A reader writes:
I've been doing this for as long as I remember, and I'm pretty good. But did you have to start with such a difficult and ugly picture? There are few clues in this one. I'd say it's a view from a drug rehab halfway house in Texas or Oklahoma. Pretty cool that the inhabitant reads your blog.
We know our base. Another writes:
Canada, Newfoundland, St. John's. Why? Assuming this photo was recently taken. Buildings, windows, fence and trees look North American. Flora seems to be more Atlantic side than Pacific. Deciduous trees in background don't have leaves. Looks like there had been a lot of snow. Has to be pretty far north.
Another:
The foliage looks sparse and bare, which leads me to believe that it was taken in the Southern Hemisphere - I'm guessing Victoria, Australia. That, or some drought-affected part of Central California!
Another:
The Faroe Islands. Reason: probably a high latitude judging by sky and shadow. Ivy on tree suggest north western Europe to me. No leaves on trees means far north.
Another:
Saskatchewan, Canada is my vote. My first thought was the U.S. or Australia, but then I realized that it could be Canada as well; it's a country with *room*. The still-bare branches with short grass just sprouting up argue for a north-temperate zone location which favors Canada. Of course, it could be Alaska or Russia but I'm sticking with Canada. Europe is out.
Another:
Bratislava, Slovakia?
Another:
American window latch, American fencing and roofing. But not many leaves on those trees: either a drought or somewhere still very cold. Big prairie clouds. Pollarded tree, but a big one. I know that only from the US South. (Pollarded trees in France are smaller, garden size, not some huge pin oak or red or silver maple.) Texas? Argentina? Manitoba? But also a place with a Dish reader! Let’s say Stillwater, Oklahoma.
Another:
I'm guessing West Virginia. The trees seem east coast US-y to me, and the locking system on the window looks comfortingly familiar. Specifically West Viriginia, I'm sad to say, because the photo gives a sense of an area hard on its luck.
Another:
Spokane, Washington? Pretty sure this is the States. This could be anywhere from Idaho to Nebraska to Maine I reckon. I figured I'd guess my home town since it was the first contest, and that is exactly where it reminded me of.
And then the paydirt:
Looks like my grandma's backyard. Houses that look like sheds, signs of year-round drought, and Georgia O'Keeffe clouds gotta be Albuquerque, NM ... no?
Close - Farmington, New Mexico, 4 pm. Española was the closest answer, submitted first by a reader with the initials P.L. - congrats! And thanks to the hundreds of readers who participated. Shall we do this weekly?