what's up?

fundraiser for big manny

has it already been three weeks? time is flying.

better half had an itch to go play with his new lenses he bought used online. needed to find out if they worked or send’em back. only thing i could think of was a fundraiser that i’d seen a flyer for on instagram.

garden grove isn’t crazy far for us to get to, even though we didn’t leave the house until almost noon. the typical fundraiser has a lot of the memorialized person’s friends and family showing up in their rides, meeting up for food and memories of the dearly beloved.

this particular meet up was at a small neighborhood bar, in a little industrial hood. though i used to have relatives in santa ana/garden grove, i can’t say that i’d ever been in this area. it wasn’t bad, as compared to some neighborhoods i’ve accidently turned into.

the parking lot was small, and there was a post office we parked in, just across the street.

as we drove up, we only saw a few cars. good enough. i always feel a tad odd showing up for some of these fundraisers. i didn’t know the person much, if at all, but i am fairly sure that i’d seen them, their car or club in the past. better half made a donation toward the collection for the funeral expenses, and gave our regards.

i haven’t seen my better half’s shots, and it’s been a while since he had a chance to turn on his computer, and not be working on work work versus fun work. he still has the lenses, so i’m guessing they performed as expected.

instead of just posting one car, i’ll post a few of the handful that were there, and maybe add more if i get a chance. people seemed to have just shown up, which is of course, more important to the family than whether they came to a fundraiser in their classic cars.

mistakes

drove up to a small fundraiser by the vintage ladies last week, memorial for jerry shepard.

added to the donation box, sorry for their loss. could have had the food they were serving in exchange, but we had come for the cars.

better half bought himself a camera online, and wanted to see if it worked. told him about the show, and decided to head up. got there about eleven.

he was having fun shooting cars, trying to avoid getting in my shots, mostly failing, as it was just a small lot, and he was usually on the car next to what i was working on.

in between, he was chatting with folks and handing out my cards, as he hasn’t gotten around to printing up more of his own.

i stopped to wait for my better half to finish shooting the car next to this pontiac—that’s his tripod sticking out behind the kids.

i had a conversation with the owner, seeing that he was taking pictures as well. asked if he’d gotten any good shots. he said something to the effect that he wouldn’t know a good shot if it bit him. i handed him one of my cards, if he was interested in seeing my pictures. then he asked me to take a picture of his kids in front of his car.

i knew this wouldn’t be the best shot of my life.

kids don’t like to pose for strangers, and i’m most strange.
i wasn’t really set up to shoot a portrait.
avoiding my better half’s shot, here i am on the wrong side of the car, shooting into the big fireball in the sky, hence that big ass lens flare on the tire.
did not shoot the same picture with and without the kids in it, to fix any mistakes in exposure.
i should have waited and moved them to the other side of the car, but then they’d be squinting into the sun and have my shadow on them. or just plant them in front of the car, but i’m kinda partial the three-quarter view. and i love pontiac indian hoodies.

it’s an ok picture of a moment in time, of brothers, who seemed already bored to be there, especially the younger two.

like the little dude’s avenger shoes, with iron man on them.

been working ten to twelve hour days this past week. deadlines piling up. it’s not sustainable, but there are others that can help me out. they’ll make it up to me with a day off at some point, but probably not until next month.

so i’m a little bit slow posting pics from last week, or any other week for that matter. patience, grasshopper. never is enough time.

uneventful

found this lovely out in the parking lot of vail hq. not every spectacular car can fit inside the center court.

just enough light at dusk to have a blue sky above, and the parking lot lights shining down light tinged a pale yellow, makes a complement and pop of color on the cars.

i wonder what the girl in the car finds so much more interesting than all of the rolling art surrounding her?

i worked three days this week, then had friday off.

i’ve been trying to get over this cold. it’s mostly gone, but i’m really just low energy. no, i don’t have covid.

instead of hitting some car shows, i’ve spent my time sweeping the floors, which just always seem to be dusty. just pushing the dirt from one spot to another, i guess.

i haven’t gone far from the house since i came back home. i have been spending a lot of time with my better half. it’s nice we still enjoy each other’s company after all these years.

i wish i had more to say, or even be funny, but i just haven’t been out much to generate a story.

i hope you all have had a good new year’s day, and that this year will be better than the last few.

cookhouse

this one is far from perfect, but it’s a perfectly fine car.

i love the crustiness of the paint, the imperfections all over. the beat to hell ornament. i wonder if it still lights up?

i think it fits in with the surroundings far better than the perfectly shiny impala to the side there. oh it’s difficult to choose one over the other.

i’m enjoying the gloom outside the window. more rain coming. i’m bundled up and feeling sleepy, but it’s too early for bed. i guess i’ll watch some random television until a more proper time to sleep. back to the grind tomorrow, at least for half a day. we’ll see if i’m feeling up to a full day of work yet.

still coughing up some bitter lung butter.

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.

down at the ranch

a car show at vail headquarters is a good excuse to stop and see my grandkids. unfortunately, one was already napping, after a hard morning of potty training. she likes the idea of it, just won’t participate in the actual location it should be going.

the littlest one i only got to hold for a short while, before he too, went off to take a nap.

so after a short lunch with my son and his wife, i headed over to the ranch.

quick post, as i have to go stay with my daughter’s dogs overnight at my mom’s house, and they’ve just arrived. she says she’s out of oil, but nbd. maybe i misunderstood, that it’s just the light that signals it’s time for a change, and not that her engine is about to seize up. wondering why she wants me to check it and add some, if she’s just going to head over to jiffy lube? what’s an extra five miles on a dry tank?

putting this one up, since the guy sitting in the chair asked me what i do with the pictures. he obviously saw me taking it, he watched me take it.. curiosity killed the cat…

i believe he said it was someone else’s car…maybe his brother’s? must be nice to have someone let you drive their car around.

sraining

it rained half the night, into morning here today. better have says i slur my words a lot, so i’d say it’s “sraining.” how very elvis of me. more rain coming tonight, and half of tomorrow. i love it. cold and gloomy.

stayed home most of the weekend, wrapping the eternal/infernal xmas tree with the usual ten thousand plus frigging lights. my hands and arms are scratched from the wire branches, and even my ankles have been shanked by the lower branches this year. maybe socks would help. thousands of little fruity lights. perhaps you might remember the tree just a block from uptown whitter. probably could have seen it from a plane.

anyway, it’s my gift to my better half, to get the thing wrapped with lights, since he’s been so busy with work lately. it makes him happy, to remember how much his mother loved xmas and that damn tree. so there you go. it will be up to him to decorate to whatever theme—did toy story again last year, so something else from storage and his mother’s ornament collection.

another car from the bomb club show. i hope you’re not tired of them yet. i have more to post. perhaps i should dip into the archives and post old ones?

nah, it was overcast that day, so it fits with my mood and the current weather, so that decides it.

nice car, and i managed to get no one moving thought the shot here, off to the side of the field.

fyre

speaking of vail headquarters, here’s an interesting car from the limited amount of time i spent there in the middle of the summer. before i decided to have a heat stroke.

damn, it’s hot out there in the summer.

maybe it’s the flames on this car.

at least my kid showed up with his family and got some pizza from the shop at the back of the complex. highly recommend that place. kinda hungry right now, come to think of it…

i'm tired

i’m thinking that i need a new computer and more hard drive space. hoping to get to more shows in the future, and this camera pops out big files—but not as big as the files on my better half’s new camera. he’s already got himself a new gift for the holidays, and hopes to join me at some car shows.

he came with me to the bomb club show in october, and had a good time. was using his old camera with a lens he hadn’t used in a while.

we both shot this car. i just saw it over his shoulder, on his computer. he’s thinking about posting again on his website, which he’s ignored for far too long. not sure when or if he’ll share his version, but i like mine.

cars are moving in the background, and the owner is in the car, so this from the end of the show and drive out.

i’ve had a cold since thanksgiving. probably a bit earlier than that, when i complained to my doctor about my earache. earache, my eye. she said nothing was wrong then. nothing is ever wrong when i bother to go to a doctor’s office.

this thing moved from behind my eyes down to my throat and has pretty much stayed there. i’m coughing up a lung, even after two weeks, though i have no other symptoms. tested negative for covid at least four times now, so just a boring old cold, i guess.

i’m hoping to shake it off before the next vail headquarters car show in a couple of weeks. all the better reason to go out and see my grandkids there in temecula.

as you would expect, if you’ve read this blog for a few years, i’m not in the mood for xmas, and haven’t even looked at buying gifts yet, if at all. i’ve got some time off coming up, so maybe we’ll get out of the house, or help my mom put the decorations away after the holidays.

can’t believe my dad will have been gone four years come xmas eve.

sunshine

life can’t be all chevrolets and rainbows. sometimes i shoot the bikes, if they are more remarkable than off the shelf.

caught this one just before the gang were either getting ready to leave, or to just hang out by the bikes. had to change the angle of the shots to try to keep most of them out of the picture.

love the airbrushing and chrome. i hope they got it home before the rain started.