$1.19 Car of the Week Trifecta

Well, it took several months, but I finally have collected all three bodystyles of the Cadillac CTS—the original sedan, the Sportwagon, and the new Coupe. I would have liked to find them all in the same color, but beggars can't be choosers, lol. I'm lucky that my Stop & Shop grocery store stocks these inexpensive Matchboxes and Hot Wheels at all. 

I remember Matchbox cars costing close to a dollar apiece back in the 1960s, perhaps 79¢, so it's a really good deal for them to cost only $1.19 forty years later. Of course, they're not made in Britain anymore, but the scale and appearance is still really good. I'm a bit picky when it comes to tiny cars. They all have stamped-in taillights, but many are painted body color, a no-no for me. I will only part with my $1.19 if those taillights are painted red. The same with headlights—the "better" Matchboxes, like these Cadillacs, have tiny decals embedded in the headlight lenses for an even more realistic appearance.

M E A N W H I L E — I'm done with Hurricane Irene preparations. I've taken in all of my potted plants, the porch furniture, cut all of the blooms from my zinnias, dahlias and marigolds, and moved my collections of glass items away from the windows. If it doesn't rain in the next 1/2 hour, I'm going to take a bike ride down to the shore to take some photos of the waterfront preparations. We're supposed to have an unrelated thunderstorm this afternoon, and Irene should be here starting in the wee hours tomorrow and last all day. At least it seems as if the brunt of the storm for us will happen during the daylight hours, always less nerve wracking than a middle-of-the-night storm when you can't see what all the snapping and crashing going around you is. I'm positive I'll be without power for a day or five, but as soon as I can post, I will. I won't be outside like it seems every TV news anchor does these days, but I'll snap some photos looking out the windows during the storm.

S I G H TS   &   S O U N D S — Even without leaving the yard, and even though we're at least 12 hours away from feeling any of the early effects of Irene, it's clear that change is afoot. I can hear many hammers pounding away in town, plywood window covers, for sure. Looking up, flocks of birds seem to be getting out of town, raucously announcing their departure. Crows, ducks, geese, all squawking incessantly as they fly away. On the other hand, car traffic across the train tracks is down to a bare minimum. And I think Amtrak might have suspended some trains. I haven't seen a train in a couple of hours.