Wrecking the Cuteness Curve

This photoblog could so easily turn into an annoying parade of pet images- I have the most ridiculously photogenic dog, who is always flailing about in the most ridiculously adorable way.  And the most amazing thing?  Minimal fall-off in cuteness from puppy to adult.

Seriously, puppy:

Adult:

All dogs are subject to the relentless and harrowing Cuteness Reduction Algorithm, and thus I can only assume that he is not a dog, but some freakish mutant.  Possibly one out to enslave humanity.

Locks of Love

There is a legend in the Mt. Huangshan region of China that two Romeo & Juliet-type doomed lovers, she forced to soon marry another, climbed to the top of the mountain, held hands, and leapt to their death rather than be carnally parted.  As legends are today invariably convertible into tourist dollars, it is now the done thing for Chinese couples who visit the region to buy two padlocks, engrave their names onto them, lock them together and attach them to any lockable surface that presents itself on the mountaintops.  All metal fixtures up there now bristle with these symbols of everlasting love.

Not gonna lie, I kinda like it.  But not enough (or maybe I don't love boyfriend enough?) to actually make the purchase.

Winter Horses

And then we rode them!

Where am I?

I am an incongruously decorative Art Deco lion head on the side of a rundown industrial skeleton (aka graffiti canvas)- what city am I in?  (Ha, I think only one person can answer this.)

Four servings a day!

Candied fruits- a common street vendor dessert in China.  These ones are at a stand in Chongqing's "Old City" (aka tourist market).  I recall that market being dotted with inexplicable Whack-A-Mole machines between the vendor stands...

I also recall that day seeing an armless man painting intricate watercolors with his mouth, paintings indistinguishable from those by a fully-appendaged artist.  His control over the pressure on the brush tip, the speed and flow of his work- it was pretty amazing.  And, if I were to be perfectly honest, one of the most effective hard-not-hard sells I saw in the nation of the epically hard sell- boyfriend and I came away with three of his pieces.

Two Views of a Brushfire

L' Oeuvre de la course cycliste

This morning I finished Zola's L' Oeuvre (The Work, or The Masterpiece)...