what's up?

not all those who wander are lost

santa fe springs rotary-7531And9morehdr.jpg

my alarm went off before four am today. had hoped to go to pomona, but my body disagreed with me, so i went back to bed.

when i woke up again, i decided to drive over to santa fe springs, to see what might be at the rotary club show. not too far away, and could turn around if i started feeling hinky. either way, was going to leave when it got too hot. my eyes seem to be sensitive to the bright light lately. i just hate to shoot with sunglasses on; makes it hard to focus, and i end up lifting them or looking over them anyway.

well, the rotary show was pretty small. not a very big parking lot. a mix of everything. lots of hoods up, so that made my stay a bit shorter than it would have been otherwise.

i saw this car last week, uptown at the dia de los muertos show, but it was tight between other cars.

here, it was on the end of the row, a little more room to see it better. has some interesting little details, as well as some painted on messages. the title of this post was painted over the rear driver side wheel; "don't fuckin' die" was painted above the steering wheel.

bucket

another one the owner hoped to see.

i had arrived early, parked in the designated lot, on the gift shop side of the mission. did not see any old cars. did not know where they were going to park them. sat in my car, listening to the radio.

then a big truck with a trailer pulls up in front of me, with this car on the trailer. i watched him unload it, and watched where he went with it, down an alley or was it a street?

shortly after, the los angeles bomb club cars drove in the lot, behind my car, and went down the alley as well.

i figured they must be between the buildings, but i didn't want to walk down the alley and around. so i wandered over to the church building, and down a small walkway past the cemetery. came up to what was a locked gate dead end, but a janitor had propped it open with a broom.

through that, around another building, and found the cars.

not a whole lot there early. the owner had parked his ford and was sitting with a guy who had brought in a military jeep.

i'd seen him watching me shoot some fleetlines, just out of the picture here. as i turned around and walked toward the green truck, he came over and inquired. told him i'd post a shot, so there you go...

second shot

another day, another car. owner watched me shoot the picture to the right, and came over to ask me what i do with the pictures.

i'm sensing a theme. don't see people asking every photographer what they do with the pictures, though i'd always be curious to see them. who knows what they do with them. i know i enjoy mine every day, and share a few here and there.

i suppose it has to do with the tripod. i think the guy that's out there at shows, with the old film camera with the bellows gets the same thing. no idea if he posts his shots, as i've never actually spoken to him...too shy.

anyway, saw the car again, on my way back up the street toward home. shot it again. it's a little more interesting, just because there is more color later in the morning, and more angles going on.

i was heading home to get some suntan lotion, as i felt my skin cooking. ended up downloading pictures from the memory cards, chugging a bottle of water and laying down for an hour. a little too long to sit still...was so sore when i headed back out.

went out, intending to shoot a particular car at the far end of the street, if the owner closed the hood as promised, as well as anything else that may have shown up and i'd missed. there were a few. arrived at said car, but the owner was not there, so didn't bother. shot a few more pics, and went to get dinner and cool off again.

shark attack

yesterday was my boy's birthday. twenty-seven. how'd that happen?

they invited me to join them for birthday dinner. some restaurant down in laguna beach. because they're foodies, and know where to go when they want good stuff.

i haven't been to laguna in probably twenty years. no reason to go, and i always hated the crowds and traffic. i stopped going to the beach because there was no point in me trying to get a tan—i just burn then fade to white again. and then all the sand that gets in the car and in places sand just shouldn't be, if i went in the water on a boogie board or to jump the waves.

at least laguna main beach isn't too run down, as beach towns go, but i had a bit of a time remembering how to get around, and finding parking.

restaurant was hopping busy, and i got there early and put in my name to save a table. still would be about forty-five minutes. everyone else arrived and we walked across the street to the water, and some park benches.

flashbacks to places i'd been there when i was younger and dating my ex. and later, a building, where we'd attended a xmas party for work. so long ago.

remembering seeing a random man on a corner, wearing very loose dolphin shorts, with nothing under...and the wind blowing at the wrong time. ewww.

my sister lives out there somewhere, with her boyfriend/landlord/whatever he is. never have visited. i have issues with him. i see her once in a while at my mom's house, but mostly on holidays.

ya, probably be another twenty before i bother to go back.

anyway, it's difficult to find a gift for kids as they get older. they've already bought the things they need, and they have their own likes and decoration style.

so i fall back on their sense of humor, and just get them silly, just so there is something to open. found him a rubber shark puppet, and with some cash in it's mouth, he was happy enough. he's a lawyer, so he got the joke right away.

ready for the uptown show tomorrow. camera sensors cleaned, batteries charged. i should get to bed early tonight, but i probably won't. i can sleep tomorrow when i'm done.

saw this t-bird in garden grove at the super cruise. it sorta vaguely reminds me of a shark for some reason...maybe it's the headlights and shape of the hood.

it was nice in the early light of morning.

miss you

my original plans for this holiday weekend included backing up files, going to several carshows, and helping out my better half at home, by going to the market, etc.

the opportunity came up, and i've been at my place for four days now. i like it a lot. i've done my usual cleaning and repair work when i stay here for too long.

those kids tell me they spend weekends cleaning, but apparently, that NEVER includes bathrooms. i mean, come on, how hard is it to swirl a brush in the toilet? sweep the floor? i could write a message in the dust bunnies along the edge of the wall. gave the showers a good scrub, so now i think i'll take a bath for a change.

they have so many clothes! i assume the dresser is full--i'm not a snooper--but they also have two closets crammed and at four hampers full, as well as a pile of clothes on the floor of one closet. i cannot tell what is clean or not, or i'd wash them. i did wash one of the hampers full that was downstairs, as well as re-doing what they had left in the dryer.

ugh. dug lint out of the dryer vent. and that load was too big (that's what she said.) i've told them before they'll start a fire. oh, and there were no batteries in the fire alarms...wtf.

ya, might be time for them to find their own place.

i think i'll drive up to see my better half today. i'm sure he's been too busy to notice that i'm not there. j/k. maybe i can can talk him into leaving the house for a walk or dinner.

saw this merc at the memo ortega anniversary show as i was heading out. it's different, and a beautiful, deep maroon color.

if i stay in whittier tonight, i can make it to a show tomorrow. otherwise, see you next week at the uptown show. except for that one guy, and richard; they know where they can go--someplace extra hot and crispy.

jack sprat

feel like posting something different. saw this ford last week in south gate. the car was just a car, but it did stand out just because the entire body of it was covered in airbrushed figures and skulls. big modern wheels, with tires so new, the sticker is still on that front tread.

the little back lantern lights remind me of the haunted mansion, or maybe herman munster.

better half has been working from home for over a month now, with a couple more to go. he has his reasons. he has taken advantage of the time to also eat better, since the kitchen is right there. he has a lot on his plate, so to speak, but is dealing with it in healthy ways.

to get to the point, he's lost more than twenty pounds in a month, mostly by eating vegetables and fish, and avoiding sugar. and he likes it.

me, i never liked veggies, and barely can stand to eat a salad once a month. and i think i easily gain five pounds in the same amount of time, without trying, especially since i hit the last big birthday milestone.

don't know how many nights i go to sleep, thinking tomorrow will be the day i will stop drinking coke, only to fail by lunchtime.

i cannot imagine how he can say he likes eating vegetables, it's just not in my vocabulary. they're just gross. maybe my mom just didn't cook them right or just overcooked them to make them unappetizing. maybe i was a picky kid who has become a picky big kid. mentally i know i need to make lifestyle changes to kick my metabolism back into gear, but i never had to think about it before. and i don't know how. how do i say no to the random craving for cookie dough? just don't, i know--diversions.

trying to walk more, now that i have changed my work hours, but i'm inconsistent. mostly, i just want to sleep.

so what i'm trying to say is i'm happy for my better half getting healthy. sorry i've gotten so squishy the last five years; time has caught up with me, and i guess i will have to figure out how to do better just to keep up. it sucks getting old.

exhausted

quick post; i've been up and running since four am. not unusual for me on a weekday, but weekends, i prefer to sleep in. and i've been so busy at work, doing extra hours to meet deadlines—i hate tradeshow season.

anyway, made it out to garden grove and the hillco annual super cruise before the big game. was somewhat disappointed this year in that the turn out at five thirty in the morning wasn't what it's been the last few years that we've gone. add that it was overcast and really a nothing sunrise, with a hint of drizzle, i suppose that could be the reason. loved the overcast though, the big softbox in the sky. kept it way cooler than the average year at this show.

i'll write more on my next post, on another day. supposed to rain the next couple of days, so i will probably stay down at my mom's, away from the computer.

owner of this rat was curious, but only barely. asked if he would be able to search for a picture of it on the net. he could, but that would take way more time than just looking me up. tossed one of my cards through the roof hole...lol.

this shot shows a more overall view of the thing, but i kinda like the profile picture, which maybe i'll put up another day.

off to bed now...

xmas day

another nice truck. figured a green one should be followed by a red one for xmas. i think this one belongs to @reyfierro. he was in the driver's seat, when it was moved over to use as platform to shoot some other cars from higher point of view. he seems nice. he says hi to me now, when i see him out there with his camera.

first thing this morning had one more thing to bake, then headed on over to my mom's for the day. my kid and his wife were going to be stopping by before heading over to his dad's house. i'll be having dinner with my mom and dad. my sister is somewhere tromping through south america, and my bro won't land at lax until this evening.

better half stayed at home, to keep his mom company. he won't leave her alone for xmas dinner, and it's too cold to take her down there for dinner. besides, they stocked up on tamales, so they're set for the night.

i'll either stay at my mom's, or if my kid brings his dog, i'll take the dog home and stay at my own house for the night.

i think i've run out of things to say for now. maybe i'll just post pictures and shut up for a few days.

night before

1930 ford truck

been baking all day. now waiting for some taffy to cool enough to pull it, but i'll still get a first degree burn on my hands. better half says he'll help pull the stuff.

this stuff is all for people for whom i had no ideas on what gift to give, save for some of their favorite sweets. sad, but better than nothing. and i have no xmas spirit anyway, just going with the flow.

i don't have too many pictures of cars decorated for the holidays, though i know i saw more than a few. i think i mostly passed them by. none of them made me go wow.

so this old truck will have to do, with it's bit of tinsel and swag. i'll break my own rule about shooting cars with company advertising on them, but here's an exception. it's a nice truck.

so baby

found this car at san fernando last month. pretty sure i've seen it somewhere else, if not just the previous year at the same place. i want to say the tangiers cars are usually here, and a few show up at the showlows st hilary show in october.

it was highly polished, and the sunrise was just popping the light through that clear coat.