2 Things Challenge: Star/Vegetable

The 2 Things Challenge this week was Star/Vegetable.  I present several stars from the "vegetable kingdom", a Sweet Gum leaf, the green remnant of a tomato bud atop the ripe fruit, a star fruit, and the remnant of a persimmon bud atop a full grown, but not quite ripe persimmon.

Ribbit!

I just caught this little guy on the outside of our kitchen window.  I think he had come down from the big oak to catch his dinner near the light.  I have no idea what kind of frog he is.

2 Things Challenge: Suit/Playful

The 2 Things Challenge this week is Suit/Playful.

For this challenge, I have chosen to determine which suit is the most playful by analyzing the expressions on the face cards of a standard deck of Bicycle Rider Back Playing Cards.  You may have to zoom in to see some of the details I talk about here.  I knew that there were things like one-eyed Jacks and other differences between the suits, but I had never sat down and studied them before.  

Let's start with the Jacks.  As I look at them, the Diamond and Club Jacks appear to be the youngest, probably because they are both clean shaven, but the Diamond Jack's mouth seems slightly turned down, and his whole countenance seems like he has just suffered some minor disappointment, but overall, not a very playful mood.  The Club Jack seems much more open in his expression, but perhaps more studious than playful.  The Heart and Spade Jacks seem a little more mature, but the Heart Jack seems a little concerned about something, based primarily on the upturned inner corner of his eyebrows.  Now the Jack of Spades seems the most playful of the four to me.  Note the upturned smirk of his lips, and the overall rakish demeanor of his appearance.  So, based on the Jacks, I vote for Spades as the most playful.

Now let's turn to the Queens.  To be honest about it, none of the Queens look very happy nor playful.  I detect a bit of anger in the almost snooty expression of the Queen of Spades, and the Queen of Clubs looks like she's resigned herself to living out her days as a subservient monarch in a kingdom she doesn't much like.  The eyes of the Queen of Hearts have somewhat of a sadness to them, even though her mouth has the slightest hint of pleasantness about it.  While the Queen of Diamonds doesn't show extreme joy or very much playfulness, her crooked smile and inquisitive eyes indicate there may be some playfulness buried down in there.  So based on just the Queens, I would vote Diamonds as the most playful suit, but not very strongly.

Now let's look at the Kings.  King of Diamonds is definitely the least playful of the lot.  He looks absolutely depressed, very down about something.  Next look at the King of Spades.  He looks very confident in his leadership, but his eyebrows betray a very deep worry about something.  It is difficult to be playful when you are worried sick.  The King of Clubs seems like a stoic monarch who is posing for a portrait and feels like he must look regal for it, but not necessarily happy.  But look at that King of Hearts.  He seems the youngest (no mustache) and to me, definitely the most playful of the lot.  His eyes and mouth look pretty happy, and he's got that sword held jauntily high behind his head, like he's about to do something he would enjoy, hopefully not behead someone.  Anyway, the King of Hearts wins the playfulness title, hands down, among the Kings.

So, we have the Jack of Spades, the Queen of Diamonds (barely), and the King of Hearts.  Well, that tells me that Clubs is the least playful of the suits, but which is the most playful?  When I look at it all, and based on the importance of the King, and the strength of the King of Hearts' playfulness, I vote for Hearts as the most playful suit.

What are your thoughts?

2 Things Challenge: Satisfaction/Old

The 2 Things Challenge this week was Satisfaction/Old.

This is my first camera.  I got it for Christmas when I was 11 years old, and believe me, that makes it OLD.  

This may very well be the first photo I ever took with that camera on Christmas Day, 1959.  The date says January, 1960, but in those days it was roll film, which was a pain to load without ruining it, and you didn't develop the roll until you had taken up the 12 or 24 frames.  I'm not even sure Polaroid had come out by then.

The subjects are my grandmother who lived with us, and my cousin and his mother.  He was almost exactly my age (2 days difference, he was older), and as you can see, he got a camera for Christmas that year too.  He always came over on Christmas Day to see what we got and to show us what he got.

Although the photos were always blurry and poorly exposed, I got quite a bit of SATISFACTION from that old camera, even today as I scan in the few surviving photos I took with it.  I later owned many Kodak Instamatics, even the little bitty 110 variety, but I think this is the only one I still have from before the SLRs which came much later in life.

2 Things Challenge: Door/Road

The 2 Things Challenge this week was Road/Door.  This is the shop of my barber in Columbiana.  She is also a sort of professional photographer.  You can see the back door to her shop through the window, and reflected in the window, you can see the yellow glow of the street lamp on the road between her shop and the courthouse (reflection looming in the window against the dusky blue sky).