1,3,5,5, and More

I showed you the yellow lily when the first blossom opened on June 19.

Then two more opened to make 3.

I forgot to get a picture of 4, but then there were 5 all at the same time.

I wondered if all 6 would open together. But the first one faded as the 6th one opened today, so only 5 at a time. Last year, it had 5 total. So this is the best year ever. Not bad for a flower that appeared in my garden and I have no idea how. Someone must have given it to me, or maybe even snuck it into the ground to surprise me.

I promised the Mason County Multi-Use Trail Committee that I'd do some scouting for a small section of potential trail route. Cathy went with me. Except for some pieces of what might be old logging roads, we saw a lot of this sort of thing. We didn't actually connect where we wanted to because there was an unexpected fence through the M-DOT property. From the other direction we gave up at a solid thicket of buckthorn and autumn olive, and possibly another fence. I might try again on a cooler day with a pair of loppers. Anyway, we bushwhacked for 1.6 miles and it took 1.5 hours. But I did collect some useful information, I think. Quite a bit of evidence of homeless encampments, although we didn't encounter anyone.

We went back to Cathy's for cold drinks and crunchy carrots. She also had a 300-piece puzzle set up. That was perfect! We easily finished it in one sitting, and I had been sort of hankering for a puzzle. It's called "Kitchen Garden." Such a fun, plant-rich picture!

In other news, I edited and did projects. Managed to get in the gardens a bit in the morning, and again late in the afternoon. This coming week is going to be a test to have time to work or do anything outside with the coming heat and humidity. But they say it may be the hottest of the summer. I won't mind being done with that.

Miles walked in 2026: 188.2

See Color Me Smiling

Anton Seder Puzzle Finished!

The 2000-piece puzzle is finished and not a moment too soon. I need that table to do the taxes, and I sure need to get cracking on that project! The puzzle was a gift from Omer. Very nice, Om! Puzzle, botany, hard enough to be a challenge.

This is an art work by the German artist Anton Seder (1850-1916). His work is considered Art Nouveau. I had not previously heard of him. Most of his work seems to be detailed panels of naturalistic themes. Here's the whole puzzle although the colors look richer in real life. It seems to be unnamed.

In general the theme of this piece is botany. It's stuffed with plants, some of them with Latin labels.

This is more like 50 or more tiny puzzles. I quit trying to count all the different spaces. Some are as small as 1x2 inches. There are about 10 of what I'd call major sections. Thus, this became a giant sorting puzzle. Ask yourself, "Is this maroon piece with strawberries on the edge like this maroon piece with gold leaves?" Once you got all the similar pieces together, it wasn't too hard to assemble them. Then you just needed to connect the sections.

Here is one of my favorite panels with a woodland scene.

Most were more stylized plants like these three parallel panels with lilies.

I liked this one a lot with the Prussian blue background and daisies.

This one was the hardest. There was so much tiny detail that even sorted it was hard to find the connections.

It won't get to stay up long because, as I said, I need the table.

I edited, I worked on some projects, I finished the puzzle.

See Leaving the Puzzle Behind

Philadelphia Flower Show 2026- Doorways

This is another set of entries in a category in the Standard Flower Show at the Philadelphia Flower Show. The category is "Doorway - Hidden Histories." It's supposed to be a "wreath and container collection designed to welcome and inform visitors, inspired by an obscure or little-known historical event."

There were 5 entries, and two of them got white ribbons for 4th place. This is "The First Lady Visits Winterthur," by two individuals. The intent says, "Jackie Kennedy is coming to visit our estate... we are just so happy and proud."

The judges said the entry missed the chance to showcase more of the estate's plant material and the plantings lacked height.

I might agree. Let's just say this didn't move me in any particular way.

The other fourth place is "The Lavender Scare" by Shipley School Sprouts. The intent says "the lavender scare was a mid-20th century attempt to purge homosexuals from the federal government."

The judges said they took on the theme with dignity, and liked the diversity of the plants, but not the sizes and numbers of them.

I agree with the judges. The arrangement of the pots did not make good use of the space.

Yellow was taken by "Forest Fore!" by Moorsetown Garden Club. The intent says, "a Charleston golfer reflects on his sport's roots... and he's proud to be part of its history."

The judges said the clubs and the "4" on the door clearly show that a golfer lives there, and the plant selection was representative of Charleston, but they wanted more.

I agree that the plants are great, but it's awfully symmetric, and it had stiff competition as you'll see next.

Second place is "To Heligan and Back," by the Spade and Trowel Garden Club. The intent says, "in 1990, two men are poised to revive Helegan Gardens... [in] Cornwall."

Judges liked everything except the rake. They said the plants were authentic and cohisive and invite exploration, but that the rake was out of place.

I liked this one best. And if the men are "poised" to revive the garden, a rake in the doorway makes sense to me. I love how they filled the space with a variety of heights and shapes.

First place went to "Mary Gibson Henry: Pioneering Botanist," by the Garden Club of Philadelphia. The intent states "Mary gazes at spring unfolding... field botanist, explorer, collector of nearly 8000 specimens."

The judges called it a "captivating expression." They called the overall effect "rustic chic" that makes the viewer want to enter.

I do like this one a lot. I just like the one that took second place better.

Today was busy- more busy for Marie. She did stuff all morning, and I woke up leisurely and then edited till she got home. We cooked, we did some errands, we played our game. Then we went and visited Selma for a while and put together a small puzzle. She cant see to do it, but it gave us something to talk about. We helped her put in the last piece.

It was cold and windy outside. No walking occurred.

See PFS 2026- The Wright Way

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

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

Charley Harper's Isle Royale

This puzzle was loaned to me by hiking buddy Bill. I really liked doing it. It was just the right level of difficulty to be both challenging and fun.

Its a puzzle of the art work "Isle Royale" by Charley Harper who is known for his geometric depictions of nature. Here's the entire puzzle.

The dominant dark shapes are two moose.

But the rest of the pictures are really oriented the other direction with birch and aspen trunks. There are also aspen and maple leaves that you can easily see.

And all the other animals are just hiding out in the trees. It would be too many pictures to highlight them all, but here are a few. The squirrel.

The butterfly.

A flicker.

And four wolves. I show this one, even though its tail bleeds off the edge because it has a blue jay on its back.

There are also a red-headed woodpecker, two chickadees, a sparrow, and a brown creeper.

It was a very busy day. I went to Muskegon to the dentist where they took new x-rays and said that the bone has grown back very well, so we scheduled a date in March for the implant!

And then, early this evening, I gave my program about the NCT via Zoom to the Green Mountain Club in Vermont. It would probably be more accurate to say they hosted it because people from anywhere could sign up. They said there were 123 people watching. And time for questions afterward. I love to share "my" trail with people!

See Delightful Cat Library

Delightful Cat Library

I have finished the jigsaw puzzle called "Cat Library." It was just the right level of difficulty and a lot of fun as well. It contains all kinds of subtle jokes that I find charming.

Here it is completed.

But each little shelf of books was an adventure in itself. Some of the books are complete jokes. This one is My Adventures with Alice: a Memoir by Cheshire.

But some of them are real like this one- Old Possums Book of Practical Cats by T.S. Eliot. The poems are the basis of the musical, Cats. This is the real cover. To the right are the complete works of Shakespeare bound individually.

This one is also real: Tournee du Chat Noir. It's a poster for the traveling shadow-play of the late 1800s. Chat noir is black cat in French. On some of the books that are spine out, I can read the titles. I know some are real. I have two volumes of the set of The History of our Country by Ellis, in the same bindings even. You can just see the edge of one of those in dark brown at the right. The redish ones you can see with the Chat Noir poster are Modern Eloquence a set of early 1900s after-dinner speeches. These make me think most of them are real. But the joke titles also make me wonder.

Here's another one for a chuckle. Puss in Boots is retitled Robber Kitten. But I can't quite read the "author."

At any rate, I really enjoyed doing it.

In other news: it was a great blustery, snowy day to curl up with a book and that is mostly what I did. Now I feel both guilty and stiff enough that I should get more things done tomorrow.

See Puzzling Christmas

A Golden Morning on a Gray Afternoon

Remember, I told you that I also have two puzzles that Diane sent for Miki and me to do together?

Miki is pretty much back to normal, which is not to say she's at full strength. But she's leading a pretty much normal (if not her desired normal) life.

Today, she drove to my place and we tackled the puzzle with more pieces- 550. That's not a huge number, but it was a little harder than it looked. We are both intense and good puzzle workers. It took us about 4 1/2 hours. But neither of us was willing to stop.

It's not really blizzardy today, but gray and snowing. A good day for a puzzle. And it was fun to have someone to do it with.

Title of it is "A Golden Morning." A little goldfinch on a fencepost with golden sunflowers.

I did edit and write in the morning. Finished my Mason County Press column.

See A Puzzling Christmas

Puzzling Christmas

Except for putting a few pieces in a few puzzles at Cathy's house, the only jigsaw puzzle I've done since February was the small one with Miki while she was recuperating.

But it looks like the fates want me to do one soon. I got four for Christmas (from Loren, Betty, Cathy, and Omer), I bought two (secondhand) this month at prices I couldn't pass up, and the seventh one I bought on sale this summer.

Which one might I do first? This one, Cat Library, from friend Betty is sort of calling to me. We shall see.

I also have two more that Diane sent for Miki and me to do together.

Meanwhile, what am I doing. Well, the 500-mile mark is not going to happen. The weather didn't look promising, but I was thinking I'd go do 5 miles this morning before it started raining. Ha. It was already raining when I got up.

I managed to get in gear and do a few things around the house. I don't know if it's age, just fatigue at the same old, the long dark of winter, or laziness, but I am having a terrible time getting myself to do even basic chores. But I managed to improve a few small areas today.

But Omer also bought me a really good book for Christmas, which I'm having trouble putting down. On another note, neither of his gifts have arrived yet. Hopeful for soon. He's not upset that they didn't come before Christmas, but I'll be happy when they show up.

See Look Who's Feeling Better