Category Archives: jigsaw puzzles

Jigsaw puzzle – Dumbarton Football Club’s old ground – BOGHEAD

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Boghead jigsaw puzzle, Dumbarton

We were given a couple of jigsaw puzzles at Christmas. This one was particularly for Jack as it’s of Boghead in Dumbarton, and a house builder bought the ground years ago, so this was a real nostalgia trip as Jack has supported Dumbarton FC since he was a lad, it’s a tough life!

, Dumbarton ,Boghead jigsaw 3

As ever, about ten minutes into the jigsaw I wondered if it was a wise thing to do so soon after another puzzle!

Boghead jigsaw ,Dumbarton football club

It was a strange one as we had presumed that the sky and pitch would be the really difficult bits, but it turned out that it was all the supporters that we puzzled over the most. Anyway, it was very satisfying when we each took a corner of the last piece and slid it into place – and we didn’t even have to have a frantic last minute search of the carpet for a missing piece.

Boghead jigsaw Dumbarton football ground

Over the years so many old football grounds have been bought up by house builders, it looks like this puzzle company is making a good business from the nostalgia of the older fans. Even I used to go to the matches as a youngster as there wasn’t much else to do on  a Saturday  unless you took the train to Glasgow to do some shopping. My pal and  I used to ask a couple of likely looking men if they would lift us over the turnstile, and they always obliged. You couldn’t do that nowadays with the modern turnstiles. Yes it was aptly named as it was indeed a very boggy pitch. I remember during the 1970s when there was basically a paddling pool stretching across the whole of the middle of the pitch and the players just played through it.

A Belated Merry Christmas!

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I hope that you had a lovely time at Christmas, wherever you are.

I’ve been absent from Pining because we’ve been busy celebrating Jack’s BIG birthday, over in the west of Scotland and also back here in the east. It all went very well, at least it didn’t snow and so the football match wasn’t postponed, even the football match virgins among us enjoyed it, but that might have been mainly because of the banter. Let’s just say that I’m glad that our three year old granddaughter wasn’t there. She  would definitely have expanded her vocabulary, and not in a good way!

Anyway, one of our Christmas gifts was – a jigsaw puzzle – one of those 500 piece chunky wooden ones.  With nothing worth watching on TV when we got home from all the celebrations we broke out the puzzle, and of course it hijacked our life until it was finished. It took me ages to even get the first two pieces together, but it felt so satisfying to complete it, after a frantic search with a torch to find the missing last piece!

Anyway, here it is in progress.

Klimt Jigsaw: The Kiss, in Pieces

The Kiss Jigsaw, Part Completed

As you can see it’s of Klimt’s The Kiss. I really like his work and I have a print of one of his landscapes in our sun room.

The Kiss Jigsaw, Completed

This was the first jigsaw of the winter for us, somehow we’ve been busy doing other stuff, but as we have a queue of four or five others to get through, some that we bought in the summer when we were in the Netherlands – it won’t be the last.

 

 

 

One of my favourite Laurel and Hardy films is Me and My Pall from 1933. Oliver is getting married, but a jigsaw puzzle gets in the way!

Neuschwanstein Schloss, Germany – a jigsaw puzzle

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Jigsaw, Neuschwanstein Castle Germany

Jigsaw Box, Neuschwanstein Castle

Our second jigsaw puzzle (and possibly the last) of the year is of Neuschwanstein in Bavaria. It’s a place that I almost visited because back in 1970 I was in Bavaria staying with a penpal, and we were supposed to be visiting the castle, but I was so homesick and was not having a good time so I decided to go home a week early. I’ve always wondered if I made a mistake doing that – so when the saleswoman in the shop we bought this puzzle in told us that she had visited the place with her parents in the 1970s when she was a child, and her father was furious when they got to the castle I realised I hadn’t missed much. Apparently it’s a long hard walk up to the castle and when you get there it is completely empty! The original owner spent all his money building the place and couldn’t afford any furniture. I wonder if it has been furnished now. This is supposed to be the most photographed and prettiest castle in the world but to me it looks like a barrack with a few pepperpot turrets stuck on it.

Completed Jigsaw of Neuschwanstein Castle

Anyway, this autumnal view of the castle almost did me in, the building was easy, the trees not too bad but the sky was a nightmare, after a few day’s rest we tackled it again and got there.

We still have a queue of four or five other puzzles to do but I might leave them for next winter!

Rington’s jigsaw puzzle

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Last Christmas we were given a double sided jigsaw puzzle, it sounded like a bit of a nightmare to me so it languished in its tin tea caddy packaging the whole year. This year we got another Rington’s puzle so I rolled my sleeves up and got on with the first one. As you can see even the puzzle is shaped like a tea caddy.

Rington's jigsaw puzzle

It was actually a lot easier than I had anticipated although I wouldn’t have tackled doing the green side of it, when we had completed the puzzle we carefully turned it over to this side, just to see what it looked like.

Rington's jigsaw puzzle

Rington’s is a hugely popular company based in the north east of England, unusually they only trade through reps, not in shops, so people still have their goods delivered to them at their home, although nowadays they use a van, not a horse-drawn cart.

Completed Rington's Jigsaw Puzzle

First jigsaw – The Westbury White Horse

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Jigsaw Of Westbury White Horse

It’s that season again – jigsaw time. It’s of The Westbury White Horse, which is in Wiltshire. The painting is by Eric Ravilious and the jigsaw puzzle has 1,000 pieces. So far it hasn’t been too frustrating, but all of those green bits might get me down. I love the wee steam train chuffing away on the left hand side.

During World War 2 the artist Eric Ravilious was a war artist. Sadly he died on active service in 1942 when the aeroplane he was in disappeared over Iceland. I really like his style of painting.

Tenniel’s Alice in Wonderland – a Jigsaw Puzzle

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I was lucky enough to get a couple of 1,000 piece jigsaw puzzles as Christmas presents, and as the Christmas festivities were very low profile indeed – it was just me and Jack on the actual day – and there was absolutely nothing worth watching on TV, it wasn’t long before we broke into the first puzzle which as you can see is a John Tenniel illustration from Alice in Wonderland, produced by the British Library.

Tenniel Alice in Wonderland Jigsaw

I think Tenniel’s illustrations are the best, but all that cross-hatching made this a fiendish puzzle to complete. Believe it or not I found all the white areas to be easier to deal with, at least I didn’t go cross-eyed with those bits.

Nearly Complete Tenniel Alice in Wonderland Jigsaw

As ever though there was a huge feeling of accomplishment as we fitted in the last piece, indeed we each put a finger on it and we slid it in together. It’ll be a wee while before we tackle the next one though! That one is an image from Vincent van Gogh’s Sunflower series.

Completed Tenniel Alice in Wonderland Jigsaw Puzzle

The Western Highlands – A Jigsaw puzzle

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Yes it’s that time of the year again – jigsaw puzzle season. As you can see our first choice this year is another one from The Railway Poster Collection. The image depicts The Western Highlands, it’s a 1,000 piece puzzle and it was a charity shop purchase which is always a bit of a worry, mind you in the past we have had the annoying experience of buying a brand new factory sealed puzzle in the past and it had several pieces missing!

Western Highlands Jigsaw Incomplete

Anyway, this puzzle turned out to be not as difficult as I had feared, so it was really enjoyable. However, there was one piece missing and we were just about to commence the manic shaking out of throws, cushions, newspapers and such, we had already gone over the carpet with a torch looking for the piece. But I needed something in my handbag which was on a table in a different room and suddenly the piece was on the table! I can only think that it had fallen into my bag when it was under the jigsaw table.

Western Highlands Jigsaw Finished

When I spotted the piece I was so shocked I couldn’t actually say anything, just pointed and screeched, Jack thought I had seen a beastie. Ah well, all’s well that ends well, but we’ll leave it a few weeks at least before tackling another jigsaw puzzle.

A Dutch bulbfield jigsaw puzzle

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At last the Dutch bulbfield jigsaw puzzle is finished and I have to admit that if it had been up to me I would have given up on it – that would have been the first time ever, but Jack was absolutely determined to finish it so when I got too frustrated and cross-eyed with the sky he went on with it. There was even an extra piece! You can see that off to the side in the photo.

Completed Jigsaw of Dutch Scene

The actual puzzle looks far nicer in reality than it looks in the photo, it’s very detailed, but the photo makes it look cartoonish to me. It’s definitely the last of the season – even if we do get more snow – which I sincerely hope doesn’t happen.

Jigsaw puzzle – a Dutch bulbfield

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Last week when after a lot of trying the snow began to pile up in earnest outside I decided to crack open a new jigsaw puzzle. I know – so daring of me – others might crack open the beer or wine – but I’m made of more boring stuff I suppose.

Jigsaw, a Dutch Scene

As ever it wasn’t long before I was beginning to wonder why I had succumbed yet again to this version of madness, it’s an addiction I suppose. Normally by now I would either have visited family in the Netherlands or be planning to do so soon, but the closest I’ll get to that this year is this jigsaw puzzle of a windmill and a Dutch bulbfield.

Actually it wasn’t as difficult as I feared it might be but as you can see the sky is almost defeating me, today I only fitted about four pieces in and I have my doubts about them being correct, but it isn’t going to defeat me, or should I say us as Jack has helped now and again. This is definitely going to be the last puzzle of the season though, well the snow has almost all gone!