Wonderland

Wonderland by Bill Bell – Wentworth – 140 pieces

This artwork is so crammed full of characters and things to see that even at only 140 pieces it was a bit of a challenge! Alice in Wonderland seems to be quite a common theme for puzzles, I’ve probably done eight or nine Wonderland themed puzzles, they make for good fun if you ask me.

I’m not sure what possessed me to get this puzzle, it really isn’t an image I would normally go for – there’s just too much going on. Perhaps it was the colors, or the piece count, I’m not certain. Whatever it was, I’m glad I didn’t just go with the usual style of artwork that usually finds it’s way into my cart because even with the added difficulty it really was very enjoyable.

It wasn’t until I was almost finished with the assembly that I realized the caterpillar was even in the image! He sure does look exhausted, doesn’t he?

The Queen of Hearts certainly looks like a mean one, doesn’t she? When I was looking at the pieces I was sure those teeth were going to be on the Cheshire Cat. Wrong!

Such great whimsies; I didn’t read the books, so I’m not sure if there was an owl in the story, but they still are great whimsies for this image.

Even though it was difficult it was still lots of fun to put this little one together, and so much to see!

Almost In Progress

I’ve sorted my next puzzle, and started laying out the border pieces to put them together, but that’s as far as it went, unfortunately.

I lifted something I shouldn’t have lifted last week and completed messed up my back, and it’s really been difficult to deal with. Yesterday I started laying out the edge pieces and couldn’t even get them all on the board before I had to get up and lay myself down in bed.

Old age and stupidity aren’t a good mix; and I promise I won’t be so stupid as to be lifting much of anything anymore, I’ll find someone younger and stronger to do it for me.

The Alchemist’s Home

The Alchemist’s Home by Vasilisa Romanenko – eeBoo – 1000 pieces

I enjoyed this puzzle gifted to me by my daughter even more than anticipated; there were so many fun things to find and each little room was it’s own discovery. I worked without the image so as to make it more entertaining and interesting and it didn’t disappoint.

On the back of the box is a short poem about the image…

The substance of the world, we know,

Is more than what we think is so.

Things change, persist, and sometimes rhyme

As we pass through space and time.

When something’s gone, its echo lasts;

This home holds spectres from its past.

All the figures shown in blue are the spectres, and there are only four living people shown in the house. I thought it was a fantastic piece of artwork. 💜

It’s been a while since there’s been an eeBoo puzzle on my table, and the quality was quite good (other than the finish). There were a good variety of shapes, it was well cut, fit together nicely and had excellent reproduction. The finish was quite shiny though, and it was difficult for me at times to see what I was looking at without tilting my head to get rid of the shine from my overhead lighting.

The shelving and pictures on the wall in this sitting room were so interesting to assemble, but not easy. Doesn’t this look like a lovely place to sit and think, or read? There’s lots of floor space too, it would make a very nice puzzle room. 😎

In any home my favorite place is usually the kitchen. One can sit and talk, work together to make meals, or just gather with friends and loved ones. I always love to be in the kitchen.

Now you know I’d have to show you the living room, especially if there’s a picture of a doggo with a suit and tie! How cute is that?

I absolutely adored this image and the puzzle was great fun to put together, almost like a collage. And we know how much I love those!


Funnily enough, I was able to pick out two of my Christmas gifts (after the fact). Part of the problem of trying to gift puzzles to a puzzle geek like myself is that there are literally hundreds of puzzles that I’ve already assembled. There have been a few times when I’ve been gifted a puzzle I either currently own and haven’t assembled, or have already completed in years past. Both of those happened this year and though I hesitated to say anything my daughter always wants to know the truth; so I had to tell her.

Of the three puzzles I received two were not new to me – in my mind that shows that they know me well and know what I like, not just that I’ve done tons of puzzles. Anyway, two of the puzzles were returned and I received a facetime call from the store where I helped pick out the replacements, and this was one of them. It’s not easy trying to check out what the images look like over the phone, at least it wasn’t for me. I’m old! 👵

Ice Cream Social

Ice Cream Social by Lars Stewart – Milton Bradley – 300 pieces

Such a fun and colorful image, I really had a good time putting this one together! This was a thrift store puzzle, and although it was pre-loved and had a few bent tabs it was good quality and all the pieces were there – what more could a PADS sufferer ask for?

The quality of this puzzle was better than anticipated. There were the bent tabs, but otherwise I was more than happy with every other category. There were a very good variety of piece shapes, the cut was nice, the fit was exceptional, the finish was matte and it had a nice hand feel.

Exceptional fit, you say? Hmmm. Is she gonna take another stupid standing up puzzle picture? Of course she is!

These pictures and standing up a puzzle really do make me happy. I have no explanation and I make no excuses. 😎

2024 Puzzling Goals?

Have you set goals for yourself this year? And by that I mean puzzling goals, of course. I used to; I’d set a goal for a certain number of puzzles or pieces, or to try a brand that was on my bucket list, etc. Not anymore.

With all the turmoil in the world and especially in the United States in the past several years, I’ve found it best for myself that I not set puzzling goals at the beginning of a new year. My mental health can oftentimes be quite a struggle, and setting goals that in the end aren’t achieved doesn’t help that at all.

Sometimes I need to “check out” from the blog or puzzles altogether; and sometimes I just want to stop and do nothing because depression is a beast that never gives up. So, no goals for me this year.

My hope, however, is that every day at least two puzzle pieces connect together. Even if it’s only putting two pieces together and my heart isn’t in it I hope that I can fake it until I make it.

How about you? Have you set yourself a puzzle goal for this year? A certain number of puzzles or pieces? To stop buying so many puzzles? To get yourself a wooden puzzle for the first time? To try a larger piece count for the first time? Do tell! I’d love to hear from you. 💟


On a totally different subject, I made the above image SEVEN YEARS AGO! I don’t even remember why, but I wanted question mark and of course whatever the subject I was going on about was related to jigsaw puzzling. So I took some pieces of a colorful puzzle (collage, of course), built a little question mark on my table and took this picture. It’s been unbelievably useful!

I use it on the side panel of the blog to show what I’m working on when the next puzzle on my board hasn’t been decided on yet, or if I can’t find or create a good enough image of the actual puzzle I’m working on. I use it when I ask a question of my readers, I use it when I’m philosophizing about puzzles or puzzling – I use it at least 10 times a year! That may not seem like much, but it definitely is for the blog. The pictures I take almost always are used only once, but this one has been my go-to image for years now.

Just thought I’d share the story of this picture with you, hope you found it interesting. 🧩💚