John Martinka and his infamous holiday sweater.

The Puzzler

Every now and then, our Memphis Belle spots unique patterns in pictures that are submitted for the Reveille. Robin particularly liked one a week ago and decided to have some fun with it. She cropped a picture down to focus on a very interesting pattern. The question was: “What is this?” Members were asked to send in their guesses, and here, for the first time, we publish the returns. Fifteen, or so, responses later, here’s how it turned out:

Peter Stadelman thought was “Martinka’s back/spine!” (Always in there plugging!).

Brian Heimbigner said, “A pattern in a quilt my sister made.”

Two candidates likely to possess holiday boxer shorts and suits: Dick Brown and Frank Young.

Rourke O’Brien, Peter Stadelman, and Chris Monger all thought it was Dick Brown’s tie. A later guess from Rourke suggested it might be the pattern on Dick Brown’s holiday boxer shorts – very festive, indeed.

John Hague got in the spirit of the season with “Close-up picture of Bob Marley’s first parachute lesson from the back” because he had “just watching a video of his and the shirt looked the same.”

Wayne McCaulley thought it was “John Mix’s new Yarmulke.” (What happened to the old one?);

Steve Lingenbrink, obviously not a connoisseur of fine patterns opined “Ugly.”

Wally Mahoney weighed in all the way from Long Island with “clothing from Albert Ltd.”

Jenny Andrews and the sweater she modeled.

Dick Swanson thought its was a “lousy looking sweater (Bah humbug!)”

Terry Peterson offered “a pattern in Wendi’s scarf (or one of Dick’s models).”

Jenny Andrews was positive the pattern came from the “design on the sweater from Albert Ltd. that I wore last Friday.”

John DeWater voted for “Frank Young’s Holiday suit.”

Brian Heimbigner voted early and often with “American Indian blanket.”

The winner – and also the person who took the picture – is Ernie Hayden, our venerable photographer. Ernie was the only member to correctly identify John Martinka’s sweater from which this pattern came from.

A good exercise in collective recall, showing we are all over the map when it comes to remembering. Stay tuned for more exercises!