what's up?

spring has sprung, fall has fell...

…now it’s summer, it’s hotter than h-e-double toothpicks, as my better half would say.

where have my gloomy, cool days gone? just last week it was in the sixties and sprinkly. this week has legit hit the nineties. eff that. hate summer. i should just become a hermit, and stay in a darkened air-conditioned room until winter.

but then i’d miss all the car shows. so i will again have to play the game of rolling out of bed far too early to catch cars before the sun makes it unbearable, or evening shows, which late summer makes no difference.

doctor always says to lose weight. maybe if i drop some of this blubber, it wouldn’t be so bad. and if i drop the medicine that helps keep it right where it is. youth is wasted on the young, truly.

did not go anywhere this weekend. worked late friday, so had to stay down at my mom’s. she hates when i leave. got home late afternoon on saturday and made guacamole again.

currently waiting for a big pan of homemade lasagna to finish melting the cheese so i can satisfy this craving.

master deluxe i saw down in san diego, waiting to get in chicano park. had a little black mini car hanging off the back of it.

far side

ah, chicano park day. has been a weekend getaway for me for four of the past five years. i think this past year was a fav, as it was the coolest temperature-wise. seems to me there are not as many cars as the first year we went, but still plenty to take pictures of.

this one was parked over by the freeway on-ramp, where you can usually find the illegales cars every year. was told yesterday it is in fact one of the club’s cars.

bottom of the long weekend. i don’t want to go to work tomorrow.

missing my dad a lot lately. he randomly pops into my head most days. remembering miscellaneous memories, or those last few days before he died.

did we do everything we could? yes. did he know he was loved? yes. still an empty space in my heart. i wasn’t in the room the night he passed…makes it easier for me to imagine he’s just upstairs sleeping, at my mom’s.

thinking of him today. he was in the navy, lieutenant commander when he retired. happy memorial day, dad.

hump day

i’ve worked three twelve-hour days so far this week. sometimes being salaried is a bitch. not gonna lie, i’m a tired mother—

strange and interesting things going on around me; stars must be aligning. awesome cold rainy weather for late may…even snow on the mountains.

and game of thrones…my watch has ended. man did they rush most of the loose ends. spent all the budget on the visuals, and they were pretty cool.

———-

meanwhile, here’s a car in the right place at the right time, in front of my lens, in front of one of the many murals at chicano park.

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…

xman

made it to san diego on my own. took a train. it’s really difficult dragging two bags up and down the stairs on a moving train. my weak ass arms did ok on the way there, and getting them into the overhead bin.

today coming back, after yesterday’s carrying a tripod and camera for five hours, i just couldn’t do it. the conductor helped me get my bags on-board. i sat on the lower level, reserved for disabled peeps. figured i’d move if they made me. they left me alone, and no one sat next to me either.

arrived on friday afternoon, rode the little red city train to my hotel, and got settled. got an upgrade to a better room, but being on my own, i didn’t get the bigger room i had last year. was so missing the big bath tub, but then, i worried that i would have had a hard time getting out of it.

the sun was still up after i had some dinner, so i took the red train down to barrio logan, to see if anything was going on. pretty much the last few years, nothing happens, as the cops are there making sure nothing happens. as it was, there was only one old chevy truck there, and only because there was a family having a picnic.

i wandered around the park, took a few shots of the murals, and headed back to the train. usually, i’d get some carnitas over at the northgate market, but i’d already eaten, so oh well.

i got up before the sun on saturday. typically, i’d be at the park before the sun, but this year i was a little unsure. i don’t know why. last year i took the train. had to switch to another train to the park. lots of homeless people on whatever poison of their choice mill about that early. better half insisted i take an uber this time. so i waited until just after sunrise this year.

cars were already rolling in by the time i turned the corner to the park. early this year. overall, it was organized a little different than past years as far as roll-in. so many beautiful cars.

i decided to start up on the far street, by the majestics club house. found this car up there. the owner chatted a bit. he’d hung a banner advertising his podcast on the club fence, but wondered if it would be better on another bit of fence. he asked my opinion. i thought the club might not want it on their fence. he thought maybe it would be in more pictures on the other bit. i took my couple of shots of his car, and saw he was already chatting up the owner of the car now in front of his banner.

no idea if his podcast is any good, but since he took the time to chat, shout out to him and go check out xmanradio.com.

left it alone

been having hot flashes. nothing new; i've had them for a few years, and thought they'd stopped finally. but here they are again. hot flashes on hot days, and i want to be like pedro and shave my head, because it was hot.

pretty sure i'd look a bit funny with no hair. i like being able to hide behind it, or tie it up when i want. really wishing i hadn't let the hairstylist cut so much off last time, but it's growing back out.

anyway, i want to go to shows this weekend. i will get to at least one. thing is, i have people wanting a piece of my time here, and at my house, and at my mom's. so, shuffling, juggling, prioritizing, however you want to term it.

i do not feel good, but i'm pushing through it, and ignoring it most of the time.

was leaving the show at chicano park, and came across a club and some few solo riders parked in the street by the market and apartments. i liked how this chevy was parked, probably deliberately, next to the big arrow, pointing out a nice car—shoot this one. ok, i did.

long time, no see

1963 chevy impala

saw this impala early at chicano park. anything parked by this mural is always a good shot. the mural is colorful on it's own. park a nice car in front of it, it makes a pretty picture.

i think i have one of a truck in front of it later in the day. not so sparkly a paint job, but nice truck.

was gone for ten days. long road trip, my mom came along for the ride. i drove a big rental truck of stuff to my daughter in washington, then a rental car back.

let me tell you it's a long drive when you don't have someone to help with the driving. my feet hurt. my legs hurt. my butt hurt. lol. i was all butt hurt.

my mom would not have been able to handle it. she doesn't drive freeways anymore, much less a truck. should have seen her face when after gassing up the first time, i said it was her turn. priceless.

we saw a lot of stuff, but didn't have too much extra time to really get a good look around. i'd stop here and there, but mostly, it was about getting to the next hotel for the night.

i did love the scenery though. i like road trips, even if they hurt. i miss the trees already.

stopped and saw family in san jose, then instead of going through big sur and monterey, decided to cut and run for an overnight in solvang. then had to cut that short to get home and turn around to take my brother to lax.

home a day early. trying to get laundry done, but this washing machine hates me, and keeps going off balance, trying to commit suicide by rocking itself off the little pedestal it sits on. my better half decided to give it a shot after i was found giving it a double finger salute one too many times, and dropping a few f-bombs.

omg. there's never enough time, is there?

sick

1936 oldsmobile

ugh. perfect weekend overcast, lots of car shows running today, and here i sit, coughing up a lung. oh well.

better half took his mom out to downtown disney. don't have passes anymore, but it has been a long time for a disney fan to be away, and she wanted to go shopping. probably better to keep her away from me. lol.

i'm hungry, so i'll probably put on a jacket and zombie walk uptown to find something to eat. don't feel like calling dominos or cooking whatever might be in the fridge or pantry.

feels better to sit up rather than lay down, so i'll probably type up notes from my classes or work on some more pictures. take a wild guess what i'll probably do...killing time until game of thrones is on...

this pic has been sitting here for a while, so i'll just post it now, then get back to the whittier car show shots.

chicano park show, barrio logan. should they just call it the pachuco car club show? the last few years, they seem to line up all of their cars down this side of the street. it's their hood. they can.

edamame

1939 chevrolet master deluxe

at my kid's house today, hanging with his dog beast. dog made a mess, tearing up a baseball he found on our walk. i went to pull the vacuum from the closet, and bin thing that collects the dregs it sucks up fell right out and landed right on my big toe.

so, me limping around yelling fuckity fucksticks and whimpering, made the dog run and hide, thinking he had done something to be guilty of.

i didn't quite see stars, so much as wanted to pass out. it bruised pretty quick and my toe is throbbing and makes me jump every once in a while. spent about an hour with a bag of frozen edamame on my foot, because there was no ice. thinking flip flops for work tomorrow, screw the dress code.

got a lot of work to jam into one day. then i'm sure two hours of traffic, only to miss ruby's car show again. gotta pack a bag for a week in san diego for work. saturday morning, up at five, and down the street for the whittier uptown show. we'll spend the morning shooting pics, then i gotta leave for the train station.

gonna be a hot day. not sure they moved it up from the usual august date to avoid the summer heat, but seems its coming along with the show. oh well.

love me a master deluxe. its the grille and headlights that make me happy. latin gents' car...they finally got a few of their cars in at chicano park this year. it was a good day.

heading home

hood ornament

from a pontiac at the chicano park show. not sure that i got a good shot of the car itself, but i do like it's chief.

we will be on our way back in the morning. hopefully an easier trip than the adventure getting here.

today was an early morning march past the iwo jima memorial, through the back gate of arlington cemetery, and up to the tomb of the unknown soldiers. it was seventy degrees out when we got to iwo jima at seven fifteen in the morning; by the time we climbed the hill past arlington house, it was close to ninety, and we felt it, in shirts wet with sweat.

after the changing of the guard ceremony, there was a wreath-laying ceremony, but we were already heading down the hill toward the visitor center, and the metro station. took the train out to the end of the line, then tired of waiting for the bus, caught a taxi to the air and space museum's udvar-hazy building, to see the discovery space shuttle, airplanes, and 3d movies. and to enjoy the air conditioning.

about three-twenty, we caught a bus back to the metro station, and were back at the hotel in about an hour. after all that, we decided we were too tired to do another baseball game. oh well.

so, to the airport tomorrow, laundry on sunday, kicking back on monday. short week at work, then i'm off on a train to san diego for a week.

next time we should take a two week vacation, just not all in one place. i like to travel, it's just a bit expensive, so short weekend roadtrips will do in between.