July was Gold Month for the Puzzle Olympics. That meant 1000 pc puzzles for a whole month. I like the 1000 pc puzzles. For the most part they are my favourite. I was able to finish two Cobble Hill, one Eeboo, a Ceaco Thomas Kinkade (that I might have started in June) and a Jack Pine Hot Air Balloon puzzle. In these five puzzles I have a display of five of my favourites in puzzling.
1. My favourite brand: Cobble Hill
2. My favourite artist: Thomas Kinkade
3. My favourite puzzle theme: Hot Air Balloons
4. My favourite Dollar store puzzle brand: Eeboo
5: My favourite Cobble Hill theme: Golden Retrievers
I was in the middle of my sixth puzzle when tragedy struck. My last process picture for the 2023 Puzzle Olympics was from a Sure-Lox puzzle I picked up at Giant Tiger. I started this puzzle on July 18, 2023.
The First process picture was taken at 4:06 pm
I took my second process picture at 7:18 pm.
I went to bed around 9:00 pm and before I was unconscious, I heard a knock at the door. It was my mother. She came to tell me that my sister was dead.
As I look back at the photos and the puzzle, I see the same response that I had over six years ago when my mother came to tell me that my nephew was dead. I had been sewing at that moment when the knock on the door came. My sewing machine got packed up for almost two years before I wanted to take it out again. I did the same thing with this puzzle. I packed it up. I didn't disassemble the progress on it, I just sandwiched it between two pieces of foam board and put it into storage.
I then removed myself from the Puzzle Olympics Facebook competition and stopped puzzling for a few days. I had other things more pressing to do, like funeral preparations, but eventually I got back to puzzling. But the Sure-lox puzzle remains in storage. Maybe like the sewing machine, that one might take time before I pull it out again.
I wasn't too upset about ending my participation in the Puzzle Olympics. I think I made myself quite clear that the rules focus of the games was not at all in the spirit of puzzling for me. But I am glad I stuck it out as long as I did and didn't quit because of my frustration with the "Puzzle Police".
(There will be more about my sister's death and our puzzle stories in the next blog post. Stay tuned! )
