I spent half of 1999 working in South Korea. I still have a few souvenirs so I thought they would be good subjects for the challenge.

South of the mainland is a small island called Jeju-Do (formerly Cheju-Do). The dol hareunbang ("stone grandfather") was the islands most recognized icon. It's supposed to ward off evil spirits. I later learned it was a symbol of fertility and that if a pregnant woman rubs the nose of the statue, she will have a boy. Rubbing the nose is still a tradition on the island. Sorry for the history lesson. Anyway here's a replica, that I've nicknamed Cheju-man.

Also picked up some clay pots in in Seoul. I don't know the history of these but if anyone does, I'd be interested to know. 

If won were dollars,I'd be a very happy man! [The "won" is the form of currency in Korea, btw.]

Here's a snapshot I took while I was there. It was taken with a half-megapixel camera that wrote to floppy disks. Anyone remember those? But it gives a good idea of the island.

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go find some kimchee!

 Ospery On A Stick 

 Sailboat at sunset

C&C's always appreciated.

Thanks for looking

I have to start by saying that I really had difficulty photographing these, I couldn't seem to get the light right and found it hard to get each one in focus. SO, any help would be appreciated.

That being said: I have a collection of Japanese sculptures (replicas) called Netsukes (net-skees). They were created in Japan in the 17th century. Since Kimonos had no pockets men would carry small pouches around their waists to store tobacco and other things. To keep the cord from slipping through the holes, small toggles, called Netsukes were attched to the ends. Over the years they became prized art forms and not just something practical. Mine are replicas because the originals were mainly carved out of ivory and very expensive (plus, I love elephants : )

 Netsuke 1 Details of some of my favorites  Netsuke2  Netsuke3  Netsuke 4 

Thanks in advance for any advice!

While walking around with the butterflies, I was lucky enough to capture these:
Blue on blue

I couldn't control the background, but the butterfly keeper/security/guide could
Blue on flesh

Sad note, the reason this one was so docile was, according to the handler, because it is old.

 I shot this off shore oil platform with a 200mm lens, about 2 miles out.  It seemed a bit strange to me that I can make out birds sitting on the platform frame at lower left,  but I don't see a single human.  They must be in the cabin like structures.

 OP CA

Today i captured some   farm   geese  and an  ostrich enjoying the warm Wisconsin weather.... 54degrees !!

I hope you all had a great weekend ...  :)  

*I've had a lot on my mind lately, which is why I haven't been here that much. 

 Not me. 

 Far away. 

I had the wild idea to go to Phoenix Friday and shoot the botanical garden and the area down around the capitol - hence, my "capitol idea." ;-)

The botanical garden is huge and the Chihuly sculpture out front is nice. This is on loan and they're trying to raise the money to buy it for a nice round $1,000,000. That surprised me - three glass yucca things for that much? Hell, I'd sell them ten REAL ones for only half that. And they wouldn't have to worry about some degenerate reprobate with a pocketful of river rocks using them for target practice.

The #%#$ cacti were not yet blooming, so I shot other stuff. I went to the butterfly garden, but it was pretty lame in comparison to the one in Tucson. I saw about 20 bugs and nothing of much interest. I did manage to find a couple of flowers I liked, one blue (it's a guess-it could be purple) and one yellow.

They had a lot of these things (arroyo lupine according to a nearby sign). They remind me of something I saw in Maine a couple of years ago.

They also had lots and lots of cacti, which is to be expected in a desert botanical garden. It's going to be an amazing place when all of the cacti start blooming in a few weeks.

I did find the capitol building. I didn't like what the angle did to the flagpoles here, though, so I used the perspective correction tool on it. From right to left, these are the Arizona flag, the US flag and the POW/MIA flag. I'm guessing that John McCain may have had something to do with that one on the left being there.

On the way out of town I came across this red spiral thing across from Diamondback Stadium and liked it. I figured someone would object if I tied it to the back of the car and hauled it back to Tucson, so instead, I just took its picture.

Established 1875 Winter Harbor, Maine  Egg Rock Lighthouse 

Just For Fun -   Big Guns Are Always In Style 

Now the trees are fully blossomed.  I have no idea what kind of a tree this is and what it will bear.  bl 1  Peach tree blossoms  bl 2 

Cherry tree blossoms.  bl 3   bl 4 . of course the wind was howling today at 35MPH but did mangae these shots. 

I went out to the butterfly garden, and while waiting for the next entry time, I killed some time in the flower area.  These were taken for the sole purpose to test how far I could push a subject.

This looks pretty, nice color, stands apart from the background, but the flower needs a stem.

All white, wanted to see if I could take this without blowing the whites away.

Yellow and white and very bright, I wanted a better balance between the colors, but just couldn't get it.

Think this  Merlin Falcon can read?

How in the hell could you call it.....

Just another day....

With the rain melting all the snow, it makes for some nice foggy scenes.  foggy 

This is one of the 1st signs of Spring I've seen here. They're baaack and just so darn cute! chip 

Have a great weekend!