what's up?

tis the season

2024 dia de los muertos in whittier. went out of our way, and planned to be there. fortunately, the weather played nice for me, and we were able to stay until around noon, before it got too hot, and crowded with people.

early in the morning, while cars were still rolling in, we found many outstanding cars. we were able to shoot a bunch before too many observers gathered around, or before the altars got set up. some we shot, then found them later in a different spot, so we shot again.

this really nice caddy stayed put, out front of the old folks’ home.

added bonus, there’s the “mayor” of whittier there, probably preaching to a friend. he’s a nice guy. sounded like he’s had a tough few months since i’d last chatted with him. same, brother, same.

i used to be all about halloween. i’ve got a big box of costumes from years’ past. my daughter typically has rifled through it by now, and pulled out some favs. now the box is somewhere in storage, and the memories are in tatters or rotting away in the heat. that might make some of them even better…

tonight i’ll be tossing candy at what few kids come by at my mom’s house. never can tell if there will be a lot or no costumed visitors, but at least this year, she got candy i like. tootsie rolls will probably pull out my fillings, and the chocolate will probably go straight to my waistline. oh well.

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.

the hotness

i had a couple of reasons to be in temecula last weekend.

i’d mentioned the ramble on the ranch show a couple of months ago to my son, who lives out there.

at that time, it would be taking place after the due date for his second kid, so hey, convenient reason to pop in and see the little critter.

we had it set up that i would carry a go bag, if the wife should go into labor before the time that her mother could take time off from her day job to go help out.

i was visiting, about a month before d-day, and figured i’d just leave my bag there, so it wouldn’t have to bounce around and bake in my trunk.

well, the due date came and went. finally, they set up a date to induce, on friday, the fifth.

so i took the day off from work, to watch my granddaughter, while they went in to the hospital.

then they got scheduled for ten p.m. that night. they called before heading over; they got bumped to the next morning, due to other women that needed priority inducements, and there weren’t enough beds. please come tomorrow at eight a.m.

then bumped again, for the same reason on saturday morning. finally, telling them, they’ll try to schedule again on tuesday, if baby doesn’t show up on it’s own. mom was bummed, of course. she’s ready to meet this little person.

by this time, the mother-in-law was able to be there to help with things, so, i went to the car show, as originally intended. i was there at five p.m., and parked nearby under the shade of a tree. i opened my car door to about a hundred-degree oven-like heat.

keep in mind, that i haven’t been out much to shows lately, and i don’t tolerate heat so well anymore, which equals a recipe for fun. i pulled my gear out of the trunk, and walked a couple of rows over to the show in the parking lot.

i’ve never been to this show, but have seen pics. vail headquarters is more of an historic park, with storefronts surrounding a little plaza. it’s been around since 1867. they have car shows at least twice a year, during the summer and at winter holiday time. cars park up in the plaza, and a shit-load more are out in the parking lot, and some out the back of the area.

my son sent me a text saying his wife would like to get out of the house, and after their daughter woke up, they would head over and we could get pizza for dinner from the shop there.

i started shooting a few of the cars in the parking lot, watching more and more cars pulling up.

problem was i was sweating profusely. my arms were turning red, so i supposed my face was. felt it was awfully soon to be getting a sunburn. i felt my heart beating quickly.

then i started getting the first sensations of “i’m going to pass out.” not good. no one knows me here.

i went as quickly as i could to my car. i had water in my trunk. i threw my gear in the trunk. didn’t even put the camera away, just set it down, grabbed the water, and got in the car. turned the air conditioner on for bit. thought, if i pass out, the doors are locked, no one will notice.

that wasn’t working. i looked like hell when i peaked in the mirror. i’d tied my hair up. my face was super red. i wasn’t sweating anymore, and i felt swimmy.

i figured it wasn’t good to sit idling with the air on, so decided to move the car, and get into the kohl’s store.

left all the stuff in the car, even my purse; my id was in my camera bag, which i didn’t want to draw attention to, so i left it, and stumbled to the store. people were already sitting in the chairs just inside the door. shit.

so i looked for the bathroom, so i could splash water on my face. saw some furniture for patios in the back corner and sat down for a bit. i’d turned the wrong direction, and the bathroom was in the other corner, but i needed a minute.

the air conditioning was not helping much, but it was better than sitting in my car. wanted to move before security came over to see what i was doing, just sitting there. i think i sat for five minutes, then found the restroom.

the water from the faucet was warm. i tried another, not much cooler. better than nothing. splashed my face, my arms, my neck. i was bright red.

i went to a stall, closed the door and took my shirt off for a bit. i finally felt my pulse slowing down.

i am guessing i was starting to have a heatstroke. never had one, didn’t know anyone that had, so how should i know? looked up symptoms on my phone. yup yup yup, going down the list.

decided to go over to the plaza, and find more water. about that time, my son sent a text to say they’d arrived and were parking the car. i told them i’d meet them by the pizza place. previously, they’d parked at the back, so i headed there, where i found a slight breeze and the additional show cars.

turns out they’d parked out front. i spotted my son walking through the crowd. his wife, her mother, and the kid coming up a few feet behind him. he strode over saying he liked the vibe.

i got a hug, and told them i think i’m having a heatstroke, and i need water. we went inside and got in line. we were about to order, when the phone rings. a nurse is calling and saying they have a bed for her now. she wants to leave, but she’s hungry, so they tell her she can go ahead and eat and then head over.

they ordered pizza to go, but it was ready so quickly, we decided to just eat some there. i felt a bit better after food and water.

told them i’d stop by the house to get my bag after. i stupidly thought i’d take a few more pictures.

off they went to have a baby. off i went to grab my camera bag. dumb, i know. told them i’d just shoot the cars in the shade. or else i’d be seeing them at the hospital…

i shot for about forty minutes, before i judged that i should stop while i still felt i was ok to get back to my car. i glanced at the parking lot, which had gotten quite full by then, and sighed. i just couldn’t consider them.

i’ll go back if/when they do a holiday show. cold, i can deal with.

here’s one of the later shots. i was having to do a lot of waiting for people to move out of the shot, so i was getting more frustrated by this time.

nice cadillac. not a lot of room to maneuver to shoot the side or the back end, so the front will just have to do.

oh, yes. i have a gorgeous new grandson, named levi.

weekend in riverside

here’s a brief selection of images from the riverside show and go last weekend. started with friday evening cruising around several blocks of downtown riverside, followed by more of the same and competitions on saturday. i have a few more pics, i or my better half promised to upload…as soon as i can get the time.

compared to the last time i went, this show had more than expected. lots of cars that i was interested in, to balance out the newer cars and hot rods that i could care less about. saturday’s cars overflowed the streets. i think they may have actually sold out, with six hundred cars cruising and parked along the route.

since we stayed at a local hotel, we were able to come and go as we wanted. it also allowed me to skip the sunrise shooting i’d typically want to get, since we’d gotten the sunset pics the night before.

better half ended up staying in the hotel on saturday while i went out, as he’d hurt his back. he literally couldn’t move without searing pain. figured it was best to just let me go and get my ya yas out, before it got too hot. he waited for the ibuprofen to kick in, but it really didn’t help. think he has a slipped disc.

we took it easy for the afternoon, when it really got too hot for me to deal with at the show.

got up early on sunday, and out of the parking garage, just before the gate guard got there…free parking for the weekend! yippee. and off to see a doctor…

2012 | SHARP

supposed to get some furniture delivered this weekend. we’ve been using better half’s mother’s mattress and mountain of pillows as a sofa for the past few weeks. would rather it was in her room, with her still sitting on it, watching her tv, but…

he has declined my offer to get a kitchen table and chairs from my storage unit, as we will only have to move it again in a year. so, tray tables and a desk, if i want to get fancy. but i am still going to be using her good silverware. so, another empty room for the time being. maybe i’ll bring my trampoline back here and put it where the dining table had been.

a little less busy at work, but only minutely so. i’ve done a few projects that will get some notice around the offices and online, but then, i could say that about most things i work on. seems like all the jobs are becoming more of a competition, or at least, team efforts lately. it’s a good thing. spreads the stress around, divide and conquer. learn from others.

better half used to look forward to me asking, “why the hell are you doing it that way?,” when i used to work with him, as i would glance at what was on his screen. he’d also tell you that was my way of saying “i like you” to him, or some other nonsense.

looks like the earliest i’ll be back at the office will be sometime before year-end. have been there several times this past couple of weeks, and it is pretty much a ghost town. it did make it ideal for a photo shoot i had to do of a bike, with no interruptions, and no issue getting the room i wanted to shoot in. only problem was the key to where we store our lighting equipment was at home with another designer, who had shot some video the week prior. fortunately, the receptionist had a spare.

i’d rather be shooting a car…

———-

my niece finally went home, so i was able to get to my computer the other day. only had a couple of hard drives there, so pulled up some old files, shot with my old cameras and better half’s lens. he’d say he lent it to me, and never got it back until i’d worn out the parts in it.

pretty sure i posted a similar shot of reine’s cadillac, but i haven’t seen it for a while, and it was in the first bunch of pics i saw on the hard drive, from 2012. back when the whittier uptown show was packed with cars waiting in staging areas for several blocks, before the sun came up. it was my favorite car for the longest time. such pointy back fins, and ghost flames on glittery paint.

his cadillac was one of the first i shot, in the early 2010, over at the broiler in downey. that place used to be where i’d be every wednesday evening for a for at least a year. good times.

on a cloudy day

hiding in the house today. except for the couple of hours i went to the mall to buy a few things that i’ve been talking about buying for months. i really hate shopping that much. and traffic near the mall…let’s just say some people don’t drive very well.

took a turn around the mall, might as well make use of the nice air conditioning to get some exercise. not to mention it smelled like the cinnabon in the middle of the place…no worries…i resisted. though i really wanted one.

got home and didn’t feel very good, so going to just sit here on my ass and play with my pictures for a bit.

i’ve seen this lincoln several times in the past, and just recently at mooneyes. maybe i’ll even post that one some time. but it really looks like the same shot some of the other photographers have posted, so it isn’t really that important to post it.

i am partial to a cloudy sky. reminds me of growing up back east, with a thunderstorm rolling in. this one was from the street coverage bbq in montebello park in 2018.

stood up

instead of going to dino’s cinco de mayo show at lincoln park, i ended up out in long beach, at a little car show in a church parking lot. no idea what types of cars would show up. my reason for going there is that my daughter is living out there somewhere with her boyfriend and her dog. in a room at his grandmother’s house. her stuff lives in my condo, which at this point is just an expensive storage unit that smells of stale dog piss. but that’s another rant for another day.

i figured since i was over there, we could do lunch. talked to her the day before and she said she’d “be down for that.”

got a text message that morning saying they’d been up late, she couldn’t sleep and was too tired to come over. sort of typical.

made the best of the situation. not knowing what to expect, and show hours said starting at nine a.m., i was there about an hour or so early, so i could get parking. thought cars would already be arriving for roll-in, as you do. nope. bunch of vendors setting up, but no old cars.

and did i mention it was a sunday? church was holding mass. nah, didn’t go in, but did splash some holy water on my forehead. very least religion i can do.

i wandered around until i found a bathroom. walked through the little garden area and looked at the various altars and statues. went back to my car and listened to music.

about the time i said i’d give it five more minutes, an old chevy truck showed up. told myself i’d at least get a picture of that one. by the time i found him parked he’d already popped the hood. shit.

then an old ford galaxie pulled up, so i settled for that. by the time i was down with that one, i noticed the owner of the truck and his daughter were going to walk away, and they closed the hood. got that one too.

closer to ten cars finally started showing up. but there was only a small area coned off for them. who plans a car show at a church on a sunday? so as mass ended, they started shufling cars and casually pushing cones further out.

sun was already high, and i figured i’d never find parking at lincoln park, so i stayed for a couple of hours and shot all the cars i liked.

seen this cadillac before, at an xmas toy drive late one evening in december. it was dark, and it wasn’t the best location. here it is again, in a circle, center of attention. interesting use of pinstriping and painted on “cadillac,” as well as metal flake paint. liked it well enough.

did i also mention there was a stage? when the live “band” (i only remember seeing a singer and a guitarist) started screeching out some zz top lyrics, i totally laughed at the dichotomy of the harpy belting out rock tunes and knowing the mass was going, with the side door open. no way the priest and parishoners couldn’t hear the profanity as they got their dose of gospel.

i couldn’t take the singer’s voice any longer, and just had to leave. headed over to the together car club picnic, since it was close to home.

whatever; i can't think just now

when wondering around city-sponsored shows, be sure to look down side streets...usually you find cars that did not register, or do not want to pay the fee to park in the main areas.

in this case, i spied a few cars down the space between the movie theatre and the building next to it. walking to the back of the theatre, in the overflow parking lot, were several cars parked near the barbershop. this year, the barbershop did not drag their barber chairs out to the show as a vendor to do some barbering, but people went to the back to their shop. seemed busy in there too.

this cadillac was parked next to it, in the alley.

later in the afternoon, there seemed to be an after-party going on back there, as i walked home from an afternoon movie.

i suppose i should write something. i didn't go to any shows today, a perfectly cold, overcast photo-loving weather day. better half joked that i would write about why i didn't go out, and what excuse i would use.

well, since no one reads this but him, and some lurkers, the only excuse i will say, is i took some me time. the blankets were too comfortable, i hadn't slept well all week, and the show would go on without me. besides, i spent most of the day hanging around the house with him, so he can't complain too much.

i did go uptown to mail a letter, and get a late lunch. an old chevy from the kustom oldies car club drove past me, on the way to the post office. it stopped momentarily on the corner by central park, and drove down the street before i could get my phone out for a picture.

then, by the time i got to the corner, i spied it coming back down the street towards me. so i got my phone out, ready, and snapped a quick shot as he sat at the stop sign. got a wave from the owner too. i think their club had one of the shows i could have gone to today.

also saw an edsel uptown too. you can see both on my instagram.

a few thoughts from a week of long drives home:

i'd rather spend time in the evening working on a picture, then go to sleep, rather than trying to think of something to write about here. does that make me a terrible blogger, or just over-tired? i have plenty of pictures ready for a write-up, but not a lot of time to spend thinking of what to write, hence i spend my afternoon drive-time writing fun stuff in my head, with the best of intentions, only to not be able to remember most of it when i get home.
there's a person in my office building with a tuft of hair on their mostly balding forehead, and all i can think of is that he represents the lollypop guild...and to welcome me to munchkin land. terrible of me, i know, but it makes me giggle every time i see them. there used to be a girl that wore a big military overcoat looking dress, and she was one of the witch's guards...i might be working in oz without knowing it.
i need to improve my attitude at work, kind of an i don't give a fuck mood. i've been in this state of mind before. one of my better half's favorite memories is of sitting in on a meeting with my former manager and team at a former job, telling that manager to his face, in front of all my coworkers, that his idea was stupid. mostly because i didn't want to participate in that particular project. better half called it a career enhancing move on my part. manager did turn a lovely shade of red, and the vein did bulge on the side of his neck. coworkers looked at the floor, the ceiling, elsewhere. ultimately, nothing happened, but i didn't have to participate on that project, which was the point anyway. i think the mood is from all the other stuff going on in my life; it will pass, and hopefully, i'll still be employed this time.
my kid is going to move out of my condo soon. i fantasize about gutting it, and putting new flooring, cabinets, bathrooms fixtures in. then remember my other kid is moving in, with her big beast of a dog, and half of that fantasy gets put on hold. still might replace the fixtures or the kitchen. figure by the time she moves out, i'll be too old to live there anyway, too old to climb the stairs...the next person can replace the flooring.
randomly, the lowercase m will not type while logged in to this website, so i'm having to type it in a different program and paste it in here. wth, squarespace?
why does the uptown rite-aid blast barry manilow tunes outside 24/7?
did i mention my dad has been in the emergency room and/or hospital at least twice more since the last time i mentioned it? he seems somehow less than he was each time after. tomorrow is father's day. i hope he doesn't spend it there. best to go give him a hug while i still can...
oh, and i got three pictures accepted into the oc fair this year. already have the framed prints ready to go. my problem is that i have to drop them off next saturday, and i really want to go to the bomb club show at santa anita. and i think my better half has to go in to his office to hob nob with some executives, so i have to be here while he's gone. yet to see how the schedule will go...

back to real time

vacation days are officially over. back to a normal weekend, back to work on monday. wonder if i'll remember my password.

i used to check work emails while on vacation. they blocked that ability, unless you have official work-supplied phones or computers, so, now i can actually forget about work. kinda nice, i suppose, not knowing what minefield i'll return to. whatever. just another day in the life.

back end of a cadillac from the hillco fasteners show. i liked the color of the car, the fins of the car, and the shadow play back there.

back in black

made it out to pomona this morning. after the hike in from the parking lot, i probably only shot for a couple of hours. first time out in a few months, and i was getting exasperated by the people walking through my shots, and just the fact of the pomona swap meet—so many cars, on the move and parked together, ebb and flow of people. it gets overwhelming and boring at some point.

it was a good two hours to bang out some crap pictures, and remember what i used to do. kick start how to 'see' again, mostly anonymously. no one really bothered me.

better half had gone with me, to make sure i was ok, i think. he brought his camera bag with him, but mostly just shot the sunrise, before calling it a day. it was a really nice sunrise, i'll give him that.

got somewhat frustrated after the sun came up, when i wanted to shoot some details, but my second camera is having issues and giving me card errors. finally brought out the a6000, but the lens isn't what i wanted to use, so promptly sacked that one. guess i'll have to send it in for repair, since it's relatively new, and it doesn't seem to be a card issue.

this was the last car i shot, before calling my better half to see where he had wandered off to. he had been hungry earlier, so i assumed he'd gone to eat, and wander the aisles of parts. turns out, he hadn't eaten, and decided the pavement on the aisles was too rough for one of his cameras bouncing around in the bag, with it's delicate sensor.

so i said, i'd had enough, and we left to find breakfast/lunch on the way home.

my favorite end of this cadillac, with the great fins, and dual bullet lights. there was a woman sitting just off to the right end of the car, and her legs kept getting in the shot. so screw her, cropped it to the essential bit of the car. more interesting this way, anyhow.