The most amazing jigsaw puzzle

Five of us put together this amazing puzzle while we were visiting my brother in New Hampshire last week.  My brother, sister, sister-in-law, sister-in-law’s nephew and I.  Mr. Aitch and Mr. Are (my brother-in-law) cheered us on.

The puzzle has irregular edges.  It was in the shape of a frog.

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The pieces were not the typical shaped pieces either.  There were frogs, fish, mermaids, sharks, at least one seahorse, buffalo, birds, and many other fun shapes. Sorry, no separate photos of those but you can make out some of those shapes below.

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009-NH-Trip-Frog-5The puzzle called “Frog” by Sue Coccia and is produced by Liberty Puzzles.  Their logo piece is an eagle with the word “Liberty” on the back.  The cut pattern for this puzzle is different from the one currently one their website.

As we started oohing and awing over the various shapes Sunday afternoon, my sister kept saying “It’s too hard.  It’s too hard.” But we persevered.

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And by Tuesday afternoon it was complete.  The amusing, whimsical shapes and family interaction were extraordinary.

What fun group activities does your family do?  Do you like jigsaw puzzles?

 

Adventures in NH

When riding a motorcycle 600 miles, one must be prepared for inclement weather.  We started out in our rain suits because everything was wet.  Good thing we did as we hit rain less than seven miles from our house.001-NH-Trip-Canal-Place

It rained off and on most of the morning.  I kept checking my phone weather app to see if we could remove those hot suits. Mr. Aitch took off his rain jacket when we stopped for fuel when this popped up.  We are the blue dot.002-Sheetz

We hung out there for about an hour while waiting for the rain to lighten up and spent the night near Albany, New York.

From  Albany, New York to my brother’s house in New Hampshire was a better ride and beautiful weather.

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My brother, sister and I went to the League of New Hampshire Craftsmen’s Fair and I met Carrie Cahill Mulligan of cmhats fame.005-NH-Trip-CCM-Hats

I’ve never met a knitter that wasn’t nice.  She is so warm and friendly and her hats are incredibly beautiful!  My favorite one is the grey and tan hat hanging just above my head in the photo.  Her hand embroidery is divine.

There were so many things to see that I forgot to take photos.   I did fish out my phone for a photo when I saw this quilt by Jane Frenke.  I love the bright colors and irregular edges. After doing some research I discovered her studio is about and hour and half away from me  Small world.006-NH-Trip-Jane-Frenke

We also worked on a very challenging jigsaw puzzle that my sister-in-law gave to my brother a few years ago and was never completed.  More about that on another day.

Three days of warm, sunny weather and then it started to rain.  On the day we left.

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This time we spent the night in Scranton, PA. Our boots were damp and Mr. Aitch’s glove were wet so we propped them over the fan in our room while we went for dinner.

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Rain showers were in the area when we got up on the last day of our trip so we decided to take our time at breakfast.  We donned our rain suits before we left the hotel though the radar was relatively clear.  Pop-up showers were in the forecast but after mostly sunny skies and the heat of the day, we decided to get out of those hot rain suits.

Thirty minutes later…

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Again – we are the blue dot.

013-NH-Trip-TyroneWe managed to get off the highway just as the skies opened up.  You can see by Mr. Aitch’s shirt that we did get a little wet.  We decided to have lunch hoping the rain would once again subside.  It didn’t.  After an hour wait we braved the rain and headed home.

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To mostly sunny skies.

Weekend fun

Mr. Aitch and I went to visit some of our relatives this weekend.  We stayed with his brother and sister-in-law and partied with them Friday evening.

Left to right: Me, B-I-L, S-I-L, and Mr. Aitch.

Henry's

We started off with some fantastic potato skins that had cheese and bacon under Ranch dressing.  They were so good!  I didn’t get pictures of the stuffed portabella mushrooms and Nachos because, well, we were in the Cock-Eyed Bar (in B-I-L’s basement) and enjoying the adult beverages.  In other words, I forgot.

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Saturday I met up with two of my cousins, two aunts, and my sister.  We attended a luncheon honoring Grove City College Scholarship donors and recipients.

Clockwise from the bottom:  My” iPad cover” Aunt (seated), Holly from Denver, Joan from Houston, my sister, Aunt from Denver, and me.

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The scholarship recipient was a wonderful young man who has a good head on his shoulders and seems very grounded.

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The last time I saw my Houston cousin was when our daughter got married in 2007. I went on a business trip in 2008 and saw my Denver aunt and cousin.  Our families want to close that gap and visit more often!

How do you handle long-distance family reunions?