is their a special way to specify a path in windows?

Yes, there are some

• (1) use the forward slash: "C:/image/image.xpm"
• (2) escape backslash by backslash: "C:\\image\\image.xpm"
• (3) use single quotes (no interpolation): 'C:\image\image.xpm'
• see perldoc perlport: [Files and Filesystems]

The (1) option should be fine with TK.

Regards

mwa