Fall Breaking Out In Colors

At SeokChon Lake in Jamsil.  I think the foliage would have been even more spectacular if I had gone a few days later, but in any case it was gorgeous.

Shy Moon

Or alternatively, Playing Coy.

Just like her, at our secret first rendez-vous, all those years ago.

Related post:  After All This Time

3 "Grotesques"

Like Leonardo used to draw.

These are three of my "favorites" among the ugly Thousand Faces of Ignorance.  But just now, having posted these, I'm realizing they're all looking downward, for some reason.  Is it a coincidence, or is there a connection?

"Seen In A Seoul Alley", Continued

Fairytale-esque

That's definitely the vibe I got from this image, so I went and doped it up a little with a touch of that "nostalgic glow".  Just like a page out of a book of illustrated fairytales, no?

Wintur Is Icumen In

Stone Eye

Whether it's natural, or someone was inspired by the shape of the breakage in the stone to fill in the iris/pupil, it was startling in any case.

Makes one think of the animistic belief about spirits residing in everything in nature.

Related posts:  I Think A Dryad Lives In This Tree

                         Seen In A Seoul Alley

                         Dryad

Please Please Don't Look Ths Way... Don't Come This Way...

Why the long face?

Egg Mini-Loaf

It's been five and a half years since I moved to Korea, and I had not yet tried this popular street treat.  But the other day I happened to watch a YouTube video on how it's made, and it looked so very rich and tempting, I just had to try one.  So I bought one from a street vendor for 2000 won (1.40 usd) and ate it right then and there.  It was soft, sweet and delicious, with just enough sticky-chewy-ness to the breading to make it interesting.  There is egg in the batter, among other rich ingredients, and in each little loaf there is another whole egg baked in.  It would make a nice quick and simple breakfast on the go.  Unless you're used to eating a full English fry-up every morning, with fried eggs, bacon, sausages, black pudding, baked beans, toast, mushrooms, and fried potatoes and tomatoes.

Errant Scrunchie

Two "Errant" posts back-to-back.

Waxing Moon

2 views of the Moon taken today, a couple of hours apart.

The feelings these images generate in my mind are polar opposites.  While the first one may make the Moon seem to be in a somewhat precarious position, balancing on and sliding down a cable, at least it's still resting on a thick sturdy baseline.  It's the playful instability of a playground slide.  Whereas in the second photo the Moon is floating free, lonely and untethered with no support, inviting anxious comparison against the firm solidity of the construction in the foreground.

Errant Heart II

I've used this title before, and I like it very much.  I think it's poetic.

 

Related posts:  "Heart Tree", Or "Tree Heart"?

                         Found Heart

                         A Random Pairing

Mitosis

Just walking along, down a busy sidewalk, looking up at the sky every so often as I always do.  And at one point I look up and see this striking pair of dense, almost solid-looking oblate spheroids.  It seems cloud creatures reproduce via a process resembling cell division, just like the organic cells of terrestrial creatures.  Either that, or these were UFOs hiding in plain sight inside synthetic clouds.

I Guess "Lucky" Really Isn't The Word To Use here...

"Serendipitous", maybe?  That doesn't seem quite appropriate either, but plain old "coincidence" doesn't seem to do the incident justice, somehow.  A "meaningful coincidence"?  Maybe, but I don't really know what meaning to ascribe to it.

Anyway, a few hours earlier I set out on a walk, like I do every day.  As I was passing by this grocery store I heard a dull thud;  I turned to look, and there was what might have been a crumpled hat (I was wearing very dark sunglasses and it tends to filter out details to some degree).  Thinking it might have been dropped by a construction worker working high up, I went and looked closer -- and realized it was a dove.

It was still alive, just barely.  I immediately took out my phone camera, and as I clicked away it closed its eyes (well, its nictitating membranes) and stopped moving -- I had just witnessed the death of the creature.  I should have switched to video mode and recorded its dying moment, I could have kicked myself.

The shop proprietor saw me shooting away, became curious and came out.  I told him the bird had just fallen a moment before.  Then a woman came along, seemed curious and gingerly turned the little body over with her foot.

The proprietor went back inside and came back out carrying a plastic bag, grumbling about something so inauspicious happening right in front of his shop.

I had only once before witnessed the actual dying of a creature.  Many years ago I was renting a room in an old building to use as a painting studio.  One day, as I was climbing the stairs I happened to look out the window over the landing, and saw a butterfly flutter down on the roof of the building next door.  Amazingly, it fell onto its side and didn't move, exept for its upper wing being blown about by the breeze.  I had just witnessed the end of its life.  Some years later, in creative writing class I wrote a short story inspired by the incident.  It was titled "A Small Death" and was about a boy recalling the death of a butterfly while attending his older brother's funeral.  Unfortunately, I don't have it any more.

Here are three close-calls from the past, where I narrowly missed witnessing the dying moment of some creature:  

Dead Bird

Another Butterfly Story

Dead Hummingbird

Anticipation

Coming soon.

A Nice Shot,

if I do say so myself.

Yesterday I went to check out a Seoul district known as Noryangjin.  It's famous for its huge seafood market, but I've visited the place before, so this time I wanted to explore the side streets and back lanes of the area.

And just beyond the busy, fancy facades facing the main streets, it was largely a collection of quiet, time-worn neighborhoods filled with a mixture of older and newer buildings, hole-in-the-wall stores and residences, some few of which were actually derelict and cordoned off.

Going down one quiet little alley I came upon something unexpected:  a number of alley cats over the stretch of a couple of blocks.  And I don't think they were feral either, because they all looked to be reasonably well fed and cared for.  Could be, they belonged to human families that didn't believe in confining them to a few rooms all their lives.

My suspicion got a boost when one of them came meowing over to me and acted all familiar.

I so wanted to stay longer and play with this cutie, but... ah, well.