ONCE UPON A WINTER

When my older daughter was old enough to have her first paying part-time job at a craft store while attending High School, she bought a very beautiful puzzle for her sister who was two years younger than her. It was a rather pricey Christmas gift but she got a discount on it. The puzzle was 39 inches x 62 inches.
It's from a painting of Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare but I haven't been able to find out who the painter was.

There is a glare from the camera flash but you get the idea.

My daughter tried to work on it but soon got discouraged or maybe the interest soon waned away to make room for boy interest. Who knows. I tried to help sort the pieces by color and put them in low boxes but it was taking so long to find a piece that soon everyone gave up.

The puzzle just was getting nowhere and fearing that the dog would soon chew some pieces, I gathered the pieces and brought them into my bedroom and kept the door shut. Since I have a rather large bedroom I got my husband to put a sheet of plywood on top of four chairs and I  started to assemble the border. To show my kids that with patience and perseverance, you can achieve what seems impossible, I worked on it every day and every time I put a piece in I would make a mark and when I had five in I made the diagonal line across just to encourage my progress. I worked on it for a whole winter and thoroughly enjoyed myself. I always thought that surely there were some pieces missing since the puzzle was where the dog could have easily destroyed pieces that might have fallen on the floor by accident. But luckily there were non-missing. I had more free time then.

Soon it became a Christmas boxing day tradition that the whole family even the grandkids enjoyed. Years later the tradition still exists and the girls still get around the table even into the wee hours until the puzzle is finished while having glasses of wine and chatting.
Now this beautiful puzzle is hanging in our home office and I still love to look at it and remember that perseverance and patience are some of my God-given gifts for which I'm very thankful.  JB.

RESTLESS ON SATURDAY EVENING

Time is slipping through my fingers at a break neck speed. It's like being on a merry go round that just won't stop to let me get off. I can't believe how quickly time is melting away. Already one week left before were in November.

I was out today to work in the yard and my fingers were getting so cold that I had to come in to warm up. I have a condition called Renault syndrome, where the fingers hurt really bad like frost bite when it cold. They are very sensitive to the least bit of cold. The sky has been sunny and cloudy and the air humid and it has been windy all day. I sure like the stove heat when I came in to get warm.

I managed to take a few photos in the backyard and discovered a huge hornet nest in my maple tree by the deck. I took a few shots and had to set the camera on sport setting because there was so much movements of the leaves and the hornet nest moving in the wind.   Notice the two old abandoned silos in the background.  They are set to be demolished sometime in the future.  Those silos are used as land marks by airplanes as we live only minutes from the airport.

An underside view of the huge hornet nest. This is the first time I took a sport shot and I love this feature on my camera.
 This afternoon while the sun was out I did a bit of hooking and a bit of ripping  and then had to go to the airport to pick up my sister in law who was coming in from Toronto and her flight was delayed so when it finally arrived just had time to make it home to change into my barn clothes and get to work.  I wonder what it feels like to have a whole day off from work unless I'm sick in bed. I know... I'm complaining again... Stay safe during the weekend.  JB