And the Mystery Beat Goes On

“A continuing story is a beautiful thing to me, and mystery is a beautiful thing to me, so if you have a continuing mystery, it’s so beautiful. And you can go deeper and deeper into a story and discover so many things.” ~David Lynch

Thanks for all your fun comments and guesses on my first mystery photo. You came up with quite a variety, and for most of them, I could nod and agree that the close-up picture could have been what you guessed. Of course, it wasn’t exactly right  except for one one you. There were other guesses that were on the right track. The popular guess was a butterfly/moth/insect wing. Other guesses stuck with nature and flowers.

There was Judi’ s dandelion puff guess. I’ve seen some pink Queen Anne’s lace so why not a pink dandelion puff, but no, it wasn’t that. Lee guessed a frost flower. That’s because she knows I’m always taking picture of that spun ice and posting them on Facebook or Instagram. But again, I would have had to die those frost swirls pink.

A couple of you said a bow and I thought more of you might guess that. Dana said tulle, Trudy said netting material, and Lucy guessed burlap fibers. I was surprised no one actually said a shower puff for bathing.

Janet and Susan and Lauren made me smile guessing pet hair or dog hair or just anybody’s hair. Lavon was the only one to guess food. Her toasted marshmallow guess made me wonder if I should roast a marshmallow and take a picture. Might make a great mystery photo.

Lavon scattershot guesses and she went on to say spun sugar. It definitely could almost be cotton candy. When I was a teen, I worked in a concession stand trying to raise money for some 4-H activity. I got stuck with making the cotton candy. It was sort of fun once I caught on to how to get it wrapped around the paper cone. But believe me, I went home with sticky spun sugar all over my arms, my clothes and even in my hair. But the thing is cotton candy is quite often pink.

A couple said spiderwebs. One of them was Hope who had a right guess before she talked herself out of it and went with spiderweb. Lisa H thought of coral. That’s a great guess. Wrong, but very imaginative. Ola said a ground cherry. Hmmm. I’ll have to look up what that looks like.

Una had an answer that is plain and simple. “I don’t know.” Sometimes that’s the best answer at all. We can hedge around the issue, whatever that might be, but sometimes you just need to stand up straight and admit you just don’t know the answer. Besides, there aren’t any bonus points for being right.

If there had been Connie Lee would have gotten them when she said a dried flower. Susan F. tiptoed close to the answer by guessing plant. Actually it’s a dried hydrangea bloom that my daughter took a picture of and shared with me a year or so ago in case I needed another mystery photo.  My kids get into coming up with mysterious photos to keep the mystery game going.

Several of you said how much you enjoy how your imagination gets some exercise as you try to figure out the pictures. I’m glad that you think it’s fun.

And so we come to mystery photo 2 for this round of Mystery Photo Game. It’s up top and I have the feeling that it might not be such a mystery, but we’ll see.

I’ll end with a little writing note. I went to Union, Kentucky today to talk to a senior citizen group. They and some of the staff at the assisted living facility were great listeners. They were great at asking questions which is always my favorite part of any book talk. I had told them that reading Hardy Boy mysteries was why I started writing at age ten because it sounded like so much fun to be in the middle of a mystery. Anyway, one of the staff was a major Hardy Boy fan when he was a kid and he now has collected most of the Hardy Boy books. Then he asked me if I thought any of their stories had influenced my current writing. I had to admit that other than just inspiring me to pick up that pen or pencil to start writing years ago, I really didn’t remember anything about the books. I couldn’t have even come up with the Hardy boys first names. When he named them today, I knew they were right, but I couldn’t have come up with them myself. Now Nancy Drew, I had her name. LOL.

On to Mystery Photo 2. What do you think it is?

Each time you guess on a new mystery photo, you get a new entry into the drawing for a choice of one of my books. I’ll pick two winners. Midnight EST on June 9, 2026 is the deadline for entries. You have to make the guess or a whatever  comment for your entry here on my post and not on FB or Instagram if you see the post there. You have to be at least 18 years old to enter, but feel free to let your kids help you with your guess. Oh, and thanks so much for playing and making the game fun.