This site is an archive of ChiotsRun.com. For the latest information about Susy and her adventrures, visit the Cultivate Simple site.
Thank you for all your support over the years!

It’s Puzzling

January 9th, 2013

Mr Chiots and I love working on puzzles. Perhaps I should say that I love puzzles and Mr Chiots helps out. Usually I clear off the table and put out a puzzle at Christmas, this year we had guests so we waited until last Saturday.
Maine Puzzle 1 (1)
Maine Puzzle 2 (1)
This year, I found a nice puzzle at our local game store, it’s the White Mountain Puzzles Best of Maine. When it comes to puzzles, I find it’s rather difficult to find ones that aren’t cheesy or strange. I’m not sure why puzzles are like that. I have a few in my collection that we redo over and over again. Monet’s Waterlillies is one of my favorites. Last year I got the 2000 piece Springbok seed packet puzzle that was HUGE and loads of fun, I can’t wait to do this one again in a few years.
springbok packets of promise puzzle
The Ravensburger Road Trip USA 1000 Piece Puzzle is also on of my favorites that we’ve completed a few different times. There are also a few others on my list of puzzles to add to our collection. While I love redoing puzzles we’ve done in the past, it’s still fun to get a new one every now and then!
Maine Puzzle 2
Maine Puzzle 4
There’s nothing better than having a puzzle spread out on the table to put a few pieces in when you walk by. It’s always a lovely way to spend an evening with your loved ones. Puzzles can be a great way to entertain yourselves while still allowing for good conversation! Mr Chiots and I really enjoy spending winter evenings working on them.

What’s your favorite way to spend an evening with family?

20 Comments to “It’s Puzzling”
  1. Brenda on January 9, 2013 at 6:08 am

    I too love puzzles and glued and framed they make great unique artwork!

    Reply to Brenda's comment

  2. daisy on January 9, 2013 at 6:26 am

    That seed packet puzzle is fantastic!
    It’s funny that you’re posting about puzzles. After listening to the Sensitive Susy podcast, and the shift in thinking about myself, I realized that jigsaw puzzles were one of the things that kept me sane during a very difficult time with our son after his autism diagnosis. I didn’t realize it then, but I needed to have that quiet time to focus on something other than the calamity that entered my life at that time. I got through days literally one hour, sometimes one minute at a time, and I remember having a need to do these puzzles in order to cope. Amazing…
    Enjoy your puzzles!

    Reply to daisy's comment

  3. kathi Cook on January 9, 2013 at 7:04 am

    Wow that seed catalog puzzle is beautiful .I am pretty sure my cat would make it his goal to knock every loose piece onto the floor. Who makes the White Mountain puzzle?

    Reply to kathi Cook's comment

    • Susy on January 9, 2013 at 9:02 am

      It’s the White Mountain Puzzle Company located in New Hampshire.

      Reply to Susy's comment

  4. Jaye on January 9, 2013 at 7:44 am

    Great puzzles! I love them too, so puzzles or gin rummy for group fun.

    Cats definitely interfere by “helping”… :-/

    Reply to Jaye's comment

  5. Jenn on January 9, 2013 at 7:46 am

    I love the seed packet puzzle. That one’s almost pretty enough to mount and hang!

    Reply to Jenn's comment

  6. Marina C on January 9, 2013 at 8:42 am

    Strangely enough for me, I did a puzzle with my Mom who lives next door all afternoon yesterday.
    Check out Wentworth Wooden Jigsaws, they are made on a wood base, lazer cut in England, with fabulous Victorian whimsies. Best of all, you can email them a photo, and they will make a custom puzzle for you.
    I have our Christmas card done very year, good fun when we do them years later!
    I love the serenity that comes with focusing on shape and color, using other parts of the brain. Also, it really improves spatial reasoning, I attribute years of doing puzzles to the fact that I am the most efficient packer in the family.

    Reply to Marina C's comment

  7. SusieB on January 9, 2013 at 9:49 am

    I didn’t realize the seed packets were a puzzle at first! Looks really good. I haven’t put together any puzzles in a long time. A few years ago for Christmas my dad gave me a puzzle he ordered that was made out of a picture I’d taken, which was pretty cool.

    I live alone with a furball, so my nights in involve running the cat around and catching up on reading. While I was home for the holidays though we busted out some old Mad Libs and they held up — surprisingly hilarious.

    Reply to SusieB's comment

  8. Judy on January 9, 2013 at 10:39 am

    I love doing puzzles as well, but I must ask, how do you keep your cats from stealing the pieces? I haven’t done a puzzle in over two years now because my cats steal the pieces.

    Reply to Judy's comment

  9. KimH on January 9, 2013 at 10:59 am

    One of my stepdaughters loves puzzles and works on them nightly.. I on the other hand tend to sit around on the computer or reading a book while M’honey is watching the boob-tube… We’re not far from each other and I tend to listen to the tv shows he watches.. If its interesting and good, good.. if its not.. I block it out! :)

    Reply to KimH's comment

  10. whit on January 9, 2013 at 11:35 am

    We are a puzzle and game family too. Our favourite game is Empire Builder, the object of the game is to build a railroad from coast to coast throughout North America and shuttle cargo around until you amass enough wealth to win. Surprisingly, its geographical details and its commodity hubs are extremely accurate. It’s always nice to play something fun that promotes learning.

    Best wishes to Mr. C and his curling compadres. Can’t wait for the home video of the first tourney!

    Reply to whit's comment

  11. amy on January 9, 2013 at 12:55 pm

    There are several of us……so we love to play board games. I echo the sentiment of some of the other commentors……. I would paste it together and mount it…..Lovely work of art.

    Reply to amy's comment

  12. Deb Berning on January 9, 2013 at 12:58 pm

    Love puzzles but can’t do them with cats inside and only myself doing them. Hubby doesn’t. Used to do them with the kids. I know neat puzzles are expensive so I go for the second hand ones only, can’t afford new. Take a chance might be something missing but for $1 or so can’t go wrong much. I love Thomas Kincaid ones, have 1 I thiunk. Wish I was in them. LOL Love your puzzles. I’d mount the seed pack ones, it’s gorgeous.

    Reply to Deb Berning's comment

  13. Joan on January 9, 2013 at 5:21 pm

    That seed puzzle is great! I can’t imagine putting together 2000 pieces – it must have taken forever.

    We love puzzles and games too. Having not had a TV for 15 years (we finally got one last year, but mostly just use it for movies..) we spend a lot of time playing games. Our current favorites are Carcassonne and Settlers of Catan. Both are three person games though. When Alex doesn’t want to play we resort to cribbage and backgammon, or sometimes scrabble or bananagrams. We have shelves full of games, so there is a lot of variety.

    We have the Maine puzzle you show above, as well as quite a few similar ones that show the features of an area, or ships, or seashells… We like the ones with words – when you’re doing a 1000 piece puzzle it is nice to have some easy sections with words on them! You are welcome to borrow any of ours if you would like.

    Reply to Joan's comment

    • Susy on January 9, 2013 at 6:30 pm

      Brian LOVES to play Catan! He’s also in the process of learning how to play Backgammon!

      Reply to Susy's comment

      • Joan on January 9, 2013 at 10:02 pm

        We should have a game night! It would be fun.

        to Joan's comment

      • Susy on January 9, 2013 at 10:06 pm

        We should – Brian’s always looking for people to play Catan with.

        to Susy's comment

  14. EL on January 10, 2013 at 1:19 am

    I read mostly, but I have a lot of puzzles. As I have been collecting them for a long time, I have a lot of fine art puzzles, including several by Monet (a favorite in our family).

    I don’t paste them down, as I already have plenty of artwork and then I wouldn’t be able to pass them on to friends or do them again in a few years.

    Reply to EL's comment

  15. Norma on January 10, 2013 at 5:18 am

    Once a week my grown sons come over for dinner and then we play
    Card Monopoly. It’s just so great because you can play a game in
    10 minutes and any from 2 to 4 can play. I always loved the original
    Monopoly, but when you don’t have the time or am tired from a day’s
    work this is light and lots of fun.

    Reply to Norma's comment

  16. Johanna on January 10, 2013 at 10:32 am

    As a kid, I LOVED doing puzzles all winter, so I was pretty happy this Christmas when my husband surprised me with a 1000-piece jigsaw puzzle. It’s one of the non-square ones, and after one night of both of us working on it for a few hours we realized that this is going to be a pretty big time commitment! It’s nice, though, like you said, to be able to stop and put together a few pieces here and there and feel relaxed about it.

    I do have a question, though. How do you keep your kitties from knocking around the puzzle pieces while they’re laying on the table? We’ve been keeping the door to that room shut because our cat tends to think the puzzle pieces are the best toy ever!

    Reply to Johanna's comment

About

This is a daily journal of my efforts to cultivate a more simple life, through local eating, gardening and so many other things. We used to live in a small suburban neighborhood Ohio but moved to 153 acres in Liberty, Maine in 2012.

Admin
Read previous post:
A Dream Come True

On Sunday afternoon, Mr Chiots had a dream come true. Many years ago, Mr Chiots discovered the sport of curling...

Close