Water Planet

We completed another jigsaw, 2000 pieces, in less than a week, and with no arguments.  

It was a really lovely puzzle to do, because the elements in it were varied (unlike "Bombardment of Algiers",, BoA,  where all the ships were wooden and so it was difficult to work out which peces belonged to what element). 

It's a bright and colourful picture too, and I'm really pleased we did it.

And no missing pieces!

There's one more large puzzle, a 3000 piece one called "Seattle".  I don't fancy doing it.  The picture is OK, but it features many skyscrapers, all with similar pieces.  It's going to be like BoA again. 

I've also been sewing, but I haven't had a chance to take any pictures yet.

Bombardment of Algiers

Some weeks ago we had Covid, and had to isolate.  We (I) thought it would be a great opportunity to try and make one of Mum and Dad's preloved-and -not-made-by-them jigsaw puzzles.  

DH picked the puzzle, and he picked what looked like the most gloomy and dull one of the small pile.  He found a did the edge pieces, did a bit, and then lost interest.   We did nothing for weeks.

 

I couldn't get interested in it,  until I managed to do a little group. And then another little group.  And then I attached a group to the edge pieces. WooHoo!   I was only doing a few pieces a day, and  I thought it was going to take me a year to do. 

 I then started really trying to do it.   I managed to do some quite large chunks.   I bought some stackable catering trays to help me manage all the sorted pieces.  

 I moaned about it constantly.  It was a boring picture, the colours were dull, it was a nightmare to do.   I was tempted to just give up.

Every time I completed a bit, I did a happy dance.  If I managed to connect stuff to the outside edge, I did a big dance.

 

6th May 2022

12th May 2022

 One day, I realised that it was actually a really bright puzzle, really colourful and interesting, so much better than the box suggested.   Now I actually wanted to finish it (rather than not wanting to give up)

Towards the end of the non-plain pieces, I found the more  I did, the easier it became.  It was fewer pieces to deal with, and fewer places to put those pieces.

About  12th May, I finished doing all the non plain pieces.  I was sad to find that we had two dark pieces missing.  We move dthe puzzle,  moved out everything under the table, and eventually found one of the two missing pieces.

14th May, flipped

 We slid a piece of hardboard under the puzzle and turned it round on the table so that I could reach the sky pieces.  These photos look odd because the puzzle is upside down, and I've flipped the photos.

All the pieces were plain, so it didn't really matter what the orientation of the puzzle was.

15th May, flipped

 It was really tough doing the last few hundred pieces of sky.  I kept sorting and re-sorting the pieces trying to group them by colour (and by shape).   I looked for pieces that were "different" (manybe they had very wide shoulders, or very narrow shoulders;  maybe they had large holes;  some had strange edges.  Anything that would help me tell the pieces apart.

And yesterday, ithe puzzle was completed.  Apart from that pesky missing piece.

Poor puzzle.  Obviously I can't sell it on with a piece missing, and it's a shame.

But it's done now, and I'll break it up later today.

And then I'll do something else for a while.

Freedom

It was announced that, even though bird flu is still here,  birds would be allowed out of lockdown from Monday 2nd May.

We made plans.

On the Friday afternoon, we shut the girls in,  and DH dismantled all the outdeise netted area.  We had (and have) a big pile of poles and piles of netting.    The extra omlet run was dismantled and stored ready for this winter.

Despite havig been ravaged by chickens, the area looked so much better without the "shanty town" look from the netted area.

On Saturday,  the chap who comes to help is with our garden came.  Because everything was now clear, he could mow the whole lot, and it looked wonderful.    The Girls were still in jail at this point, and weren't happy.

On Monday, we put up outry fencing, and let the girls out.   They came streaming out of the door,  and ran round the fresh grass, eating greedily.   Within seconds, Fay was out. Six months in Flockdown hadn't dulled her fence jumping skill.

We had a few more escapee issues over the next few days, usually Poppy or Elizabeth squishing underneath the netting.

And now, the girls are lying in the sun.

I'd love to let them have the freedom of the entire garden,  but DH is growing some things.  We've put netting round the beds, but we know that the Girls seem to see that as a challenge rather than as a deterrent.

Six months they were shut in.

Our Girls were lucky that they have a large walk in area anyway,  and that DH was able to construct a netted & protected outside area for them.  Not all would have been so lucky.

Viole(n)t, who is now 4 (FOUR!) years old,  celebrated freedom by going broody.