what's up?

come on and rain already

they promised it was going to rain all week, last week. then it didn’t. just a day or so.

they said it was going to rain sunday/monday, then monday/tuesday this week, and now it’s not at all or maybe ten percent chance. what are they paying these weather people for? “it’s beyond my control…”

well it looks cloudy, with no chance of meatballs from my window here. and i’ve seen and/or heard several classic cars drive on by down greenleaf, which seems to me a better predictor of whether it is going to rain or not.

better half woke up early today, and snuck on out to the sante fe swap meet to buy some shirts. said there was a vendor selling knock off pendletons. he jokingly asked if he was a greenspans outlet, and the guy said, “no, but a hell of a lot cheaper.”

he’s out again now, driving around in a car that was originally mine, then my ex’s, then my dad’s, now my mom’s. if he decides not to buy it, i suppose i’ll take it out to pomona next month. or my sister can craig’s list it. he want’s a spare car in case he needs to get his mom to an appointment, and i’m not in town.

i have new year’s eve and new year’s day off from work. there are several new year’s day picnics happening. seriously considering going somewhere instead of hiding away in the house. or maybe at least to the veterano’s cruise night on the weekend, since one of my favs dm’d me a flyer to tempt me.

truck from a not hugely attended fundraiser show at workman high school. i think it was supposed to rain that day (it didn’t), which kept more cars away that otherwise would have been there.

it’s the color of a ring i used to wear in elementary school, turquoise stone and silver, that probably wouldn’t even fit on my pinky anymore. maybe i’ll give it to the new grandkid (not here yet) when she’s old enough.

a bit late

workman high school fundraiser from last year. such a pretty green on that chevy. must have been a windy day, since the clouds seem to have moved during my shot.

so, it’s been a week since i’ve written. just one thing after another. time gets away from me lately, even on a weekend away, on my own.

this is becoming a once-a-week blather while i am home in whittier, and the better half has gone to market. unfortunate, since i have over sixty other cars sitting in draft mode, waiting to be posted. i guess i could just post them and not write anything, but then what’s the point of a blog? might as well just keep it on instagram or flickr.

i don’t have stories from car shows to write about anymore, since i haven’t been out much lately. my boring problems are stuff no one wants to read about. so here i am, yet again pondering shutting this puppy down. i’ll keep thinking.

meanwhile, a synopisis of my boring last week:

the day after my meeting, i took a ferry to sausalito. i was looking to replace something i’d lost or misplaced. i’d bought it there in a small store, with a most unfriendly bitch of a lady at the register, more than a dozen years ago. surprise surprise, out of business.

briefly thought about lunch, but really wanted to eat some crab back on the other side. also thought about taking the ferry back over, but i hadn’t bought a round trip ticket. so i did the thing i’d thought about the night before: i walked back to san francisco.

always used to ride the rental bike to sausalito. i figured i’d take that route back, and maybe get some photos i otherwise would not have gotten.

over twelve miles later…i got back to the hotel. even made a stop at fort point, where dweebs were doing civil war reenactment…dressed in uniforms and ladies in petticoats. took not quite five-hundred pictures along the way.

was ravenous, and treated myself to crab at aliottos in fisherman’s wharf. crab and bread and dessert. they didn’t have coke—just some frilly local made drink, but it was similar. i highly recommend the place, but going into the restaurant vs just the crab bar outside, is greatly overpriced. reconciled it in my head calling it both lunch and dinner.

about half way through the journey, my hip had started hurting. decided i’d pulled a muscle trying to climb up to some stairs from a rocky piece of beach back in sausalito. by the time i’d headed up for dinner, i was gimping. got hardly any sleep because of the hip, and getting ready to go to the airport was really dicey.

i got up early, hoping to get another crab from one of the crab bars. i gimped slowly over to fisherman’s wharf. they had crabs. but they weren’t open, and wouldn’t sell me one. not any of the crab carts. shit. damn off-season hours.

ended up with a subway sandwich as i was running out of time. ended up calling an uber this time. standing at the door of the hotel, wondering where the hell the guy was. several minutes later, noticed he had been sitting right there the whole time, just blocked from view by a couple of taxis. so had to pay the wait charge. oh well.

flight was uneventful. my daughter picked me up instead of my mom. older brother and his wife had arrived unannounced about the time she was getting ready to head to the airport. daughter happened to call to see what she was doing later, so she was sent to pick me up on her way home from work.

bro came to help sift through dad’s things, to tear down garden netting in the backyard. whole other story about trying to help clear dad’s stuff that is of no use to mom, but she ends up picking half the stuff back out of the trash bags when you turn your back.

other brother should be here on monday. in town for a friend’s funeral, but staying a while to help around the house. meaning also, i can go home to better half for a few days, without feeling guilty leaving mom alone.

work-wise, so so busy. been staying an extra hour or two, to meet deadlines. they won’t hire anyone, and no business group wants to pay the fee for the outside contractor, so the in-house designers are overloaded. i’m getting to that point of burn-out. been there before, and i feel it coming. new boss just doesn’t recognize it yet.

so tired. just not as tired as my better half.

raining today. sadly hoping it will be raining tomorrow, so i don’t have a reason to get out of bed and go to pomona to take pictures. i want to, really, but i really rather sleep.

stylish

sitting in my car here, way too early, but i did beat the rain getting to work this morning. it’s just now started falling on the roof, at a pretty steady pace. i still need to get gas over at costco soon—no lines at five-thirty in the morning.

relatives coming this weekend; i’ll probably avoid them...don’t want to trade cooties with the little kid.

but the best news is two days to go, until a two-week vacay for me. nothing fun, but it does involve a flight, a rental truck, and lots of scenic driving. and not working. so yay. wish my better half could go, but he’s busy taking care of his mom. someday his sister will come back to help, but for the near future, it’s just him/us. wonder if medicare would provide someone to help? dunno.

——-

second time, at least this car is up here. this time at workman high show. one of the few older chevys there. first car i shot that day, being the first one there in the corner. one of the veteranos club members, they reminded me about their car show coming up this weekend, in covina. hopefully, the rain stops by then.

missed you

got up late, but mostly because the time changed. stupid daylight savings time. well, it didn't matter. the weather forecast said no rain, just cloudy all day. oh hell yaaas. love that. giant softbox.

took a bit to get moving, but out i went. drove past where a cruise was supposed to be, on the way to the workman high school show, but i guess they had already left. no big. arrived at the high school just after ten, when it was supposed to officially start.

the cars are hidden down on the basketball court, which you can't see from the parking lot. but in the parking lot, there some semi-trucks parked, followed by some muddy dirt buggies in the next lot.

sort of disappointed [not] that i came to find not so many cars on the court. last year had been jammed, and hot. here, there were maybe about thirty cars, half the kind i don't like, and the other half my favs, just parked around the perimeter.

fewer cars, more focus, more pics, less people in the way. look at the glass half full. make the most of it. any time i walk away with at least one car and one picture that makes me happy, it's cool.

this guy parked over in the corner. was hoping some of his friends from his club would show up, but didn't. that was ok too. i think this was one of my favorite pictures i shot today. and the clouds are ok too. owner even pulled the show tag out of the window too. thanks for that.

waited a bit for a jump-off between two cars, but it kept not happening, and i had to get back home. wished more cars had been there, it never did rain, still isn't, missed you all, but was still good with it. one guy theorized everyone was at the dub show. whatever.

and so it begins...

my dad is having surgery in the morning. valve replacement...one try or goodbye. hoping they don't have to crack his chest. going to be a long weekend.

hope everyone had a good thanksgiving and were grateful for those you were with.

i'll be away from my computer for a while, but i do have a relatively large number of pictures i can post here, if i have any more news or observations from a hospital room.

if you follow my instagram, you've already seen this pontiac. still a fav, and owned by the best people you could hope to know.

shot at the trunk n treat show at frisco's last month. parking lot was sooooo full, and he got there late, so i caught him parked by the hardware store. i liked the lighting, it's a bit different.

i should have done a one-eighty shot, of the two cop cars parked and watching the crowd. the dj was warning people to behave and park in designated spaces, so they don't get shut down...again.

party was still going, and more cars were arriving when i left, soon after i took this picture.

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.

boo

got home from work late yesterday. didn't sit down, which made all the difference in me staying put versus heading over to frisco's trunk n treat show. really wanted to sleep.

traffic getting over there was a bit challenging, but it ended up being worth the drive. the lot filled quickly, cops showed up, but i hear everyone behaved, so it didn't get shut down. i was there for about two hours, until costume judging and trunk n treating.

lots of cars decorated with lights, spiders, cob webs, and skeletons. not this one. i've seen it elsewhere, but never really met the owner until after this shot.

i suspect those are just lens flares above the car, but who knows...maybe they're ghosts...

as old as

was my dad's birthday yesterday. he's as old as this car, but hasn't aged as well.

for whatever reason, he had his mind made up to go have dinner at red lobster. fine. but he would only go to the one in brea, though there are a couple that are closer to home.

he claims that the chef and service at that one is the best. at his age, it is hard to argue any other opinion except for his on anything.

well, like hell i ever let him drive us anywhere when i'm there, but he knows that. if i hadn't gone to their house, he would have driven my mom out to dinner. i don't even want to think of that white knuckle ride...he drives his soccer mom van like it's his old porsche.

anyway, i wasn't looking forward to more driving. i'd hoped it would be just simple dinner, cake, then sleep early...i'm so tired. after his insistence on going to brea, at near the end of rush hour, i knew it would be stop and go traffic. i was going to take the canyon, just as long, but at least i'd be moving, but he said no, he wanted to go the freeway.

so an hour and a half later, we made it to the restaurant. he orders a dozen raw oysters, followed by some shrimp dish and salad, and something else i don't remember. my mom orders shrimp linguini. i get some dungeness crab legs and a cup of clam chowder. was late, i was tired, not hungry anymore.

they were happy with their food. mine was sort of not hot, for the crab, that didn't matter so much, but the soup was only lukewarm. meh.

after the journey out there because the chef is the 'best,' my dad says the best part of the meal was the oysters. the raw, uncooked oysters. so much for the chef. shucks.

and just before they bring the check, my mom mentions that it was his birthday. that is followed by a small crew of wait staff singing the song, and a plate with a ball of ice cream for him. nice, but since they were basically trying to close and get us to leave, it was a pretty weak display. i'm sure they have to do that all day, every day, so i don't blame them for it.

back to their house, hoping the angels game hasn't let out, which it hadn't, so thank the stars for not getting stuck in that post game traffic. so tired when we got home. i guess he was happy, and who knows how many he has left, so i was glad i went, in spite of all my inner mental bitching.

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...

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.