I’m a big fan of Andrew Sullivan’s The Dish blog. In fact, I’d say I read it more than all other blogs that I follow, combined. Maybe twice as much, really.
One of the many features of the blog is a daily “View From Your Window,” in which he posts photos that readers have sent in from all over the world, showing, well, the views from their windows. Once a week, there’s a contest, in which readers are invited to guess where in the world the picture was taken. And since the blog has many, many thousands of regular readers, the contest usually comes down to who can pick out the precise window the picture was taken from, and can tell a compelling story about the site to go along with their pick.
It’s all way beyond me: generally I can’t even guess the right continent. But it’s always fun to read the responses and see how people have figured it out.
This week, though, the contest view looked familiar. That harbor … that breakwater … that architecture. Knowing that Sullivan is from Provincetown, I jumped to Google Maps’ satellite view, and within seconds I found not only the harbor/breakwater, but the exact brick/concrete pattern of the sidewalk. Bingo! The Provincetown Public Library! So I did something I’d never done before; I sent in a contest entry. I knew that most readers would also get it right, so I didn’t bother to go into much detail, and was really pretty frivolous about the whole thing. But I included the above photograph, which I shot almost on a whim when I was in P-Town two years ago this month. The statue is entitled “Tourists,” and I am definitely a tourist when it comes to Provincetown. And what the heck, it shows the library (then being rehabbed) in the background.
Today at noon, right on schedule, the contest results were announced. As you’ll see, almost 300 of 350 people who entered correctly guessed the Provincetown Public Library. No surprise there. But I was thrilled to see that they had used my picture along with the results! Very cool!
OK, not a big deal for anybody else, I know. But I enjoyed it.
You’ll also notice in the latter pictures that they have apparently finished the rehab job, and the library is looking mighty fine, as is the rest of the town in the other pictures. Ahh, Provincetown, I hope I see you again sooner rather than later…
