Wixom Valkyrie

Dear constant readers, sorry for my absence. Feeling a bit blue over my prolonged job search, so many resumes sigh. Also twisted my right knee, seem to have really torn something, was almost in tears driving yesterday the pain was so intense.

Doctors appointment in Hamilton today, told to come back in two or three weeks if still in agony. They recommended an MRI but as we have socialized medicine (not really complaining as I didn't have to pay for visit....forgetting our higher tax rates) there is a long wait and it is easier to see if things heal up by themselves.

That's me in the 72 Mark IV, actually I put both the Lincoln and Seville up for sale, but only if price is right. I don't think I could replace them for what I am asking and a good used car even if 40 years old is still worth its weight in gold....or crude oil. Money talks as they say

Part of me wants to simplify and the other can no more part with a car than sell my children to medical science, which I often threaten them with when they misbehave.

Wixom in the title refers to the now closed Ford factory where Lincolns and Thunderbirds were long made.

As I left the medical building parking lot a woman came up and complemented me on the Mark IV Continental and then said I look just like Geena Davis with my blonde hair. Well I will take her word for it. I wonder if she meant as in the movie Earth Girls Are Easy?

A big shout out to the city of my birth, London ( yes I am a cockney) for such a well done Olympic open and closing ceremony. Not really my kind of music but then not much is ;)

Day 7: Baby Blue

My good friend Bill dropped in Sunday for a much appreciated visit. By mid afternoon the rain had stopped and the sun made a dramatic return.

I changed out of my shorts and slipped on a baby blue sun dress I purchased a few weeks ago.  We decided to go for a cruise along the lake shore all the way to Hamilton (stopping to snap a few photos) then a fast run back on the highway hitting 95 mph, would have been over a ton if that silver Volvo wagon wasn't blocking the fast lane.

Later "J" and the girls as well as Bill and I went out for dinner, a great Sunday!

I am so happy to be me.

Day 6: Legs But Does She Know How to use Them?

Best compliment ever...

Grocery shopping for a weekend picnic, zipped into the grocery, shorts and a pink top, white wedge heels. No makeup except eye liner and lipstick.

As I was getting a cart and an other woman came up to me and said wow you have such great legs. I stammered out a thank you. Needless to say I was very flattered and on cloud nine.

another hot day with the sun roof open in the 72 Mark IV

Suburbia rockabilly style

well I had to include this one didn't I

Day 5: Cruz Nite

no this is not my pimps car

Last night made it to the local cruise night as my friend "D" would be there with his amazing 64 Imperial convertible. I already had the Cadillac out as a result of an earlier grocery run, so why not?

The children were supposed to come but they opted to go shopping with "J" this time.

All that was left to do was get myself ready, yes I was a little over dressed but I thought I should match the outre nature of the car, so short skirt and heels.

now that is a steering wheel, careful how you sit, chrome centre bullet can reflect up ladies skirt

chrome inner ring is the horn

Had two proposals of marriage so long I came with the Cadillac.

beautiful night for a top down drive

Later on we met up with Genni for coffee and chatted well into the early morning hours....

Hugs,

April

Day 4: Iron Cross

At Ardene's last week and picked up a few cheap necklaces, including this retro sixties surfers cross.

Wow an iron cross and a banana bike, I would make a cool teenager circa 1966. 

"J" immediately asks why I was wearing a swastika…..which immediately put me on mind of this rare slice of sixties wax by fellow Canuk, Debbie Lori Kaye, better known for her country music career.

Recorded in 1966 this Shangri-las, Ronettes style 45 attempted to capitalize on the "controversy" around kids wearing replica iron crosses. 

http://blogfiles.wfmu.org/DY/Debbie_Lori_Kaye_Iron_Cross.mp3

The fad began amongst in Southern California's surfers:

World War I Ace Max Immelmann earned two, as did Corporal Adolf Hitler, and now U.S. teen-agers are buying them by the gross. Dug out of attics and curio shops and freshly minted by the thousands, the German Iron Cross has become the newest surfer's emblem and high school fad.

Nobody, except parents, seems upset by the Iron Cross's connotations. "When kids ask me about the 1939 inscription," says one distributor, "I just tell them it was a big year for surfing."

Time Magazine April 22, 1966

I can still vaguely remember them in grocery store gumball machines in the late seventies, edgy ;)

Day 3: Long May You Run

My old boss passed away the other day, no I don't know all the details yet. It doesn't matter a great car guy has gone. I have mixed feelings about him but we are all flawed creations. Who am I to cast stones.

It is hard to believe he is gone, he seemed a force of nature.

When I told him about me he did not recoil in horror or retreat into machismo disdain. For that I will always be grateful. If his reaction had been different I would have significantly delayed my transition.

I worked with him for a decade, travelled together across North America, waited in airports, rental cars, froze and sweated an countless film shoots.

He was a larger than life character as I think you can tell from the lead photo, he will be greatly missed by all who were lucky enough to be his friends.

I hope he is somewhere where the gas prices are low and the speed limits high. Long may you run.

The Big Guy at the wheel of my Corvette last season at Cayuga

Whether you believe in Valhalla or not (and I sincerely hope there is an afterlife) it is not for the dead to worry but rather those left behind to reflect on  life.

I am happy that I no longer look at my life and despair, I have miles left to go but I am oh so very glad I am here and did what I needed to do.

Hugs,

April

Day 2: Revenge of the Super Models

Perky Monday morning

Morning bike ride with children to the library on my vintage seventies CCM Cheetah

Lot to talk about so a few words as well as pictures for day 2. 

Lucy asked in yesterdays comments, if the cars cause any consternation amongst the general public.  I can't say they that I have noticed any but then I am not the most observant person but I am naturally highly tuned to  any real or imagined indication I am not passing.

In traffic or the inevitable conversations at the gas pumps most people simply take one at face value or assume the car belongs to a husband or boyfriend. As soon as they talk to be they know it is mine. The rockabilly, rat rod culture has seen more and more woman building or driving their own cars and not just as Bettie Page eye candy….not that I wouldn't mind being both.

When out in the Cadillac convertible on the weekend an older guy pulled up and said that the 59 was his dream car and asked if I could adopt him. His parting words were, "I bet you have to beat them off with a stick and I don't mean because of the car."  Well that made my day.

But pride cometh before the fall.

Yesterday I dropped off a resume for a position at a very large Mercedes agent, I believe it is one of their world flagship stores. I made sure I was well dressed, grey suit and black silk blouse, appropriate length black skirt and heels.   

A bit of an odd situation as candidates were asked to deliver resumes in person (no doubt so one could be pre screened judged on appearance). It was not my first choice as jobs go but I treated it as a test of my confidence. Could I walk in there and both pass and make a good impression.

Exiting the Lincoln I entered through the big double doors, my heels clicking like gun shoots over the marble floors. All eyes turned my way. I was immediately pounced on by the concierge. She was dressed very very nicely with very high designer heels and could have easily been a model. 

I had to wait a few minutes while she tried to find the person I had to see (as they have a gender neutral name, I was not sure if it would be a man or a woman). My potential boss turned out to be a woman and was if anything even more attractive and well dressed than the concierge. Looking as if she stepped out of Vogue in a pale aqua dress I felt like a line backer in a frock from Walmart. 

We conversed for a minute, all interviews would take place after the long weekend. I thanked the super model and walked out, head held high, not looking back afraid that I would see them laughingly putting my resume in the round file.

I should not be so chagrined, woman have been judged on their appearance in the workforce forever.

Contemplating my lack of super model good looks but more importantly I am sure I have a  cooler set of wheels

Practicing my snooty Mercedes look

Hugs,

April