what's up?

full moon fever

1941 pontiac hood ornament

well, we're on our way back from washington, my mom and i. driving down the 101 along the coast. somewhere in oregon tonight. giant full moon in the sky. i've got my tripod with me, but haven't really used it. busy driving on winding forest roads.

one of my new cameras is refusing to read any memory card, so will have to ship it in for service. realizing that i do ok shooting cars sitting still, and sometimes portraits. but landscapes without a tripod, pfft. i shake too much. that and i'm really trying to like the sony a6000, but i only brought one lens for it, and not the adapter to use the others on it. less pictures, more memories, being in the moment. at least that's what i'm going with.

lots of tweakers in seattle and tacoma, so didn't get all my gear out. but i have it, just in case i cross a car show, or random car in the wild.

one observation on the limited number of classic cars i've noticed driving the last week, is that ninety percent are fords, mostly hot rodded white boy style, and one hundred percent of the cars still on the road are painted with flames. the last big show of their season was last week before we arrived. owners start garaging them after that, before the rains really start. i did see a red flamed studebaker for sale.

the other observation, is that they love big trucks and muscle cars. bigger and louder the better.

so i'm going through fleetline withdrawals, and on my way to fix that, but that's still a week away. hoping to drive through giant redwoods, and stop in san fran for crab dinner, then san jose, to say hello to my future niece. after that, maybe salinas to visit deadend magazine for a tshirt.

yadda yadda yadda.

i'm sure my better half is keeping himself so busy he hardly notices that i'm gone. the house is probably cleaner than it has been in a long time.

love pontiac hood ornaments. even if it doesn't seem to be original.

old times

1956 pontiac wagon

yes, i went to the imperials show this morning. yes, i took a lot of pictures. yes, i have filled my hard drive to the point that i cannot do anything at the moment. typical. takes about six months to fill the internal drive, and now its seven. imagine if i'd gotten out more, like i used to, i'd have had this problem a lot sooner.

so, i am doing some shuffling of files to various backup drives at the moment. will have to wait until later to really get a good look at what i shot today. maybe it will go faster and without a hitch, than i think it will; or i will overwrite files i shouldn't. it is the most dangerous part of taking so many images—their fates literally depending on a length of wire and an external box of whizzing, whirring, electronics.

not sure which is more reassuring: the old rolls of film and print hard copies, or the ability to backup without loss of quality, zillions of images, that may never be seen, save by my better half and/or his mom. then where to store all of these black boxes, much less worry about what happens to them when i am gone. my kids won't necessarily give a rat's ass about them, aside from family pics. well, i won't be around to care. 

here is art's car from the bombs magazine show a couple of weeks ago. no one was hanging in their pop tent at the time, so took the shot, and kept moving on.

time to move some more files...

heading home

hood ornament

from a pontiac at the chicano park show. not sure that i got a good shot of the car itself, but i do like it's chief.

we will be on our way back in the morning. hopefully an easier trip than the adventure getting here.

today was an early morning march past the iwo jima memorial, through the back gate of arlington cemetery, and up to the tomb of the unknown soldiers. it was seventy degrees out when we got to iwo jima at seven fifteen in the morning; by the time we climbed the hill past arlington house, it was close to ninety, and we felt it, in shirts wet with sweat.

after the changing of the guard ceremony, there was a wreath-laying ceremony, but we were already heading down the hill toward the visitor center, and the metro station. took the train out to the end of the line, then tired of waiting for the bus, caught a taxi to the air and space museum's udvar-hazy building, to see the discovery space shuttle, airplanes, and 3d movies. and to enjoy the air conditioning.

about three-twenty, we caught a bus back to the metro station, and were back at the hotel in about an hour. after all that, we decided we were too tired to do another baseball game. oh well.

so, to the airport tomorrow, laundry on sunday, kicking back on monday. short week at work, then i'm off on a train to san diego for a week.

next time we should take a two week vacation, just not all in one place. i like to travel, it's just a bit expensive, so short weekend roadtrips will do in between.

say uncle

1952 pontiac

i'd never seen this pontiac at any of the shows i've gone to. knew other cars would get in the way soon enough, and so i took a few shots while the owner was still polishing it. i do that sometimes, just shoot low, from the opposite side they are working on. if you're low enough, it doesn't matter if they stand up.

owner was telling my better half, later in the morning, that he had gotten the car from his uncle when he passed. i think the uncle had told the owner as he was growing up, that he would leave the car to him when he died. he said his uncle retired from his job not so very long ago, and passed only a few months later, and kept that promise.

it's a beautiful car, i thought.

still visiting the east coast, but apparently keeping west coast time. sleeping in late / staying up late. kinda screws up finding dinner when a lot of places are closed in the city. fortunately, there is a very tasty pizza joint less than a block away, a la pieology but not, open late.

no set plans, since i grew up not too far away, and we seem to vacation here in dc once a year. it has rained off and on the past couple of days, but i love it. today and the next couple will be in the eighties and sunny.

talked my better half to getting out of town, took the metro out to old town alexandria, rode a free trolley down the main street to the waterfront. walked around the artists' colony at an old torpedo factory, then walked up the street a bit to find food. seemed to be food of all kinds to choose from, but just settled on seafood. it was good, we ate too much, and were too full to even use the two for one coupon at ben and jerry's in the tourist guidebook. oh well.

decided to take a water taxi back over to georgetown. this one ran a recorded soundtrack babbling on about various buildings and historical points of interest along the way. mostly my better half stood at the front of the boat taking pictures of airplanes overhead, flying in and out of reagan national airport, which has a landing strip right damn next to the river, so no pressure on pilots to touch down on pavement and not water. must be fun in winter, when the snow and wind freezes the river and ices the runway.

landed the boat in georgetown, and took a ten minute walk back around the watergate hotel and through georgetown university, to the foggy bottom metro station. back to the hotel to dump our cameras and chill for a bit.

then to end the day, took the metro out to nationals stadium, to watch them play the mets. down inside the metro station, the sheer number of people passing through as game time gets closer, is monitored by some seriously grim anti-terrorist security guys, with bomb sniffing dogs, and dudes carrying m-16s. the station is just outside the park...when you come up from the underground station, there's the stadium.

we run the gauntlet of people selling counterfit team logo crap, scalpers looking to buy tickets, homeless people asking for money. we needed tickets, and there was a line of about twenty people at the main windows, but my better half went around the corner, to what appears to be will call, but were actually just additional ticket windows, and had no wait at all.

we like to sit up at the very top rows of seating, up behind home plate, those were sold out, so we were up just off center on the third base side. that side is shaded from the setting sun for an evening game, and up top, you get a breeze coming up off the river, which is also a few blocks away.

it was a good game, several homeruns were hit, and the home team won 7-4.

the stampede back down to the metro feels like cattle into the chute. they need people whose job would be to jam as many people as possible into the train so the doors can close, packed like sardines.

anyway, a few more days to go. no idea what we'll do each day until we go out the door. and that's just the way we like it.

fingerprint

i feel icky. officially my two week vacation has begun, and i expect to be catching a cold any moment now. i work my butt off, day in and day out, and almost every time i take a break, i catch a cold. must be the release of tension and adrenaline. the stress of driving is a big factor too. took me two and a half hours to get home yesterday.

didn't feel up to going to mooneyes this morning. figured i could go later in the day, but i basically only left the house to go get some lunch, and really didn't want to do that either.

whittier had their xmas parade today. goes right past the house. usually they gather outside the bedroom window, and wake us up, but this year, they staged it further down the street and around the corner. 

still, crowds of little kids squealing, yelling, singing, and playing music aren't conducive to sleep anyway. we got up, turned on the tree, and peeked out the curtains once in a while. neighbors were outside heckling the marching bands and beauty queens, but that's to be expected from forty year old wanna be frat boys.

so, hoping if i take a few days, taking it easy, i'll be up to my road trip mid-week.

for now, going to play with my pictures, watch the old cars passing by, on their way to the cigar bar or other bars uptown...the show must be over.

i love hood ornaments. pontiacs are always a target. even the ones with newly installed amber faces, but i prefer them in plain metal, painted metal, and plastic. the older the plastic resin is, the more likely they are subject to crackage (not the butt kind).

i suppose like skin, they dry out, become brittle and get this really interesting texture. and each is unique in the patterns, so i suppose i would be able to compare similar shots i've taken, to see if i've shot the car before, without ever seeing the rest of the car.

like, totally arrrr

i guess i need to think about finding a dress for a wedding. it's only next month. plenty of time. ugh. girl clothes. i hate shopping. been so long since i've had to wear a dress and heels. no idea what to do with this stupid hair. and makeup. i fail at being a girl.

at least i'm not high maintenance. lucky for my better half.

anyway, he's going with me. says he's bringing his camera. he actually likes watching me play dress up, but that's another story for another day.

i've seen this car around a few times now. shot it a couple of times, and now i'm bored with it.

i think i like these pictures from the first time i saw it at mooneyes open house, when i was still all, like, totally, wow, dude. still had some enthusiasm for it.

the details are really fun. a pirate theme going on. nuke the pontiac hood ornament, and put in this skull. should probably paint the screw in his nose black, so it doesn't show so much. maybe people with macro lenses shouldn't shoot up the nose shots?

i liked the pinstriping of pirate wenches, and the stick shifter inside. lots of details. nice paint job. and low, so low on the ground.

mutiny


got up early for the viejitos show over at st gregory the great. compared to last weekend, it was wonderfully overcast.

arrived to find them just setting up. and complaining loudly at each other. raynbow's guys were a grumbly bunch. half had been there at the agreed time, half got there when they got there. partied too much friday night or just slept in. he wasn't too happy about that, and went around letting them know it. doesn't make a good impression, and if you join a club, there are certain expectations. no one made you join.

anyway, they weren't the only club having issues with their members. heard quite a few guys getting reamed by other members. at least one guy got mad because they hadn't saved him a spot with his club. he got there late, and they don't save spots. he threw a hissy fit; they told him to just go home; so he did.

there was a decent turn out. got to pretty much all the cars i wanted before the sun came out, except for cars with the pop-ups or people in chairs in front of them. i had fun. my better half was able to go. he got to fart around with some of his different lenses.

here's raynbow's pontiac. hope his day got better than it started out.

-----

i've been busy at work as usual. then my dad had to go the hospital—just got out this evening. so, i've hardly had any time to be home and posting. i'm so behind on car shows, and yet i keep going out for more. better to have too many to choose from, and hopefully i'm getting better.

i don't have anything scheduled for tomorrow. i'm sleeping in. then maybe i'll go see how my dad is doing.

field of "dreams"


this stunning pontiac was parked on the baseball field. almost walked past the entrance to the field, since the majority of cars parked toward the front, where you could see them, were the big, loud, overdone newer type cars. i wanna say the guys with the teeny peenies, that need to compensate, but maybe they just really like those types of cars. not my cup of tea.

anyway, saw this on the same field out the corner of my eye. sitting next to an old chevy. that one is nice too. so i hiked across the infield, remembering when my kid played ball, and then it hit me. the sweet stench. a recently "fertilized" field on a hot, hot day. oh, how i felt sorry for these poor bastards, having to hang out on that field all day with their cars.

i suppose you eventually don't notice it, but later, when they get back in the car, what about the "dirt" on the bottom of the shoes? lots of air freshener will be needed.

as i was saying, really nice car. really nice owner. chatted a bit. happy, happy guy. i liked the pinstriping, and of course, the hood ornament.

smug

drove out to ruby's last week. only two and half rows of cars. big change from a few years ago, as is for all the weekly shows it seems.

wasn't completely in the mood to shoot, definitely not to chat. mostly went through the motions, shot a few here, shot a few there. nothing there was really rockin' my world. good practice though.

i see this one once in a while. still like to study the paint job, try to imagine how they create some of the effects in the paint.

©2024 kathy gonzalez