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mine eyes have seen the glory

1948 chevy fleetline

1948 chevy fleetline

felt bad, but went out to the latin gents’ monthly car show last night. whatever aches and pains i did have managed to disappear almost the whole time i was taking pictures. don’t worry, if i shook your hand, it’s not a cold.

was a pretty sparse turnout, but the heat dissipated, and a cool breeze came up. my hair, in spite of a headband, insisted on blowing in my face as i tried to focus, but i stood far enough back, so as to not have it in my shots. not ready to chop it off yet, but sometimes, i’m close to calling it for this reason.

anyway, mostly enough space and freedom to take as many shots of each car that i wanted. i was waiting for the sun to head down, and had already been around once, before just standing and watching what the light was doing to the cars. didn’t see anything really spectacular, but there were a few i liked well enough.

here is the back end of mr blvd’s fleetline. better half thought this was a better shot than the one from the front. i think this is the second time i’ve posted this point of view of this car. it just has a nice ass, i guess.

i should have stayed until the sun actually hit the ground, but my insides started to hurt, so i packed it in. had fun anyway. thanks everyone!

short and sweet

1948 chevrolet stylemaster

1948 chevrolet stylemaster

late. gotta get to bed but wanted to get something posted from the azalea festival car show.

used to be packed at this show, with cars parked in the lot in the dark waiting for the gates to open.

this year and last year, not so much. just me, a cop car and the groundsmen sitting out there before sunrise. then some little kid baseball/softball people started arriving. briefly thought about taking pictures of them practicing, for old times sake, but my kid is all grown up and i didn’t want to be the creepy stranger with a camera.

at least i got my car parked in the lot and not down the street.

a few show cars arrived a little after seven. a few impalas and some year suburban.

then this veteranos’ car shows up and alls well. getting to know the owners more, since i’ve chatted with them at several shows now. not the first time i’ve posted the car here, and not the last.

since it was a bit away from the other cars, i had a little room to play. they just recently had some pinstriping added too.

had to use my better half’s cameras. he loaned me three different wide-angle lenses to use, since mine wasn’t meant for a full frame camera.

his were all prime lenses, so i needed room to move, since there was no zoom at all with them. i took a few shots with the one he said was best, then tried the one he said was similar to mine. never did try the third lens. didn’t want to get dust on the sensor anyway.

whole point of getting there early is to catch that low light, but since it was already over an hour into sunrise, best i could do was work with where the sun was at the time. got a lot of pictures with sun flares testing these lenses. sharp, but flares are octogons instead of circles.

this one came out ok. i have others from when it was parked on the grass later, but this was pretty satisfying.

dad's home

1948 lincoln continental

1948 lincoln continental

picked up dad’s ashes yesterday. he’s on a bookshelf now. his dad’s ashes are nearby on another piece of furniture, but giving him the space alone for a bit.

this whole process has had the feeling of a wedding. all the excitement and preparation just before the event, then the thing happens, emotions all raw and out there. then the honeymoon….

now the ashes are here, that’s over. now just get on with things. oh well. had no ceremony, and didn’t want a military fuss. so we have an unfolded flag, and no instructions or thoughts on where we should put him. same reason we have his dad on a shelf. suppose we should get some boy scout to fold the flag or look it up on the internet.

told my mom, we should just fly the thing. wasn’t his personally, and it’s just going to sit in the shipping box otherwise. she’s thinking about it.

anyway, been staying with her five to six days of the week. probably for the foreseeable future. just back in whittier, so my better half can have a sanity break and get out of the house.

rained yesterday, more rain this next week, but not tomorrow. hoping to go to pomona tomorrow. i expect it will be cold. i expect i’ll hate the new tripod head some more. i expect i’ll take a lot of pictures, and not have time to do much with them for a while.


back end of an old lincoln from last year. a veteran’s show out at rose hills cemetery. i’ve only ever hung out near the entrance, near better half’s uncle’s grave. never noticed the weird looking building that looks like a sculpture at the udvar-hazy in dc—all space inspired—further up the hill.

tap tap

manny loco 1-4801And9morehdr.jpg

the days leading up to my dad passing, the roof of the house was covered with crows. at least i assume they were crows, not ravens, around here. there are still a few hanging about, tapping on the tiles each morning.

in the days since, i’ve seen so many hummingbirds. one even flew up to the window when i was at home in whittier.  

i was getting water for one of the kid’s dog beasts outside, and i felt two taps on the hip. no one there. i’ve decided it had to have been a hummingbird. maybe i had a red jacket on, i don’t really remember, so i’m going with that.

mom slowly going through his stuff, giving away clothes, destroying meds, packing his books. i’ve grabbed a couple pairs of his socks—my feet are cold. still strange how i move about the day, doing normal things, then if i stop for too long, i realize he’s not there anymore, and this is just so much junk. 

i am eating way to much guacamole. wish this fog in my head would lift. going back to work tomorrow, expecting condolences and fresh tears.

——————— 

fleetline from a show at manny locos last summer. shooting towards the sun again...maybe it was just the best angle. probably there was a car with an open hood or some other thing that ruined the pic when i considered the other side.

tired of hospitals

1948 chevy fleetmaster

1948 chevy fleetmaster

sitting in yet another hospital. my dad, again. and this time i'm not so sure he will go home again.

my mom's birthday. well, technically it was yesterday, since it's after midnight.

this just sucks.  

---- 

don't have the energy to say much about this car. love it. envious. maybe someday i'll buy one.  

ponderings

1948 chevy fleetmaster

1948 chevy fleetmaster

as i was walking uptown to get a quick dinner, i had a thought bounce around my head. i haven't been to many car shows lately because i haven't been feeling good. should i really be thinking, i'm not feeling good because i haven't been to many car shows lately?

also, i've had to go to the market and drugstores a few times this past week. i don't feel the need to park as close as possible to the store doors.

i am finding it somewhat thrilling to walk the parking lot slalom: the midday heat has people sitting in their cars, motors running, air conditioning on. the exciting part is guessing which cars are actually going to back up on you, and which are just lazy a-holes waiting on significant others to walk the short distance from the store entrance.

the store would be far more cool, and your engine wouldn't have to work so hard, if you just get out of your dang car.

sold one of my fair pictures. i don't make money off of them when they do sell at the fair. i prefer to let them go at cost and enjoyed, than to have them piling up in storage. or only enter pictures i wouldn't mind having on my wall. but then, i do...i just don't have enough wall.


someone asked if i'd taken a picture of this convertible, after they'd seen it in the distance of another shot. yes i did, so i dug it up for them. pretty sure i've posted from other shows in the past.

dankness

1948 chevy fleetline

1948 chevy fleetline

nice fleetline from a few months back. car show at salinas tires. too many cars for the little parking lot, so this was further on down by the no-tell motel. don’t care that there are imperfections; they just make it more interesting.

—————

been here and there, no time or energy left to write much. but i do observe, and if my mental notes don’t disappear from my head, i can usually pull some random topic out of my a$$. 

currently at my condo, where there is no kitchen and no water, but at least there is no more mold in the wall from a pipe leak months ago. goobers said they were done for now and that the house key was under the mat. thanks captain obvious. would have preferred they toss it in the back yard. so had to drive out here for that. time to change the locks anyway.

they say there is another slow leak that needs a plumber’s attention, before they put things back together again. just don’t know if the hoa will pay for that or if i have to. which means more time out of the office because the lock box is gone.

at least the plastic breaking bad “meth lab” drapes are gone from where the kitchen was, and instead, i have plastic covered framework where a wall used to be. and a bucket for the slow leak.

this would be a second weekend with my kid unable to stay here with the beast. she tried, but unfortunately discovered that without running water, the toilet would not flush, after an unfortunate situation, if you know what i mean. her friend was there, so she had used the bathroom in my room, to top it off.

her dad told her to fill the tank with water, but i guess she only put a gallon, so was unable to flush the evidence. and left it there. she called to let me know, and apologized, as she was late for work. 

fine. i go over the next day to see if it would actually flush, which it did when enough water is in there. i was worried that she put water in the bowl vs the tank, which i still suspect she did, since the tank was pretty dry.

i noticed a smell coming from her room. a stench that wrankles the nasal passages. 

now, her shit didn’t stink, so what was it? was one of her other critters dead in their cage, a desiccating carcass?

first thought was that the dog had pinched one in there. he’d done it the week before. maybe he’d done it again. too stupid to let you know he needs to go outside if you don’t see him gazing longingly at the door.

but no. it’s worse.

hiding in that bathroom is a bowl of the foulest of the foul, even andy dufresne would not swim out of shawshank in it. really permeating, like it had stewed for days.

the snakes were not loving it. the tarantulas could care less, being that they don’t really move all slithery and such.

i make some calls. 

kid swears she didn’t do it. friends swears they didn’t do it. which leads me to believe one of the kitchen worker bees took a dump knowing the water is off, and forgot about it. wtf. wtf is he doing upstairs? there’s a toilet downstairs. 

holding my breath as i fill the tank. standing by with a plunger, as that toilet likes to back up if you use too much paper, and i don’t know what might be under all that.

on the other hand, what am i to do if it does start pouring over the lip of the bowl? towels, i’d build a dam with towels before it got to the carpet. 

luckily, i didn’t have to shift to plan b. down it went, but the smell lingered. i hate lysol, but i had to spray that stuff in the room, past the sink, into the main bedroom. the snakes were going crazy for the lemon scent. 

opened the window, air conditioning be damned. 

really hoping they do a follow up survey on the quality of their work. “a” for effort. 

so today, hot and humid, with smoke from the fire drenching the sky and surroundings in an eerie tan color, i had to go shower at the pool in a bathing suit. took a swim first, which was lovely, as i haven’t used the pool in a year or two.

guess i’ll brush my teeth with bottled water, and hope the burrito i ate earlier stays put. 

not there

1948 chevy fleetline

1948 chevy fleetline

whittier hs 2-3000-Edit.jpg

memorial day weekend. i should be at a car show somewhere, but i just don’t feel like it. my head hasn’t been in the game lately. other things occupying my thoughts, so cars and pictures have been pushed to the wayside.

was approved to go to a conference the end of this week, but after still not booking the trip or registering, finally told my boss i just couldn’t go...both parents had fallen recently, and i just couldn’t be two-thousand miles away just now. 

on top of that, doctor prescribed some med that makes me sensitive to sunlight, so thanks for that dude. morning and evening shows for a while i guess. he said i’d be ok if i just cover up, long sleeves, hat, sunscreen—i guess he wants me to have a heatstroke too. maybe it’s the meds making me not care about anything too.

have spent yesterday and this morning sifting through pictures to enter in the oc fair...deadline coming up. hard to decide, since i haven’t done anything that spectacularly stands out in my mind, or again, maybe it’s just my attitude. better half helped narrow down my picks. just went with most of his favs for a change. got those uploaded this morning. 

at least i’ll be in town for the uptown show next weekend. hard to not go to that, when i just have to walk down the street. and i can leave if/when the sun comes out...hoping the overcast of the last couple of weeks continues...

my kid took off for solvang today. invited me to go, but i don’t enjoy sitting in traffic on holiday weekends. first he said he was taking his dog with, then last night let me know that he was leaving him at home. his dad would stop by and feed and walk him, but otherwise he’d be alone. not fair to the dog, and i almost wish he’d not tell me when he decides to do that kind of crap. probably knows i’m not going to leave the dog alone all night. pretty sure his dad won’t just take him to his own house.  

guess i’ll start packing for one night. better half will be ok for one night. 

——- 

still need to post a few cars from last week’s show at whittier high school. love fleetlines, so this will do. 

waiting

1948 chevy fleetline

1948 chevy fleetline

sitting in hospital er, waiting on my dad. i think he will be ok soon. probably going home soon. 

had just driven an hour home to whittier, and got the call they were going in. so, packed a bag and turned around drove an hour back. oh well.  

——— 

here’s a lovely fleetline to contemplate while i wait. better than pondering my navel. 

stylish

1948 chevy stylemaster

1948 chevy stylemaster

sitting in my car here, way too early, but i did beat the rain getting to work this morning. it’s just now started falling on the roof, at a pretty steady pace. i still need to get gas over at costco soon—no lines at five-thirty in the morning. 

relatives coming this weekend; i’ll probably avoid them...don’t want to trade cooties with the little kid. 

but the best news is two days to go, until a two-week vacay for me. nothing fun, but it does involve a flight, a rental truck, and lots of scenic driving. and not working. so yay. wish my better half could go, but he’s busy taking care of his mom. someday his sister will come back to help, but for the near future, it’s just him/us. wonder if medicare would provide someone to help? dunno. 

——- 

second time, at least this car is up here. this time at workman high show. one of the few older chevys there. first car i shot that day, being the first one there in the corner. one of the veteranos club members, they reminded me about their car show coming up this weekend, in covina. hopefully, the rain stops by then.