Cloud Reaches Out

 

Lucky Me

Another "Balancing Moon" shot.  But the difference is, I didn't have to go outside to take it -- I took it right from my balcony just now.  I just went to close the blinds, and there she was!

What Were They Thinking Of

I found these stairs in Euljiro, central Seoul.  They look perfectly ordinary when you look up at them from the bottom.

But once you've climbed them and seen the view from the top and are ready to descend, this is what you're confronted with:

Don't quite see it yet?  How about now:

Whose brilliant idea was it to to double the tread depth and mark the halfway points with strips that are identical to the ones marking the actual edge of the step?

In the pic above, #1 is the physical end of the step, #2 is the midway point.  On a cloudy day, with weak shadows and low definition, they would look exactly the same.  Which today was.  I took a misstep and almost took a tumble.  I can't believe nothing's been done about this unwitting visual illusion.  Somebody should sue the building owner or the city or something.

A Straggler

Yesterday afternoon I spent a very frustrating forty or so minutes trying to help a late-arriving cicada nymph (I know, I already said in *this previous post that it would be the last cicada post of the year, but this one stood out).  I hadn't heard any cicadas for some time already, and certainly wasn't expecting to encounter a nymph preparing to molt at this late date, but there it was, crawling across the sidewalk.  As with the previous nymphs I'd come across while out walking, it was going away from the tree it had presumably crawled out of;  I thought I'd do a kind deed and picked it up and put it up on the tree.

Problem was, the nymph was apparently not in the best of health;  it was having problems grabbing the tree bark and kept tumbling off.

I started to keep my hand below it to catch it;  while very small animals are not greatly bothered by falling from heights, still falling off a tree a bunch of times surely doesn't help!  I confess I added insult to (possible)injury by dropping it a few times when I picked it up (I didn't grip it tightly for fear of injuring it, and its skin was quite smooth and slippery).

I tried placing the nymph in a crotch of the tree, thinking it would stop the falls in place of my hand.

But the nymph still kept tumbling.  Then I got the bright idea to place it at the base of the tree just above the roots -- it would have more climbing to do, but at least it wouldn't have far to fall if it fell again...

which it promptly did. 

And when I put it back on, the nymph started climbing down instead of up!

Finally I decided I'd done enough, that if the nymph didn't make it, it wasn't for lack of (my)trying.  I placed it at the base of the tree for the last time and walked away.

Man, Woman

 

Mantis Rescue

Well, maybe not "rescue" quite so much, but definitely "guidance" at the very least.  I came across this mantis on a sidewalk on my daily walk.  It was in a dangerous situation, as it was in the middle of a busy path, and even as I was watching people walked past it, a few of them narrowly missing it.  I wanted to take it to a safe location, but I wasn't sure about how it would react to my picking it up -- mantises do have those powerful front limbs with the sharp claws;  I've seen a photo of a large specimen actually spearing a hummingbird with them! -- so I chose to gently prod it toward the edge of the sidewalk, where it would be safer.

Turning to look at me when I touched its rear end^^

Safe at last

Related post:  worm rescue

I Went Back

to the Needle today, to see if the dragonfly would be there again.  And yes! it was there again (at least I think it was the same one), and not only that, it had brought a couple of its fellows.  I wonder what's there at the tip of the needle to attract dragonfly-kind.

Cryptid

A strange misshapen fish-like creature with fins (or flippers), tentacles growing out of its head, and walks on land.

Dragonfly On A Needle

Today I went to see the "needle" (actually an iconic sculpture symbolic of the future of Goyang, the Seoul suburb I live in;  I've posted it before).  I took a shot,

then I noticed something -- something at the very tip of the monument that looked like a tassel or a bit of fuzz or anyway some piece of shmutz that wasn't supposed to be there.  I looked hard, but it was so small and indistinct (presbyopia setting in, sigh...) and I was unable to make it out against the backdrop of the bright sky.  Then I got the bright (ha!) idea to check it out with the phone camera at maximum zoom, and...

it was a dragonfly!

I took a couple more shots, then I went over to sit on a bench in the shade and take a break while I checked out the day's photos.  After several minutes I went back to the monument to see if the dragonfly was still there, but it had gone away.  Ah well, I thought.  Then, just as I was about to turn back, I saw it coming back,

to take up its commanding post at the tip of the needle again!

Cloud Flashes Nipple

Woulda been even better in sunset pink, but hey, I'll take what I can get^

How Unusual

is this!  I've never seen anything like it before.  Even for most other cloud watchers I daresay this has to be pretty much a once-in-a-lifetime sighting.

 

Nature Imitating Art

So I finally went to see The Odyssey today.  I have to say its portrayal of Polyphemos the Cyclops was the most grotesque and pervy-looking version I've ever seen, totally unlike the poignant, 'pathetically endearing depiction' in the painting by Odilon Redon.  I had gone in feeling ambivalent about the movie because of all the negative publicity that had preceded its release, but I was actually pleasantly surprised by how comfortable I was with all the "inaccuracies" that were the cause of so much fuss.

Anyway, this post isn't about that.  When I came out of the cinema it was evening, the Sun was setting and everything was enveloped in the nostalgic gold-and-violet twilight that I find so lovely and comforting.  Then I looked up, and saw this:

and I was instantly reminded of the famous print by Hokusai, The Great Wave;

Consider:

2 Mutated Flowers

In each case the blossom looked as if it were trying to give birth to a whole other flower.

From this

to this

And from this

to this