Rapture in the mosaic sky

I love these monthly bouts of call and response: I say something like ''I'm mixing it up for June's photo challenge. Literally. I'm looking for mosaic patterns, patchworks, montages, tessellations; you get the picture(s). So if you've just glued your priceless Ming vase back together again, or you see someone wearing Elmer the Elephant socks or you can paint  in the style of Mondrian - you know what to do.'' And you come back with...

Well, The Swede was first to respond. ''I should stress that I don't make a habit of taking photos in public toilets, but this loo, in an art gallery I visited during Blog Con22 in Edinburgh, was colourfully memorable.'' You're not wrong, TS.   

Rol dropped in my inbox next. He's gone with the great outdoors again and has come up with something a bit special: ''Hello John, Struggled a bit with this one... almost sent you a picture of a peacock. But then I found this which seemed more appropriate. An enormous stone cairn built on the hill above Meltham, where I used to live. I have some pretty weird photos from my time in Meltham. Bunch of weirdoes. No idea who built this, but it must have taken them ages; I suspect it didn't last long, once the local louts saw it. Take care, Rol.''

C didn't take long to get out of the blocks. Here's her twofer. ''Hi John, I so desperately wanted to find a fab caterpillar or garden spider in the garden to photograph for this month's theme but it's a little too early. Hope these will do instead. C x'' They will indeed, C. I love your beebox and cactus (thank you for tagging the photos btw!) 

Alyson, next. ''Hi John – Here is my picture for June. I remembered that there is a mosaic floor at the entrance to our local Station Hotel (every town has one and yes it’s at the Railway Station). There is a bilingual mat there too. In Gaelic we greet visitors with the words, Ceud Mile Fàilte, which means A Hundred Thousand Welcomes. That’s a lot of welcomes – you must come and visit some day!'' And I will, Alyson. Sooner rather than later, I hope.

It's not often my dad appears on these pages. But when he does then it's usually me marking a solemn occasion; though not always, sometimes he just sends me texts that catch me unawares. ''Finally finished this micro puzzle'' his latest WhatsApp said - the 1000 piece jigsaw with tiny pieces I gave him for his birthday really fits this month's challenge. It must also have been a bugger to do.

My friend Riggsby in San Diego has been energised since he heard about my photo challenges. Judging by my inbox he probably takes more photos than me. Thank you so much for these Richard. '''Pearl of the Pacific' by James Hubbell - a local artist who is now an impressive 91 years of age.''

''I also noticed some mosaics at the entrance of the freeway going North from our house. They're a bit ordinary though.'' Ordinary? Far from it!

Adam has really come up trumps this month: ''Hi John, two sets of tiles for you. The first one is from a wall in Manchester city centre behind Shudehill tram stop. If the rest of the area is anything to go by tis wall may not survive much longer. Gentrification, like rust, never sleeps.''

''The second one is a flight of stairs with with a white stripe of tiles down the centre - visual markers to help us keep left.'' 

Thank you, Adam. It falls to me to wrap things up. But before I do, a huge  thank you again to everyone who sent me stuff this month. I can't thank you enough.

So, I give you an elephant in a shop window, a sunflower and rather jazzy house number. Until next time.

(I'll post July's theme in the comments section below sometime next week...)