The Secret Language Of The Earth (Pt. 16)

The Secret Language Of The Earth (Pt. 15)

Chin-up

I'm terrible with flower names and I don't know what this one is called... but anyway I love the way it managed to pull its way up to the bar to do this chin-up.  I can see it must have taken a lot of effort -- it looks exhausted.

EDIT:  I've been told that this is a CAMELLIA.

And Another "Seen In A Seoul Alley"

Someone who shares my predilection.

Errant Teddy

First a bunny, and now a teddy bear.

Related posts:  Errant Bunny, Errant Sparrow

Tonight's Dinner

It's yookhoe /육회(raw beef).  I was in dire need of some animal protein, but I was feeling lazy so it's store-bought, not personally prepared -- hence the fabulous plastic gold plate.  I did make the dipping sauce, though.

The Last Rays

Of the setting sun just happened to fall on this lotus bud.  How wonderful!

Finally Came Up With A Use For This Shadow

"I am large, I contain multitudes."

- From Song of Myself by Walt Whitman

Thank goodness I've reached that stage in life where I'm getting smaller by the year

Related post:  Having Too Many Heads

Uncanny Resemblance

Between the back of the head of this man who kept nodding off against me on the subway, and the face of the cyclops Polyphemos in Odilon Redon's painting The Cyclops.  I should have drawn a big eye on that bald head while he was sleeping.

And if I was exerting the power of "attraction" over him, I guess it means I was willy-nilly cast in the role of the nymph Galatea, shown sleeping as Polyphemos looks down longingly at her.

Just A Cool Shot

Taken during an evening walk a few days ago.  Lately the (already)warm weather is keeping me from going out in the full heat of day without a reason.

Another Wing Found

This one formerly belonged on an angel.

Who -- or what -- preys on angels? (Refer to "Today's Find")

 

From Around The Neighborhood

After that previous steak post it seemed appropriate to post a few quick shots from recent postprandial constitutionals taken through my neighborhood.

I'm fortunate to live right at the base of a hill with lots and lots of trees and greenery.  To experience a bit of nature in the midst of the city, all I have to do is go around to the back of the apartment and it's all right there.

So at one point a couple of years ago it occurred to me that it might be interesting go into these woods in the thick of the night, in the middle of a rainstorm.  I don't know why... it just did.  It was during the rainy season and it rained heavily almost every day, so it was perfectly feasible to carry out the plan right away.  And as the forecast was that there would be another rainstorm that night, I went up into the woods well after dark and waited.  And waited, and waited, until it was past midnight.  Well, the promised rain never came, and I got tired of the waiting, so I just went home and went to bed.

And of course, next day I found out it had indeed rained, in the wee hours of the morning.

With Apologies To My Vegetarian Friends

Lunch at Lawry's.  Didn't even know until recently that the famed American prime rib restaurant chain has a branch in Seoul.  I've missed this so much!

I remember my mother's Japanese-American gentleman friend telling me about the time he part-timed as a server at Lawry's in Beverly Hills when he was a young student.  The place was a favorite hangout of professional wrestlers at the time; these guys were every bit as huge as they looked on TV, he said, and they would come in and order the biggest and thickest cuts, with everything on the side -- some would even have double servings.  My own choice on this occasion though, was the lunch special, which was the thinnest cut, thinner than the well-known "California cut" back in weight-conscious California.  Still, it was very tasty and satisfying, and my lunch companion Yohahn (thanks, buddy!👍) commented that he had never seen me eat so fast.

"Half Moon"

 

But Not This Time

I was just walking along, then all of a sudden I was seeing double.  Just for a moment, I actually thought I was having some kind of vision problem or maybe my eyeglasses didn't fit any more.

Moon Spider

I just took this photo, like just minutes ago, and I had to post it right away.

I was on my way down to the convenience store on (yet another) beer run, but on the way I got distracted by the sight of the waxing-crescent moon and started shooting.  But then, I spotted this little guy plying his trade off the street lamp, and I was just mesmerized.  I took a bunch of quick shots until the spider went stealth by rounding to the back of the light pole.  This one is the best of the bunch (you can enlarge it by left click, right click, and "open mage in new tab"), and I even showed it off to the convenience store clerk.  His reaction indicated that he probably thought I was a little odd.

After The Rain II

Neither here nor there.  Just a pretty picture, is all.

As I will sometimes succumb to the impulse...

Presbyopia Creeping Up On Me

A welcome (always) day of rain the other day.  While on a walkabout around the wet neighborhood I came upon this sight on the sidewalk.

Without much ado I started to dig a little hole in the rain-softened earth with my knife to deposit the worm in,

only to realize after a second look that the "worm" was a twig.  Dang this "age-related farsightedness".

Number of worms rescued:  still 71

EDIT:  Today I came upon another worm -- a real worm this time;  it was writhing as if in torment on the sunny dry sidewalk, so into a damp shady hole it went.  A job well done.

Number of worms rescued:  72

One, Two, Three... Plus A Minus

One

Two

Three

And as a bonus, Negative Three

OCD Guy With A Camera (Again)

I took a casual look as I walked past, then just had to go back and do this:

And here's a previously unused shot, as a bonus:

Anatomically Correct Bull Statue

The Secret Language Of The Earth (Pt. 14)

 

Another "Untitled"

Today I went jaunting over the hills above Ahyeon-dong, which is one of those older, timeworn and -- how should I put it -- slightly decrepit, sections of the city that I find so much more interesting and filled with character than the newly developed zones with their antiseptic steel-and-glass highrises.  But the ironic thing is, that so often the two types of zones lie right next to each other cheek-by-jowl, and there really is no border between them so that one moment you're walking along, taking in the quaint sights from a time gone past, then before it even registers consciously, you've entered the concrete jungle with the ever-repeating display windows and franchise cafes and eateries.  And Ahyeon-dong is no exception.  Sure enough, while I was huffing and puffing my way over the steep hillsides of the neighborhood, my eagle eyes spotted this eagle, hanging spread-eagle (OK Sam, that's three "eagles" already) over the balcony of one of those no-character highrise apartment units on the next block.

At The Museum Of Modern And Contemporary Art II

PHILOSOPHICAL MUSINGS (AND A BIT OF DARK HUMOR)

Michelangelo's Moses, Dying Slave and Victory, recreated entirely with bones.  They were impressive and provocative, immersing one in somber meditation about mortality and the meaning of it all.

[Supposedly the bones are all from herbivores;  no disrespect meant, but what if a few human bones were thrown in as a cheeky prank? -- I remember once asking my mother, half-seriously, if she wouldn't like to donate a rib to me upon her death, for use in a piece of artwork]

Living Clouds Have Predators!

Something invisible ate its way through that cloud and left a sinister trail of cloudy vertebrae.

Errant Bunny

 

Related posts:  Errant Teddy, Errant Sparrow