LENTEN PUZZLES COMPLETED.

 Today is the day on the calendar identified as "Good Friday".  Forty-nine days ago, I started three puzzles.  (See original post here) Every day I added a piece to each puzzle. Today the puzzles were completed.  

I wanted to do something to mark each day.  Maybe the farming theme doesn't have much to do with Lent, but I liked the colour and activity of the pictures, so I chose them as my puzzles.  Lent, like Advent, is my way of finding space during a season to minimize the pain at the end.  I still want the journey to matter, even though the destination ceases to have meaning for me now.  

This puzzle has a little personal controversy for me that I just noticed this morning. This tractor is spraying his crop, and I am a supporter of organic farming.  How do I find beauty in the puzzle when the picture seems to remind me of what I don't support in my world?  Maybe that is the part of the journey.  How many other things in life do I need to find space for that I don't support?  What a lesson for today.  

This is my most favourite of all the three puzzles because of the beauty of the sky.  The colours and the birds make this harvest scene come alive.  I guess it symbolizes the end of the journey.  Or is it the beginning of the bread.  Did I also mention that I don't eat bread anymore.  My gluten free diet also makes this picture not part of my world.  But somehow I still get to find beauty in the pictures, even though the inspiration is a little foreign to me now.   

After I photographed them, I collapsed these puzzles, with the hope that I can find someone else that might enjoy assembling them again with me.  I still long for the opportunity to puzzle with others.  There is so much joy in the community of puzzling.  

THE TREE OF LIFE

If ever a puzzle told a story, this one does.  It is what draws me to the artistry of jigsaw puzzles.  

This was a birthday puzzle.  Enroute to my 55th birthday party, I did a puzzle hunt at the Camrose Dollar stores and this one I got at Dollarama for five dollars.  Eeboo's puzzle quality is amazing.  It is not like the puzzles I get at Dollar tree.  The pieces are glossy and thick. It is a 23" square.   For five dollars, I am getting a good puzzle.  

This puzzle has so many attributes that draw me to the story.  It has so many animals that I long to connect with.  It is a kaleidoscope of colour.   

It wasn't easy to assemble.  This puzzle is a "one piece at a time" assembly.  There is not sorting by colour or design, only shape.  Each piece is studied as to where it fits in the pattern.  Each piece gets special attention.  

The assembly took me five days.  The story for me, lasts as long as the picture is my mind.  

SLOW DOWN...

I found this puzzle at the Salvation Army store in Leduc.  It was the first time I went looking for a puzzle at a thrift store.  I was reluctant to even try searching because of the possibilities...  Missing pieces, damaged pieces, spilled soup on the puzzle box.  So many worries.  I have requested used puzzles from friends and family because there is a connection and maybe the same concerns are there, but I was willing to risk it, just to share in the same puzzling space.  

I went up and down the aisles at the Sally Ann and found this beauty.  It is only my third puzzle with words on it, but I liked the message.  And the sloths were cute.  I did find, when I opened it, that there were parts of the puzzle already assembled, so I still got to share in the puzzle space with whoever left this beauty behind there.  

This puzzle is 750 pieces and was fun to do.  It was a challenge, as the pieces were all the same standard shape.  When I got down to the dark blue pieces, it took a long time to finish because of misfits.  But I finally got to where I was satisfied with the fits, even through I wasn't totally convinced I had every piece in the "right" place.  A bonus...  there were no missing pieces, or damaged pieces and no one spilled soup on the puzzle box!

The puzzle is a panoramic. It is my third panoramic puzzle.  I also like those.  I have the other two puzzles displayed on the wall at my puzzle table.  

Today is special... my husband and I have been married 14 years today.  It's a good day to remember these words...

 "SLOW DOWN... 

HAPPINESS IS TRYING TO CATCH YOU"

MY LOVE FOR COBBLE HILL

 

There is nothing quite like the feeling of finishing a 2000 pc puzzle.  It may be small when compared to what is out there in big puzzles, but for me, in my space, it is the biggest puzzle.  

Yesterday I finished my "Rosemary's Birds" puzzle that I got from Cobble Hill.  I introduced it on Youtube as a gift I got from winning an online contest.  I submitted a picture of a Cobble Hill display at the Devon Home Hardware, and they gifted me a puzzle of my choice.  I chose Rosemary's Birds.  It was colourful and seemed doable.  I started it on February 20 and finished it on March 11.  

I don't always go right through when it comes to big puzzles.  I often break up the puzzling process with smaller puzzles.  That is why this one took some time to finish.  I kept breaking up the process.  

On March 10, my husband drove me to Cabella's and treated me to a puzzle haul.  Their Cobble Hill puzzles were on sale for sixteen dollars a puzzle.  That is a good deal.  Cobble Hill is my favourite puzzle manufacturer, so I took advantage of the sale and picked up eight puzzles: six 1000 pc and two 500 pc. 

I debated doing a Youtube video and decided against it.  I figured I would just wait until the puzzles are finished to add them to one of my portfolios videos.  It is so much more interesting to see the finished product.  I watch puzzle haul videos from some of the puzzlers I watch on Youtube, and they are kind of boring after a while.  So this is where I will share a picture and leave the details to the finished reveal.  

My husband helped me out with some of the selection.  He said it was my choice, but I also want to get some puzzles with pictures he likes too.  It helps include him in my passion and for me that is important.  I like it when he gets excited at my puzzles.  He is honest and lets me know when either the picture is to busy or not really inspiring for him.  That way, when he does like one, I know it is authentic joy.  

This whole puzzle haul started out with him looking online for puzzles for me.  When I saw the price of what Amazon was charging, I went online and discovered the Cabella's sale.  So we made a trip and combined it with some banking visits.  I am still amazed that a hunting and outdoors store offers such a great selection of puzzles, but my favourite Cobble Hill puzzles are for the most part, outdoors themed puzzles. 

Even with my puzzle haul, I am now on the lookout for my next 2000 pc puzzle.  I am on the lookout for a 1500 pc puzzle, because I haven't done one of that size yet.  But not just any puzzle will do.  I need one that is colourful, with a lot going on and not the same size puzzle piece shape.  When a puzzle "calls to me"... it is hard not to want to take it home.  Now I just get to wait for the "call".  

THE PUZZLE OF MY PASSIONS

Dollarama hasn't offered me a great selection on puzzles.  But I still look when I am there in case something shows up.  I was coming through Leduc on the way home from a visit with my Mom, and I stopped in at Dollarama and I found this puzzle.  I haven't been to impressed with the quality of Dollar store puzzles, but this one amazed me at the quality and design.  The pieces were thick with a sheen coating.  It is a 500 pc, 23" diameter round Eeboo puzzle that I got for five dollars.  

I am not a speedy puzzler, but this one I managed to finish in an afternoon and evening.  I was amazed at the creativity of what the designer did with some very creative words and colours.  Inside the box, one can find the definitions, but I didn't spend too much time trying to understand the meanings.  I just enjoyed the beauty on the puzzle pieces.  

This puzzle seems to collect my most recent passions all in one creative expression. 

1. Puzzles

2. Colour

3. Words and Writing

4. Creativity

5. Time 

There is an extra significance to the circle.  I like circles more than squares and rectangles. Corners are collecting places for dust, dirt and disobedient children.  Circles are more like gathering places for community where no one is left out or not heard.  

This has risen to the level of one of my favourite puzzles.  I look forward to finding a way to display it somewhere in my office.  

And that idea inspired an office renovation project.  Got to go now... I have a wall that needs my creative attention.  

WHEN THE PUZZLE STARTS WITH MISSING PIECES

When I do a puzzle, I start with the assumption that I could end up with an incomplete picture.  Even when a puzzle has arrived on my desk unopened, fresh from the factory, there is a possibility that I could be missing a piece or more.  The "Unknowing" is part of the journey of puzzling... and maybe that is why I find it such a spiritual experience. 

I did this puppy puzzle yesterday that came with the note on the box that two pieces were indeed missing.  It was a puzzle I got from my Mom.  It is most likely older than I am.  These puzzles get extra special attention from me.  I feel like my life is wrapped up in its story.  This puzzle had a lot of very random cut pieces.  Very unique.  Not much uniformity in the cut pattern.  

I have been somewhat successful in filling in the missing pieces of my puzzles with a few pencil crayons and paper.  Most times, I can blend in the hole very well and it isn't even visible until you look real close.  I think I have lucked out for the most part.  The missing pieces I have had, so far, have been somewhat easy to fill in. 

I woke up this morning with a disturbing thought.  

"People really don't want to know the whole me; they only want to know the part of me that makes them feel good." 

I wonder if I am this puzzle that comes with these holes and it takes a lot of effort to fill them in.  Who is really up for that challenge?  Relationships are like a puzzle.  They are assembled over time.  Each interaction puts another piece into place.  Eventually with time, we can see a picture emerge.  Sometimes we stop assembling when we have enough of the picture for our own comfort and understanding.  Some pieces are harder to place than others and it is easy to quit mid process.  

I spent some time in the hot tub this morning pondering further what I felt about my revelation.  I came to another understanding.

"I don't need to be fully known to exist, but I may feel that to exist, I need to be fully known.  So what if my need to be fully known becomes more important than my need to exist?  I may find myself in a place where I will chose one or the other.  So right now... in that place, I chose to exist and surrender my need to be fully known."

I can understand why people with missing pieces or incomplete puzzles want to take themselves out.  Being a finished puzzle becomes more important than being a puzzle with missing or unplaced pieces.  The need to be known is more important than finding space to be valuable even in the unknownness.  

I can't say it won't still be a struggle for me.  I still want people to see me and know me as I am, not as I was or as they wish I could be.  But I can't control the rate at which others assemble the puzzle that is me.  I can only do what I can to make available the pieces for them when they are ready.   

MY LENTEN PUZZLES

 Most things with me start with an idea.  Lent is coming up and I wanted to do something to mark each day like I did with my Advent Calendar.  The seasons of Advent and Lent have become special times for me.  It's a long story for a different blog.   There are 45 days from Ash Wednesday to Good Friday.  I had this idea to pick up a 45 piece puzzle and assemble it during Lent.  It seemed like a way to mark time and build something as I journey through Lent.   

While on a trip to Edmonton today, I stopped in at Walmart to see if I could find a puzzle that might suit my Lent adventure.  I didn't find a 45 pc puzzle, but I found a box that contained three 49 piece puzzles.  I counted and discovered that next Saturday is 49 days to Good Friday.  I picked up the puzzles.  

When I got home, I found three Cobble Hill puzzle boxes and will use them to house the growing puzzles.  The puzzles are only 8" square, and will fit inside the boxes.  I got a corner piece from each puzzle for today's starter piece.  

Each day, I will find a puzzle piece that fits to the growing puzzle I have in the box.  Throughout Lent I will see three different puzzles grow. It will be like my Advent Calendar in that it will add to the enthusiasm of each day.  When Good Friday comes, the last piece will go in each puzzle.  

I want to finish this post with a poem I heard today.  A friend of the family passed away this month and his funeral was today.  I watched some of it on Youtube.  The man's grandson shared a poem.   It warmed my heart and was in line with the theme of my puzzles.  

 Here's the poem.  

The Farmer's Creed

I believe a man’s greatest possession is his dignity and that no calling bestows this more abundantly than farming.

I believe hard work and honest sweat are the building blocks of a person’s character.

I believe that farming, despite its hardships and disappointments, is the most honest and honourable way a man can spend his days on this earth.

I believe farming nurtures the close family ties that make life rich in ways money can’t buy.

I believe my children are learning values that will last a lifetime and can be learned in no other way.

I believe farming provides education for life and that no other occupation teaches so much about birth, growth and maturity in such a variety of ways.

I believe many of the best things in life are indeed free; the splendour of a sunrise, the rapture of wide-open spaces, the exhilarating sight of your land greening each spring.

I believe true happiness comes from watching your crops ripen in the field, your children growing tall in the sun, your whole family feeling the pride that springs from their shared experience.

I believe that by my toil I am giving more to the world than I am taking from it, an honour that does not come to all men.

I believe my life will be measured ultimately by what I have done for my fellow man, and by this standard I fear no judgment.

I believe when a man grows old and sums up his days, he should be able to stand tall and feel pride in the life he’s lived.

I believe in farming because it makes all this possible.