Just Looks Odd

I'll say it again, some clouds are living things.  There are countless creatures filling the earth and the seas that mimic other organisms for protection;  why should the air above us be bereft?

The Pink "P" At The End

 

I was strolling through the neighborhood park yesterday when I became aware of that sign beyond the trail.  The large 'P' stood out amongst the surrounding trees, and for whatever reason, it reminded me of an incident from back when I was a graduate student at UCLA.  I was working part-time at the art library (the art department had its own slide library for the use of art history professors).  It may have been just my imagination due to the fact that I was the lone painter surrounded by art historians every day, but during my stint there I always felt a subtle competitive attitude existed between the fine arts majors and art history majors -- that the art history majors were smug about the academic nature of their field and dismissive about the studio majors as unintellectual daubers and cobblers, and the studio majors considered themselves the creators of things of honesty and lasting value, without which the whole subject of art history would not exist.

Anyhow, one day something happened that was fairly trivial in itself, but it served to cement my belief in the mutual friction.  I don't remember the exact context, but one of the regular patrons, a graduate student, was having a discussion with another member of the staff, and happened to mention that in modern Italian the letter 'J' is not used.  So I chimed in to correct her, pointing out that the Neapolitan dialect does use the letter.  And... she turned to me with a Look of Pure Hatred and said Yes, but it's not pronounced like the English 'J', to which I almost responded Yes, I know that, but we were talking about the letter itself, not its pronunciation, that she had suddenly changed the 'universe of discourse' -- almost, but I held myself in check.  Because... well, she was obviously not used to being contradicted and I didn't want to inflame her further, and besides, what would it have accomplished for me to press the point?  It would only have made me look petty.

Hole In One

 

Pinched Moon

 

Sad

This one never got to experience flight.  Its life ended even as it was struggling to shed its old skin.

Geese On The Wing

A favorite old image, taken on a visit to Daegu, the city my father originally hailed from, many years ago.

Miscellaneous Images From Around The Neighborhood

 

Photobombed

I was photographing this sun halo

 when a cicada decided to insert itself into the shot.

Horror Eyes

I came across this sight by the roadside.

Innocent?  Look again.

How about now?

Not Albino

I found this cicada and thought it was a rare albino.

But a few days later I came across this

and realized it must have been a newly-molted individual whose exoskeleton had not yet had time to harden.

A Very Pretty Spider

While out for a walk I discovered this spider seemingly suspended in the air.  One of the prettiest spiders I've ever come across.

What a difference the background makes!

Man Obsessed With Cicadas

LOL

Now, It's Dragonflies

First one I've seen this summer.

 

"Lucky" Me

Wow, for the second time in ten days I've come across a cicada nymph going the wrong way, away from the trees.  And this one was quite obviously malformed, looking dwarfish and bent over.

It was clearly unwell, crawling slowly and arduously in the middle of a vast nowhere (from its POV), and I was worried for its safety, as it was completely exposed and obvious to anyone (or any bird or cat) who came along.

So I picked it up carefully and tried to place it on a nearby tree, but it even had trouble grabbing onto the bark, so I went to another tree that had a semi-horizontal bend and put it down.  It just stayed there unmoving as I stood watching for a little while.  I'll have to check in on it tomorrow.

Errant Airplane

Today the temps were bearable due to the hard rain that had started falling during the previous night and continued, off and on, most of the daylight hours, so I first took a walk around the neighborhood relatively early (collecting another big bunch of nymph shells -- wet soft ones -- in the process), then went to my doctor's office down the block (yes, the mini-mall in my apartment complex actually hosts a doctor's office;  my doctor was a little shocked that I hadn't eaten anything for a full day to prepare for the recommended blood test -- yes, Koreans are big eaters;  btw the phlebotomist had a very hard time drawing my blood;  I actually joked that I don't seem to have any blood left), then walked around some more, and came upon this:

It was so adorable I briefly considered keeping it, but then I realized that pin at the front was supposed to have a propeller on it.

I didn't like the thought of bringing a broken toy into my home (Hans Christian Andersen wrote about a defective toy in "The Steadfast Tin Soldier" and look what happened to it), so I put it back.  So call me superstitious, but it saved me the trouble of having to throw salt on it and burn sage and pray over it with texts from Christian and Buddhist scriptures to cleanse the negative energy.  Just kidding.

A Stretch

to the point of absurditiy?  Perhaps, but purely in visual terms, the resemblance really is striking.

I have absolutely no idea what that thing stuck to the railing is:

All I know is that the moment I laid eyes on it I was instantly reminded of this display I saw several years ago on a visit to an establishment called The Love Museum in Hongdae (which sadly doesn't exist any more),

which was a hilariously kitschy piece of decoration(?) from China based on this beautiful, though somewhat scandalous (for its time), painting by Ingres:

Just Playing Around

I turned up the color and contrast and did a few other things with this image and now it looks like it belongs on a cheaply printed poster for some cosmic disaster-type sci-fi movie.  Titled The Day Atlas Still Shrugged.

The Jar Is Now Full

of cicada nymph shells, collected over three summers.

Now I need to figure out what, if anything, I should do with them.  Get a bigger jar, maybe?

Cell Division

Mitosis or meiosis, I couldn't tell.

A Zombie Staircase

This stairway may well be considered "dead", since its useful life has ended;  however its physical existence continues, so maybe it's better to call it a "zombie" staircase rather than the "ghost" of one.

Rather Remarkable

I was just walking by when I happened to look up and saw this tree branch.

It was visually a little confusing at first due to the profusion of greenery, but I quickly realized that it was a dead branch, a disconnected limb that was all that remained of a tree that was no longer there.  But then, I wondered why the branch had not been removed along with the rest of the tree and instead was left to hang in the fence.

I stepped closer, and the answer became clear.

The branch had not grown through the fence, but rather had engulfed that bar like an amoeba, incorporating it into itself, and continued to grow.  Why was it allowed to grow that way? -- it must have taken many years for it to happen!  Was it simply neglected until the branch grew so far out over the sidewalk as to create a possible hazard to tall pedestrians, or at least a bothersome obstacle, by which time it was too late to remove it from the fence without undue effort?

Jailbreak

 

Cicada Grubs

Otherwise known as nymphs.

Not this kind

But these:

I think I'll call those squaring-off ones Hector and Achilles.