what's up?

giving you the bird

been a busy few weeks/weekends.

to san diego three times: to take my brother home from a visit with mom; then the following weekend just because; then the next week, for chicano park, followed by a week vacation and visiting with my brother and bringing him back home with us. probably enough of sd for a while.
spent this past friday and yesterday in riverside, at the show and go.
thought about heading to lincoln park on the way home today, but i think i sprained my knee a little yesterday, so unfortunately had to skip it. perfect weather for los angeles. really wished we could have gone. :(

regardless, i have a zillion pictures from the two shows my better half and i did get to, so if i told you i’d post your car, be patient. really busy at work on weekdays, so it may take some time, but it will get up here eventually.

here’s a t-bird from the grassy knoll at chicano park. dappled shadows on a rough paint job—it’s seen better days, with that post-sunburn peeled look, sort of like my face—but the car itself is otherwise in pretty good condition.

next post is almost ready, of that red pontiac next to it. both of the lady owners asked to see the pictures. i’ll get that ready while i import my riverside photos this afternoon.

into the frying pan

better half and i spent last week in san diego.

busted our asses at work, for the weeks leading up to time off, lots of overtime and stress. it’s almost like we shouldn’t bother taking any time off, as we’ve already made up the week and then some by the time we go. same when we come back. we’re both getting burned out, and were so ready for time away.

should change our titles to design jugglers.

anyway, our mini vacation really started about six in the morning on a saturday, with chicano park day. first in-person show in a couple of years. heard they might limit the number of cars to something ridiculous like one-hundred and fifty. by the time we left around eleven, there was at least twice that, a hot sun, and thousands of people.

didn’t even get to shoot the cars up by the majestics’ house…just too many people. walking in front of the camera, almost knocking over our tripods, bumping into the lens…and it got so hot out. day before, and the days after…all ten degrees cooler. figures.

the illegales car club includes the car above. i’ve been acquanted with the owner for several years now, and i found him later in the day, over in the grass field surrounded by cars, and chatting with some people, as usual. i butted in to say hello.

known as el abuelo, he had two of his cars there that morning. i think he said he arrived at four a.m., and always seems to get spots by the freeway on-ramp.

here’s another shot of it from a different angle. the sun was coming up, and there is some lens flare, that sort of bugs me here.

feeling generous, so here are some other random pictures i shot until i find some time to work up some other cars to share, starting with the few people that did chat with me, or my better half.

the street was full, the lawn around the playground was full; the grass near the basketball courts, had very few cars, which was odd. i know there were plenty of cars driving round trying to get in, but either didn’t have registration or just showed up too late. just weird. all the space available is usually just crammed with cars and bikes.

also, for chuckleberries, i found us in the crowd of the headline pic in this article, better half talking with someone about his lens collection, in front of the chevy truck, in the sea of people.

on the green

it’s late. been a long week already.

here’s a car from this year’s azalea festival in south gate. before any crowd that may have come later, cars were few, but clustered together in only a few rows over the golf course.

i’d already taken one shot of this car, and then adjusted my tripod for another. in the meantime, the owner had snuck in and put up his info sign on the front bumper. so had to move a little more, to try and not see it so much.

still, a nice car, and i like this picture better.

change of plans

better half and i decided to go to the azalea festival show last weekend at the south gate golf course.

used to wake up early and be there before the sun rose, to get that early morning light on the cars waiting to get in the gate.

then there were a couple of years, where my better half couldn’t go, while he was taking care of his mother. i’d go, but there weren’t as many cars; then the gate guards wouldn’t be persuaded to let me in to take pictures before the official open time.

then another year, i went on my own again. before the sun. in the lot, in the dark before six a.m. before the people running the show and the vendors. before anyone bothered to show up, to line up, to get in. almost left, after sitting for an hour, but then, i’d already waited, so waited some more. not much went in the gate, didn’t wait until start, as they again wouldn’t let me in, so i left.

same thing last year, with my better half. we shot all the cars that bothered to be there, until they all went in, and decided it wasn’t worth the wait, and found a much better show elsewhere.

this year, same deal, but we didn’t get up early, got there after ten a.m..

i was worried we wouldn’t get a place to park. it wasn’t an issue; we were right in the lot.

we were stopped by one employee, asking if we were with the band. nope. better half strode right in the gate where the cars enter, so i followed. i thought for sure that employee would stop him, but they just walked the other way.

where once the golf course was crammed with cars to the outer fences, there were only a few rows. a stage was set up across the way, and a live band played later on.

the vendor’s truck had overpriced food, while outside the course, at the main street front, there were boy scouts selling a reasonably price breakfast for a reasonable amount of food.

also, whatever happened to the carnival part of the festival? there was just a baseball game going on in that field.

we stayed only two hours and shot everything we wanted. chatted with an old acquaintance, who said they search the cars for booze and drugs, don’t allow barbeques, or outside food, which pretty much will eventually kill off this show.

ended up in norwalk, at an easter basket drive, with a whole lot more cars.

here’s a chevy with a really amazing paint job. better half chatted with the owner for a while, who said originally he only wanted a solid color paint job. the painter convinced him it would be too plain, and that he’d be back, he went with it and here is the result.

one of those cars, where you wish you carried a ladder, because i am just too short, and the tripod isn’t tall enough.

i wonder what my better half’s pics look like, or if he’ll post them on his blog.

i don’t think we’ll be back to the south gate show.

we had thought about going to the true pride show yesterday, but those plans also changed. my younger brother had been visiting my mother for the past week. he had been dropped off, while his wife was out of state, and so we ended up in san diego, driving him home, and staying in the area for the night.

it was a good break. our jobs have been very stressful lately, with more work than usual, and we were just exhausted, without realizing it.

shoes

here’s a bright light on a cloudy day. it’s really, really orange. like fire. like fluorescent. it cuts through the gloom. it’s a fuckin’ beacon in the dark. everything is more drab because of it. i loved it.

and then it drizzled on it, and it kept on burning bright.

shoes on the wire above it, though you don’t really notice the dirty, dull white things so small in this shot, the car keeps your eyes’ attention.

rain or shine

i saw a flyer the other day about a fundraiser for yet another person that had passed away. i asked my better half if he was interested in going as we had nothing else going on on a sunday afternoon. he said sure and got his camera ready and picked out his lenses to use for the day.

It had been gloomy and wet most of the week, and there was a chance of showers. the show didn’t start till ten; we left about ten-thirty, heading north to east los angeles.

about the time we hit the 710 freeway, it started to rain. decided to wait it out and get some shopping done at the costco off of firestone boulevard. What a mess that parking lot was, jam-packed with people looking for places to park, the lanes very tight together, and blocked off for construction. I’ve never been to this location, but I got lucky and turned left, finding a spot at the very end of the lane, but not before pissing off an old guy with a handicap hangtag. he was thinking he could make two-hundred and seventy degree turn into that angled space going the wrong way, and with other cars aleady in the aisle sharking for spaces. I could see he was calling me a bitch when his lips moved. i already had three or four cars honking behind me, so i don’t know why he thought that would be a smooth move. i did not realize what a primo spot it was, being so near the entrance, and fully expected him to key the car while we were inside.

by the time we were done, the rain stopped, so we continued on to the car show.

we parked across the street, at a market, and walked over. better half went to the main table to make a donation and give our sympathies for their loss.

clouds looming, we got busy taking pics right at the front entrance of the parking lot. better half was wanting to shoot the same cars, and we kept getting in each other’s shots, so i moved a bit farther down the row.

it wasn’t long before it started to sprinkle. we continued to shoot. it was a tiny lot, just two rows of cars. when it did rain a little harder, we covered or put away our cameras to wait it out, as they aren’t waterproof. it started and stopped several times, not lasting longer than ten minutes. we got wet, but the cameras not so much.

I briefly took a break to watch someone trying to leave, in a old chevy truck. the way they were sardined in there, it was iffy on how he would get out without taking off a fender or two, save for a lot of help from the other guys.

The owner of this car came over to ask if there was someplace he could see a picture of his car, so i handed him my card and took a few more shots as I was leaving just in case the initial shot didn’t come out. nice old deluxe.

i think it was fixing to rain again, so we packed up and headed over to whittier, our old hood, for a late lunch.

what do you say to a cousin, that you haven’t really talked to since you were a kid?

well, i only think about it now, as i heard she’d had cancer. she had rung the bell, that it was in remission only a year ago, but it had come back. she’s done with chemo, there’s no point. she has weeks to months left.

i’m pretty sure i can remember seeing her twice since moving to the west coast in the seventies: once when her family came to visit my mum the following year, going to local amusement parks; and again a few years ago, on a trip through gettysburg, pa, when i traveled to a museum near to where she worked. my bro called several other family members to track down her number—he is a social butterfly, and can search out people from his past and just start talking up a storm, as if no time has passed. we met up with her for lunch. for me, as ever, it was a bit awkward, since i’m quite the opposite. she’s family, but a stranger mostly.

she seemed suspicious why we had contacted her, though my brother just said we were nearby, we’re family, so hello.

she’s closer to my sister’s age, so about all i can remember from my childhood is visiting my aunt’s home, playing the organ piano there, and sneaking to my cousin’s room and looking at her record collection, especially elton john’s album captain fantastic cover. it was so weird at the time. very hieronymus bosch to a kid.

i just don’t know that it would matter after all this time. and she will be just a memory in one of my mom’s photo albums.

rinse and repeat

a nice fleetmaster from one of my better half’s favorite shows last year by old school bombs car club. it’s almost the same color of the bougainvillea behind it, just not as pinkish.

a last minute follow-up to a disappointing show we had driven to earlier in the day, we were happy to have found a bunch of our favorite cars jammed together in this small parking lot in anaheim.

here we are, another sunday. another edition of “i don’t want to work tomorrow” whine. for my better half, overtime killing off his ambition to get to walking ten thousand steps a day again.

time changed, spring ahead, so tomorrow will be extra whiny waking up essentially an hour earlier than we’re used to.

but i can look forward to more rain on tuesday. working and staring out the window. i’ll be working from my house on tuesday, so i get that extra entertainment of watching the traffic zooming by, the possibility of an accident or someone simply parking in front of the fire hydrant and getting a ticket, plays to my schadenfreude. so many jerks speeding in their mustangs or dodges around here, no matter the condition of the street.

anyhew, one day is getting the same as another. maybe i’m just depressed. happened to have had turned my computer on to do some insurance stuff, which leads me to my pictures. pretty much, if i have a reason to be on my computer, i’m going to post something. i also am keeping myself from turning on my work computer and doing a job that i wouldn’t be paid for, but want to get off my to-do list. so busy at work, i’m about willing to do it.

i guess i’ll hang out with my better half while he’s on a break, then head to my mom’s for the night, and working there tomorrow.

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.