December '24 Leftovers

 

Soaking up these sweet moments

A petting zoo came to campus before final
and we visited even though we had no exams.

Someone put crystal dreidels in our little library.

In the puzzle library someone left an envelope with a found puzzle piece

glad I didn't ride my bicycle today

SYCAMORE 💛

Special gift - D. printed a tandem for our minifigs

May Leftovers

 

I am not even sure what to say.
I hope no one in a wheelchair or who
is blind is trying to use this sidewalk.

packing up treasures

heading out on a little library ride

listening to the dean speak at D.'s farewell event

I finally gave up on a puzzle I started last year.

People wonder why I don't love the protected bike lanes.

Crossing Things Off My List

 Last week I went through the pile of Christmas cards. This week I did a puzzle I had borrowed last year.

I have a puzzle of the US by this same company.
A map of California counties is much more difficult for me.

But I did it. San Francisco County is so
small it does not get its own piece.
Some day I will learn about the political
process that determined county size. 

Next I will finish this puzzle,
which I started in December.

Wordplay

It used to be that the daily NY Times had only the crossword puzzle and KenKen, a number puzzle. During the pandemic they have added what they call Two Not Touch, originally known as Star Battle, and brain teaser. On Tuesdays and Thursday the brain teaser is a cryptogram, of which I am a long-time fan.

I was able to solve this puzzle even though proper nouns were not marked. I had never heard of a supervocalic, so I poked around the web a little. So much fun!

Sequoia is the shortest example of a supervocalic. Other examples are cauliflower and malnourished. The person who coined the word has four categories

• Untainted Words: solidly-written dictionary-sanctioned entries, which have been the focus of many previous Word Ways investigations 
• Multiword Phrases: hyphenated and otherwise 'tainted' items 
• Popular Items: generally-known supervocalic people, places and things 
• Fun Coinages: sometime cute, sometimes contrived items not covered by other categories 

Some of my favorites are 

• Jay Leno Quits
• Dueling banjos
• Fountain pens 
• Organic butter
• Musical comedy

Of course there is a Facebook group dedicated to supervocalics, but I am going to be happy finding some on my own or any that you would like to share.

Passing Time

According to a poll from a jigsaw puzzle company site, 53% of people look at the picture of the puzzle while they are putting it together. I wonder if it is higher than that because this company makes fancy puzzles that might bring in more traditionalists. I was amazed to see that they are sold out of their puzzles with "Super Fancy Piece Shapes."

Recent picture taken in my childhood home, no box in sight.

I grew up with a traditionalist that did not let us look at the picture while we worked on the puzzle.

A friend posted this picture, showing the looking-at-the-box method.

The friend and I swapped puzzles (allowing for time for them to be decontaminated) and inside the box 

was this box stand.

Different strokes for different folks.

Threes

I have been making slow progress on
this Charley Harper jigsaw puzzle.

On Wednesday I went to the library
and checked out this board book.

Today I received this card from my sister.