Leaving the Puzzle Behind

I am packed except for the few things that go in the car in the morning. I am also beat.

Here's a sneak preview of the 2000-piece puzzle. I never for a minute planned to have it done before leaving, but I also didn't think I'd be as far along as I am. This is one corner.

This is two days ago. I still couldn't get all the pieces spread out on the two tables.

Here it is tonight. Pretty close to being able to have one layer of pieces. There's just one little pile in the middle of the same pattern. They are sorted, but not yet spread out.

This is not as hard as it looks, but it's a huge sorting project. I'm enjoying it.

I did all the stuff, the errands, got gas, blah, blah. I have to get up at 6 am. Not my favorite time of day as you know. But then I'll be on the road and life will be full of fun things to share!

See Wysocki Puzzle

Miscellaneous

I kept myself motivated and working on all the small and generally annoying tasks that needed to be done by allowing myself 10 pieces in the jigsaw puzzle after each item I got to cross off my list.

Then I took a walk. It was 50° out! The first picture is from today. Paper birch branches against the clear sky. Lovely, lovely, lovely!

And I have something to share from my walk on Sunday. Look who was so busy on a tree he let several of us take pictures. Usually the pileated woodpeckers are skittish. Not this one! This picture has a good silhouette, but the branches are in the way.

This is a clearer picture, but it's the back. Maybe not as interesting, although it's also not a view you see all the time.

These are possibly the best pictures I've taken of a pileated. I did get some good ones in Ohio once, but if I put them on the blog the search is not finding them. Those were unusual because the woodpecker was finding something to eat on the ground and was totally focused on getting it so it didn't notice Marie and me sneaking close. Maybe I'll find and share them some time.

The sky on Sunday was also gorgeous. I have to say that it's much easier to be cheerful when the sky is blue.

I am in good shape to finish the last things on my list tomorrow and pack the car. May put a few more pieces in the puzzle and take my book to bed.

Miles walked in 2026: 45.5

Road walk 4 miles.

See Snow Mushrooms and Other Events

Prayer Shawl(s)

Today went well. I got most of the big projects on my list under control. What I'm going to show you is the completed prayer shawl. I left it with three edging rows. Finished off all the loose ends. Put it in the dryer with a damp towel to pull off all the hairs (even with no dogs or cats here, things seem to be rather hairy.)

And I wanted to get the next one started before I leave. The first couple of rows are always the hardest- you have to really pay attention to get them right. So I got into the third row and the second color. This verifies the size will be about what I want.

Last year, I went on the train and took the one I just completed. It was sport weight yarn and took up very little space. It did use up some of my yarn stash, but it wasn't a genuine scrap-craft afghan.

Since I'm taking the car this time, there is room for a bigger handicraft box (I don't have a tub the right size, but a box is fine.) And this is worsted weight yarn, so the whole thing will go much faster. I actually bought a pattern. I was going to figure it out by looking at the picture, but the pattern was only $4, so really... why give myself the headache?

Here is the stash that is going with me. The directions say that each row takes about 30 yards of yarn. So I checked one leftover wad of yarn and it was just over 30 yards. I rolled that up and used that as my standard. Any little balls smaller than that one I don't need to take with me. Any yarns that have enough just alike (same color and dye lot) to potentially make a single project I don't need to take. What I have is 42 different colors, and most of them are enough to do more than one row.

It's packed and in my travel pile.

The other biggie I got done today was to write this month's column for the Ludington Daily News. I do have to find a couple of pictures to go with it, but that won't be too hard. I'll do that in the morning. And I worked out the logistics for one of my visits that was starting to get gnarly. I think the itinerary is all set now.

Then I have a lot of smaller jobs that I hope to get through tomorrow. And it's supposed to be nice, so hopefully I can take a walk. Friday will be for finishing any remaining tasks and packing the car. Whew!

Saturday, I'm on my way with the first stop to be selling books at the Gun Lake Winterfest in Wayland, MI. Lots of fun activities too. Stop in if you are nearby.

See Prayer Shawl Sunday

Moose In Boots - Page Twelve

Today has been stressful, but I did finish one more page. I'm not sure if I'll get any more done before I leave on Saturday.

This page was so simple, there's really not much to add to it.

My car had a little issue in the middle of the day that chewed up a fair amount of time. I was planning to take a decent walk, but that got shortened to a fast 2 miles. At least I got that much. The car is fine. Bell practice. Short grocery list.

I got the entries in for the MOWA Contests. But my list to accomplish before Saturday is long.

Miles walked in 2026: 41.5

Ludington streets, 2.0 miles.

See Moose in Boots- page 11

Moose In Boots - Page 11

Another fairly easy page, except that getting the moose ok at this particular scale is harder than I think it should be. I need to work on touching up his eyes a little more.

I said I'd show you more about why the watercolor pencils are so nice. First, this is some sample patches where I was trying out different colors and mixes for the skin and hair. Labels are just enough so I won't forget which colors I used. This is taken with the camera, not a scan, so the color isn't as good, but you get the idea.

Then, I decided I really needed to see how the skin tone I picked was going to look on a face, so I just sketched an outline and colored it in. You can build in some texture with how heavy of a line you make with the pencils and how much water you brush it with.

I decided I liked this tone. I didn't want it to be very pink.

And for her hair, I wanted her to be blond, but not really pale blond. I chose honey and cinnamon pencils. You can see that by making some loopy strokes with the cinnamon and pressing a little harder the impression of layers of curls is pretty good. I also did her plaid shirt with the pencils.

Most of what I did today was try to get my entries ready for the 2025 Michigan Outdoor Writers Awards. It's a total pain to get them formatted the way they want, but I often win something, so I do it. I'm close to submitting. Maybe I'll finish this evening. Maybe not.

And I have done three edge rows around the prayer shawl. Have to decide if that's enough or if I want four.

See Moose In Boots- page 10

Bell Choir - February 2026

Monthly Bell Choir Sunday! We have played both of these previously, but not for a while. The first is the familiar "Just As i Am."



This one is harder and quite interesting. It's an arrangement of "God of Grace and God of Glory." The tune is also often used with the words for "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing." I think we did a better job with it this time.



After church I took a walk while I was in town. You can call me wimpy, but I did the paved Cartier Park again for two reasons. 1. My knee is better but I don't want to twist it walking on weird surfaces. 2. I wanted to wear sneakers rather than my boots because the boots are hurting a toe.

Worked on page 11, and did another edge row on the prayer shawl.

Miles walked in 2026: 39.5

Cartier Park, twice around the loop and both spurs plus enough more to get to 3.0 miles.

See Bell Choir- January

Moose In Boots - Page 10

Moose in Boots page 10 is done, and 11 is started.

This was a simple page, and there isn't much to show of interest having to do with progress. I just did the washes and added details. Probably the most interesting thing is the ground around the tent. It is three colors splotched on and then wet down and part of the color lifted off with a paper towel.

Anyway, I thought you might be interested in some of my new art toys... er, tools. I put a sampling on a towel to display. Clockwise from top left.

I got a set of 11 permanent ink pens with tips in sizes from 0.003 mm to 3.0 mm plus a brush tip. These are awesome! I'm better with pen and ink than paint any day. These allow me to add all the details.

Next is two different kinds of artist sponges. I've used those for the spring trees and the dappling on the granite-wear pans.

For the first time in my life, I invested in some decent brushes. I got a pack of 10, but so far, I've only used these two. They have beautifully pointed tips and they hold their shape. I may be in love.

Watercolors. I am still using the el cheapo sets, plus some more colors I bought. The small tubes (I bought 7) came from Hobby Lobby. I wouldn't have gotten so many, but they are closing out that line and the tubes were 87¢ each instead of $3.50. I needed black, and discovered the sale. The tube of blue that looks different is from a different cheap set of colors from Dollar General. Technically, you should be able to mix any color you want, but it's nice to have a few more options to start with.

Finally, the other brushes and container on the left are the masking fluid. It was nice that they sent a few cheap brushes to use with it, because it's rough on brushes

I also bought more paper. It's not really good paper, but it's fine for a kid's book. It's more of the same kind I started on, and I sure didn't want to switch in the middle and discover that the textures were different or something.

I think I should also re-share the picture of the set of watercolor pencils I asked for at Christmas seven (how can it be that many?) years ago. I am actually using them quite a bit for small spaces, and you'll see a good example of their use on page 11, which I have started.

It was a pretty laid-back day, which I was glad of. I did more small tasks, completed one edging row around the prayer shawl (it will need at least 3, but the first is the hardest), and edited.

I leave for the East in one week, so I need to get my tush in gear.

See Moose In Boots- page 9

Snow Mushrooms and Other Events of the Week

Today was nuts, but I got a whole list of uninteresting things done. I walked the property tax payment down to the town hall and found these snow mushrooms on the shoulder of the road.

They look huge, right? Nah- about 8" tall. This is the best one, and you can see other items for perspective.

I finished the jigsaw puzzle I'd been working on. It was an easy one; Churchyard Christmas by Charles Wysocki. 1000 pieces. (And started a new one that Om bought me last fall- it's 2000 pieces and pretty hard.)

His puzzles are always fun because they have so much going on with people and little details. There was a one-man band who had an accordion.

And speaking of accordions, there was even one in my game this week. Neither of these is a piano accordions (the kind I play).

Last Sunday had a beautiful sunrise. And the really deep cold is over for a while. I'm not sorry about that.

It took just about forever to get the things done that I had to accomplish today. I started the next page of Moose In Boots, but will have to finish it tomorrow.

Miles walked in 2026: 36.5
Road walk to township hall and back 3.0 miles.

See Accordion posts

Moose In Boots - back to Page Four

You have to think back to when Morgan had just found the trail, and was stretching his lanky legs. This comes next.

The reason I had to wait on this was because I needed new masking fluid. What do you do with that, you ask? When you want a texture in the background that is "unbroken" by the figures in the foreground you cover the foreground areas with it. All it is is liquid latex that you can brush on.

I fooled around with it a couple of times before I started the real page. The first time, I didn't get good enough coverage, so when I started for real I put two coats on the moose. You can just barely see it's there. Some is shiny, and it's all sort of off-white.

When it's dry, you paint right over it so the lines in the water (in this case) aren't different on one side of the water lilies and the moose than on the other side.

When the paint is dry- completely dry- you rub it off.

Then you have the blank white areas remaining. In this case where the moose and lilies will go. I also added the far trees.

This was the first of the pages where I did a major goof with the ink. I fixed it on the computer. Hopefully, you can't tell where. Probably not at this size. I'll need to print a full size page to be sure it's ok.

Not sure if I'll get another page done tomorrow. I really need to do some other things. I linked to page 3 below if you want to refresh your memory.

But I did get the body of the prayer shawl finished today and started on the edging.

See Moose In Boots- page 3 See Page 9

Moose In Boots - Page Nine

I got off to a really slow start on this page because I had to do a lot of things before I could actually begin drawing. But I got it done.

I got the background shading better than page 8. That page is too dark. I managed to lift some of the color off the original, and I think I can fix it even more on the computer. Also, I added the green, and that looks good. But you'll just have to wait for the actual book to see all the tweaks.

Here's the original concept page, again with some computer coloring on the old verson.

What I had to mess around with is due to the fact that originally I had the text for this two-page spread on the right side. (if you missed yesterday's post, that's where the text is- on page 8.) This confused everyone who read the book. When I went back to the book after a few years, it confused me too. So I needed to switch those pages.

That meant Morgan needed to be flipped to face into the center of the book. I also needed to move some of the segments so they weren't too close to edges. I think it was 11 o'clock before I had a decent, updated concept page to work from.

(Just FYI, I try to get the concept pages pretty close. Then I trace the basic outlines on the better paper, use light pencil to fix shapes or whatever. Then I get out the picture I drew the original from- thankfully I also had printed those out and they were with the original drawings. Then I start with the ink, work from the photo, and try not to mess up. All mistakes with ink have to either be corrected on the computer, or if too terrible, I have to start over.)

Then I took a junk page that I printed by accident (see parts of Morgan's hooves that don't belong) and used colored pencil to decide what background colors I wanted, and tried to keep them very light.

I was almost finished mid-afternoon. But then we needed to go to a memorial visitation for someone. So I finished the inking when I got home.

Then I put in the colors, and did the computer work for text and a few minor tweaks.

My other art supplies arrived, so now I can go back and do page four.

See Moose In Boots- page 8

Moose In Boots- Page Eight

I was afraid I was going to have to do this page at least a couple of times. Or, at any rate, sections of it and then put them together with digital magic. But, I didn't mess up!

You need to understand that this is the left side of a two-page spread. You'll see the rest of the pictures another day. But some of these words aren't going to have anything to go with them yet. I may add some darker green for the trees above the wolf. Actually, I can test how that looks on the computer to see if it looks good.

Here is the concept page with some color I added with the computer a long time ago. It makes it hard to see the pencil drawings, but you get the idea. I actually had a few different concept drawings because I changed one of the animals and the placement of some things. (Just this week I thought about adding a spruce grouse because they also have special feet and they are very pretty, and they live in the northwoods. But I decided I should stick with familiar animals.)

And here are the pen drawings before I added in the color. I did the hardest one first and then held my breath until I finished the rest.

It was a really busy day. I did all of this except the color in the morning because this afternoon I had to do errands, grocery shopping and bell choir. I also managed to walk 3 miles.

Miles hiked in 2026: 33.5

Ludington School Forest, various trails, 3.0 miles/

See Moose In Boots - page 7

Moose In Boots - Page Seven

One more page.

I'm beginning to feel like I have ADHD. I do one thing on the painting and that has to dry or almost dry. But that means I can do something else for about 15 minutes and then I need to go back to it. I'm beginning to feel a little bit fractured.

Not too much to show on this one. Here's the concept. I used two printed copies of this to try out a couple of colors on the tent. But this picture is before I colored things.

Decided on blue and gray. A brighter color drew the eyes to the tent too much. Here's the first wash.

And the second wash. Basically, I colored every area before I started putting in details with pens.

What I actually spent some serious time on was trying out techniques for page 24. That one has to be different and I don't know what the heck I'm doing. But I fooled around- watched some videos and sort of made up something else, and I think I'm getting close to what I want. I'll show you those when I get to page 24, which will be a while.

I also managed to edit some.

Don't know if I'll finish a whole page tomorrow. It will be a busy day, and the next page is a little different too.

See Moose In Boots- Page 6