Is There an Automotive Goddess? I am asking as I want to know to whom to give thanks, you know light a candle, an offering of 20W-50, sacrifice a virgin

I am asking as I want to know too whom to give thanks, vintage cars can be fickle things and I don't want to jinx my lucky streak with all things internal combustion related.

If I may offer two suggestions as the patron saints of automobiles,  Jayne Mansfield and Diana Dors, both of whom had the good taste to own 1959 Cadillacs. The less said about Jayne and Buicks the better.

Diana 

Jayne on the hood of a 58 Caddy ambulance

I do have one very I expensive repair coming up but that is on my modern vehicle (twenty years old is modern to me).


Two weeks ago I went and started my 59 Cadillac after almost two years in storage, same with my 76 Buick Electra and my 76 Lincoln Mark IV (she had only been started in the spring).

I took both the Caddy and the Electra for short drives, they idled beautifully, I was soooo happy.

Biggest Buick ever made, 455 cubic inch V8

Last weekend Alice visited and we went to inspect my father's horde of Jaguars, MGs and Rileys. Afterwards we dusted off "old reliable" my rat rod 76 Lincoln Mark IV. The Mark has a custom built 460 V8 (witness me as I ride the highways of Valhalla)...she too roared to life like the day she left the Wixom, Michigan assembly line. The Mark is my bug out ride when the inevitable zombie apocalypse occurs. Voted one of the ten best cars to survive the rise of the undead.

We went for a short ride along a quite road that followed the shore of Lake Ontario, where Alice snapped this awesome picture.

ready to take on the walking dead....I would never walk I would take a car

Today I changed the oil & filter as well as the coolant in the Cadillac, washed off the dust and a short test drive to put in some fresh high test dinosaur juice. My father was there to lend a hand and friends dropped by with coffee.

getting gas with J and A

Detroit meets Tokyo......16 cylinders between them

looks like the South of France right? Dinner in Monaco anyone?

I was very happy to get the Cadillac serviced successfully, she is due to be used in a wedding in September so I want everything in order. Also it is great that something has being going right in my life. Career and relationships suck and my confidence has taken quite a hit. I have been plagued by panic attacks and even the thought of working on my cars filled me with fear.

So hopefully my prayers will be answered and the goddesses of chrome and flame will continue to smile upon me.

not taken in France and not my house

Hugs,

April

American Girl ..... Unless you have a pre-teen girl in your family you might not be aware of the American Girl doll cultural phenomenon.

The American Girl doll line was created back in 1986  Pleasant T. Rowland a former school teacher, news reporter and author. The dolls were originally designed to inspire an interest in history. The first few dolls had their own back stories (and accompanying books) that covered a wide swath of American history from the Revolution through the Civil War, the industrial revolution, the Great Depression and WWII.

And it worked! My middle daughter who has the 1940s era Molly American Doll and her friend Emily (an English American doll) was inspired to know about WWII history and speak to her grandmother about being young child during the blitz.

Despite the dolls high cost there is little to argue about there. I have always believed it paramount to understand the past to understand the present and to deal with the future.

Rowland's company was sold to Mattel, iconic toy conglomerate and maker of Barbie and Hot Wheels, in 1998. In 2008 the historical dolls have been discontinued or in American girl speak, "archived". 

http://www.theatlantic.com/sexes/archive/2013/04/american-girls-arent-radical-anymore/275199/

The dolls have become quite the cultural phenomena band despite the name are equally popular in Canada. All my daughters have an American Girl doll and several outfits and accessories. In the last year three stores have been opened north of the border.

My middle daughter is the biggest fan of the brand, for her birthday we ordered her the  historical doll, Josefina, a latina girl living on a ranch in prior to the Mexican-American war.   Unfortunately this doll is not made available in Canada and I had to order and ship to Cassidy who will forward on to the Great White North.

As part of my middle daughters birthday we drove into Toronto with her sisters and grandmother to visit her personal shrine to consumerism....the American Girl store in the Eaton's Centre.

We left after the morning rush hour and parked in the Eaton's Centre garage. There right in front of us  as we emerged from the third floor parking deck was the American girl store.  The look on her face was pure excitement!

She spent her birthday money on some outfits and accessories, my teenage daughter hit up Hollister, Pink and other clothing stores. I held the bags and tried not to get distracted by all the lovely things I could not afford right now.

Still it was a good day and one I hope she will remember happily for years to come.

Hugs,

April

Sorry no photos of my daughters because of obvious personal privacy and security reasons.