Thursday, December 13, 2012

Mystery Photos

I have a number of objects in the images below which might pose a bit of a mystery as to what they are. I can and will give you answers for all but one of them because I don't know what that one is, myself. I'm hoping one of you can tell me.

Have a look at the images and see how many you can figure out before reading the answers below each picture. Some will require another photo or two to clarify.

Mystery Circles

mystery circles
Another one in case it helps.


mystery circles2

Answer: If you notice the outer curve in each photo, that might give you a hint. It's the bottom of a pot in which I'm about to cook spaghetti. It's filled with water and a few drops of oil to keep the pasta from sticking. The oil formed these circles.



Unhappy Cold Face

sad face
Answer: This one is pretty obvious but I thought it was kind of cute - an unhappy scoop of cherry ice cream. The fruit and an inadvertent smudge from the chocolate cake icing give it the appearance of two eyes and a frown.




Bombs Away

black ball
When I snapped this shot, I was struck by how much this item looked like a tiny bomb. It's smaller than a green pea and grows in clusters. This one just happened to have been the last one standing in its group.



cluster
Answer: Here's what they look like on an otherwise bare tree. A treat for the birds and squirrels.




One of the Simpsons?

catching light
Answer: It was the late-day sunlight peeking through a discarded paper towel on the patio table outside. I thought the lit part looked like a cross between Marge and Homer Simpson.




Wild Lace

lacy
Any idea?
 

wild cucumber tendril
Here's a clue. This tendril with those two little seeds was once part of it when it had seen better days.



wild cucumber
Answer: It was a decaying wild cucumber pod as seen here at its prime. The decomposing pod was resting in a rain puddle with the light hitting it in such a was that I could resist snapping it with the macro lens.




A Tangled Mess

swirly mess
Frank pointed this one out to me. That should give you a good clue right there.

Answer: It's a number of salmon skeletons caught upon one another in a swirly part of the creek.




True Mystery

what is it
This is the one that has me stumped. It's located in a park near where we've been house hunting. If you pull on those chains, the upper portion begins to slide down the pole, but it creates quite a bit of tension. I'm thinking it's some kind of exercise equipment but there's another identical one just a few feet away and then nothing else remotely resembling fitness stations anywhere else in the park. Am I way off? Probably. I'd love to hear your best guesses - educated or otherwise.

How About That - An Answer: Well things have a funny way of resolving, sometimes. While I was putting this post together, I wandered over to Google with the term "Mystery Photos" just to see what other people might have posted with that same title.

Imagine my surprise when I landed on this page  and saw that number 11 appeared to be the same mystery object. It's called a Disc Golf Goal. Further Google and YouTube surfing led me to an interesting video which shows how it's used. Clearly a fun frisbee game for all seasons.



I might be the only one on the face of the planet who didn't know that. Just humour me and tell me that I'm not alone, please. Nah, I'm kidding. If you did know what it was, I'd love to hear it.

44 comments:

ADRIAN said...

The pictures I got were interesting. I'll try later. I'm short of bandwidth at the moment.

Aritha V. said...

Wow, love this pretty blog :-)

Brian Miller said...

hilary these are amazing...i love pics like this...haha...that one that looks like a web egg is so cool!!!!

Kerri Farley said...

How Fun! Your macro shots leave me speechless!

Leah J. Utas said...

Excellent work. Loved the little bomb.
You are not alone. I had no clue what that last thing was.

DJan said...

Very interesting batch of mysteries here. I especially like the last one, because I too did not have a clue!

Nadezda said...

Hillary, you're not alone, I'm with you, I've never known about 'Disc Golf Goal'! Pretty post!
P.S.
But I always knew the YouTube video music: Russian composer Khachaturian, "Dance with sabres"

Christine said...

I've tried to get a frisbee into one of those... it's hard. I feel like I just played photo charades with a lovely groups ~ so fun : )

Tabor said...

I had not a single clue on that frisbee catcher, but now I want one!

Daryl said...

not a clue .. but i wondered if you could read those labels if it might not have helped figure it out

Linda at To Behold The Beauty said...

The mystery object looked familiar to me, but I didn't know what it was. That "disc golf" game looks interesting. Some of those guys in the video were really good.

TexWisGirl said...

nope. i had no clue on that one. thanks for the wild cucumber! hadn't seen one of those since i left wisconsin! and i loved the angry cold face. :)

Suldog said...

I was going to give you an answer, but it would have been slightly wrong. I knew it was a goal for some sort of Frisbee game, but I didn't know it was called disc golf.

As for the Wild Lace thing, it looks like some sort of brain from a sci-fi movie.

Mage said...

Nope, I didn't know that at all and should have. We have a course here in town in Balboa park.

Thanks for your note day before yesterday. I appreciated it.

stephen Hayes said...

I have no idea what that chain device is but it looks like a Medieval torture contraption.

OmaLindasOldeBaggsandStuftShirts said...

The angry cold face is so great...funny about accidental art.
As to the chain thingie....I saw one in a park on the east side of our city last summer and pondered its use then....thanks for the new knowledge. Just one less thing to have to ponder, tee hee. Oma Linda

Ruth Hiebert said...

Fascinating images. I wondered about the circles. Yes,oil will do that.

~JarieLyn~ said...

Hillary, these are very creative. I love all of your macro shots and it was fun trying to guess what they were. The last image, I had no idea what it was until you gave the answer and then I remembered we have these things at one of our parks and there are always lots of people playing this game. It looks a lot harder than real golf but it's kind of played the same way.

Frank Baron said...

Surprised nobody has "eww-d" the salmon bones shot. You have a polite crowd here. ;) (And more precisely, they're mostly salmon vertebrae.)

The frisbee-catcher is cool. Glad you solved the mystery. :)

Mental P Mama said...

These were great! Love the oil.

Unspoken said...

Who'd have thought decaying cucumber could look so col. Perhaps the world looks more amazing to those who see the details :).

Barb said...

For some reason half the photos won't open for me. But the half that will - wowza.

Shaun said...

They are really good play on photos. The simpsons one looks like side show bob with the big hair an all.
Great post

ellen abbott said...

I got the first one right away but danced around the others. Knew they were plant based but that's all. In my defense, we don't have wild cucumbers here so I've never seen one. The salmon skeletons though I thought might be some sort of marine creature egg cases.

Gary's third pottery blog said...

I play frisbee golf! I would have won a prize with my correct guess ;)

Gail Dixon said...

These are so great! Your eyes are really attuned to your surroundings. I used to play frisbee golf back in the day, so I knew right away what the last shot was. I think it lost its popularity in the 80s. :)

Cloudia said...

awesome shots, and a mystery! I was off on a Goggle image search (nothing!) was trying to read the label and google THAT...should have read to the end - you SOLVED it!


Warm Aloha from Honolulu
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Glo said...

I love looking at all of your photos, which inspire me to see things from different perspectives! I just recently became aware of disc golf, but apparently my sons have known about it for ages! Looks like a great game for winging it!

Anonymous said...

I've heard of frisbee golf but never Disc Golf - so you're not alone!

All your shots are magical!

Stewart M said...

I may have taken more than half a life time to get that last one!!

Cheers - Stewart M - Melbourne

Lisa Gordon said...

What fun this was, Hilary! I actually guessed the pot of water, and I absolutely love the photograph of the tendril. Really beautiful.

Wishing you a wonderful weekend!
xo.

Indrani said...

I was not right about guessing the oil drops. Great macro captures.

lime said...

kind of funny but the only one i recognized right off was the frisbee golf station and only because friends of ours installed a set in their expansive back yard.

Betty Manousos said...

simply fabulous!

dear hilary, quite frankly, you are my endless source of inspiration! you really are!

big hugs

Lynne with an e said...

I've never seen such a gizmo. It would be a lot more fun if the thing could actually return the frisbee. Maybe it's the modern day way of guys satisfying their innate hunter instincts?

The tender tendril shot is terrific!

Bob Bushell said...

You're a teaser, and I am easy at teasing. Your photos are beautiful Hilary.

SandyCarlson said...

That mystery piece is a mystery to me, too. All your shots are fabulous.

Anvilcloud said...

Whoathunk frisbees?!

Zuzana said...

Dear Hilary, the only one I got right was the black berries, as we have those in our garden too.;) The rest was so clear once I read the answer.;) The metal contraption? Never seen anything like that in my life.;)
Hope you will soon find your home, like we we did.;) Have a wonderful week ahead,
xoxo

abhinavr said...

Wonderful and interesting photos! Many of them I couldn't guess especially that Disc Golf Goal. And that video is simply amazing!

Barbara said...

I actually knew what it was - I've seen some in parks near us, and our cub scout pack played there once. The rest of them I couldn't guess. Sigh. Those salmon skeletons make me sad!

Unknown said...

Hilary: I must be the only one on the planet who has never seen this sport at all! :)

Karen (formerly kcinnova) said...

Well, shoot! I knew that last one right away but I got here too late to share the answer with you.
We have a disc golf course here and it is very popular.

Rita said...

Loved you mystery shots! I only knew about the last one because when I used to live in Moorhead, Mn before I moved here to Fargo I lived next to a park that had a frisbee golf course set up and my son and his friends used to play. :)