My favorite Holiday will be here in just a few days!

image source: designWiz.com
It's almost here!

When I was young, I was like all kids, very excited about Christmas, and the presents that I hoped that I would receive. Even though my parents were pretty frugal and would never have spoiled us by giving us extravagant gifts, even if they were affluent. Which they were not. But we had everything we needed; a secure family life in our own little house, and they would always buy a live Christmas tree, which we would decorate with ornaments that they had purchased over the years. I always received a few gifts, sometimes even something that was a bit special. My memories of Christmas Past, are quite pleasant.

As an adult I take much greater pleasure in the coming of the New Year. This is a holiday that I have an actual agency in. It's up to me how I'll handle the opportunity, once we've consigned the old year to the dustbin of memories. Of course I know that only one day separates the last day of December 2025 from the first day of January 2026, but we have the luxury and illusion of closure, and I totally buy into that.

I now also approach the Holidays from the perspective of an older person. Yes, I openly admit that I am old. I turned 71 years of age this last birthday. As I mentioned before, I'm in my last fun decade! (?)

At this stage of Life, I've learned that certain things are quite important. These are my attitude and outlook, not only of the future, but of my memories of the past. 

At this age, you gain a pretty long perspective about your life. You can look back for many decades of your adult life and consider the choices that you made, and how you dealt with the cards that fate dealt you. The benefit of this perspective is that you realize that no matter what choices you made, or the avenues that you pursued, they don't make that much difference anymore. You are where you are. You've lived with the consequences, good and bad, for a long time. Could of, should have, would have, you learn to let that go. 

Instead it's more productive to look towards the future. That's what's ahead and it's where you can still make some changes. My plan for the future is; "do whatever I can, the best that I can, for as long as I can."

That's my mantra.

Gratitude and appreciation. I find that these are now really important in my world view. I am grateful for the things that I have had in my life. I am grateful for my marriage and the family that we raised. I am grateful to have the important things that we need in our lives.  

I also appreciate where I am in my life, being retired has it's good and bad points.

So much for sharing my philosophy. 

Getting back to the old car hobby.

I am lucky that I am able to afford to play around a bit with cars as a hobby.

There has been a lot of movement during the last year in the area of my hobby cars.

It was just after Christmas last year that I sold my '96 Mustang. This had been a long term ownership and it was definitely one of my favorite cars. I still debate as to whether or not I should have let it go.

However that sale helped me to afford to buy my first antique car, my '46 Plymouth. This is the first old car that I've bought that I didn't regard as a "project" from the start. It is nice to have a finished old car, but even then there were some things that still need attending too. It is a forty year old restoration, after all. Still, more driving with less wrenching, at least for now.

Then it was the process of repairing and selling the '97 Riviera. This car was bought primarily to try and get more involved with the Riviera Owner's Association. I thought that I might be able to raise some interest in local activities. After some efforts I decided that it wasn't worth the effort, as there was little to no interest. My '97 Riviera wasn't a car that I had really wanted, I'd bought it just to be part of the club, so I thought it best to move on.

Then I decided that I would sell my Navigator. Even though I really liked this car, it took up a lot of space and it wasn't something that I was going to drive on a daily basis. One issue was that it didn't fit inside my garage. I would like the option of rotating the use of all my cars and parking them in the garage when they are out of the rotation.

After many years away from the two wheeled world I decided that I would really like to own another bike. I found an example of the bike that I had really wanted for years. A 1200cc Sportster which had all the improvements that I had wished for over my last '77. I found a very nice bike at a very fair price. I won't say that I'm going to be riding it a lot, but I will ride it some. My major plan is a customizing project.

During the next year I'll also be involved in a lot of home improvement and maintenance projects. I've been putting these off for too many years and I need to get to them while I can still do most of the work.

I have this compilation of some of the first ten year's
issues of the magazine.

I have four of these annuals, from 2000
to 2004.

Thinking about my future direction in the car hobby...

I have an affection for traditional hot rods and customs.  These are the kinds of cars that I grew up reading about in magazines, though I never saw one on the street. The new version of HOP Up magazine was all about remaining true to the traditional ethos. The magazine featured traditional cars as well as the older traditional owners/builders as well as traditionally minded younger folks. 

Their motto is to remain true to the iron.

Now, I don't expect that I'll decide to follow that path, I don't have any interest in modifying my Plymouth into some kind of hot rod or custom. I also don't think that I'd buy some already built old style hot rod, for many reasons. Cost being the major one, but the main thing is that I don't really want a car like that.

That's the big thing; what do I want and what can I afford? I might as well get whatever interests me. It's not like I will be leaving a stable of valuable vehicles behind when I'm gone. I anticipate that most of my cars will be be donated, just to get rid of them. 

So maybe I'll just buy what amuses me, and not worry too much about the future. 

On that note...

Happy New Year too all. Good fortune and good health to all!

 December, and 2025 is coming to a close.

I didn't think that it would fit!

My wife and I went to Costco to pick up a few things. While we were there, we saw a live Christmas tree offered for sale inside. Seven to eight feet tall Noble Firs at only 19.95! We hadn't bought our tree yet, and we always choose a Noble Fir, for sentimental reasons. We usually get an eight foot or nine foot tree, and they usually run well over 100 dollars. This seemed like a real bargain. The tree on display looked great, it was very well shaped.

  Why do I find myself attracted to these little Lincoln SUVs?

Asking price is 10,999.00
Model year 2015.

Maybe because they're so darn pretty. This is a color combination that I find really appealing.

And there is something, to owning a Lincoln. These are neat little "jewel box" type cars. Plush and luxurious but they are much more compact and easy to drive and park. They also get pretty good fuel mileage, making them great for around town use.

 Getting started on my "new" Sportster.

First off, I wanted to change the high bars. I was very careful beforehand, by covering the tank with a blanket, I didn't want anything dropping on the tank that might damage it. I was careful to keep the bars from rotating backwards and hitting the tank when I loosened the handlebar clamps.