One year of puzzles!
Seldom a Dull Moment for the Rahns usually means lots of activity and travel. It quickly turned into 365 days with little travel, lots of at home time and lots of opportunity to find ways to spend quality time together. The girls were here from March to late August and Don and I have been working from home until just recently.
What started out as, "Let's do a puzzle while we are all home,!" turned into a way of life for the last 365 days. Some puzzles have special meaning and some were fillers until we could get the next one that we REALLY wanted.
Our puzzles started with the ones we had collected in the basement and hadn't been completed yet (maybe 2 or 3) and then evolved into internet searches during lockdown and quarantine. Sometimes it turned into panic because we didn't have a NEXT puzzle and we couldn't find one. Amazon was out of stock for quite a while for most of their puzzles. Barnes and Noble and Books A Million online usually had some in stock. When we carefully ventured out, we could find some at Target.
We even began creating our own puzzles with Shutterfly! That was a highlight when we discovered that gem. The first one took about 6 weeks to arrive from Shutterfly, and the most recent only took about a week. Pandemic Puzzling was definitely a thing!!
Yep, it definitely became a thing for Don and I. Katie and Carleigh also participated in puzzles that interested them. Highlights for Carleigh were ones that focused on the Grand Tetons or national parks. Katie appreciated the ones that had lots of visual colors and things. We also began trading puzzles with friends.
We learned that there are definitely better puzzle companies than others. Ravensburger is a new favorite, as is White Mountain. We also began to develop our own puzzle vocabulary and routines for how to begin and collaborate. Ask Don what "piecal analystics" means or what a "jackwagon" is! :)
As the world began to open up, we realized that we really enjoyed the calm, quiet time of working on a puzzle. Family would come over and look forward to what the current puzzle was and they would join in.
I feel that there will be many more puzzles in our future as we enter back into whatever the new normal will be.
I love the time that Don and I spend laughing and just hanging out doing a puzzle!! Might this be a Covid bright spot that continues long after the pandemic is over? I hope so!!
Enjoy our year of Pandemic Puzzles - March 12, 2020 - March 12, 2021!!
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| our first basement puzzle - we'd had it for at least 5 years |
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| Our first homemade puzzle from Shutterfly |
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| Another homemade puzzle - Don's shell stash from our socially distant beach week in EI |
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| Another homemade puzzle from our 2 night Shenandoah getaway |
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| Holiday time |
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| Another homemade holiday puzzle of our Christmas signs |
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| Holiday dogs :) |
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| Rahn dogs! A Christmas present from Carleigh |
Stay tuned for what will hopefully be a year full of adventure and travel as we hope to see family and venture out into the world again and reconnect with our Seldom A Dull Moment mantra!! :)
Our next big family adventure is hopefully 10 days back to our happy place in Wyoming as we return "home" to Jackson Hole, Teton Village and the Grand Tetons in July!!
