Opening Jpeg irregularity?

I have a strange error that occurs when I attempt to open a jpeg image.
Instead of opening the image it opens the folder that image stored in,
even though the folder is already open. At that point I can open the
image directly. And if the image is on the desktop it opens a subfolder
contained in the pictures folder of my documents. Often the wrong folder.

I checked the file associations to make sure all jpeg. Or jpg. files are
associated with windows photo editor. Very strange. Never encountered
anything like this before. I also checked the folder properties to
verify that the pictures and videos template was selected. Any Ideas?

Nick