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Puzzle Mail

I have been trying to reign in the puzzle buying after going a bit crazy this summer. I’m not sure how successful I have been, but here are the eight puzzles I have purchased in the last month:

  • The Cambridge from Buffalo Games, Charles Wysocki
  • You’ve Got Mail from Spaghetti Tree Puzzles, Lori Harris
  • Autumn Festival from Pieces & Peace, Abby Jacobs
  • Seasons in Kyoto from eeBoo, Jennifer Potter
  • Paris Christmas from eeBoo, Jennifer Orkin Lewis
  • English Cottage from eeBoo, Victoria Ball
  • Home of Fashion from Penny Puzzle, Gaia Marfurt
  • NYC Apartment from Ravensburger, Jason Taylor

Only the Spaghetti Tree is 500 pieces; the rest are 1000. So I’m not doing very well at trying to obtain smaller piece counts, but I am still happy with all of my purchases.

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Monster Mansion

Monster Mansion is a 500-piece puzzle from Mudpuppy, and the artist is Stephanie Birdsong. This is the same artist that did the Welcome to Spookytown puzzle I did last October. I love her quirky style and her fun take on a Halloween-style house crosssection.

It was fun to do an easy Halloween puzzle after the last two that were both 1000 pieces and on the difficult end of the range. I think this will be my last one for this year.

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Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween is a 1000-piece puzzle from Ravensburger, and the artist is Demelsa Haughton. I find her artwork so charming. I was thinking this was the first puzzle I have done from her, but then I realized my only 2000-piece puzzle Novel Avenue was one of hers.

This puzzle was more challenging than I thought it would be, probably because of how detailed it is. With that said, I love all the fun and spooky details in this image. The pumpkin houses are charming, and I especially love the colors of the sky.

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Halloween Crochet

Halloween Crochet is a 1000-piece puzzle from White Mountain, and the artist is Jessica White. This was challenging but fun. It had a lot of the same colors all over the puzzle, but I never got truly stuck.

I have done one other crochet image from Jessica White called Country Life Crochet. It was produced by Cobble Hill, however, and their random shapes combined with the intricacy of the stitches made it a lot harder than this one was. I would consider doing this one again but am not planning on keeping the other one.

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Tell Me Everything

Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout is book 5 in the Amgash series.

Summary

It’s autumn in Maine, and the town lawyer Bob Burgess has become enmeshed in an unfolding murder investigation, defending a lonely, isolated man accused of killing his mother. He has also fallen into a deep and abiding friendship with the acclaimed writer, Lucy Barton, who lives nearby in a house next to the sea. Together, Lucy and Bob talk about their lives, their hopes and regrets, and what might have been.

Lucy, meanwhile, befriends one of Crosby’s longest inhabitants, Olive Kitteridge, now living in a retirement community on the edge of town. They spend afternoons together in Olive’s apartment, telling each other stories. Stories about people they have known – “unrecorded lives,” Olive calls them – reanimating them, and, in the process, imbuing their lives with meaning.

My Thoughts

Simple yet profound – that is the best way I can describe Elizabeth Strout’s writing. On the surface, this book follows the lives of Bob Burgess and Lucy Barton as they experience their friendship and deal with the everyday situations in their lives. Ultimately, however, it explores the meaning of life, especially that of the “unrecorded life.”

If you are interested in reading Elizabeth Strout, I would recommend starting with Olive Kitteredge and the first book in the Amgash series, My Name is Lucy Barton.

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Festive Food Truck (Repeat)

Festive Food Truck is a 500-piece puzzle from Ceaco, and the artist is Stephanie Peterson Jones. This was a redo for me. I needed a puzzle with a sweet treat for a puzzle challenge in a Facebook group, and this one fit the bill.

I enjoy Ceaco puzzles. They are middle of the road when it comes to quality, but they have interesting piece shapes and are usually pretty easy to complete. This artist is a favorite of mine as well.

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Dream Library

Dream Library is a 1000-piece puzzle from Villager Puzzles, and the artist is Tara Younggren. I was drawn to this image because of how cozy it looks and how it brings together my two favorite things, reading and puzzling!

The bottom portion and the left side of the puzzle were really satisfying to put together, but things got way more difficult when I got to the window scene with all of the foliage. This puzzle definitely taught me that I don’t like foliage. It was incredibly hard and I was tempted to give up several times. I did persevere, however, and eventually finished.

Even with the difficulty level, it is a beautiful puzzle and the quality was excellent. I plan to buy more from this brand in the future.

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The Paris Cooking School

The Paris Cooking School by Sophie Beaumont

Summary

There’s nothing quite so beautiful as Paris in the spring; and when you add in the chance to learn the French way of food, in a relaxed and friendly atmosphere, who can resist? Not Gabi Picabea or Kate Evans who have come from Australia to Sylvie Morel’s Paris Cooking School.

Both are at a crossroads, and learning to cook the French way in Paris, far away from all their troubles, seems like the perfect escape. Meanwhile, Sylvie herself is facing challenges of her own – a mysterious harassment campaign against the School and a reassessment of her relationship with her commitment-shy lover Claude. 

For each of the women, that extraordinary April in Paris will bring unexpected twists and transformations that will change the course of their lives.

My Thoughts

This is a lovely book. Gabi and Kate are likeable characters who are trying to find their way despite various difficulties in their lives. I enjoyed their interaction with the rest of the class as well as with the people they meet in Paris. I also liked the storyline with Sylvie, who runs the school, as she deals with her own challenges.

My favorite part was how descriptive Beaumont is, showing us an intimate view of Paris and tantalizing us with mouthwatering descriptions of food, both around the city and in the cooking school. I am such a picky eater, but it made me want to try all of the dishes they encountered.

I am definitely putting her second book, A Secret Garden in Paris, on my list!

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The Farm

The Farm is a 1000-piece puzzle from Buffalo Games, and the artist is Charles Wysocki. I love this image so much. My favorite part about his artwork are the buildings, so I love that this building is so prominent in the image. All of the signs and decorations on the front add so much interest and make it easier to puzzle than a plain building would be.

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Brunch & Craft

At the end of September, my church held an event called Brunch & Craft. It was open to anyone who wanted to come, and we were encouraged to bring a craft to do and, if possible, a dish to share. This is the second one of these we have had, and it was a lot of fun the first time.

My friend Suzanne and I decided to do puzzles during the crafting time. We did two puzzles, and our friend Brianne joined us for the first one before settling down to color. My friend Renee, who lives about 45 minutes away, came with me as well and she was doing some crochet.

I really enjoyed the event. I brought a sausage hashbrown casserole to share and had some other delicious treats that other people had brought as well. I brought four puzzles and let Suzanne and Brianne choose which ones we would do. For the first one, they immediately chose Cats in Quarantine, which is a 500-piece puzzle from Exploding Kittens. I have done it a couple of times already and love it.

The picture above shows it in progress, and here is the finished puzzle:

For the second puzzle, Suzanne chose Waterfall Camper, a 300-piece puzzle from Ceaco. The artist is Stephanie Peterson Jones. I have a bunch of her puzzles and really like her artwork.

This was such a fun event. Usually I get drained being around a lot of people, but I was so focused on our little group and the activity of puzzling that I actually still had a lot of energy after it was done. Renee and I went out for a late lunch/early dinner and then ice cream and hung out for a bit at my place before she went home.

I hope we do it again!