February

….just a couple of the puzzles I did not at the House Party of because I was challenged. 

One day I will say ‘no’!

I have a weakness – there, I’ve said it! If someone approaches me for help with a tricky puzzle, someone asks me to finish a puzzle they are struggling with, someone tells me I won’tbe able to finish a puzzle, or someone says the puzzle is impossible – my response is always the same – I’ll do it! 

 

I’m not sure why – it inevitably means I spend hours of time feeling irritated and frustrated, questioning my choices and wondering why I just didn’t say ‘no’. The House Party weekend was no different and once again I was given a puzzle which even came with a note saying how ‘horrible’ it was. I quickly realised it wasn’t one for the weekend, but instead of handing it back, I simply asked to take it home where I could give it the time needed. 

 

The puzzle itself was a devil. Each piece had the potential to fit into at least 2 spaces and I knew it would take time and logic to complete. I ended up gathering ‘like’ pieces into piles of 4 and then worked through a process of elimination until I finally had some small successes. Then of course, I was hooked, and had to finish. This is probably why I continue – these puzzles always ensure you get a small sniff of success, and then my stubbornness takes over. 

 

It took me 3 hours to complete and was a battle most of the way. Someone asked me whether I enjoyed putting it together. Enjoyment isn’t the right word, but I definitely felt satisfaction that it hadn’t bested me.

The final questions is – will I ever be able to say no?  Probably not…

BCD House Party

February is always a winning month for me as a puzzler as it’s when the BCD gets together for their annual house party weekend - a whole weekend in a hotel just puzzling. Even better this year was that I was not working so could drive up early on day one and leave later on the final day. 

The weekend was marvellous and I completed so many different puzzles. I was part of the Club 3000 group who complete a 3000 piece puzzle each year, but also got to help with wooden creations and tackle some devilish cuts. 

I even took part in a group speed competition - coming 3rd with my team. 

Heaven. 

New year, new me!

So, after 20 years I have left teaching and will be taking a short break before new adventures. This has equated to more time to puzzle and January has been filled with lots of bright puzzles - including a glorious Wentworth and a beautiful Liberty complete with Liberty print on the reverse. 

 

 

It’s a mystery…

What a fun little puzzle to do. Inside the box was a short story which ended in a mystery to solve once the puzzle was complete. I needed to find a code somewhere in the picture. I couldn’t find it, but luckily the solution was in an envelope in the box. 

Christmas Advent Puzzle

For the last few years I have been getting my advent calendar from a well known British puzzle brand, and although it’s been nice, they don’t actually give you 24 puzzles and you end up with lots of small puzzles and not one large finished piece. This year I was gifted a new approach - a box of pieces each day which combined to make one large puzzle. There are lots of the market to choose from - some where the pieces fit at random and others where you build each day in sequence. I had the latter and really enjoyed it. The quality was okay, and I’ll definitely consider another next year. 

Busy November

It’s that time of year when I feel like I won’t have time for puzzles, and yet I always manage to find time. 

It helped that I had a BCD day with friends in the middle with the theme of light and dark.