A Card From An Imaginary Deck

 

Wet Cormorant

I'm into the fourth day of this cold.  Still coughing and hacking, still blowing my nose every few minutes, but at least I've taken my first shower in three days.  So obviously these images shot at the Han river weren't taken today or even very recently.  I just thought they were interesting. Mildly amusing, even.

Well Prepared

 

Evidence Of Crime?

Another day, another alley shot, but this one was rather more disconcerting than usual.  It looked like someone had tried to break into this room.

Headache

Couple days ago I was out walking and I noticed that even though I hadn't walked nearly as much as I usually do, yet I was feeling very tired and achy.  I was also sneezing now and then.  I thought it was maybe the alcohol I'd drunk the previous night, and thought no more of it once I got back home.  Then yesterday I woke up with the full repertoire:  coughing, fever, hoarse voice, nose running like a faucet, and finally it dawned on me that I'd come down with a cold ("How like a man"^^).  I drank some hot tea, then went back to bed and slept a few more hours.  I woke up past noon, drank some more hot tea, then I threw on the big full-length coat over the clothes I'd slept in, went down to the little pharmacy in the complex and bought the same medication I'd used the last time I was sick.  I took the medicine, went back to bed and slept some more.  And now, past midnight (not sleepy any more, I've slept the sleep out of me), I'm feeling a headache coming on, on top of everything else.

Good thing I took this shot days before and saved it.

What The Sky Might Look Like

a few billion years from now.  Astronomers say that while our Sun falls short of the critical mass to go nova, we're still doomed anyway (supposing we're still living on earth);  as the Sun runs out of hydrogen fuel and starts to burn helium, its energy output will dramatically increase and it will expand into a red giant until it swallows up Mercury, Venus and possibily Earth, before it exhausts the helium fuel too and shrinks down into a white dwarf in its senescence.  If there are any living creatures left on earth during the red giant phase, this is what they might see (I know, there wouldn't be any clouds then;  but I had to work with what I had -- at least they add a little drama^^).

Interior With Staircase

A very interestingly "composed" interior shot, taken from the exterior.  Makes me think of early 20th century art scene, particularly Russian Suprematism.

 

Just Odd

Not a half-moon, but a half-sun!  And together with that cloud the whole scene looks for all the world like Sun and cloud were pushing and flattening themselves out against each other.  Makes me think of bulls locking horns and testing each other's strength.  Or perhaps "Irresistible force meets immovable object".

One of the oddest sights I've caught on camera in some time.

Off With His Head!

Or maybe "Headfirst".  The Columbidae equivalent of Dumpster Diving?  Or maybe the pigeon perceived my approach as threatening, and is doing what ostriches supposedly do when feeling threatened.  Anyway, I have to say I don't recall seeing pigeons do that before -- but I'm sure pigeons do a lot of things I haven't yet seen them do.  In any case, this sort of thing can only help to cement their image in some circles as "rats on the wing".  I know it sounds harsh, but really...

Man Wearing Aluminum All-Weather Hat

Courtesy of the Department of Traffic.

The Beautiful Secret Language Of The Earth (Pt. 22)

Another Mirror

Discovered in an alley.  Another "errant" mirror?

No, not this time.  This one wasn't random at all.  It had been placed there deliberately by someone who knew just what they wanted.

In fact, it's clearly part of an overall decorative scheme.  Turned out, it's a cafe.

Beauty III

Leaves on a bus stop shelter roof.

Staccato

Construction site -- percussive sounds -- making clouds jump and splash in response.

Good Deed Of The Day

I was about to cross the street when I spotted a card of some sort on the ground (it was actually lying at the base of this bollard but I forgot to take a photo of it in situ).

Thinking if might be a gift coupon or some such trifle, I picked it up and looked at it more closely, turned it over, and realized it was actually someone's check (debit) card.

So I walked it over to the local police station and turned it over.  Interestingly, the first thing I had to do was fill out a form that asked whether or not I was willing to reliquish all claims to the card.  Maybe some people try to assert finders' fee claims?  Anyway, I was of course perfectly fine with declaring my withdrawal of all rights to it.

Scrooge-Like

Me, doing an impression of a Victorian undertaker who is recalling being very irked just a few moments earlier by the dreadfuly loud and piercing noises emanating from the throats of the three female middle-schoolers walking right behind 𝗆̶𝖾̶him.

Errant Grape Tomato

A very nice one, ripe almost to the point of bursting.

Subway Roof In Late Afternoon

Would Have Been Funnier With Six Toes

^

Errant Plastic Glove x2

The day before yesterday, I set out on yet another of my peripatetic photo-jaunts.  And while ambling down a quiet back lane I came across a crumpled plastic glove.  And of course I photographed it;  lost or abandoned gloves have come to form a kind of sub-sub-theme under the sub-theme of "errant" objects on this blog. 

The day's haul of imagery was not particularly interesting, and after a couple of hours I decided to come home.  Then, on the way back I came across another crumpled plastic glove.

I wonder if they were mates^.

Clever

I just happened to happen across this sign outside a pub in a new neighborhood I was exploring.  As a visual artist myself, I have to say I quite admire the way it made use of that martini glass graphic to achieve a wonderfully witty effect.

That Last Light

Taken yesterday, during the late afternoon/early evening walk with the Moon.  The Sun was nearing the horizon, and I was impressed by that last little fleck of sunlight hanging on to the tip of the cross in a losing battle.

OK, I just came up with a really tacky, pretentious, pseudo-solemn title for this image, and it is...  ahem, "Last Prayer".  Thank you, thank you, I'll be performing here all week.

I miss my friend Evelyn.  I think that little bit of kitschy humor would have made her gigle.

My Eye Of Hope

so, so wanted it to be true, even though I of course knew it was impossible -- that twig did NOT really penetrate or grow through the tree trunk;  it's just a visual illusion.  But still, compared to the hypothetical scenario of a billion monkeys randomly typing away on a billion typewriters for billions of years accidentally typing out the entirety of Shakespeare's Hamlet, I'd say a twig going through a tree trunk is a cinch.

Shoot The Moon II

 

Wonder What Happened II

I walk by this area all the time, but I just noticed this today for the first time.  Three neighboring paving tiles, each with the same corresponding corner broken off in a pretty much identical manner.  How does that happen?  Did it happen in a single accident?  That would already be unusual enough, but it would really be fantastically against the odds if it had happened in three unrelated incidents.

Related post:  Wonder What Happened