Caryl Linder

My sister-in-law died this afternoon. She's been in a full care facility suffering from Alzheimer's Disease for the last 3 1/2 years, so it wasn't a surprise and was in fact a bit of a relief. She just turned 71 a few days ago.

Molly Getting Bigger

She's almost eight months old and a total delight.

Happy Birthday, Stephanie

Twenty-two years ago today, a very lovely little girl was born. My Steph.

When Good Blogs Go Bad

Richard Prosch's Meridian Bridge has always been a quality blog. Until now. Click here and see what I mean.

'Tis a Puzzle

A simple puzzle made for kids featuring Hugh O'Brian as Wyatt Earp, from the 1950s TV show The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp. Maker is Whitman, piece count is 63, and final puzzle is about 18 X 14 inches.

'Tis a Puzzle

A Masterpiece picture puzzle from Whitman Publishing. Titled "The Roundup," it has 204 pieces, measures 10 3/4 X 14 3/8 inches when completed, and is one of eight puzzles in this series (#102). There's a sticker on the side of the box that says "J.J.N.Co, 15 cents" It actually has the cent sign, but that's not available here, or if it is I have no idea how to create it. Anyway, the box this came in was pretty small and the colors on the box top didn't match the puzzle that well, which is not unusual. But I did have fun putting it together and the finished product displayed well. You can see by the photo that the pieces had some interesting shapes. I don't know when this puzzle was produced, but I'm guessing the 1950s. Degree of difficulty: Easy.

On another subject entirely, I'm not that happy with the contenders for the baseball World Series. They deserved to get there, but I'm in the position of rooting against one team rather than for one. So, Go Cards!

I had a lot of fun with this puzzle. The shapes of the pieces were interesting, the picture was neat, and the degree of difficulty was medium. Just the facts: A Guild puzzle by Whitman, 304 pieces, finished size 18 X 14 inches, and it says proudly all over the place that it's Machine Cut. The title is Two Friends. I started with the water and the cowboy, moved to the background, and finished with the horse. Best of all is the cover price, 29 cents. I can't even get them in a thrift store of that price now.

'Tis a Puzzle

All I can say about this one is that it was a killer. The pieces didn't interlock and every time I breathed too heavily they moved and separated. I started this one with the mountains, moved to the sky and smoke, then the horse in the center. The foreground came last. The maker is Milton Bradley, finished size is 16 X 20 inches, there are 500 pieces, and the title is "Forest Rangers in Action." It says there are 24 pictures in this series. What cracks me up is that is says right on the box "500 interlocking pieces." Maybe in the whole 24-piece set, but not this puzzle. Even a lot of the border pieces didn't interlock. In the early days of jigsaw puzzles it was common to have pieces abut without holding tight, and this is a classic example of that.

'Tis a Puzzle

I bought this one on eBay. The shipper wrapped some packing paper around the box instead of protecting it inside of another box, so it arrived crushed on the top, bottom, and two sides. Since I like to keep the box in top shape I was bent out of shape and complained to the seller. He refunded the postage, which was nice, but I'd rather have had a box in good condition. It's the collector mentality in me.

The puzzle is called Whooping It Up, painting by John Leone. Maker is SunsOut, there are 550 pieces, and the image is 18 X 15.5 inches. Average difficulty, and a nice picture when it's finished.

'Tis a Puzzle

Looks like this idiotic site cut me off for no reason yesterday, or maybe today. I'm not sure why. Something about "unusual activity," which is odd since I haven't posted in ten days.

So here's another puzzle. My technique for doing a jigsaw puzzle is probably the same as most people's. I study the picture on the box, then dump all the pieces into the box top--the part with the picture. Next I transfer the pieces to the box's bottom, sorting out the frame/edge pieces as I go. I also make sure every piece is face up. If there's a lot of sky I might put that into a freezer bag, but if it has sky plus an object on the horizon on it it goes into the box's bottom. Then I look for a good place to start building. For example, in the puzzle I'm showing here I separated out the red coat, the cooking pot's tripod, and the checkered shirt. I also set aside all of the colorful leaves on the right of the picture. Once I got all of those assemblies fairly complete I did the mountains and the heads of the men where they meet the sky. The sky followed, and lastly the forest floor in the foreground. You can also see the rug on my office floor under the edge of the table. I should have cropped this first. This puzzle is 750 pieces, made by CEACO, and measures 18 X 24 inches. The picture is titled "Sergeant Beaubien," painted by John Buxton, and is part of their Each Picture Tells a Story series. Here's what it says on the bottom of the box:

"This group of Rogers Rangers are on ground overlooking Lake George, New York, which stretches Northward behind them. Captain Robert Rogers' men scout deeply within enemy territory, supplying the latest intellegence of French activity, and their daring hit-and-run tactics not only delivered great annoyance to the enemy but also boosted English spirits.
"Experienced Ranger lieutenants are briefing several new cadets and a volunteer from the 42nd Highlanders, as to the basic rules outlined by Captain Rogers--rules still employed by Ranger forces today. Among the Ranger 'cadets' in the fall of 1756 is William Stark, brother of Ranger Captain John Stark, with his wolf/dog Sgt. Beaubien. At one point throughout their history, Stark entered the wolf/dog into the official Ranger muster roll to draw a sergeant's rations and pay. It has been said that Sgt. Beaubien dispatched his share of the enemy and was well deserving of his pay."