Puzzle: The Terrace at Sainte-Adresse by Claude Monet

A beautiful painting, this puzzle would be very pleasant if the makers had left out the “magic effects” of the shiny pieces that change hue based on the viewing angle, and had focused instead on the cut of the pieces. Not only does the shine make it hard to assemble this puzzle in anything but perfect bright daylight, it is not completely clear when the two pieces fit together, introducing a chance of error, especially in the uniformly-coloured regions such as the sky and the sea.

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No summer without Sangria

The last few days have been rainy, so I haven’t been able to do much in the garden except watch things grow. I have been interviewed for the Shop of the Month section on the Keepers of Enchantment blog, have created many a treasury on Etsy to celebrate the summer, and have made some new amethyst belly beads in a children’s size.

As I stepped into the fresh wet outside world this afternoon, right after the rain, took a deep breath …

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Puzzle: All about tea

As interesting as this idea is in theory, I did not enjoy this puzzle much in practice. Sure, learning about the history and making of tea is enlightening, yet I do not think a puzzle is the appropriate medium for this. Putting together the perimeter with the small text was tedious and did not make reading the text easy until the puzzle was complete. The green arrows with headings, and the colour of the small images for each paragraph (that are so tiny it is hard to tell what is depicted on them), can serve as guides to the placement of the puzzle pieces.

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Planting seedlings into permaculture towers

Following the garden preparations and the building of permaculture towers, I have planted different types of large and cherry tomatoes, eggplants, sweet and hot peppers, carrots and radishes, butternut and spaghetti squash, kale and Swiss chard, cucumbers, and a variety of herbs. Below are the photos and notes on each plant’s uses, environmental preferences, and useful plant combinations.

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Puzzle: Buzzard’s Roost, Fall Creek Falls

Buzzard's roost, med
Size: 1000 pieces
Dimensions: 67.95 cm x 48.1 cm
Producer: Mega Puzzles, Vibrant series, 2013, No. 51420ABN, A28103LP
Artist: Very unfortunately, Mega Puzzles prints a copyright for the entire series with several names of the artists (as opposed to the name of a single photographer who owns a particular featured image), and even through searching I was not able to determine which artist took this photo. If …

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Puzzle: St. Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City

St. Peter's Basilica, med

Size: 500 pieces
Dimensions: 48.5 cm x 35.5 cm
Producer: Sure-Lox, The Canadian Group

Puzzle: A lovely puzzle to put together, yet not completely trivial for a beginner. A good place to start is the border of the sky and the building which isolates the top third of the puzzle and provides a horizontal guide to assist in further assembly. The pillars and the lantern post make for good vertical guides. The dome, …

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Puzzle: Unknown Castle

This lovely castle and the old buildings around it make for a challenging puzzle. There are many ways to approach it. The easiest regions to start would be the sky and clouds, the bright cars and storefronts at the bottom, the green grass region and the fence at its bottom, and the borders of the buildings and the sky. The larger windows of the building on the right can help the assembly of that part of the puzzle. The sky and clouds are distinct enough from the rest of the puzzle and can be filled in relatively easily. The Trees and shrubs can follow. The castle has a large region of a somewhat-uniform grey pattern, making it not so easy to assemble, but it makes for an interesting challenge.

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Puzzle: Beach Garden by Marc Adamus

A lovely puzzle, not very trivial for a beginner. The flowers at the bottom present the most challenge due to the similarities of the purple-on-green pattern through most of them. Thus it’s simpler to start with the top part of the puzzle. The distinct regions of the sky, the clouds, the sun, the hills, the water, and the sand, followed by the sand border with the green grass can be filled in easily. The flowers can be assembled by starting on the darker regions at the bottom first, and narrowing the remaining area by assembling the top grassy patch with orange and small white flowers. Then the rest of the flowers can be put together.

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How to do a jigsaw puzzle

In this post, I will share some strategies I use when puzzling to make the experience more pleasurable. To be clear, I do not puzzle for speed, I puzzle for zen: to relax, breathe, and get lost in the sensory experience, combined with a good story via an audiobook. Thus these tips are not necessarily going to speed up puzzle assembly, but will keep things organized for smooth progress through the puzzle.

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Puzzle: River Swale, Yorkshire, England

Simple small puzzle to do, and a rather pleasant landscape. The obvious starting points would be the river with the rocks, the sky and its border with the hills, the red leaf bush in the bottom right corner and another one by the waterfall. The grassy area can be done next, along with the white patch of the hill and the yellow fields. The trees alongside the river have variety in colouring, and since the puzzle is so small present little challenge after the rest has been assembled.

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