And This Mystery Photo Is...

 

On my last post, I finally found a mystery picture that was a real mystery to you all. A few of you came close but nobody figured out exactly what Sunday night's mystery picture actually was. You did make some great guesses however. 

The stumper mystery photo

Some of you were right there with my title last week saying "what in the world is that?" You were too stumped to come up with a guess. Then again, Mary said she didn't know what it was but thought it might be invading earth. So that would mean it was out of this world. Thank goodness, she wasn't right. :) 

The most popular guess was the sprouts on a potato or roots. Faye thought it might be deformed roots. A couple of you said starfruit. Then there were those of you a bit grossed out by the picture and remembering pictures of the inside of intestines. You can be assured I haven't been taking any pictures like that!

Then we had the creative guesses. Kate guessed a seashell with dingle berries. That was a fun guess. Annette saw an olive covered cheese ball but she admitted the olives were a bit weird. To stick with the cheese theme Patricia guessed cheese or potato through a grater. That showed she was really thinking. Donna guessed orange or grapefruit peel enlarged a lot, I suppose. A few of you thought of cow udders. My sister made an imaginative guess of dust on some sort of special dust rag. The most imaginative part of that guess is imagining I'd been dusting. LOL. 

The Rest of the Picture

Judith was partly right guessing pollen and Robin was nearest to being right by saying a flower with pollen. I suppose you could even say that was right although she didn't say which flower. I assured you that most of you had seen this before but you have probably never taken such an up close look at the bloom of a peace lily. 

Thanks to all of you who guessed and made the mystery picture last week fun. I have to admit I enjoyed stumping you because usually I can't. One more mystery picture to guess up top. This one probably won't be as difficult for you, but remember to guess first and then read the other guesses to make it more fun. 

I'll draw three winners on Sunday using a random number generator online. The winners get their choice of one of my books, (you can see more info about the titles on my website) plus a grab bag book. USA or Canada winners win a print book and if you're overseas, I'll send you an e-book. International postage is a killer. Remember you have to be over 18 to enter but that doesn't mean you can't get your kids to help you guess the mystery pictures. Please leave a way to contact you in case you're one of the winners. If you've already entered, a new guess on the new mystery photo gets you another entry in the drawing. 

Thanks again for dropping by and playing my mystery photo contest. And no, my sister doesn't get to win, just make guesses. She's already got all my books. :)

What in the World is That?

New Mystery Photo

Great Guesses

You all are the most fun! Love the guesses and I have to admit that I'm glad I did finally trick a few of you with my mystery picture. I still think it sort of looks like a fish head and NOBODY guessed anything near that. But somebody did guess a caterpillar under snow. That has to be the most creative guess so far although the yellow snow the result of a polar bear passing by was certainly very interesting!! Or at least, entertaining. 

We actually had snow Saturday here. I happened to be out of state visiting my daughter in a state to the south and missed it, but wow, the photos I saw on Facebook were gorgeous. Still, I didn't see any of polar bears in our area. LOL. Thank goodness!!

There were also guesses of Angel Food or lemon sponge cake and one of you simply guessed a lemon. I can see all those guesses. I liked the one where you suggested the pineapple was floating in a bowl of punch for a baby boy shower. A baby boy because of the blue, I'm sure. 

The Rest of the Picture

As you can see from the "rest of the picture" posted here, many of you were right when you guessed pineapple. That was a nice plate of fruit I got at Bistro Restaurant inside JosephBeth Bookstore last week. I had one of those doctor appointments where they order you to skip breakfast. So, I mostly went in to get a cup of tea for a bit of a caffeine fix at the Bistro, To my distress, they were out of black tea. So I settled for fruit. I need to carry tea bags in my purse the way my agent does. She orders a cup of hot water and then brings out a sleeve of tea bags. I would have been happy with one plain old Lipton bag. What some of you thought looked like "snow" in the picture is actually sugar I sprinkled on the fruit. A little sugar always makes things better. :) And a cup of black tea! Of course, just getting to go to the bookstore is a treat. 

On to the Next Challenge

So now on to the next challenge. Know what the picture up top is? If the first guesser gets this one, I may throw in the towel and give up on ever tricking you all!! My daughter and son-in-law kept suggesting I take a picture of this or that to make into a mystery photo while I was visiting them this weekend. I did not take this one in SC. That's the only hint I'm giving you. You don't need hints. You always guess right!

But right or wrong, a guess or even a "what in the world is that" gets you another entry into my drawing for one of my books and a grab bag book by a different author. Remember, if you are overseas, you can only win an e-book. You have to be 18 to enter. Feel free, however, to enlist the help of your kids in the guessing fun to figure out the photos. Please leave your e-mail or a way I can contact you just in case you are one of the three lucky winners.  

And thanks for guessing and joining in the fun. One more mystery picture on Wednesday and I'll draw for the winners on February 1st. Each guess on a different picture gets you an additional entry.

A Bee and a Winner

I finally stumped some of you with my mystery picture. Last Sunday, most of you got the polar bear underwater right away, but this little bee had some of you coming up with great guesses that were fun but not exactly right. Linda and Danie had the sharpest eyes, although Linda thought the bee was on a sunflower. The most popular answer was an eye of something and I thought when I posted it that it sort of looked like an eye. You think that might be to scare away birds? You know, like this "eye" is watching you. Butterflies and caterpillars sometimes have eye protective markings. 

On to the guesses. Amy guessed eye of a chick. Lisa said a bird eye and Belinda said a bug's eye. Ola said eye of a bee, so she was sort of right. Nancee and Juanita used a little more imagination. Nancee said it looked like the eye of an animal reflecting a shadow of a bird and Juanita thought it might be a bunny's eye reflecting the sky. Great vision there, ladies. 

But they weren't the only ones seeing a little more. Judy thought there might be a dove or an angel above a bear head. I looked for that, but I guess I didn't have my angel eyes on. :) I loved Loretta's very sure answer of a bird's head. Patricia made me smile when she said it was Oscar's nose. I did have a mystery photo of part of Oscar's nose in one of my previous contests.

Britney thought it might be a chipmunk. Maxie came up with a moon peeking through something furry. Judy thought it might be a koala bear if it wasn't a stuffed animal. Melanie, Susan and RW also went for the stuffed animal. It does sort of look like a teddy bear. Faye laughed about her guess of something giving birth. She knew that wasn't it, but that was her first thought and then she was seeing a zipper somewhere. You know, if you had very many babies, a zipper would make sense. Right, Faye? LOL. I really liked Sue's different guess. While everybody else is thinking animals, Sue is thinking M & M cookies. 

I'm sure you can tell I was glad you didn't all guess right. Made the game more fun. Maybe I can be just a little bit mysterious after all! Besides, the guess didn't have to be right in order to enter the drawing, so all of you were entered. Some of you twice if you guessed on both pictures. 

And the winner is....

Elaine J wins Karen Kingsbury's book, The Chance and her choice of one of my books. (Elaine, I'll be in touch to see what book you want.) Elaine guessed on the polar bear picture and guessed right. Most of you guessed right on that one. 

I groaned a little when I looked at the first guess on my fuzzy little bee when Danie, right off, knew it was a bee. I was thinking, oh no, they're all going to get this one too. And after I pestered that bee until it's a wonder I didn't get stung. Then the fun began. I hope your guesses made you smile the way they did me. I never guess these kinds of pictures either. 

Thanks again for playing my mystery photo game. We'll do it again soon, but whether we have mystery photos or something else, you can be sure I'll be giving away more books and prizes soon. 

Mystery Photos in Spring

 "Mystery creates wonder and wonder is the basis of man's desire to understand." (Neil Armstrong)

Do you like mysteries? I like reading them. Not sure I'd actually want to be involved with one although when I was a kid I imagined being like the Hardy Boys and solving all sort of mysteries. Now I'm happy when I can solve the mystery of my missing keys or what happened to that letter I just had in my hand and laid down somewhere a minute ago. Of course, that might not be such a mystery if my desk wasn't such a mess. 

Fun Guesses

For some of you my mystery picture wasn't much of a mystery. For others of you, the picture had you doing some creative thinking. Love the yellow boots and sleds in the snow guesses, and you know, that snow does look like soapsuds or maybe ice in a cooler. A few of you saw a fence and bananas. Right color. Wrong object. The best wrong guess was Kristy's idea of a book in one of those yellow plastic bags that the telephone company uses when they pitch out the new telephone books by our mailboxes. I could see that. But, as you can see in the "rest of the picture" above, those of you who said a daffodil or jonquil, as we always called them when I was growing up, in the snow were right.

Mystery Picture 2

So are you ready to do some more guessing? You'll probably get this one right away too. Or at least some of you will. Remember, it's more fun to guess first and read the comments second. Then you can guess if you're right or not. A new guess gets you another entry in the drawing. Some of you didn't leave a way to contact you with your first guess, but you need to do that if you want to be in the drawing for one of my books and another grab bag book. I'm going to pick two winners on the 19th. Remember you can write your e-mail out with yourname(at)mailprovider(dot)com or net. And if you'd rather not do that, you can always send me a message at annhgabhart(at)yahoo(dot)com. 

Spring is Springing

Here in Kentucky, spring is going to give us a little preview next week with temperatures in the sixties. Official spring is about 10 days away, but usually spring sneaks into Kentucky early. Not so much this year. However, Daylight Savings Time did show up earlier than it used to. That will make the days feel longer even though they're still the same twenty-four hours. 

What gets you to thinking spring?   

I noticed my windows needed washing today. But I'd rather be seeing flowers to get me thinking spring instead of dirty windows. what has you thinking spring?

"No winter last forever; no spring misses its turn." (Hal Borland)

No winter lasts forever; no spring skips its turn.

Hal Borland

Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/spring.html#IoEjqrK8OhXK5SVG.99"No

No winter lasts forever; no spring skips its turn.

Hal Borland

Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/spring.html#IoEjqrK8OhXK5SVG.99

One More Puzzling Picture

"Who in the world am I? Ah, that's the great puzzle." (Lewis Carroll) 

So to twist the quote a bit, what in the world is it? Are you tired of mystery photos yet? I hope not. I thought I'd do one more to let you keep guessing to perhaps win that copy of the newly packaged Orchard of Hope. I think Jocie and Wes would have had fun guessing on these mystery pictures too. Maybe I'll let Jocie come up with some sort of puzzle for her Hollyhill Book of the Strange blog. Jocie likes puzzles. Did you see her post about Beatlemania. Do you remember that? I do. I never swooned or screamed, but I sure did like singing "I Want to Hold Your Hand." Not exactly the greatest song ever written, but it grabbed our attention, didn't it?











But here is the rest of the picture of last Wednesday's mystery photo. Several of you were right on the money with your caterpillar guesses. You even told me exactly what kind of caterpillar and that they were tomato horn worms that becomes a sphinx moth. The bubbles that I thought were so neat were actually deadly to the poor caterpillar according to the info Kathleen found for us. Here's the last bit to explain the bubbles. (Not sure about her source.) "Here's this handy tidbit, if needed: Find out what kind of bug you have: Is it a good bug or a bad bug? Keep a look out for little caterpillar/worm like pests and spray or squish them. The only exception that I can bring to mind would be a tomato hornworm (green caterpillar) -- if it has a bunch of bubbles on its back, it is infected by a beneficial wasp that will eliminate a few generations of the hornworms. Leave them. They are on the way out anyway." 

You readers teach me so much. But now let's see what you teach me about the mystery picture up top. Oh yeah, and I loved your guesses on the last one - garden hose, cabbage leaves, lime halves, cactus leaves.  You were using your imaginations. Thanks for giving it a try. 

If you want to be in the drawing for a copy of Orchard of Hope, just make a guess on the mystery photo or any comment will do. If you've already guessed on one of the other photos, you'll get an extra entry for guessing on this one too. I'll pick three winners on November 1.