Gone Fishing

My dad a huge fan of fishing. It was of his dad hobbies like guns, electronics, and cars. While I've noticed women tend to have the sole hobby of shopping, men tend to develop outdoors and tech related passions. 

My dad was never seen without his cargo pocket fishing vest. It had velcro flaps, netted pockets, and a keyring at the zipper. It's the common uniform of older (from Asia) Asian men, as I've seen it on many a Japanese, Korean, and Chinese dad. I guess they like to be prepared with their Kleenex, meds, and Tiger Balm in easily accessible pockets. 

Redondo Beach Pier, late 70s. 

I like to think he fished because it reminded him of the coastal town in Taiwan where he grew up. 

On a boat, early 90s. 

While I was in high school, my parents would frequently take day fishing trips off the San Pedro shore. They once came home riled up about how one of their fishing friends had caught a baby shark. 

Like my mom, he was never the kind of person to just have one of anything. He had quite a collection of fishing poles. We used to have twice as many but over the years my mom would give them to friends and relatives who asked. After a while she hid them in the master bedroom jacuzzi because she was tired of the fishing pole mooching.

Other People's Collections: "Please Let My Kid Buy Cigarettes" Notes

A while back, I asked readers to send in photos of their unusual family collections. Margaret from LA, who worked at a small grocery store in the early 80s, sent me her stash of cigarette buying permission notes. Back then, you could get away with selling cigarettes to minors as long as the smoker parents put it in writing.

This one has a grocery list and phone number, in case you want to verify the existence of Ms. Higgins.

This is my favorite one. Totally spaced on the cigs!  

Thank you Margaret!

The Garden View

Before I was an adult craft dabbler, I was embroidering sunny gardens with my grandmother.

The Perpetual Diary

Found the Perpetual Diary in my mom's dresser drawers. Pretty infinite sounding.

(Definitely more so than the last diary I found.)  

At first glance I thought it was a free copy of the New Testament. About the same size anyway.  

The Perpetual diary helps you keep track of forever, and some statistics too.  

In the jacket cover my mom had filled out her personal information including her social, blood type, and an old address I never knew my parents had. Mysterious! I'll have to do a drive-by this weekend.

A Quality Product

Actually, we've saved on many.

Fashion Friday: Red Plaid Forever

It's another experiment in time travel because that's one of the magic powers of the Infinite Garage. Here is my mom summertime lounging in our old backyard (not the current house).

Then

Now

Here I am in the same dress. I pulled it straight off the racks of the garage this morning. Unfortunately, it smells like an old garage. 

I Can See The Floor Finally

I had few pieces of furniture moved out of the garage and I can now see the floor! Not that I couldn't see if before like Hoarders: Buried Alive style, but it was cramped in there.

I now have a large empty space in the middle. All my work over the past few months has paid off!

Friends ask how I'm doing and I let out a big sigh. The project does feel infinite. When they come over they can't tell if I've made a dent. But trust me, I have! My trips to the Goodwill, the Veteran's pick ups every week, and the Etsy-ing have been cathartic. Something is happening. I can see light at the end of the tunnel, or better yet, the windows in the back of the garage!

Pitchers from Numero Uno and an LA snowman.

Thank you friends for supporting the blog. And thanks for listening to my complaints and endless karaoke.

Answer to Mystery Object #4

Mystery Object #4 (aka the Suede Thing) isn't rabbit ears, suede pants, a shiatsu massager from Brookstone, an elaborate doorstop, or even this:

"an old fashioned arm/leg rest for 1970s muscle cars that had 'humps' running through the center of the cabin. The two legs would go over the hump. It was heavy so it would stay put."

All great guesses but thanks goes out to Patrick Lee (no relation, but he did grow up down the street from me), who informed me that it's a rabbit ear rear bag used for shooting.

You rest the back of your rifle on it to steady your snipe, like these guys. 

My dad was an avid skeet shooter, beretta owner, and NRA member so I figured it had to do with guns.

Thanks for playing and helping me unravel the garage!