what's up?

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.

tic tac

here’s another beautiful car from an old memories club show in los angeles earlier this year. sprinkly goodness on the mirror finish.

what to talk about? would rather share an interesting story i’ve overheard at a car show, but haven’t been to any lately. people watching, there weren’t any people misbehaving either. just a good time, guys squeezing big cars into small spaces. always a wonder to watch how organized they can get, but understandable that they don’t want to bump into each other.

what did i mention in my last post? ya, more of the same. more tests in my future. probably a nerve being pinched. treat with meds to calm the nerves.

if that doesn’t work, physical therapy.

if that doesn’t work, they’ll look at surgery of some sort.

as a side note, something small, aside from my brain, was noted in my noggin, but they do not seem overly concerned. size of a tic tac. i prefer orange over mint.

my better half has been taking good care of me, especially on days when i’m more unsteady, which is most every day. i can manage to get around, but he doesn’t mind holding my hand at all. he’s the best.

as a designer, i still am trying to decide which serif font “L” i see when i look in the mirror. more for lucky than loser, i think.

this thing isn’t going to fade away anytime soon. i guess i’m ok with it.

could be worse.

improving

here’s a packard we saw at a fundraiser in los angeles back in march. it rained that day, off and on. still some sprinkles on the fenders of this one. didn’t rain hard enough to scare us away, but did bag the camera a couple of times.

small show, but some lovely cars were there. space was tight, and some cars had a difficult time driving in, or for a few that had to leave early, getting out.

been a while since i looked through recent photos. two weeks since i bonked my head on the pavement. glue still holding my forehead together, but should be disintegrating little by little. still have a few appointments lined up, to be sure everything else checks out, but i am very lucky, it could have been so much worse.

vision is a little blurry, but i have a big monitor, so it’s not so bothersome. my arm is a bit weak, so carrying a camera and tripod around isn’t going to happen for a while. missed out on huffarama yesterday, so bummer.

my daughter has been working at the texas state fair for the past month, doing henna painting. today is the last day. she is so over it, and ready to come home. hopefully she made enough money to make it worth it, but i think the experience was worth it at least once. her birthday is coming up, but she’ll still be on the road with her friend, her dogs, and her tarantula. safe travels and happy birthday, my girl.

i don't know jack

all work and no play make jack a dull boy. all work and no play make jack a dull boy. all work and no play make jack a dull boy.

all work and no play make jack a dull boy. all work and no play make jack a dull boy. all work and no play make jack a dull boy. all work and no play make jack a dull boy. all work and no play make jack a dull boy. all work and no play make jack a dull boy.

all work and no play make jack a dull boy.

all work and no play make jack a dull boy. all work and no play make jack a dull boy.

yes, i’ve been working too much lately. better half needed a ride to whittier yesterday for some business. just coincided with the car show at ruby’s this time.

i had taken the day off, because we had originally planned to be up that way all weekend. but, his work had too many people out on vacation, so he had to get back home to make up some time.

i could have just worked, but, pfft, i needed a break. feeling a bit like a functional zombie, everyday the same, so stopping to snap some pictures was something i’d been missing.

it wasn’t too hot, but i still turned red. wasn’t as many cars as i remember it used to have, but probably just the typical turnout for end of summer, and fairly early.

i briefly thought of stopping at another show heading home, but i was already tired. how did i used to three or four shows on the way home when we lived in whittier? those were the days…

got a lot going on recently, so i keep being unable to get back to posting. rinse and repeat. maybe this space has outlived it’s usefulness, since it’s being neglected. i don’t know. i am distracted. i’ll think about it.

missing shows due to other things popping up, keeping me from them. woe is me.

there were only a few cars i liked from ruby’s yesterday. this zephyr was very nice.

h20

bored yet? another from last week. owner gave me a bottle water, when i really needed it. thank you. was overheating about then.

charging batteries for tomorrow. was reminded about the fleetlines show in garden grove, but had to tell them the dia de los muertos is just up the street first.

historical reference

going to shoot cars tomorrow. which show, i’m not sure. i’ll probably just flip a coin.

really tired. i’ll catch up on sleep some other day. got things to do, places to go, and it’s going to be a hot weekend. i miss winter.

———

liked this chevy parked up next to one of the many murals at chicano park. this mural is along the street, and is quite frequently seen in pictures on the internet. a plethora of mexican historical figures. a plethora.

led zephagain

interesting zephyr from the bomb club show last week.

i don't see very many of them, or maybe i don't recognize most of them, but they are relatively similar to a chevy of the same year.

also liked how he parked in a little "picturesque" spot, next to the alien looking plants.

sunday. another day waiting to see if i have to be here to watch my mother in law. better half's coworkers have not let on to what's going on with the scheduled photoshoot he was supposed to be doing.

my kid is currently moving out of my house, so, yay! wonder how long i can wait until the other one wants in. i'd like to redo the kitchen and maybe the flooring, but since they both have dogs, the flooring can wait.

i do look forward to the hottest days of the summer, and being able to escape to air conditioning. one of my main complaints about this here house in whittier—no air conditioning.

xmas is almost over

it's happening. it's finally happening. the xmas tree is coming down, and all the whimsical holiday stuff is going back into the garage.

better half would leave the tree up year round if he had his druthers, but his mom wants it down now, so sir, yes, sir, may i have another?

still half a tree to denude of lights. maybe i'll help tomorrow, just to make it go away. fake needles really do beat your hands to hell though.

i have a whole lot of cars parked in draft mode, waiting to be posted here. sad, really. haven't had much to say, or that i want to share now.

i figure the cars got posted on instagram fairly quickly after their respective shows, so if i take my sweet time posting them up here, it doesn't really matter. except maybe if they wanted to see them a bit bigger. want to see it optimally? buy a print. seriously. i'm down another camera already, with the other starting to show the same error message, and don't know when i'll take the time to ship it in for fixing vs just buying another body.

i do have chuck e cheese points in the reward program at work, which i was saving up to buy a full frame body, but i could get two crop bodies with the points i have now. i dunno what to do. haven't gotten any more points lately. i could pay the difference, but i don't wanna.

better half's sister is back at her home for the weekend, and his mom mostly sits in her room watching tv all day. hoping to just sit around the house at least topless all weekend, so my stitches can get some air. lol. it's been hot all week, so the house is overly warm anyway.

better half has to work all weekend at his desk. ya, i won't be distracting.

in fact, he's in the kitchen doorway smiling right now.

down, boy

owner of this car asked me to take a picture of it. i took a few.

being that it was wedged in pretty tight between the others, i like this view best. maybe i'll put up another angle when i have time. family in town, things to do, going to be away from my computer for a couple of days...the usual excuse for not posting.

i really don't like the hoods up, hence the pinstriping on my hat, but since the guy asked, and it was a nice car otherwise...

waiting on that change

waiting. right now, for lunch.

things changing at work. tis the season for reorganization. sidesteps, but mostly day to day things will continue unchanged.

life at home has been and continues to be hectic as well as erratic.

my dad out of the hospital, but they really haven't fixed him. so more to worry about there.

right about now, i'm thinking about vacation. wondering if better half will take a ten year anniversary trip with me, or if i will go solo or with my bro. happy to just get in the car and drive, but probably will fly somewhere, anywhere really.

another car from the front street show. don't see too many of this model around, and it's beautiful.

i was told the city did not allow them to use the streets for the show this year, and just kept them only in this parking lot. does explain why there weren't so many cars there. but on the plus side, i found close parking easy.