TARATS Entries 13 & 14

The newest entries in TARATS are from Australia! I was pleased to have an entry from the Purple Traveller in the UK last year (I'm hoping he'll be back), and now this! Awesome. Thing is, it is Springtime in Australia because, well, Australia is located in the Southern hemisphere. If an Aussie wants to enter my contest with Spring trees because that's what they have when I'm flogging my contest, I'm gonna let 'em. If you don't like it, you can just Go Stuff Yourself (see sidebar for helpful advert).

Be sure to check out the slide show on the entrants page to see the two entries described in this email:

Here are two. The purple Jacaranda is in Brisbane, I photographed it on my way home from Canada near the end of September. It is an iconic sign of spring in the sub-tropics here, Brisbane has many fine examples. The red is the Poinciana I photographed on my way out to the dam yesterday in Townsville. There are better examples, but this one is part of my routine so I appreciate it more. I hope people don’t mind that you allow ‘non-standard’ entries, but I thought this was too fun to miss. You have some stunning entries this year.

Does anybody else find the place name "Townsville" kind of funny, in a "Cityburgh" kind of way?

Anyway, this year's smackdown has contestants that are helping me redefine the rules, that's for sure! Multiple entries? Why not? Spring trees from Australia? You bet!

The way I see it though, this is a stupid contest with stupid prizes and flexible (stupid) rules. Am I wrong? No, I'm not, because it is my contest! If you think I'm wrong, well, uh uh, YOU'RE wrong, stupid! Go run your own stupid contest!

This post has proven to be a great deal of fun to write, way more fun than I expected when I started. I have discovered that writing the word "stupid" a lot is super satisfying, almost as much as using the word "mutant". It's the little things, y'know?

Yer Stupid Mutant Pal,

R A N T W I C K