what's up?

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.

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.

go dodger blue

got my oil changed today. and they found a few other things, of course.

i'll be needing a new car soon enough, but not today. not from a dealer. they gouge me a bit more every time i take it in, now that it is over ten years old. but any time i get out of there for less than a grand is a good day.

pomona is tomorrow, but so is some rain. i keep checking; the phone app keeps changing it's percentages. not much cover out there, though i suppose a plastic bag would do for the camera.

i have to be somewhere early anyway, so probably shouldn't cut it so close, only to have to leave quickly. so i guess i'll just sleep in and wait until the next meet.

spectacular fleetline in dodger blue. really brave of these guys with convertibles to drive them out with the top down. rain came down, tops went up though.

not going to miss my shot

i think this was the car, that the owner lamented, that no one ever takes a picture, and jumped out of my way when i set my tripod down. (apologies to my high school english teacher for that butchered phrasing.) pretty sure i've shot it before elsewhere, but i can't see the plates on it, so can't be sure.

perfectly fine car, so i don't know why he would think no one shoots it. perhaps, it had to do with being parked next to the pontiac i posted yesterday. sort of like the plain jane out and about with her much hotter friend, who gets all the attention.

is this a forty-seven or forty-eight? anyone? anyone?

looks like it was getting ready to rain again at this point, so got this one image of it, and a few more nearby cars, before the time stamps on my pictures stops for some time, while i went back to the overhang to wait it out.

water dance

i arrived way early for the anniversary show at friscos, hoping to catch whichever club was there to set things up. sprinkled the whole way there from whittier.

got there about nine-forty-five. absolutely nothing and nobody. fine. killed almost an hour wandering around in home depot. looked at the crap flooring and carpeting options. looked at doors and locks. out to the garden area, to peek through the fence for any cars arriving. nope.

wandered the back wall, found an air filter that i needed for my house, and then had something to carry around, so as not to look so conspicuous. traveled to the other end, the wood pile. cut cedar wafted about, i thought of xmas trees.

finally paid for my little filter, and headed out to the car.

happily, people had arrived, and were setting up. my car had been made inside the bounds of the show tapes. chucked the filter in the trunk, and moved my car further down the parking lot.

first club there was the los angeles bombs. so i shot a bunch of pics of those cars. then it started to sprinkle. so i headed to the overhang by a closed store, and hung out with the guys. had a nice chat with a guy about his son and photography.

finally, more cars showed up, in spite of the light rain, which eventually let up.

repeated the taking of pictures and the retreat to the overhang quite a few times. camera body is water-resistant, but not my lens, and i can't afford to replace them, so priorities.

anyway, i did take many pictures that i really like. so closed my eyes, and threw a theoretical dart at the screen, and here is a pontiac. guessing it's a thirty-nine. i've seen one other, but not in green.

pretty, isn't it?

long way to go

1940 mercury

i've seen this car before. probably at chicano park.

i was chatting with a car owner when i spied this car drive by at the end of the lane. he off-handedly mentioned that the merc owner had driven up to city of industry from san diego. that'd be about a three hour drive on a good day. but on a friday, it must have been hellish.

gave me more hope that this frisco's show was worth the effort to get here. having the previous show shut down before it had barely got off the ground, definitely was a good sign.

but what if this guy drove all the way the eff up here, just to have to leave?

i guess it was a gamble he was willing to make. i did not hear that the authorities shut it down after we left, so he lucked out.

i bet he has plenty of friends to hang out with as a back up anyway. nice car, no problem meeting people, i suppose.

rained a bit today. predictions put it at eighty percent chance of rain all day saturday and sunday, so i guess my weekend outings are off. shows may be on, rain or shine, but my lenses don't like rain that much. maybe i'll actually pack up my camera that crapped out on me last summer, and send it in for repair. does me no good as a paperweight.

oh, that shine

1959 chevrolet impala

always see people obsessively polishing their cars at shows. almost as soon as they park, they have a towel and bottle of liquid wax in hand. get the dust from the drive there off, i guess.

rub it and rub it, ahhhhwwww...

this car was already parked when i found it. middle of an aisle, gave up waiting for a space. didn't see the polishing. you'd think at a nighttime car show, there would be no reason, right? honestly, he probably didn't, and it is just several layers of clear coat, but damn, could almost imagine seeing other worlds in that paint.

i love these impalas, with their curves, and i was hopeful that the camera would be able to capture what i saw. i think this is pretty close. and i'm completely suprised that there weren't more cars and/or people moving as blurs through the exposure.

he asked

was waiting near my car for my better half. it's just there behind this one.

the owner specifically asked if i could take a picture of his car. sure, i'll try, i told him. knowing that it would be difficult with all the cars driving in the background, and down the aisle behind me. it was starting to get dark, and knew the longer exposures would be hard.

i changed the settings a bit on the camera. not completely happy with them, but it's an ok picture, if you can ignore the shadow of the tripod hitting the wheel.

i had a pretty good parking spot, so there were at least three cars that wanted it when we left. maybe they played rock, paper, scissors for it...

disco disco. good good.

1952 chevrolet

i have a craving for lasagna today. so i've been busy making the sauce all afternoon, and just now have finished layering it in the dish with all the cheese, and got it in the oven.

better half chopped the onions for me. i think the doubled the garlic that the recipe called for, so, i may be sweating odiforously for a day or two, thanks to him.

have also watched the old cars drive by today. saw a really beautiful mint green bel air drive past the window earlier. walked uptown and saw an old merc drive by.

drove over to whittier boulevard at lunch, and saw an intriguing old gray chevy of some sort waiting for service of some sort or oil change, down by the ymca.

saw this completely glitter covered chevy at frisco's on friday. i think the light hitting all the facets of glitter at different angles fooled the sensor on the camera a little, so it's blurrier in some parts than i like, and others, the glitter disappears.

owner says at night, it looks like nothing. just flat paint. hard to imagine, but i guess so.

i don't think i'd do this to a car of my own, glitter isn't really my thing, but it is different. and it caught my eye.