Tag Archives: Jigsaw Puzzles

Wrapping Up June Hodgepodge

June was a month full of growth with lots of flowers to enjoy.

Joyce has some final questions for the month of June for Wednesday Hodgepodge.

1. What does adventure mean to you? 

Doing something I’ve never done before or visiting somewhere I’ve never been before. I’m so thankful to God for all the adventures afforded to me in my life.

2.  What are your thoughts on tipping?

We’re happy to be able to tip and tip extra when service is exceptionally good.

What businesses or service providers do you regularly tip?

We tip at sit down restaurants, hairdressers, massage therapists, and shuttle drivers.

Do you resent being asked if you’d like to add a tip? What about when a suggested amount is presented? 

I don’t resent it because I’m not bullied into doing something I don’t want to do. Ask all you want but I’m free to say no. I always say no at Goodwill when they ask if I want to just round up the amount of my purchase. Everything they sell was a donation and they should be able to manage the money they make to pay their employees and offer them training.

3. I scream you scream we all scream for ice cream…do we? Is ice cream a favorite treat at your house? What’s your favorite flavor? Regular, soft serve, gelato, sherbet, or some sort of non-dairy version of ice cream…what’s your pleasure? 

We do enjoy our ice cream. We like a variety but favorites at this time are Haagen Daz Coffee chip and Vanilla Swiss Almond. I enjoy Umqua Orange Sherbet, too.

4. What’s your ‘back in my day, we____________________ ‘ story or saying? 

So many because I am old.

Back in my day we used paper maps and had to stop at gas stations for directions if we got lost.

Back in my day we had to get up and walk to the T.V. to change the channel.

Back in my day we had one phone attached to the wall.

Back in my day we only wore dresses or skirts and blouses for school.

Back in my day we did not have computers. We used encyclopedias, dictionaries, and other research materials.

Back in my day we did not have credit cards but paid with cash or check.

Back in my day our suitcases did not have wheels.

5. Somehow this is our last Hodgepodge in the month of June. Next week’s Hodgepodge lands in July. Wow. Sum up your June using three adjectives. 

Painstaking: As in completing some hard physical jobs on our property.

Painful: As in dealing with Plantar Fasciitis (It has improved, I’m happy to report)

Adventurous: As in traveling primitive and new roads to us.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

I managed to work on and finish two puzzles in June.

This Norman Rockwell one was tough with all the white. It helped to sort the pieces into shapes to make it easier. Someone dropped off a load of puzzles where our DIL works and she had a few for me to enjoy. This was one of those.

This next puzzle was a purchase on our road trip at the Mercantile in Metaline Falls. It was $4 and I was happy that there were no missing pieces.

This was a fun one to complete.

Happy Summer to all of you. Hope the bees are buzzing and the heat is bearable where you are.

Puzzles

While in Texas my sister and I enjoyed puzzle time. This was the first puzzle we completed and it was the first puzzle with letter codes on the back of the pieces to determine what section of the puzzle the pieces belonged in. We found it very helpful especially with the black areas.

I always appreciate a puzzle company that includes a poster.

The second puzzle we started and didn’t finish before I left Texas was a very tough one without codes and with so many similar color themes. It caused quite a lot of grumbling but still nice to find those pieces that fit together. My sister sent a photo of the almost finished puzzle she’s progressed on since I left.

It was fun to work on these puzzles with Lana.

Meanwhile here in Colville we are in mud season.

JJ enjoyed that mud.

Addy had an Irish Dance performance while we were gone and we were sent a photo of her before her performance.

On Friday the weather was good enough to do some work outside. I finally got to a couple planters, only about 5 more planters to go.

Have a great Saturday everyone!

Valentine’s Day 2025

Hope you are having a lovely Friday and Valentine’s Day. This is my catch-up post for this past week and the month of February so far with photos I’ve taken and photos that were sent to me. Trader Joe’s tulips were too pretty to pass up last Friday and after pulling my Valentine’s Day bin down I found the sparkly hearts to add to the bouquet.

When we were at Costco a couple trips ago the adidas warm-up sets were $10 and a set in size 6 made it into our cart. JJ is growing right on schedule into size 6!

Basketball is going on this winter and Baba finally made it to a practice.

My sister and her hubby flew into Seattle to surprise a close friend who was turning 50 and they had a bonus visit with our West side kids. Makes me happy to see them all together. They had a great time and sent us photos to prove it!

The first puzzles of 2025 got started and finished in the last couple of weeks.

JJ and I finished this glow in the dark puzzle during our Monday afternoon time. Later when it got dark we checked to see if it was glowing and it was. Woohoo!

This farm seasons quilt puzzle was a fun one to do. I finished it earlier this week.

A few close-ups showing the 4 seasons.

Addy and JJ went to a birthday party at Flying Squirrel in Spokane a couple weeks ago and we were sent these photos.

Tonight Addy and JJ are being dropped off at Gramps and Baba’s for dinner and a movie. Their parents are going to have some uninterrupted time together for a few hours.

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone. May love fill your hearts and minds and actions!

Puzzled

I bought this puzzle in honor of our coo sighting in Scotland. It was a very difficult puzzle.

We finally were able to finish it the end of last week with the sad realization that a piece was missing. We’ve looked everywhere and all the floors in the house have been vacuumed so that is that. We remain puzzled as to where that missing piece might be.

JJ came over on Monday and he helped me finish a 12 days of Christmas puzzle. Oops, I didn’t take a photo of the completed puzzle. It was refreshingly easy after the difficult Coo puzzle. JJ also organized the Little People nativity.

We had snow on Tuesday night into Wednesday that turned to rain and melted all the snow off the main roads.

We are pretty well set except for our Christmas meals. We have our cut of meat ordered and the menu set. I’m hoping to bake some cookies that I have the ingredients for, too. How are things in your corner?

A Puzzling Hodgepodge

Happy last day of January everyone. Here are the Hodgepodge questions we pondered by Joyce From This Side of the Pond this week.

1. January 29th is National Puzzle Day. Do you enjoy puzzles? What kind (crossword, jigsaw, sudoku, etc)?  How often do you work a puzzle? 

I am a jigsaw puzzle fan and I will work on them when the season is right and the time is right. While waiting for each of our grandchildren to be born we worked on a jigsaw puzzle in the hospital delivery waiting room to pass the hours away. I’ve completed two puzzles this month and am now just starting this one.

I have not gotten into sudoku or crossword puzzles. The photo at the top of this post are some of the jigsaw puzzles completed in the past year.

2. Something you currently find ‘puzzling’? 

I’m in the throws of troubling and puzzling and am wrestling with my thoughts and feelings on this issue. It’s nothing to do with my family or marriage which is a blessing but it has captured a lot of my attention. I’ll be praying and watching and waiting on how it progresses.

3. What’s your go-to dish to take to someone who needs a meal (new baby, bereavement, etc)? 

The go to was chicken thighs baked with Italian dressing and served with rice and whole green beans, not canned beans. Some of the ladies in our church are providing meals for someone who is undergoing aggressive treatment for breast cancer and who is too wiped out to think about cooking. I had to come up with more than my standard go to so I’m looking forward to reading what fellow Hodgepodgers share to help me come up with something new.

The photo above is a Teriyaki Glazed Skillet Chicken that I will make for the next meal for our friend. My recipe will post on Saturday.

4. Do you watch any HGTV and/or The Food Network? If so, what’s your favorite program there? 

I watched more in the past but not so much anymore. In the past we enjoyed, The Kitchen on Saturday mornings. We thoroughly enjoyed all the Fixer Upper shows. When the new season of shows come on we’ll watch them. I’ve enjoyed the Food Truck challenges in the past. Flea Market Flip is another show I’ll watch once in a while if I’m sick and need to make the hours pass quicker in my head.

5.  Wrap up your January in five words, with a five word phrase, or with a five word sentence. 

I have two…

Celebrate Three birthdays and more.

Snow, Fog, rain, minus sunshine. 

6. Insert your own random thought here.

The top view of this collage has been the norm around our parts for many days in a row. We are hoping to see more of that bottom view soon!

See you soon, Hodgepodgers.

Brambly Hedge

I started a new puzzle last week and what a delight this one was. When a puzzle company like Cobble Hill includes a puzzle poster in the box it makes me grateful. It is much easier finding where a piece goes by looking at a poster instead of the top of the box.

The box lid always has portions of the art work covered up.

I finished the puzzle last weekend.

This was the Spring Story. They also have a Summer, Fall and Winter story. Are you familiar with Brambly Hedge books and China? The Fall teacup and saucer is the only one I have. It was a Goodwill purchase several years ago.

Royal Doulton Autumn, England, Jill Barklem 1983. Jill Barklem was a British writer and illustrator of children’s books. Her most famous work is the Brambly Hedge series, published from 1980.

Not sure what inspired me but I got some much needed tasks done in our office this week. I’m patting myself on the back for the organization that I completed this week. I shredded two large trash bags full of paperwork/receipts/etc. that we didn’t need lying around cluttering our world. Sorting through my desk I was able to again throw away things we don’t need and put things where they more logically belong. In the process our grab and go box is all set, too.

Do you have a grab and go box?

Happy Friday everyone!

Beatrix Potter

It’s no secret that I’m a fan of Beatrix Potter and The Tale of Peter Rabbit and all his friends. For Christmas I received the sweet print above and the tea towel below from Josh and Laura.

Right now on our dining room table this puzzle is slowly, very slowly coming together.

It is very tough and I only have me to blame because I ordered it from my year long puzzle club Dan and Jamie gifted me for my birthday last year.

My collection of Beatrix Potter Figurines are here and here.

We had more snow and now we are having some frigid temperatures. We are celebrating our Dan and Jamie’s birthdays tonight. Making something new to me and I hope it turns out good for everyone! I’ll have to move that puzzle since it is on the dining room table at present.

Closer to Home

Things are shaping up here at our country bungalow in preparation for our Thanksgiving Festivities.

Our feathered friends have made some fine appearances, too.

 

We’ve noticed with our covey of Quails that there is always a lookout stationed above the rest to let them know of impending danger.

We love it when quail come to visit.

 

This beauty also graced us with an appearance long enough for some photos.

I’m guessing this is a Northern Flicker. Please correct me if I’m wrong.

 

 

I’m working on a puzzle of Dublin and have made some good progress. I’ll need to finish this one before Thanksgiving.

What is new in your corner of the world.

Goodbye August

Another week of soccer for these two. Because of our smoke filled week a while back, soccer was extended to next week which will make for a very full week with the beginning of Homeschool Co-op and Awana!

Finally… I finished this puzzle which was harder than many with the coloring and the fact that all the pieces were similar!

It was okay that it took so long since our dining table was not in heavy demand in August. It will be cleared off for dinner tonight with our local kids and grands.

Welcome to September which will be a full month for us. Fall ministries are starting up at church. Awana, Women’s Bible Study, Mops, Women’s Retreat and Connection Groups are all happening in September.  Our Grands and their mom will be full speed ahead with Homeschool and Co-op.  A milestone birthday for someone in the family is coming up. We are also gearing up for a trip to a land we’ve never been to before. More details to follow soon.

What does September hold for you?

Remember When Hodgepodge

Jo has worked on some more questions for us to answer for Hodgepodge Wednesday. Want to join in the fun?

1. What’s your earliest memory?

With this old brain this is a tough one for me. I seem to remember being in front of a wonderful bakery with cookies displayed, a Jewish Bakery, in East Los Angeles. Bakeries always draw me in and that brings me to my biggest first world problem!!

We moved from East Los Angeles to Montebello Gardens soon afterwards and most of my ‘early’ memories are connected with that property. I remember things like an incinerator in the back yard. A cement slab where our new family room would be built where we played jacks for hours. Our first black and white TV, watching Engineer Bill, Chucko the Birthday Clown, Ed Sullivan, The Mickey Mouse Club, and other Disney shows that included the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew? The only books we owned were Bibles and Encyclopedia Britannica. I remember having to sit for what seemed to me hours in front of a bowl of borsch, not wanting to eat it, after everyone else had left the table. Stopping by the seed man after ‘Big Church’ to buy packets of ‘plain’ sunflower seeds that came in brown paper packets and pumpkin seeds that came in clearer paper packets.

I better stop there, you really got my old brain going.

2. What’s something about you today that the old you would find surprising? 

The old me would be surprised that I moved away from the Southern California Beaches to Washington State and now I’ve left the city girl life for the country far far away from the coastal beaches!

3. Do you like to fish? Are you a fish eater? Favorite fish (to eat)? Favorite way to prepare fish? 

You know, I’m not a fan of fish unless it’s Fish and Chips or fish tacos!

4. What’s your biggest first world problem? 

Keeping that bakery weight off is my biggest first world problem!

5. What one word would you use to describe your year thus far? 

Sanctifying. Growing in the Word of God, the work of the Holy Spirit and fellowship of Believers. This is a life long process that got sharpened this year after Greg’s stroke last November and the state of our world. 

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

We got rain on Tuesday and what a wonderful sound that was to wake up to. We’ve had such oppressive smoke filled skies because of fires and the rain should help. Hopefully the rain will fall on all the fires in the region and help the Fire Fighters with their seemingly endless task!

Another good day to stay in and make a dent in the sky of this puzzle!