did. yup. positive. so no matter how i was feeling, i was stuck in quarantine with her. didn’t want her to be alone anyhew.

so, cancel xmas, xmas dinner, new year’s dinner. better half started feeling better, so would drop off food for us, and any groceries needed.

sister and brothers couldn’t drop in cuz we had cooties.

sort of narrowed down her covid to a church function she attended. best we can figure. hallelujah and amen. another reason to stay away from that stuff for me.

so many phone calls from relatives, checking on my mom. she had a mild case, so she got lucky.

i never did test positive, but she officially tested negative today, new year’s day. she’ll still stay in for a few days, but i finally went home, still with a cough.

i’m sure the house is much quieter without me coughing in it.

i was supposed to have the week off. i was supposed to have fun. i was supposed to book a trip somewhere and drive away, but nooooo. sick sick sick.

it was fun sleeping all day, and staying up watching stupid movies with my mom until late in the night. i sort of got on her usual late schedule.

it’s going to suck on tuesday, when i have to start work at six am again.

now i’m home again, backing up files. finally back to playing with pictures from ramble on the ranch a couple of weeks ago.

hoping to post a few pics, but i sort of liked this one right now. i like how the shot is framed up. i like the car, the branches of the tree above it, and the pizza place…really good pizza. kinda sorry i didn’t get any that day.

did see one grandkid, my son and his wife. the doggo yowled, and went for a ride with me to pick up lunch before the show. the other kid slept the whole time. oh well.

53 truck

waiting at the dmv to get the new fangled driver license. got a timer running to see how long it takes with an appointment. fun times. the bingo number keeps just being a digit or two off from mine. why can’t it go in a logical order?

like the waiting room in beetlejuice. just need the guy with the shrunken head. this music sucks.

coming direct from a fire drill at work. they emptied the building and kept everyone outside for half an hour. glad i took my keys with me so i could just take off instead of waiting forever for the elevator or climbing the stairs.

lunch after this hell. then i guess back to work.

———-

haven’t been to a latin gents show since summer. sometimes they’re packed, sometimes, not so much to choose from. but the club members do have cars, and i think this is one of them. light was hitting it right and made the color pop.

dozen

finally made it home tonight. been stuck all week in the oc for various reasons.

yesterday was our twelfth anniversary, and i got stuck waiting on a frickin’ termite inspector for an appointment right after work. quick mandatory check of the garage, then off to spend time with my better half.

three hours after said appointment was supposed to happen, i sent a text, politely irritated, asking if they still planned to stop by this evening? needed to at least go get something to eat.

went to a place a block away, and mid-way through a bowl of salad…craving salad for some reason…the phone rings. flaky inspector lady is apologizing profusely, saying her assistant had left and it wasn’t in the schedule, and she was with family, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.

except that i had spoken with this same person the day before to make the appointment. she just forgot. i missed my time with my better half for this asshole.

so we rescheduled. so she can forget me again next week.

was late and i was tired, so i just stayed where i was. i had already worn all the clothes in my suitcase, so, i ended up wearing my daughter’s clothes to work, so it wouldn’t be a repeat outfit.

and we’ll have to happy anniversary another day.

truck from last week’s show at the roadhouse. duke club, i think. i’m sure it’s posted up here from previous years, other shows.

good show.

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.

sweet

saw this truck at the dia de los muertos show last month. that paint is so cherry red and delicious...so appropriate it's in front of the candy store.

my kid had spun out on the freeway on some ice last month, and insurance totaled her car. her dad has been looking for a decent used car for her—he said on friday that he may have found one. i'd previously offered to help drive it up there, but now he can't get the time off.

so i may be taking a not completely unexpected road trip north to washington state this week. just wasn't expecting to have to go so soon. i guess i'll have to tell my boss as soon as i know for sure.

then i need to get a one-way ticket back asap, before the price gets much higher.

my brother may go, or i'll just drive it alone. either way, i like being on the road. he's gotta be back by a particular day, cuz he needs to get somewhere else, so timing will be tight.

just saw my kid last week, and pretty much will be handing over the keys, and maybe get a meal, then outta there, and back to work by monday.

they've said i need to use my vacation time anyway.

smokey

woke up this morning around three am. windows are open, cool breeze, and an overwhelming smell of smoke. being near the hills of whittier, had to get up and see if the hills were glowing nearby.

nope, but worrisome enough, breathing that strong smoke, that i couldn't get back to sleep.

alarm went off at four. so about five hours of sleep. going to be a long day.

dressed quickly, hoping to get out of town, on my way to work and away from the smoke. hungry too.

fifty miles away, still smokey. turns out camp pendleton/san clemente had a fire going too.

anyway, two more days to a four-day weekend, and i have no plans. one or two car shows, and backing up files i guess. kid wants to go see that aliens covenant movie that all but disappeared quickly. did it suck?

hoping the smoke keeps the temps down, but doesn't force cancellation of the bomb club show at santa anita for a second time.

nice green pontiac found at slick's anti bomb show. i had the cars here all to myself for the couple of hours i was there--everyone else in long beach at the bombs magazine show.

got there at start time, after driving up from orange county. brief stop in tustin, to see if anything was at the biweekly show at enderle center. hadn't been there in a couple of years, being that it's more out of my way since spending more time in whittier.

was busy, but on a quick look around, only saw a couple i would really shoot, so didn't pull my camera bag out of the car, and left quickly, hoping for stuff i like out in montclair.

driving into the lot at slicks, almost thought it had been cancelled or i had the date wrong. there were just four or five old chevys parked, and a tent setup but not much, compared to the memo ortega show there earlier in the month.

parked in the shade, unloaded my bag and was about to go see what was going on or not, when one of the guys asked if i could move my car around the corner, as they were expecting more cars. bag back in the car, move to another shady spot under a tree. he starts taping off the show area.

about that time i hear a siren, as the veteranos club shows up, and some other cars. so, ya, i had enough to shoot and keep me happy, until i couldn't take the heat anymore.

melting

nice to look at pictures from the winter months, and think how cold it was, or the rain and the clouds, on a sweltering day like today.

really hate summer. in whittier. no air conditioning in this house. fuck.

i like how this picture turned out. i want those clouds in the sky. not just for the added drama, but simply because california blue skies are boring.

was sitting in traffic on the way home today, listening to the news on the radio about how the latest way state government is trying to twist the truth and bend taxpayers over a barrel—squeal like a pig, boy. wheeeeeeee! started thinking where else would i move, if i ever decided to leave this place. not really sure.

figured i'd have to schedule some reconnaissance vacation time in various cities, at different times of year. don't want to end up in florida like my brothers, and then act all surprised by the weather and hurricanes and bugs and gators.

i'm thinking someplace cold. just walk out into the snow and disappear. maybe not into a little cabin, typing out my silly manifestos here. i ain't that crazy.

rain is nice too. barefoot in the mud.

maybe i just have a travel bug without the funds or the better half to cure it.

vandolero

first of all, let me apologize to the person(s) on the freeway at four in the morning, who do not think eighty miles an hour is fast enough. it's not like there aren't other lanes you could be in, yet feel the need to crawl up my tail pipe.

oh how i wish a cop on you after you give up and take off at a hundred miles an hour. even a flipped car, but then i take that back--it would mess up my drive to work more than you already have, asshole.

quick post, as i do have to get to the office. this is memo's baby. it was his anniversary show, so had to get a shot of the car. where it was parked, couldn't really squeeze in for another angle, with cars and people congregating in this prime apex of the lot.

pretty sure i've seen it elsewhere, just didn't know it's history. if i tagged it right in my digital garage, i'm sure i could find other shots of it.

gotta get movin'...weekend isn't gonna get any closer if i don't. ttfn.

2017

1953 chevy bel air

hey, guess what? i didn't go anywhere this morning. too many shows to choose from, no recommendations, and just didn't feel like it.

so i'm starting this year off in a mood. and i'm trying real hard to bite my tongue and keep the peace. feeling a little back slide into by shell. i blame that on that ahole at the dukes show. still pretty pissed about that.

meanwhile, i've been filling my calendar with dates for upcoming car shows that i've enjoyed in the past. already know i'm going to miss chicano park day this year, as i have a business trip planned for that week/weekend. oh well.

relatives are in town, here in whittier, and at my mom's house.

holy hell, a plane just flew really low and made a tight u-turn, heading in for the landing at lax. yep, we are in the landing pattern here. just don't usually see them so low except when it's windy or rainy, which doesn't seem to be the case, as far as i can tell from this window seat.

sorry, got distracted by the big, shiny object.

anyway, hoping to see some old cars cruise by after the shows, heading through uptown. maybe i'll chase them with my iphone, but i don't feel like hauling my gear out. better half just pointed out a black and red sixty-one impala driving by...and so it begins.