For a few hours this evening I had the biggest pickin'-the-bugs-outta-my-teeth shit-eating grin on my face. Late this afternoon I got to drive a 50 year old car with no radio, no roof, no heat, air, no trunk, no power-anything and the darned thing doesn't even handles on the outside of the doors, you gotta reach inside to open it. It was the coolest thing I've ever driven and I can't wait to do it again.
Last year my Dad retired and he needed to find something to do with his spare time so as not to drive my poor step-Mom nuts around the house. About two or three months ago he got a 1959 Austin-Healy Sprite and he's been fixing it up (with the help of a shop) ever since. This thing is so sweet, it's a cute, almost pocket-sized car, a white convertible with bug-eyed head-lights, a large smile-shaped grill in the front and a four speed-manual transmission with a 1972 Mazda engine. It's loud, boy is that thing loud, you can hear it coming a block away and it's a head-turner. It's got a tiny little windshield and a dash-mounted rear-view mirror about the size of a cell phone. The car is so small inside that to get into your seat, you sit on top of back of it, swing your legs into the leg compartment and walk/slide your butt down into the seat. Once in it, there's a surprising amount of leg room, but no room for much else. It's not exactly the car you'd want to take to the grocery store but that wasn't what it was made for anyway.
My folks live on a steep hillside in a canyon and there is one main road that cuts though the center of it that follows the course of a long dead creek with lots of sharp twists and turns. My Dad drove the first half of the ride, gunning it around the hairpin turns and opening it up the little straight-away's every chance he could. He looked like he was having a blast, smiling and happily explaining everything that I pointed to and asked: "What's that?" On the way back, the magic moment happened: He asked me if I wanted to drive. Are you kidding?? Do cats spit hair-balls? Hell yes I want to drive! It was so much fun. With some small encouragement from him I took advantage of his example and pushed the speed limit in a few places, thoroughly enjoying the drive through the twisty oak-lined canyon, giggling every now and then at the way it handled so tightly around the bends and curves. By the time we got back to the house the grin was semi-permanent and the giggling was almost non-stop, I was having so much fun. Dad admitted to hitting his imaginary passenger-side brake only twice, so it was a good ride for both of us and it was a great way to end a fun day with my parents.
I had started the day this morning with and early part of the afternoon at the Los Angeles Arboretum with my step-Mom, walking the grounds and having lunch, enjoying Mother's day together a little early. She's lived here in LA all her life, but she's never been to this incredible 127 acre garden that's right across the street from the Santa Anita Racetrack. There are plants, flowers, cacti and trees from all over the world; a few small ponds, a waterfall, a natural lake, huge blue fountains and pools that have been in many films. There were koi in some of the ponds and almost all of them had a variety of ducks and geese with their chicks and goslings out on them, teaching the young ones how to swim and forage. Wild peacocks and peahens roam the grounds freely and you hear them and see them everywhere - in the trees, in the courtyards, walking down the center of the paths and guarding some of the fountains. Occasionally one of the males would fan their feathers, showing off all that beautiful vibrant green and blue plumage a good 6-8 feet across. I'm pretty sure some of them where just hamming it up for all the cameras, there always seemed to be someone ready to take a picture of them when they did it. A few of them even danced, bobbing their rear ends up and down while their splayed out feathers and heads stayed still facing the front, almost like it was entertainment for the people who could only see the rearview. A well-preserved 1885 Victorian house built by the man who planted the original gardens still sits on the property, and if you've ever seen Fantasy Island you'd recognize it as Mr's Roarke's house. I could write a whole separate blog about it, there was so much amazing detail in that home, it was just stunning. My step-Mom and I had a really nice time there together, it was a fun Mother's Day gift for us both.
Tomorrow it's supposed to be in the 60's, the men in the family are BBQ'ing for Mother's Day and it's gonna be another good day. I hope all Mom's everywhere have a Happy Mother's Day tomorrow. 
Copy & paste to friend: (Click inside box; Ctrl + C to copy; Ctrl + V to paste)
|
|
read more blogs!
|
|