Aside from needing a fresh hobby to take me away from screens, one of the reasons I decided to start doing puzzles more often this year was because I was due to have a surgery that I was pretty sure would take me out for at least a couple of weeks if not a full month. As much as I enjoy video games, movies, et al, I wanted something more tactile to do during that time that didn’t require too much from me.
I had that surgery and quickly found out that there would be no puzzling until I felt well enough to sustain attention and sit upright without struggle. That took most of the expected two weeks I thought I would spend doing puzzles and games, neither of which I touched more than a few minutes in that time because I was just too exhausted. I’m just now getting back to it, a little over three weeks out, having spent more than my fair share of time watching shows and hitting my limit with screens again. I’m not 100%, but I’m finding in the past few days that the time spent on puzzles again is helping getting my brain and body back into shape where I feel more confident about doing bigger things again soon. I imagine they’ll be helping me in the next few weeks to get back to something resembling where I was pre-surgery. It hasn’t been what I thought – doing puzzles in the first weeks – but will be something that takes me from week 3 into the next month or two as I repair. So it goes. Good thing I planned ahead and got specifically autumn-specific puzzles to do.
For now, I worked on these in the mid to late summer this year.
Galison Astrology Foil Puzzle
I broke out the good camera for this one. After sorting the pieces into color families, I was struck by just how pretty this puzzle is. The gold foil and the dark blue to plum red gradients really worked for me visually. This ended up being a challenging puzzle because of the large blocks of similar colors so I was staring at it almost a full week, in the end discovering one of the pieces was missing. Boo. Alas, it was a thrift store puzzle, as many of these have been. I’m just surprised to have found it at the thrift store at all because it was one of the first puzzles on my imaginary wishlist.
Buffalo Water World Puzzle
Another thrift store puzzle that I almost didn’t get. What appeal do whales have to me? But something about Redina Tili’s art got me (wanting that Moss puzzle now). This puzzle ended up being pretty challenging and I had to practice patience with it as its border of colors were so similar and the fluid, organic illustrations made for a not particularly intuitive struggle.
Ceaco Pop Lolli Pop (Chupa Chups) Foil Puzzle
This fully foil puzzle was 500 pieces, which is about as much as I had limit for. I learned doing this one that my home lighting makes it really difficult to differentiate colors if the puzzle is overly glossy, shiny, or fully designed with foil. But, at 500 pieces, and strong line work throughout the puzzle, I was able to get through this fairly quickly. It was a fine distraction for my anxiety.
Buffalo Confection Street Puzzle
I played a little unintentional prank on myself starting this puzzle the day before I had my surgery. Having it out, having the edge pieces done, and having the sorting started the morning of helped provide some distraction so I could deal with the brutal hunger I had mixed with the intense next-level anxiety in the hours before surgery, but coming home and staring at the puzzle I couldn’t work on for over a week was a bit annoying. Thing I couldn’t do remained lingering. I eventually decided to take the color sorted trays to my bed and slowly pick at pieces that way, which probably only cut a day off my time as I remained exhausted for another week. Ultimately this took 19 days from start to finish. Had I been entirely healthy, it wouldn’t have taken long. Nevertheless, this was another Charles Wysocki puzzle, and save for the trees – seriously, fuck those trees – it was mostly a fun experience. The colorful imaginary world created with the art hit the spot and it was a beautiful, wholly necessary distraction from myself.
RoseArt Reading Nook (My Happy Place Series) Puzzle
I needed a smaller puzzle with crisp imagery next, so I chose this 750 piece puzzle. After I got started I thought maybe I should have gone with 300 or 500 instead since I was still pretty tired and feeling crappy, but once I tackled the initial color sorting and edges and realized what made sense where, the puzzle flew by. It was just easy enough for where I was while still taking me out of my head. I also really like this art style when it comes to puzzles, plus the image itself hit home as someone who likes books, plants, and sitting under blankets. 0/100 for having a cat on my lap (get off me, I’ve got places to be) but I get the sentiment there, too. Hope to do more puzzles by this artist in the future.
Elena Essex Woodland Magic Puzzle
What is it about mushrooms? Why? I mean, I like a bit of mushroom in food dishes, but what is it about the idea of them? Why are they appealing? Nevertheless, adding a subtle rainbow of color in a mix of mushrooms, and I got me some fresh wall out of this puzzle purchase that I’ve been looking at every day since I got it so many months ago. As I was feeling well enough to sustain attention by the time I started this, it didn’t take very long to conquer. I was amused at the end that despite how much white (well, cream) is in this puzzle, there wasn’t a single piece that was 100% white. Certain mushrooms were more of a challenge, but overall this puzzle was a quicker one once I fully sorted out the colors. I really want more Elena Essex puzzles but I imagine I’m really going to have to luck out finding one at a thrift store. Hopefully in the coming year I’ll be feeling more reliably with it and maybe I can take more trips to both my local thrift store and the further away ones and maybe, just maybe, I’ll find one.
For now, spooky season is upon us, and if there’s another one of these puzzle posts, I’m fairly certain it’ll have some ghosts, witches, or pumpkins in it.