what's up?

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.

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.

poor boys

saw a few cars from the poor boys' car club at the show last weekend. can't say that i've heard of them before now. don't think they had plaques, just the banner here, so that might be one reason.

i think this is one of their cars. it's nice, and the matte finish under the cloudy skies really muted out the color.

over the last couple of months, my better half has dropped about fifty pounds. he pretty much has cut out all sugar from his diet. due to other stuff going on, he's had to work from home, and do a lot of running around on minimal sleep. he's a bit stressed and distracted to say the least.

i, on the other hand, am starting to look like a bean—better half says he loves beans. i bought him a 3x shirt at the car show the other day, as would be the habit, but looking at him now, i think it's too big. i'm pretty sure if i don't start getting out off my ass more, i'll be the one wearing it.

i guess we deal with stress differently. i walk uptown to eat, i whip up a batch of cookies, i take pictures of cars. he cleans the house. he cleans the house. he cleans the house.

oh well. just gotta decide to get up and do something. need to throw out this coke and drink some water. i have a headache, probably because of the coke. maybe i'm diabetic. i don't know.

better half is asking if i can do some shopping this afternoon. i will. just need to decide which car show to go to, and find a supermarket nearby/on the way back. that's the way to do it.

may showers

I've got sunshine on a cloudy day
When it's cold outside I've got the month of May
I guess you'd say
What can make me feel this way?...

— smokey robinson

who needs april showers, when you get these skies in may? jacket weather. hanging out at hospitals. busy month.

my birthday happened too, but did nothing that day, and usually don't care about it. ask me how old i am, and i have to do math in my head. not really something i obsess about. my son did take me out for dinner a few days later. didn't hear from the other kid...pretty typical.

another car from the los angeles bombs cinco de mayo show. before the rain came. good thing, since this car had the top down.

beautiful cars. how can we not want to take pictures of them?

yesterday

busy day yesterday.

had rained a bit the day and night before. i knew it was completely possible our family member was getting released from the hospital, and that i was going to have to be there with my car, to be the taxi driver.

not knowing the when, i decided to go to the local car show first, check my phone frequently, then i would head out to santa anita, if there was still time.

i was at the los angeles bombs' second anniversary show before eight in the morning. figured, cinco de mayo weekend, and a sunday, i could sleep in a little and still get there to get a parking space.

and i did. my usual parking spot, right up front. and then the club members were there setting up their trophy table and tent.

so i just shot pics of the two or three cars that were there for a good ten minutes, until more cars arrived. the skies were mostly cloudy off and on, and always a chance of rain, but it didn't stop people from showing up.

other photographers arrived, and i met a couple of fellow instagrammers. very nice and talented guys. one had stopped at santa anita first, and realized that the bomb club show had been cancelled because of the rain. thanks. saved me a trip out of the way.

the lot was about half full by the time i took a break, then heard that i needed to get over to the hospital to make my pick up.

i have quite a few decent shots from yesterday, that i hope to have time to post, but who knows what tomorrow will bring.

i rather like this buick eight. caught it during a brief moment of the sun shining through, with colors not muted down by the overcast.

made it to the hospital on time. it did pour on us a while on the way home. as unexpected as that was, the wheelchair on the back of my better half's vehicle got a bit soaked. he's currently trying to clean it up, and hoping the electronics and motor didn't get fizzled.

why hide it?

when i go to that rare, larger show, i try to remember to investigate the side streets. if there's time. if it's not too hot.

sure a lot of the best cars, and those who think they have the best cars, are out on the main drag [hey gary from riverside], but its more crowded there as well. people wanting to stand thisclose to your car for a picture of themselves and their fantasy cars, or just because they need something to post on whatever social media site. or little kids, that are barely restrained from putting their sticky fingers on the paint, or trying to sit in the seat.

and there's the pissing contest of whose hood and/or engine is bigger/louder/shinier/more original than the next guy's, and oh, how many can get'em up. a lot of the old guys need a little help. i mean they use a bar or stick to hold the hood open.

so i'll wander over to where there are not so many people, or where there seems to be some shade. i am usually amazed at the jewels people hide off in the corners, and off the center of attention of the main street.

for all i know, they've been out all day, and they, too are trying to just take a break and cool off. otherwise, i just don't understand the why of being a wallflower? or maybe i do understand, only way too well...

coffee time

ok, so now that our tired, burned out router has been replaced, i can post again! yay! busy weekend.

here's one i was trying to post the other day. i think its a 1963 impala. i seem to like these cars from the back end more than the front. maybe they're just more distinctive from this point of view. this model wasn't rockin' the over the top fins of earlier models, but i don't think i had seen this year in my collection yet. owners were nice enough to wait for me to finish before they left. thanks, you guys!