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death becomes her

i find myself spending at least one day each weekend in san diego lately. so, a quick revisit to last year’s chicano park show is in order.

get there early. less people. sunrise shots. no interruptions.

viejitos always seem to park at this end of the street, near the basketball court. no doubt i’ve taken pics of these cars in previous years. just liking the sunrays behind the hood ornament on this lovely packard.

drove my mother, sister, and older brother down very early this morning to visit my younger brother in the hospital. was a beautiful sunrise over the waterways down towards del mar. the bluish cloud layer in the sky gave way to a bright orange sun and some unusual orange rays…not the typical god rays…but somehow nicer.

found out the other day, that they will be sending him to hospice in the next couple of days.

i had visited last week, in the afternoon, and he was already sedated, so i mostly did what older sisters do to little brothers—poked him, flicked his leg, called his name, trying to get some flicker of recognition from him. he half opened an eye, but that was about it. left after a couple of quiet hours.

we went first thing this morning, hoping to catch him awake and/or before they knocked him out. success. had an lovely, and emotional visit for a couple of hours. he was unable to do much, but we did get him talking a bit, cracked some jokes, got him to smile a little. dredged up old memories from childhood and his days in the navy. got some sips of juice into him. he started drifting off to sleep, so we said our goodbyes, promising to be back.

at the same time we were entertaining my brother, my better half was up in northern california, with his sister, in a hospital.

unfortunately, she passed away, soon after he arrived to her room this morning, almost as if she had waited for him. she was surrounded by family, and went peacefully.

perhaps he will write about it on his own blog. perhaps he’ll ask me to edit my post.

she was well-loved, and will be missed by many.

different volks for different folks

not my usual car. in fact i don’t think i’ve ever posted a slug bug up here.

but i’m a sucker for sun rays, and when i’m at huffarama, and the sun is coming up, and there’s nothing around ready to shoot at that moment, i just gotta take the shot.

it’s a bug. it’s a convertible. it’s lowered. it’s shiny. trying my best to be enthused. can you feel it?

my ex had a bug project car. it was cool. big, custom engine hiding in the back, custom interior, big tires, chrome rims. he let me pick the color—a mint aqua green—he even let me drive it. pretty sure i’ve mentioned it before, but i was the one that got the fix-it ticket, as it was too low to the ground, and the windows were tinted too dark.

been preparing to get my taxes done. better half over in the other room turbo taxing. says next year he’ll have my tax person do his as well. eventually we’ll file together, i suppose. still filing separately after all these years.
been working a lot and just tired at the end of my work day, so if i work up the energy to take a walk, i should get a gold star. mostly recovered from my slip and fall, and slowly working back into doing daily walks. so easy to just get stuck in the lazy-boy watching you tube all evening…
haven’t been to a show since huffarama, but thinking about going to something in the next week or so. guess pomona isn’t until march…oh well. i better charge my batteries. pretty sure that camera is dead, and will need all the settings and time reset, as i haven’t touched it in so long.
finally bit the bullet and went to ikea for a new desk. couldn’t find the screws for my old one that i’d had since college…they’re in a bin, in storage, where the desk has been for about a decade, and i just can’t find them. we’re back to working from home for the last few weeks because of the cootie surge, so might as well get my setup off a card table.

bird feeder

i’m sitting here waiting on a delivery my kid ordered to the wrong address. the people on the hotline were too lazy to do their jobs, and didn’t want to bother changing the delivery location, so there we are.

out the front window, i have a hummingbird feeder. initially, it was very popular with the birds.

then i bought a new mix of food. not so many birds. then another brand, same.

there’s a cat, that likes to sit on the edge of the porch and watch the feeder intently. the dog barks at the cat everyday,

they went away for a while. my work day was a little more dull.

then i started mixing my own bird food with recipes from the internet. and i’ve found one they like. basically sugar water. so what i’m figuring, hummingbirds are just tiny little diabetics. or sugar addicts.

was confirmed this week that we’ll be required to be back in the office next month. i’ll miss the little flying spastics, the barking dog, and the cat that likes to pee in the neighbor’s planter early each morning. that neighbor is an asshole, so my hero, the cat.

i need to go shopping. i hate my old work clothes. i need shoes. i hate shopping. this will not be fun. i’ll miss working in my jammies with messy hair.

i had cut my hair the last time they said we’d go back to the office, then everything shutdown before we did. maybe i should cut my hair again…

i work late, because the work can’t wait, and my better half is still living in whittier.

they gave us a second computer, so i could still do work from home if needed.

better half gets to work from home permanently. he’s moving here next month, so the timing is great. i go back, and he stays home. sort of jealous.

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watched this beauty drive up and drop down. waited for people to move along to get a decent shot. it’s all right, i guess.

new camera. color is a little off, so i guess the color balance is a bit out of whack.

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these delivery boys are almost out of their delivery window. i guess i’ll hurry up and keep waiting.

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update: they just called. almost didn’t answer because of another situation. their truck broke down and had to reschedule. [shocker] did it really, now, or did you just not want to deliver at five o’clock? day wasted, sort of.

right. i’m off to whittier then. ttfn.

superfly

i fly in the air, like i just don’t care. no choice, really.

hoping the bomb club show at santa anita won’t have to be postponed again. [edit — as of 7/29 this show has been cancelled] october usually means travel, celebrating our anniversary. lucky number thirteen coming up.

at least the weather then can be so unpredictable, and hopefully not so summer hellish hot.

this topless babe is from a couple of years ago, early morning overcast. i do love that.

—————

my mother-in-law died a month ago. she was a month shy of ninety-three.

a long time coming, it happened too fast, after all.

the house is quiet.

better half was directed to not “dawdle,” and take care of her personal effects quickly. going through papers, boxes, and items stored in the garage. a lifetime of living doesn’t disappear fast enough.

the xmas tree finally had to come down; won’t be able to get her furniture out the front door otherwise. ten thousand lights took five evenings to unwind off the branches. how will we be able to navigate the streets, without that fruity beacon in the dark?

now we are free to travel, yet we cannot go anywhere. every day is exhausting. there is a piece missing.

we each hear her call to us in the middle of the night, as she used to; better half gets down the hall to her doorway, only to realize the room is empty of the life that was his constant companion these past few years, these past half dozen decades.

so you might say we’ve been a bit preoccupied. you’d think there would not be enough water inside yourself, to produce all of the tears. they are less sad, and more the happy memory variety now, but those have been hard won. just have to let them have their way with you, and get on with it.

goodbye, enedina. you were well loved, and sorely missed…

thank you sir, may i have another?

i have too many cars sitting in the queue to posted, and nothing interesting to write about. so imma gonna just start throwing two or three up for a while, for no reason at all. make space for some fresh ones.

i have been getting a lot of emails lately from people asking for registration for shows or vendor sign ups. i then have to inform them that i only list shows i’m interested in, that i’ve heard about, or seen a flyer for.

curious as to why, i searched the internet. i think i know why—some bots have been crawling my site, and on some random page, and are showing me listed as the organizer. as if.

i end up digging up the flyers and sending them contact info. only a couple have written back to say thank you. they could have done their own digging, but it is my list, so i feel responsible. maybe i should take it down permanently, but it helps me remember what’s coming up, should i have the opportunity to get out.

this car is from a couple of years ago, at a fundraiser at jfk high school in la palma. been to a couple of shows there. usually a pretty good turnout. usually see some guys and cars that come out from closer to home, coming out and hitting up this show.

this one was just a beauty, and the color really popped under that sun that day.

early morning

flipped a coin, and ended up in anaheim saturday morning. arrived before the club again, and vendors, even. was almost convinced there was no show, as there was zero activity, no roping off the lot, nothing on the marquee, and no one except a random guy pedaling around on a bike. was already warm, and the sun had barely come up. at least there was a small breeze.

then i saw this one drive by, and soon another. and another. good good.

got my gear out and got to work. the day was going to be hot, and i knew i wouldn’t stay long. and i hadn’t had breakfast yet. saw raynbow, who always welcomes me.

the viejitos cars park along this fence, at the entrance. they were hanging up framed t-shirts from past years’ shows and events. as a designer, i found that interesting.

i don’t recall seeing this dodge anywhere. almost as if it had rolled off the line brand new, save for some chipped paint here and there..

past years, the lot would have been packed by eight. i do not understand the machinations of where the cars go, but i do know when several big shows are on the same day, you take your chances.

no matter, plenty for me to shoot before the sun got me.

when it looked like the incoming cars had slowed, and my skin was starting to turn pink in spite of the suntan lotion, i packed it in, and headed to breakfast.

hay chihuahua

sometimes i think my better half’s height is a detriment. his eyeballs looking out from six and a half feet from the ground, often give him huge blind spots of things i can see, but he can’t. something gets in the way, and he can’t see it without bending over.

i imagine it as sort of like sitting up in the mezzanine at the play “wicked,” able to see the decorative mechanical dragon set motif above the stage, but unable to see the backdrops and other action going on too far in on the stage. can hear the dialogue and songs, but just don’t see what’s going on in front of you.

he used to wonder how i would get pictures of things when we used to go out shooting together, that he never saw. i’d always say, “didn’t you see it?” oh, he can say the same for me, from his lofty height.

then again, i can be so focused on getting a shot, that i will literally not see the people walking around it. not being rude; just have them tuned out on my radar. i am a weird creature.

be very, very quiet…i’m hunting wabbit. ha ha ha ha ha.
— elmer fudd

today, the blind spot was at the back of a refrigerator shelf. he’d chopped up some fresh green onions to add to his mom’s meal, and what i later used for guacamole.

he hadn’t noticed the two containers of previously chopped green or yellow onions, from last week. pretty sure onions don’t grow hair that pretty normally, fine as silk, and growing from several dark spots, nor is it useful as penicillin.

whatever it was, didn’t want to let go of the container even after i dumped the food out. had to soak it with some lysol, followed up with antibacterial soap. i won in the end.

this lincoln looked familiar as it drove into the small lot at the fairgrounds. looking back through my posted images, at the show i thought i’d seen it at so long ago, i instead found another one, same year, but not a convertible, and green not black.

well, otherwise, i’m not finding it in this year’s photos.

i had gotten one clear shot, with no one in it. for this one, i’d changed the height of my tripod and framed it up, when the owner and his friends came back from whichever vendor they’d gotten drinks from, and proceeded to clink glasses, in a cheers maneuver, behind it. oh well. you can see them just above the car’s front window, if you look closely. it’s their car, so i’m not going to make a big deal about it. i had other places to be, so didn’t have time to wait them out.

i liked the big inflatable dog in the background. wished they had set out some brown and black bean bags near it, and then all i’d have seen would be a much relieved pup, had that been the case. people could have “shat” down on the soft lumps with their drinks. lol.

magnet

was slowly easing my way around cars at the front sight show a few weeks ago. run into tudy, who asks if i’d shot his friend’s zephyr yet, as they are about to head out to another show.

nope, i was starting at the back of the show and working to the front, which happens to be where that car is parked. so i finished the car i was focused on and headed on over.

sure it is a beautiful car. beautiful cars attract people, which were surrounding it like metal to a magnet. i guess it could be a chick magnet, but i’ll just be crude and also call it a dick magnet, there were so many guys admiring it.

the owner was following behind me slowly, so i set up to shoot a few of whatever i could get before he got there to drive away.

the other shots are ok, cliche even. i sort of just like the front here for now. that’s the owner, there, just about ready to get in and disappear.

my shady side

i’ve shot this car before. it’s really a beautiful car. owner has a long story about the paint color if you ask, but it ends up being some year of honda and some year of nissan greens, with a bit of pearlescent thrown in. really catches the light.

as i listened to him telling the tale of the paint to another random photographer/spectator and myself, the sun hit it just so, and it really was glowing.

unfortunately, i was busy listening, and not set up to take a shot then.

i’d already been by and found it earlier (above), and it just isn’t doing it justice. i mean i like the angle, the sky, the everything…it just isn’t catching the color. maybe the yellow car next to it is reflecting too much, and i’m on the shady side, (he was parked under the overpass but you can’t tell from this angle) but it just isn’t there.

oh well. posting this, and hoping maybe i’ll see it again sometime this summer. there’s always next year at chicano park…