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your phaet in my hands

1936 ford phaeton

1936 ford phaeton

sticking to cars this time. boring everyone with tales from vacation the last few posts.

i shot this car previously at the uptown whittier carshow, on one of the side streets, on a corner. pretty sure there’s a blog post about it, i just have’t looked it up to link it...i’m sure it’d show up on the search page. 

here it was at ruby’s friday evening cruise. had a nice chat with the owner, who hadn’t been around at the uptown show, but had seen my pic on instagram or wherever. very nice guy. my memory is short nowadays, but i want to say he’d put new wheels or hubcaps on it, since the previous pic. 



my dad was happy to see me the other day.

middle of the night he was so sure that my sister had called to tell him that i’d been driving to whittier late at night with my daughter’s dog beast, and that i’d fallen asleep behind the wheel half way there. apparently i’d plowed into a divider at an off ramp, and both dog and me presumably died instantly.  

he had the phone in his hand and was going to call her back to see if it was a joke. then decided maybe he was just imagining it. 

my mom came upstairs to bed soon after, and was able to confirm it was just a really vivid dream. i guess a few days earlier it had been my sister’s turn, but i can’t remember how she met her fate. 

he has been hallucinating lately, probably a side effect of one of his meds.  doctor had him stop that med, so they are not happening as realistically anymore, hence he is able to stop and recognize it may just be all in his head. 

but still. i don’t remember most of my dreams anymore, but when i do, a lot of them do happen. deja vu? so i sort of don’t like that he’d told me about it.  

on the other hand, there is no reason i’d be driving up there with that dog, as he wouldn’t be allowed in the house. but i have driven southbound very sleepy before, and that isn’t good either. 


anyway, la patina and his friend here, parked in the lot behind the whittier cinemas a few months ago at the uptown car show. they seem to be made for each other, studies in rust, perseverence, and restoration.

though old, they get around easily, so probably didn’t need to park in handicap spot. 

foozball cruise

big game today. totally skipping that, but i didn't skip the annual car cruise at hillco.

i've been several years in a row now, and i think it may have been one of the busiest shows they've had in a while.

i got there just as the sun was coming up. really didn't get to a car being hit by the initial sunrise the way i'd like, so just started around the circuit.

shot this mustang on my first trip around. later on, coming back around for the third or fourth time, the owner asked if i post my pics. yup.

so here it is, since you asked.

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oh my

1932 ford coupe

1932 ford coupe

i went to my mom's the other day after work. she was sitting at the kitchen table chatting with my brother, who was sitting opposite at the table. the day's mail was strewn about on the table in front of them.

my mom must be on someone's list. she gets tons of catalogs, especially when the holidays are coming. you know the type: miles kimball, lillian vernon, sharper image...? so there's several laying on the table.

i'm just standing nearby, leaning on the kitchen counter, listening absent-mindedly to their conversation, while flipping through a magazine. don't even remember what they were talking about, and it really doesn't matter.

i happened to look up at some point, took a minute, before saying, "what the eff mom, what kind of catalogs are you getting now?" they stop talking and look at me. 

i point at a catalog laying open in front of her. the two page spread displays a selection of 'muscle relaxers.' no, those are definitely an assortment of dildos, vibrators, and cock rings.

she looks at it and sort of shrugs. she doesn't really get what she's looking at...ya, she is that 'innocent.' my brother, though, he starts giggling and goes off on a routine of jokes, totally leaving whatever topic they were discussing in the dust.

grabbing the catalog, we realize it's just those two pages. the rest of the pages are filled with kitschy junk you would expect. after explaining what they are to her, she was just like, "oh my!" as she realizes pretty quick what they are selling.

my brother meanwhile starts talking about the various models, and for some, starts rotating his body, in a rendition of whatever movement is promised by said model. he's very good at physical comedy.

at some point we tease that maybe she thought they were just dog toys...at which point my brother starts running around, a perfect portrait of my daughter's doberman, who'd just been there for the past week. he's a teenage dog, tall, gangly legs, long head and strange eyes. the dog bounded about the house, not quite able to put on the brakes on the linoleum flooring, or getting all up in the food on the counter, as yes, he is that tall.

my brother skittered across the kitchen and bumped right into my mom, still playing the part of the dog. it was just a bizarre scene and turn of events, and definitely livened up an otherwise boring day.

nice back end of a classic ford, back from the beginning of the year. clouds are sort of similar to what's floating outside right now. i should have gone out to a show somewhere, but i've got other things on my mind just now.

not all those who wander are lost

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my alarm went off before four am today. had hoped to go to pomona, but my body disagreed with me, so i went back to bed.

when i woke up again, i decided to drive over to santa fe springs, to see what might be at the rotary club show. not too far away, and could turn around if i started feeling hinky. either way, was going to leave when it got too hot. my eyes seem to be sensitive to the bright light lately. i just hate to shoot with sunglasses on; makes it hard to focus, and i end up lifting them or looking over them anyway.

well, the rotary show was pretty small. not a very big parking lot. a mix of everything. lots of hoods up, so that made my stay a bit shorter than it would have been otherwise.

i saw this car last week, uptown at the dia de los muertos show, but it was tight between other cars. 

here, it was on the end of the row, a little more room to see it better. has some interesting little details, as well as some painted on messages. the title of this post was painted over the rear driver side wheel; "don't fuckin' die" was painted above the steering wheel.












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another one the owner hoped to see.

i had arrived early, parked in the designated lot, on the gift shop side of the mission. did not see any old cars. did not know where they were going to park them. sat in my car, listening to the radio.

then a big truck with a trailer pulls up in front of me, with this car on the trailer. i watched him unload it, and watched where he went with it, down an alley or was it a street?

shortly after, the los angeles bomb club cars drove in the lot, behind my car, and went down the alley as well.

i figured they must be between the buildings, but i didn't want to walk down the alley and around. so i wandered over to the church building, and down a small walkway past the cemetery. came up to what was a locked gate dead end, but a janitor had propped it open with a broom.

through that, around another building, and found the cars.

not a whole lot there early. the owner had parked his ford and was sitting with a guy who had brought in a military jeep.

i'd seen him watching me shoot some fleetlines, just out of the picture here. as i turned around and walked toward the green truck, he came over and inquired. told him i'd post a shot, so there you go...

shark attack

yesterday was my boy's birthday. twenty-seven. how'd that happen?

they invited me to join them for birthday dinner. some restaurant down in laguna beach. because they're foodies, and know where to go when they want good stuff.

i haven't been to laguna in probably twenty years. no reason to go, and i always hated the crowds and traffic. i stopped going to the beach because there was no point in me trying to get a tan—i just burn then fade to white again. and then all the sand that gets in the car and in places sand just shouldn't be, if i went in the water on a boogie board or to jump the waves.

at least laguna main beach isn't too run down, as beach towns go, but i had a bit of a time remembering how to get around, and finding parking.

restaurant was hopping busy, and i got there early and put in my name to save a table. still would be about forty-five minutes. everyone else arrived and we walked across the street to the water, and some park benches.

flashbacks to places i'd been there when i was younger and dating my ex. and later, a building, where we'd attended a xmas party for work. so long ago.

remembering seeing a random man on a corner, wearing very loose dolphin shorts, with nothing under...and the wind blowing at the wrong time. ewww.

my sister lives out there somewhere, with her boyfriend/landlord/whatever he is. never have visited. i have issues with him. i see her once in a while at my mom's house, but mostly on holidays.

ya, probably be another twenty before i bother to go back.

anyway, it's difficult to find a gift for kids as they get older. they've already bought the things they need, and they have their own likes and decoration style.

so i fall back on their sense of humor, and just get them silly, just so there is something to open. found him a rubber shark puppet, and with some cash in it's mouth, he was happy enough. he's a lawyer, so he got the joke right away.

ready for the uptown show tomorrow. camera sensors cleaned, batteries charged. i should get to bed early tonight, but i probably won't. i can sleep tomorrow when i'm done.

saw this t-bird in garden grove at the super cruise. it sorta vaguely reminds me of a shark for some reason...maybe it's the headlights and shape of the hood. 

it was nice in the early light of morning.

miss you

1951 ford

my original plans for this holiday weekend included backing up files, going to several carshows, and helping out my better half at home, by going to the market, etc.

the opportunity came up, and i've been at my place for four days now. i like it a lot. i've done my usual cleaning and repair work when i stay here for too long.

those kids tell me they spend weekends cleaning, but apparently, that NEVER includes bathrooms. i mean, come on, how hard is it to swirl a brush in the toilet? sweep the floor? i could write a message in the dust bunnies along the edge of the wall. gave the showers a good scrub, so now i think i'll take a bath for a change.

they have so many clothes! i assume the dresser is full--i'm not a snooper--but they also have two closets crammed and at four hampers full, as well as a pile of clothes on the floor of one closet.  i cannot tell what is clean or not, or i'd wash them. i did wash one of the hampers full that was downstairs, as well as re-doing what they had left in the dryer.

ugh. dug lint out of the dryer vent. and that load was too big (that's what she said.) i've told them before they'll start a fire. oh, and there were no batteries in the fire alarms...wtf.

ya, might be time for them to find their own place. 

i think i'll drive up to see my better half today. i'm sure he's been too busy to notice that i'm not there. j/k. maybe i can can talk him into leaving the house for a walk or dinner. 

saw this merc at the memo ortega anniversary show as i was heading out. it's different, and a beautiful, deep maroon color. 

if i stay in whittier tonight, i can make it to a show tomorrow. otherwise, see you next week at the uptown show. except for that one guy, and richard; they know where they can go--someplace extra hot and crispy.