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domino

1949 buick supra

1949 buick supra

here’s an old one from the vaults. back in 2017 at the bob’s big boy on firestone in downey. a fundraiser for oscar.

people blurred through my exposures, back when i’d find a car show or two every single day. really put that camera and tripod through a workout.

shiny forty-eight buick supra. i wonder if it’s still around.

————————

raining today. pomona swap meet is tomorrow. probably won’t go, though the overcast would be a perfect lightbox.

been busy at work. working a lot from my mom’s house.

(tl;dr - mom fell on her ass, and got a ride to the hospital)

my daughter was in town last month, with her dogs. she had gone off to visit a friend before a lunch date with her dad. i was out to lunch myself, about twenty minutes left, when i get a panicked call from my mom saying the big doberman had managed to escape from the backyard, via a side door.

she had been expecting my younger brother to be dropped off for a visit from san diego—he can’t drive anymore—long story for another day. she was in the garage with the door open, hanging out by her car. the side door hadn’t been pushed completely shut, and out the dog went, down the street.

dog doesn’t listen, and she’s almost ninety, so no way is going to catch it.

fortunately, i wasn’t far away, and vaguely knew where that doggo was most likely to go, to the nearby park. still, i drove along another street, that i used to walk him on before going there.

i found him harassing a man and two little yappy dogs, out for a walk, near the street. i pulled up alongside, and called him (the dog, not the man) an asshole, get in the car. he wasn’t doing anything more than sniffing the ankle biters, but i’m sure the guy was afraid for his dogs.

lucky for me, dog ran around my car, and back around to the driver’s side and hopped in. unlucky for me, i didn’t have any covers on my seats, so now i have some random scratches in the finish.

he didn’t have any collar on, and i really expected to have to chase him around the park, so i was very happy he got right in. adrenaline was really going, and now was in my veins, making me shaky.

got him home, my mom, brother, and his caretaker in the driveway, having just got there. asked mom to bring me a leash, and managed to get him back in the backyard with the other beast. was only a little bit late getting back to work, and only spouted off a few expletives as i passed by the other two.

out the front window, i saw the caretaker leave. then i saw a gray truck pull up to the curb and park. didn’t think anything of it. logged into my work computer.

a minute later i hear my ex husband’s voice down the hall, calling from the laundry room door to the garage. it sounded squeaky. just called my name. weird. then again, adding, “your mom fell down!”

ran out there. brother trying to stand up, mom is on the driveway, flat on her back. told my ex, who had come to pick up our daughter, who isn’t back yet, to hold my mom’s head, don’t let her move her neck or try to get up. my brother is getting upset.

fuck, left my phone in the house.

she has one of those systems for if she falls and no one is around, so went inside and slapped the big red button on the main box. they took a minute to finally get on the intercom. explained the situation, and please send an ambulance. they still took another few minutes and called me back on my cell phone to let me know help was coming. i guess they also sent out calls to my sister and other brother.

i think it would have been faster to just call 9-1-1. but it worked.

back out on the driveway, mom is crying and understandably scared, but also more worried that the neighbors were going to see her in such a state. strangely, no one on the street seems to be home, not that it mattered. she didn’t want the attention, didn’t want all the fuss. she seemed to be ok, but at her age, falling on cement, we’re getting her checked over.

ambulance and big fire trucks arrive and fill the street in front of the house.

i guess the story was that my brother had gone to the refrigerator for a bottle of snapple or can of coke, and had tripped over a bag of dog food that i’d placed at the front of the garage, to go back home with my daughter and her beasts.

as my brother tripped, and realized he was falling toward the car, and my mom, he screamed, as he knocked my mom down, like a domino. he landed on top of her, and she on her back, feet in the garage, head down the incline of the driveway.

he’s upset, thinking he’s killed her. she somehow, has only whacked her head, and is only bleeding from a cut on the back. she’s crying and upset.

daughter shows up, with a wtf happened on her face.

mom got a ride to the hospital, with all the hot emergency guys. (i got a pain in my chesh too…) we all got left behind to organize next steps. i am to gather her info, and it was going to take half an hour before i needed to be there.

i call my sister, who is a quarter of the way down ortega highway toward elsinore, she’s turning around. called my better half, then the caretaker, and texted my sister-in-law to quickly tell them what happened. better half was going to head to the hospital, but i told him they wouldn’t let him in, so maybe pick up some food for my brother and daughter.

caretaker hadn’t gotten very far away and came back quickly, in case my brother needed to go back home.

daughter didn’t get her lunch date. her dad left, after being the hero. couldn’t deal with what happened. i guess he’d dealt with similar issues with his parents, and it was too much. doesn’t like the sight of blood.

i sent the caretaker off to her weekend. put daughter in charge of my brother, to distract him with tv shows.

i tried calling one coworker, then another, to tell them i had to go to the hospital, etc.

i gathered mom’s purse and other info doctors would need, and drove over to the hospital.

after all that hullaballoo on the driveway, turns out she had one of the emergency buttons in her pocket the whole time. i guess not the type that feels a fall and sends help, but one you would have to push. would have saved a minute of me running back in the house, but oh well.

fortunately, my sister arrived about half an hour later, since she deals with more of the medical appointments, and could better answer questions regarding meds.

overall, she got x-rays and a ct scan. she was super lucky, as she had no broken bones, maybe a slight concussion, and a cut on the back of her head. they used her hair and glue to close it. i mean, they braided hair from either side of the cut to hold it closed, and put glue over the cut and the hair, which should dissolve in a couple of weeks. her neck is sore, and has other random aches, but that’s to be expected.

i got a text from my better half that he’d rang the bell at the house and knocked, and no answer, so had left the food on the porch and gone back home. called my daughter to let her know…the tv was set to my mom’s preferred level of volume—100%, and they hadn’t heard the door. the dogs were still outside, barking crazily, but she thought nothing of it.

about five hours later, i had to go back to get my mom’s car, which would be easier for her to get in. thanked my kid for watching my brother. they’d been watching some reptile documentaries or something. she packed up her stuff and dogs and left, while i took my brother back to the hospital to pick up mom.

sister got back in her car, and headed back to ortega highway and her weekend.

my brother has only complained about his knees and back, but otherwise seems to gotten back to normal. he had an interesting first night, walking in his sleep, but with his eyes open. mom found him getting dressed about midnight, and was afraid he would walk out the door to who knows where and get lost.

her voice woke me up, and finding the situation, i told him to go back to sleep, and he actually did.

i ended up being at mom’s all weekend, and have been over there more frequently since. she’s going to be all right, will be happier when the glue falls out and she can do her hair again.

my brother notes that we have each fallen this past year, and now we are the three wobbly musketeers. how did we get so old, so fast?

so tempted to ask the neighbor across the street if his security cameras picked up everything, just to see what happened, and how they fell, what hit first, etc., but too shy to actually knock on the door. have yet to catch them outside to ask.

i think that’s enough story time for tonight.

mirror, mirror

1965 buick riviera

1965 buick riviera

very shiny riviera, from before covid (bc?). it’s an older model than the one my mom used to drive, and waaaay nicer.

i like how reflective the hood was, even on an overcast day. that’s better than a spit shine; it’s elbow grease.

————-

last day in arizona. upper nineties today. i hear it only made it to the sixties back home…i’ll be there as soon as i can…

learned a lot on this trip, my brain so full of new ideas, it might ‘splode. looking back through the copius notes i took, pretty sure i won’t understand my own handwriting next week. every class had online handouts, and was videotaped, so i can go back and translate later.

also remembered that it is better to not gaze into the concave magnifying mirror in the hotel bathroom. the reflection isn’t what it used to be, and the attention to detail leaves my camera in the dust. glasses off made no difference. every pore, hair and wrinkle…like the lunar surface through a high-power telescope. ick.

already went out for dinner. thought about a big restaurant meal, but decided i really wasn’t hungry enough, so just did fast food at a truck stop on the other side of the freeway. really disappointing, about what i expected, but it was interesting to wander around the store.

skipped the casino; didn’t feel like breathing cigarettes and whiskey fumes, if it’s anything like vegas used to be.

i’m all packed, so hot bath and tv for me. i can sleep in a while in the morning, before i have to pedal back to the airport. don’t even need to top off the tank, i didn’t really go very far.

better half says he’s feeling better, but hasn’t really left the house all week. almost out of food, except for a bit of guacamole i made before i left. says it’s mostly sticking to the avocado pits i left in the bowl. i told him he should put those balls in his mouth and suck it. it’s ok to spit the seeds out. enjoy.

i hope he still picks me up at the airport tomorrow.

fyre

1955 buick

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…

in the kitchen with dyna

another from the bomb club show. the owner told us he’d won a prize. said it was mostly original, except for the record player he’d installed, though he said it was of the same period, and played forty-fives.

he popped the hood to show my better half the engine. i don’t usually bother shooting under the hood, but it was pretty clean, and he was taking to time to chat, so why not?

he was very proud of the car. congrats to you.


on the home front, still no car for me. sort of a stalemate until it passes smog and light tests. pretty sure it has a bad bulb or socket. the shop has found a couple of things so far. hoping there is nothing further to at least get it back on the road. i know there are a few other issues to deal with, expected with an older car.

been borrowing mom’s van or my better half has been driving me to lunch and/or getting me to and from my mom’s if she isn’t doing the same.

took the opportunity to donate a couple of van loads full of junk from storage, and rearrange things, to get rid of one of my storage units. yay. one less thing to pay for.

new beginning

1938 buick

1938 buick

i’m in a mood. things on my mind. gloomy outside. change is in the air.

starting with a new camera and lens. the brownie points program at work has informed us that we were going to have to use it or lose it, as it’s being revamped. they use this instead of just handing out cash when you get commended for working hard.

well, i’d saved up quite a large number of points, and wasn’t about to get screwed over that way, so finally was forced to get something. most of the stuff up for offer is crap, but they do have some slightly out of date camera gear. so i picked up a sony a7r iii body. really not my fave, but sony seems to be moving to this smaller size thing.

then, my birthday was a week ago, so my better half got me a new wide angle lens.

took this set up out for a test drive this past friday, out to ruby’s, since the season has started.

the main feature i hate is the screen doesn’t flip and twist like my old cameras. so when i set it up high on my tripod, i really need to stand on tip toes or a curb to see the screen somewhat. or just shoot blind.

still not too sure about the lens. going to have to shoot some more, and get a bit more pissed at it. at least, my better half says that’s what happens every time i get new equipment.

i think i need to tweak the settings as well. some images came out fairly in focus, and others just missed it. makes me want to bust out the other camera i have in the bag, but i need to break this thing in, while i can still return it.

and the files are so big, i’m going to need a bigger boat, err, hard drive/more back up drives.

i dunno. it didn’t seem to like being pointed into the sunset, as you can see. the lens distorts a bit, so will have to go find a lens profile for it.

next up, in the summer of fun, will be finishing packing, and moving soon. not too far.

one thing at a time. one thing at a time.

lil josh fundraiser

1938 buick eight

1938 buick eight

got my taxes done saturday morning. always gets my stomach up in knots prepping for the yearly appointment. no reason. always have everything ready sorted, the important papers in a large envelope, relatively painless. write the check, carry on.

i haven’t been out to a show since early january, and even then, not that often recently. mostly have sat in the house on weekends, bingeing the sopranos, and wondering when the xmas tree would be coming down. sort of don’t care, since i’m hardly ever at home. just a lot of stuff going on on the homefront and at work, i’m just kind of numb by the time i get to a weekend.

got a granddaughter coming this week for sure, so there’s a bright light for this week. a happier reason for a hospital visit than the last couple of months.

timing of this year’s tax appointment coincided with the start time for a fundraiser for a kid i’d never met. originally planned months ago as a fundraiser to help the boy in his fight against cancer, it became a memorial fundraiser instead.

roll-in wasn’t until well after sunrise, so i didn’t bother to get up early, only to have to leave when cars would show up. so, got up, ate breakfast and headed off to my thing. was not feeling well on the way there, and made a pit stop on the way back.

thought i’d drive by the show, see how i felt, and decide then whether to stay or go. it was pretty busy, and i lucked out and got a parking spot quickly. so i went through the motions, and got my bag out of the trunk, and headed over. paid my donation at the front table.

figured i’d stay until my stomach started to bother me, since it was close enough to home.

the show had a good turn-out, even though it was already several hours into it.

owner of this car said i’d shot his car previously, and was hoping i’d shoot this one that he’d bought for his wife. said he’d found it online, from the state of rhode island, i think it was. most everything was still original to the car, and in excellent condition. someone must have hidden it away in a garage. lucky find.

had several people come over and say hi, whom i hadn’t seen for a while. it is nice that people still remember conversations they’d had with my better half years before, come up and send him greetings. that is why he is my better half, he is memorable and diplomatic and a social butterfly. it comes easy to him, and people like him.

i do miss him going to shows with me, but he has other responsibilities right now. he gets to see all the pictures you never see, so he gets a virtual car show when i do go out.

nice to know there are those of you who keep an eye out for me when i’m out there by myself. thank you. you know who you are.

the air was cool, though i felt warm, and i managed to shoot most of the cars i wanted before i really started to feel faint. there were a few i missed, but i was there long enough to hear most of speech the boy’s parents gave, thanking everyone and recalling stories of their son.

i seem to do some calculated gambling on how far my car is from where i am and how long i can keep shooting and still get back to the car. somehow, if i can make it to the car, i can get myself home and be ok. probably the main reason i don’t go out much. also, what fun is it to have all these pictures and not have them with me to fiddle with at my mom’s house. wouldn’t be able to do much anyway with the big dog there wanting attention all evening.

i’m just feeling in a morbid mood this evening. i think i’ll stop here for now.

fucksticks

mooneyes1-2533And9morehdr.jpg

the moon in retrograde or mercury doing a thing to the tea leaves? these past couple of weeks have just been so stupid. best i didn’t place any bets in vegas…

first my car, in for a simple maintenance, now just a continuing issue to be solved. was again put on eternal hold twice before i was connected to the service manager this afternoon.

check engine light was still on when i took it back this afternoon, so at least they can’t say i’m making it up. left work an hour early, hoping to not get in stop and go traffic, and possibly stalling out on the freeway. finally lost my nerve about beach boulevard, and took surface streets the rest of the way to avoid all the freeway construction slowing things down toward the 605. red light intersections are only slightly less nerve wracking. didn’t use the air conditioner either, since it seemed to make the stalling sensation worse.

at least they saved me a loaner car.

next, work waited for me to get back, so it’s piled up, and more added. i especially like the rush jobs needed by thursday, mostly i suspect because of the holiday weekend.

so i’m pushing back what i can, finding out who is crying wolf on deadlines. otherwise, i’ll either work late if possible with the car sitch, or work the weekend.

now, figuring i’m in whittier, i might as well play with my pictures. no can do. my computer has decided to fuck up, and wants a boot disk we cannot find to make it happy. better half says he’s going to order me an upgrade of the software and a new ssd drive. basically, i’m down until they arrive in the mail, then for the period getting reloaded with all my software and tweaking the preferences for how i like to work. at least a week, if not more, given our schedules.

maybe i can get to a car show this weekend, but unable to download and process anything. frustrating it will be. humpf.

well, i can get back to posting a few of my old pictures on my ipad anyway.

back end of a riviera from mooneyes open house several years ago. amazing paint job; another that needs a ladder or scaffolding to get up above it to capture it better, but this is the best i can do with my tripod.

when i put it out on instagram, someone got sad because one of the people in the shot had passed away since then.

fetch

1940 buick eight convertible

1940 buick eight convertible

long day of meetings. five and a half miles of walking. nbd. see if i can keep that going when i get home.

back from the mile to the ice machine in the other “wing” of the building. me and my little metal pail…la la. la la la. call me jill.

real creepy long halls, waiting for the kid on his pedal bike.

didn’t sleep well last night, only to wake up to no hot water. could be worse—another lady in the elevator had to switch rooms, as there was water leaking from the light fixtures in her bathroom ceiling.

keep running into people i see every couple of years for these meetings. kind of think we need a secret handshake or to yell nanu nanu.

——-

here’s a sideview of an increasingly well-known chevy, distinguished by it’s wood paneling. it was on a very busy whittier boulevard, so sort of difficult to shoot it from the other side. that, and i was pretty tired by the time i got to it.

fish out of water

lincoln park1-2623And9morehdr.jpg

third day here in sin city. so out of my comfort zone. the filtration system in the hotel seems non-existent compared to other hotels here. my lungs are burning and seem to take an hour in my room before i feel they’ve de-smoked.

otherwise, it’s been an uneventful day for a change.

briefly thought about seeing one of the cirque de soliel shows, but decided to keep my money and sleep instead. two more days of meetings. only car shows i’ve seen listed are the pns cars like lambos and mazzeratis, and i don’t want to lose my parking space for them. might as well go to a showroom. not even going to the cars and coffee i usually catch on the way out of here. just want to go home.

went to another hotel for dinner. after eight p.m., and it’s still one-hundred and two degrees, cooling down to eighty in the middle of the night.

there’s a sad looking guy dressed in a tattered mickey mouse costumes on the sidewalk, i can’t imagine how he can stand it or what it must smell like in there.

there seems to also be several clusters of wanna be showgirls, half naked and befeathered out there too. some too fat, some too skinny to heve the requisite jugs; all look too harsh and tatted up to be real. just posers for pictures for cash. drunk guys will go for anything it seems.

haven’t been up and out late enough (or early enough) to see the drunk girls being led astray —

“…these pigs are ready”

- the sweetest thing

————

here’s an old buick i saw the one time i made it out to lincoln park for the blessing of the cars, several years ago. don’t see many like that out there.

locked out

front st 1-346And9morehdr.jpg

i think i’ve already walked a mile and a half this morning, these hotels are so huge.

had a non-working toilet when i checked-in, so i’m glad i make a habit of flushing it before i use it when i first arrive. it will soon be an issue, so i call the front desk and wait almost an hour for the engineer.

it’s one of these eco tanks, and taking a peek inside, is a big black plastic receptical and lots of hoses; just no water. was hoping for a room upgrade, as i hadn’t unpacked yet, but he got it “working” in about five minutes. when i say “working,” it’s because it takes at least three flushes to get the paper to go down. going to be asking the owl on how many flushes on the tootsie rolls.

was going to put my own water in the fridge, but it seems to have a combo lock on it…must be an honor bar thing…i see snacks through the little bit it will open.

woke up at seven, couldn’t sleep, so went down to breakfast. got served someone else’s plate, but knew it, and didn’t touch it. belonged to the guy at the next table.

was charging it to my room, but there seemed to be some issue, so i just said i’d use my own card. after that they finally brought my food.

afterwards, i hike back up to my room, which feels like a mile from the elevator, but probably only about a football field, to make a call in privacy to the credit card company to see what’s up. only to find none of the cards to my door will work. means a hike back to the front desk, which already had a line of people to check out that early. concierge was able to help me, without any explanation of the issue.

spent ten minutes on hold before chatting with someone in the credit card’s fraud department. then another five confirming my identity and that i was the one making the charges. this is going to be a pita expense report when i get back. they better accept my justification for a charge at in-n-out for lunch on the way. 😄

meeting at one, housekeeper wanted to come in, but says she will come back later. my stomach is upset. probably the pizza i ate last night from an overly expensive place. wants to claim the food is exactly like the food in italy. well, yes and no on the pizza. it did taste very similar, but was waaaaayyy to salty for no reason. over priced, with fake-friendly service. i give it a six out of ten.

i want to lay down, but i may not want to get up, so i best not try it.

——-

another shot from front street. i usually don’t fiddle with effects like this, but for this car, this shot, it was all about that front grille. ran into the owner this past sunday, who had seen it up on instagram. she liked it, which is always nice to hear.