Can you spot the “mislead” in this photo?
For reasons obvious to people who know me, I particularly enjoy Australian or Australia-related foods and healthy beverages. Crisp and sweet-tart, Granny Smith apples, either in one of Karen’s famous apple pies or fresh with fine cheese are among my favorite fruits.
The Granny Smith cultivar (a plant variety that has been produced in cultivation by selective breeding) actually originated in Eastwood, New South Wales, less than 20 miles from where I grew up. The bright-green fruit variety’s developer was Maria Ann Smith, a popular orchardist, who in 1868 reportedly chanced upon its first seedling among some ferns near a local creek. After she and her husband Thomas had raised a large family, Maria became widely known as “Granny Smith.” By the mid-1970s, almost half of Australia’s apple crop was Granny Smith apples, and since the 1980s an October “Granny Smith Festival” draws many thousands of people to both Eastwood and the nearby town of Ryde.
Oh, and another typically Australian delight is carefully brewed, truly hot tea. Karen follows the strict rule of bringing the water to a full bubbling boil, pre-heating the china pot and china cups, and allowing the tea leaves fully, richly to steep in the hot, hot water. Yum!
Well, what then is the “mislead”? There is a kind of “trick” in this blog entry. Study my still-life photo and the story above to see if you can decide how I have attempted to mislead you. To award a prize, we will draw from names of those who correctly identify my trickery and submit their answers in the comments below.
Also, you won’t want to miss a future blog article in which I will provide a practical lesson remarkably well illustrated by today’s posting.
Love to all from Grahame
About Grahame Nicolson
An ex-patriate Australian living full-throttle in Big Sky Country until he “lays rubber all the way into Heaven!”
Guessing it’s the apples. Maybe some Golden Delicious cleverly disguised as Granny Smiths? 🙂
Dear Emily: Interesting observation…but keep looking and thinking. We’ll confirm correct answers sometime soon. Love ya. GN
There’s no tea in the cup methinks… And the cup isn’t preheated yet… And the apples are fake…
Or I’m waaaaay off and just crazy. 😛 lol — Love you Bub!
Imaginative and thoughtful, Bubette, but keep looking and thinking. We’ll confirm correct answers sometime soon. Love ya. Bub
I’m guessing that looking at the apples their stems are still green meaning their probably freshly picked and or premature apples. From looking at pictures of granny smith apples, they look more glossy and vibrant. Were those apples up their look more waxy and cloudy skin. So I would have to say that the apples are premature gala apples freshly picked from a tree. Either that or the picture is missing a pot of tea.
Hey, A.B., we miss ya! Insightful analysis by you, as we would expect, but keep looking and thinking. We’ll confirm correct answers soon. God’s peace, Bro. We love ya. GN
Your tea bag next to the cup is misleading as you brew your tea in a pot and then pour it into the cup.
Aaah…one of my high school classmates thought that dark area to be a tea bag, It’s just part of the cup’s flower pattern. Keep looking and thinking, Rebecca. We will confirm correct entries soon. God bless the whole jolly extended Ames Ranch Bunch. GN
I’m guessing that the room wasn’t really dark all around with just the tea cup and apples illuminated. 🙂
Yep, DJSB, utilized software’s “spotlight” feature. How did your apple crisp turn out? Granny Smith apples, perhaps? Love and hugs all around the Baliko Barracks. GN
Apples were of unknown variety, hand-picked by yours truly on the Key Peninsula in Washington State. And it turned out great! (Which is pretty remarkable, since I realized half way through that I didn’t have any oats! Oat bran + rolled quinoa did the trick, though.)
My second guess is that the “china” in the picture is actually porcelain (although I also think Emily Forsman could be right about the apples being Golden Delicious).
Okay, changing my guess: I think these are actually crab apples from your yard that you’ve edited to look Granny Smith-green.
Aaah…DJSB…you are a formidable sleuth…but is your changed guess taking you in the right direction? Keep looking and thinking.
Okay, going back to Golden Delicious apples and a porcelain cup. (Two mis-leads.)
I can’t stop thinking about this. You’re a regular ol’ Will Shortz, Grahame. Do you play The Puzzler?
I woke up this morning thinking the words “trickery…” and “they deliberately try to mislead you…” and various other warnings in Scripture about false teachers and the fruit by which we (and they) can be identified. So, my final answer is that the fruit in the picture are not Granny Smith, as you’re suggesting, and are instead Golden Delicious. My guess is that in the next post, you’ll show the picture in normal lighting (“Everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for it is light that makes everything visible.” Eph. 5:13-14), and your “trickery” will be revealed.
I’m guessing that the back lighting of the apples and tea cup visually imply a greater relationship and importance to the tea cup and the apples than reality warrants. (in Grahame’s world reality they likely are that important but probably not in many others’ reality view of tea and Granny Smith apples.) Emphasis on anything can seem to make it seem more important and valuable (or dangerous) than it is according to the world’s general reality standards. Of course, the real, (not just Grahame’s reality about tea and apples ) reality standards are those of our Creator (Col. 3:1-2).
Joyfully sanctified, sound philosophical ruminations by our dear friend Gail, a genuine Christian thinker. And Colossians 3:1-2 is such a powerful passage that for me parallels Romans 11:33-12:2, particularly in reference to “…be transformed by the renewing of your mind….” Keep shining, Gail!
Well, I’d say those are definitely golden delicious apples, and not knowing anything about wares in Australia, it’d seem the style of that cup isn’t reminiscent of home… hmmmm…
Golden delicious, eh? Re the cup & saucer style…although most Aussies swear to the contrary, they do hang on to British traditions like pretty floral china. Although, you’re right about blokes like me: a #10 can with baling wire handle for heating water over the fire and any sort of cup or mug for the strong tea we call “Billy Tea” is certainly preferable. Hugs across the continent to you, dear Nellie. GN
I know the answer, but I’ll be “good” and keep it to myself. I have to confess that I only know it because of my privileged position as your leeeetle sista!
Hmmm, VMNB…as Aunty Hilda used to say of an occasional challenge to the understanding, “The mystery of all mysteries beyond all human ken.” Try out your answer to me in an e-mail, O brainy sister! GN
Phew! What a relief! I don’t have an advantage after all! I tried out my answer by email and it was wrong. Signed: Leeetle embarrassed sista.
Well, your answer was jolly good, and it COULD have been the right one…it just didn’t happen to be so! Keep looking, reading, and thinking.
By reason of special circumstances, my dear Berala Opportunity School and Parramatta High School classmate (in Australia) Heather McKay Finch asked me to post the attached image along with her contribution to the list of possible answers. The plaque pictured is not far from Heather’s house, and here is her entry:
_____________________________________________________________
“I’m blowed if I know, other than my guess
that the cup and saucer are from a child’s tea-set – maybe your Mum’s? But
that does not constitute a Mislead. I’m looking forward to the
Granny Smith festival in my home suburb of Eastwood, Sydney, on 18th October.
Parade, street stalls, Granny Smith ‘Princess’ and fireworks in the
evening. Our church will be handing out ‘sample bags.’ Of course, an
apple festival in spring is a bit weird, but who cares? Any excuse for a party.”
______________________________________________________________
With greetings across the wide ocean to the Great Land Down Under,
Grahame Nicolson (or “Nico,” as I am usually called over there)
PS. Most readers will know that Heather’s reference to spring is on account of the fact that October in the Southern Hemisphere is in that bright season of the year. (G)
Note re Heather’s photo of the Granny Smith Plaque:
To see the image, readers will most likely need to click on the little picture icon right below my “PS” about spring in Australia. (GN)
After careful analysis of the photo, I have come to a conclusion that the dark rose at the bottom of the teacup is not original to the floral pattern of the cup and saucer.
Yes, it is part of the original pattern, but it sure’ came out dark in the photo, didn’t it, Keegan? Blessings on you. GN
Yes, it sure did come out dark in the photo.
Okay, after reevaluating the picture, I think I just might be on the right track. The first apple you see on the bottom, which makes the apex of the apple display is a different variety of apple than the others in the picture.
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