Puzzle: Colony of Sea Anemones
Small, but not trivial due to small repetitive patterns and areas of colour, this puzzle is a pleasure to tackle, thanks to well-fitting Sure-Lox pieces.
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Break up your routine
We are creatures of habit. It is so easy to fall into repetitive familiar patterns and end up getting bored with your reality. Feeling locked into a routine? Break it up!
Puzzle: Country Christmas
A beautiful, 1000-piece fairy-tale style puzzle depicting a cozy house, snugly wrapped in snow, surrounded by festive evergreens.
Puzzle: Nautilus Shell
From the same series as the Passion Flower puzzle, this lovely shell was a pleasure to put together. Not completely trivial due to repeating patterns, but with enough colour variation and clear outlines to easily guide the assembly.
Appreciate your reality
Recently someone has shown me a video depicting nutritionally-empty mud cookies being made, sold, coveted and consumed by people in a society where food is extremely scarce. It reminded me of an old saying, “I cried because I had no shoes, until I met a man who had no feet”. We in the West are revolving in a stressful reality we ourselves have created. It helps to slow down and consider how lucky most of us are.
Puzzle: Passion Flower
Size: 500 pieces
Dimensions: 30.02 cm x 48.26 cm
Producer: Mega Puzzles, Vibrant series, 2014, No. 51410ABN, A 04034 LP
Photographer: Johnnyraff
Puzzle: Lovely puzzle to make — not extremely difficult, but not completely trivial either. The bright colours and clear boundaries split the image into several logical areas, and repetitive elements add challenge. An easy place to start is the three-pronged purple stigma(?) on …
Creating a zen workspace
To facilitate creativity and productivity, our workspace has to provide all necessities for performing the work, as well as a few extras that help us focus, keep distractions away, and alleviate stress. Whether you are changing jobs, moving offices, or rearranging your home workspace, here are some helpful tips.
Puzzle: Provence
Size: 1000 pieces
Dimensions: 67.95 cm x 48.10 cm
Producer: Mega Puzzles, Vibrant series, 2014, No.51420ACN, A12054LP
Puzzle: This puzzle does not have a title or specify where exactly this place is. If you know, please do share.
Another one from the Vibrant series, this is a well-done puzzle with beautiful imagery. It combines bright colours and subtle shades, clear borders and soft transition, as …
The power of 15 minutes
Those of us who have been planning to organize the basement or clean the garage know how daunting the prospect of it is. We make it feel like a huge undertaking and keep putting it off, week after week. But you don’t have to dedicate 8-10 hours a day to a project to get it done.
Puzzle: Painted elephants
Bright and lovely puzzle, from the same series as Tropical Flowers, this one takes a bit more time to assemble, due to subtle textures and colour transitions.
Unpacking Tips
I have been unfolding after the move – I feel like a wound spiral that is finally let go. There is so much to do, and unpacking can be overwhelming. I found ways to make it more efficient and alleviate the stress.
Wings, by Josephine Wall
Yet another Josephine Wall puzzle, detailed and intricate as always. Lots of subtle shades and distinct textures. This is a puzzle to do over the course of several evenings, at a leisurely pace.
Unpacking after a move
From the time I’ve first mentioned to people that we were moving, I got inundated with an intake of breath and some variation of “Oh, you’ll be living from boxes for the next year”. I refuse to give in to this attitude. Unpacking does not need to take months! Take control and be done sooner, with less stress.
Puzzle: Best Friends, by P. Govezensky
From the same series as Ladies Night and Apple Picking, this vibrant puzzle is a pleasure to do — it only took me a leisurely two hours from start to finish. The borders between neighbouring colours are well-defined and the textures are distinct in different parts of the image, so the assembly is a breeze.
How to organize children’s clothes
Over the past five years, we have accumulated a collection of several garbage bags chock-full of children’s clothes, from newborn to size 5, three boxes of shoes and boots, and bulky winter coats of various sizes. This is the reality of a mother with more than one child, where the clothes are being used at two different sizes by two children. With the recent move, I have been faced with the need to arrange all of them into some semblance of order. Here is what I did…
Havasu Falls/Pool in the Grand Canyon, Havasupai Indian Reservation
Beautiful, zen scene of water flowing and pooling in rock basins. Waterfalls are one of my favourite subjects to assemble.
Permaculture Herb Spiral
We have moved to a new place at the end of May, which means I have a new garden to shape. I have decided to try my hand at a permaculture herb spiral. The result looks lovely and the herbs seem happy.
Puzzle: Longwood Mansion in Natchez, Mississippi
Simple puzzle due to the number of pieces and the symmetric nature of the architecture. Overall quite an enjoyable puzzle, alas found by me with 3 pieces missing.
Ride the uncertainty
To be resilient in the face of changes, one must let go of the need to cling to familiar and give in to uncertainty of life. Just as with good sex or a good birth, feel the rhythm, follow it, listen to your senses, and ride that wave. Let go and you’ll be more in control and feel more pleasure from the process than if you try to resist the flow. You cannot control life circumstances. You can control how you respond to changes and integrate them into your life.
Bridge, Royale
Beautiful puzzle with lovely play of light, a pleasure to assemble. Composition of the image makes it simple to pick out several horizontal and vertical guides. I have found this puzzle second-hand, with a block of 4 pieces missing.