picture contest week 18- March 9- overtime

Week 18- a winner and then overtime

The contest is done. We have a winner. The winner is….drum roll please…the pink water lily.
Here it is again at the top of the post.













The voting was spirited. We had an all time record of voting on the blog, 70 votes. The overall turnout was strong as well demonstrating that people are still inside rather than in their gardens. It is interesting that with the blue vote split so many ways, the non-blue picture was the winner.
Interesting fact I didn’t know: In the 60’s when the TV put up the maps for particular parties in elections, Republicans were Blue and Democrats were Red. Somewhere, sometime, the colors got reversed. Don’t you wonder how? Did someone just say- let's change the colors this week?

Here were the results from last week

1- Blue Crocus 20+6=26 for 31.3%
2- Pink Water Lily 28+2=30 for 36.1%
3- Blue Siberian Iris 17+3=20 for 24.1%
4- Blue Japanese Iris 5+2=7 for 8.4%

The first number in the addition is the electronic vote on the blog, the second the email vote.

Last year a water lily won also. Here is that picture.












_______________________________
So I still see snow. It was close to zero on Friday night. My mother in Springfield Missouri had 8 inches of snow earlier this week.
But a colleague in the office went to a marathon in Little Rock last weekend. She reports that there were daffodils blooming. Someone told me that there were little daffodil shoots emerging from under the snow in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Pretty soon they will be in southern Missouri. Who knows, by mid April they may be to Iowa City. (We could vote on the daffodil date but the blog poll is reserved for the pumpkin competition.)
The streets and sidewalks are almost clear of the ice. The temperatures this next week are going to be warmer. There is a 50-degree day in the forecast. And the daylight is so much more these days. I will withhold judgment for a few days about daylight savings. I quite franking prefer the light in the morning, as I usually get up before six, even without an alarm.


This contest has gotten us to March. It has not gotten us to real springtime. So we must have overtime.
And the pumpkins have stepped forward for your March enjoyment. If you recall, or for those of you who do not, I hung carved pumpkins in the trees in the front yard this past fall. I had plant hooks already there. So why let them be idle in the winter. So carved pumpkins volunteered. Maybe we can start something. As I mentioned last fall I just do not see many other pumpkins hanging in the trees around town.






___________________________________________________________________________
So out of so many great pumpkin pictures I have had to come up with four, at least for you to vote on. In all cases I have included multiple pictures. Some pictures allow you to see the pumpkin, fresh from the carving table. It is sort of a before and after thing. You are voting for the pumpkin, not necessarily the particular picture.

First there is the Christmas pumpkin-



____________________________________________________________________






Second there is Mardi Gras pumpkin.





















___________________________________________________________________
Third is Wintery pumpkin. While they all had to put up with some remarkable conditions this pumpkin showed the elements like none other.
















___________________________________________________________________

Finally there is this pumpkin for which I just can’t come up with an obvious name. It looks kind of like a monkey. It has also really shrunk over the winter. Maybe it will go up on the poll as the shrunken head pumpkin






___________________________________________________________________
The bonus section has the best of the rest of the winter pumpkins. I do like the smiley pumpkin, the puzzled pumpkin, spring training pumpkin, and the just plain tired pumpkin. Then there are several just cold or scary ones.
I will let you put the names with the faces.
















































































Enjoy the week. If the snow is still there next Sunday I will think of something else for your diversion.
Philip


Stop the presses. Stop the presses. From this afternoon I have a picture to cheer you right up. It was one of those make exclamation noise in the garden experiences. I went out to do some recreational raking in the back yard in the 6-8 feet next to the southern wall of our house. So here is what I found.
It is coming.
_______________________________________________________________________