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Flowering Elephant

Flowering Elephant is a 244-piece wooden puzzle from Wentworth. I had the opportunity to do this as part of a traveling bundle from The Casual Puzzler’s Patreon.

I absolutely loved this puzzle! The colors were so vibrant, and the quality was amazing. It also had really interesting piece shapes – I especially liked the elephants.

With wooden puzzles, it is so interesting to look at the back. I really like the way the pieces line up in rows on this one:

Here’s a closeup shot of the piece shapes included with this puzzle:

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Christmas in July – Three Holiday Books

I read three Christmas books in July, ranging from sweet to funny.

One Big Happy Family by Susan Mallery was a really fun story about Julie Parker, who is planning a quiet holiday with the younger man she is dating but instead ends up hosting a houseful of family and friends at their holiday cabin. Hilarity ensues as the holiday unfolds and personalities clash.

Christmas at the Little Paris Hotel by Rebecca Raisin is the story of Anais, who has become the owner of a rundown Paris hotel through her divorce settlement. She is working on getting it renovated in time for Christmas with the goal of finding a buyer, but will she change her mind after finding a mysterious hidden set of rooms?

In A Christmas Duet, Debbie Macomber introduces us to Hailey Morgan, an aspiring singer-songwriter who is currently working as a band teacher. To avoid her meddling family, she accepts a friend’s offer to use a family cabin for the holidays. Once there, she meets Jay, the mayor’s son and a former musician, and sparks fly.

I really enjoyed reading some holiday stories during the summer!

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Home of Canals

Home of Canals is a 1000-piece puzzle from Penny Puzzle, and the artist is Gaia Marfurt. I would give this one a full 5 stars across the board. The artwork is fantastic, and the quality of the puzzle is just as good!

I love the bustling Amsterdam scene with its interesting buildings, colorful flowers, and loads of bicycles. And it has just the right amount of sky and water to be enjoyable without overwhelming me.

I was able to use this for a puzzle challenge where the clue was either canal or bicycle. This puzzle was obviously perfect as it has both!

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What I’m Reading – August 2026

What I’m Reading Now

Common Goal by Rachel Reid (Game Changers #4) – I am flying through this series of hockey romances.

What I Recently Finished

  • The Spirit of Justice: True Stories of Faith, Race, and Resistance by Jemar Tisby
  • Elizabeth of East Hampton by Audrey Bellezza and Emily Harding (For the Love of Austen #2)
  • Anne of Avenue A by Audrey Bellezza and Emily Harding (For the Love of Austen #3)
  • Nantucket Second Chances by Pamela Kelley
  • A Christmas Duet by Debbie Macomber
  • Christmas at the Little Paris Hotel by Rebecca Raisin
  • One Big Happy Family by Susan Mallery
  • Game Changer by Rachel Reid (Game Changers #1)
  • Heated Rivalry by Rachel Reid (Game Changers #2)
  • Tough Guy by Rachel Reid (Game Changers #3)
  • Halloween with Ilya by Rachel Reid (Game Changers #2.4) – short story
  • My Dinner with Hayden by Rachel Reid (Game Changers #2.5) – short story
  • Merry Christmas, Scott & Kip by Rachel Reid (Game Changers #1.5) – short story

What I Added to my TBR

  • Role Model by Rachel Reid (Game Changers #5)
  • The Long Game by Rachel Reid (Game Changers #6)
  • Unrivaled by Rachel Reid (Game Changers #7)
  • Time to Shine by Rachel Reid
  • The Shots You Take by Rachel Reid
  • The Day Our Lives Collided by Laura Pearson
  • Romancing Mr. Tilney by Sara Marks (21st Century Austen #7)
  • I Still Love You by Sara Marks (21st Century Austen #8)

TBR Stats/Goal Updates

  • I currently have 174 books on my TBR. Of these, 9 are nonfiction and 165 are fiction.
  • I have read 49 books so far in 2026. I had reset my goal for the year from 100 to 50, so I am almost there!
  • I have finished 1 nonfiction book so far this year. My goal is 6.
  • Here are some more stats from StoryGraph:
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Mermaid Cafe

Mermaid Cafe is a 500-piece puzzle from SunsOut, and the artist is Suzanne Etienne. I had purchased two from this brand to try it out, so I decided to do them back to back for comparison. After seeing how much puzzle dust there was on the first one I did, I pulled out my colander to sift this one, but it actually had a lot less dust.

This image was a lot of fun! I love the art style, and it was a pretty easy puzzle to do. I would definitely be open to more from this brand.

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Chinatown

Cinatown is a 500-piece puzzle from SunsOut, and the artist is Gwendolyn McShepard. This was my first experience with this brand. I really like this image because it has two of my favorite things to puzzle – buildings and text. It is random cut, but I didn’t mind that since the pieces weren’t very small. It did have the most puzzle dust that I have ever seen!

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NYC Apartment

NYC Apartment is a 1000-piece puzzle from Ravensburger, and the artist is Jason Taylor. This is the third indoor/outdoor puzzle I have done of his. I love this concept and have really enjoyed all of them.

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Quilts & Cucumbers

Quilts & Cucumbers is a 500-piece puzzle from MasterPieces, and the artist is Cameron Gray. I got this on loan from Completing the Puzzle through their affiliate program. It’s a sweet image, and I enjoyed all of the quilts and fabrics.

One of the things I like about this subscription service is that they send a laminated image of the puzzle with information on the back about the puzzle and the brand. There is also a QR code on the bag of puzzle pieces that allows you to access a digital image so you can zoom in to see more detail.

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Week in Review: July 26, 2026

I met with my psychiatrist this week, and we decided I would come off the new med I have been trying out. We are going to give it a few weeks with just the two I was already taking and see how I feel. I am hopeful that things will be okay; it would be nice not to have to try any other meds. I am also very hopeful that I will be less tired soon.

Work is going well. I went into the office on Tuesday to train two new employees. They are not in customer service, so they just needed the basics to be able to use the computer system in their area. I was pretty tired by the end from talking so much, but we had a really productive day.

I got some sad news this week that my library will no longer be offering Hoopla, which is an app that allows you to borrow ebooks and audiobooks as well as movies. I have a bunch of books on my to read list that were only available through that method (as opposed to Libby or as a physical book), and I really wish they had given us more notice so I could have prioritized reading those titles. I picked the one I most wanted to read and am working on reading that before access is cut off at the end of this month.

I found out later that they are offering a new app called Cloud Library. I downloaded it and looked for a bunch of titles from my list, but didn’t find many. I don’t know if that means they haven’t added many titles yet or if they don’t have the types of books I like on that app. The new app does not offer movies, either. Most of the books I want to read are available on Libby, so I am really hoping nothing happens to that avenue for borrowing ebooks.

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Journey

Journey is a 1000-piece puzzle from Elena Essex, who is also the artist. This has been one of my favorite brands since early in my time as a puzzler.

I absolutely love this artwork. I found it so relaxing to look at all the colors as I was putting it together. It was a bit challenging at times because colors do repeat on different areas, but it didn’t cause any real frustration. And the quality is so good – no false fits and a nice smooth finish on the pieces.