Today's Word

... is Adoniser. My theory is this word is a shortening of "Adonis-izer", and denotes a store whose products will turn one into an Adonis. I choose to ignore the fact that it is a women's apparel concern.

Today's other words are "Wast", which I applaud for its efficiency, not wasting extra letters on an e, and "Edurecting", the gerund form of Edurection, the anatomic condition achieved by getting, um, excited, about learning.


I saw the sign below at Seoul Pub in Itaewon during March, part of the St Patrick's promotion. But it wasn't this one sign, posters and bar cards also alerted imbibers to the establishment's "Patrick's Mouth Special".


Finally, this sign taped to selected doors on the platform at Dangsan station, announces essentially, "Beware! Pigeon shit". In the last several years, pigeons have taken up residence in the large barn-like structure covering the above-ground tracks of the 2 line portion of the station.

Yeouido Cherry Blossom Festival 2016

The theme of this year's festival, followed by the best shot I got. I have come to the festival here every year since 2009 (click the "cherry blossom festival" tag in the label cloud to see each year's post), but this is the first year you can see my standard pic without glasses--that is, me without glasses, you should wear glasses if you ordinarily do.


The star, of course, of the event is the cherry blossoms, on around 1400 trees donated to the Korean government by Japan about one hundred years ago, lining Junjungno:


Additionally, there are numerous other features for visitors' entertainment and edification, including portraitists, magicians, musicians, and shopping opportunities.


Mixed in there are photo ops, including characters I've never heard of, but couldn't resist anyway:


Finally, a few more of the blooms:

Spring Flowers Seen Clearly

Springtime: the peninsula wakes from its winter slumber, color splotches and splashes the landscape, the sun shines and Tuttle publishes some pictures of flowers.


This year, the floral display is of particular significance to me. For the past several years, my vision has become more and more compromised by cataracts, until it reached a breaking point when I "lost" my glasses to a wave on Koh Phangan during my holiday. The past few weeks, I have made numerous visits to the hospital, leading up to surgeries this week (Monday and Tuesday) to remove my cloudy old lenses and replace them with plastic intraocular lenses.

It was scary, well, the first one was, but after two follow-up visits and a few more simple procedures to come (removing the stitches, mainly), the process seems to have been a success, according to Doctor Song. According to me, it's unbelievable!! I cannot believe how bright and colorful everything is--not just flowers. There was an hour or so when I had one old lens and one new one, and it was jaw-dropping--one "world" hazy and yellowish, blurry and dingy, the other one white and sharp and clear!

I've always loved the flowers, and they've taken up a significant acreage of the Seoul Patch, but now I can appreciate them so much more! And speaking of flowers, here are a few more:


Above, a magnolia, an azalea and a cornel dogwood (Korea's first spring blossom), all taken on my school grounds. Finally, a couple of ornamental cherries I pass by every day on my way to and from school: