Above Lake Superior

I bought this jigsaw in Toronto during our first Canadian trip in 2009. I had had a day in the city by myself and in the Art Gallery had gazed in awe at the wonderful paintings by Lauren S. Harris and other artists, who were known as the Group of Seven. Of course I bought a book but why on earth did I buy a jigsaw, as at the time I had no interest in jigsaws at all. There was also the problem of fitting it into a suitcase!

Anyway it arrived home with me and I put it away, never even opening it.

Then on 18 November 20017, after seeing jigsaw puzzlers on Blip, I got it out and started it (I blipped this event). By December I had given up with it, just couldn’t do it, impossible.

Fortunately this did not put me off jigsaws for life, I went to Barneys in Grasmere and bought two, more straightforward, puzzles. And that was the start of my slight obsession with jigsaws.

This week I came across the rejected puzzle and decided to try it again. It is a challenging one, both because of the image and the irregular pieces. But this time I managed it. Still some tricky bits to go, but I will complete it.

Why have I been more successful this time? Perhaps I have just got good at putting pieces together, have developed those image recognition skills that we kid our selves are helping our brain power. But surely the real reason is that this time, when I got to the point where it was so hard that I felt like abandoning it, I knew I had been successful with other tricky puzzles in the past and I could be successful this time. Confidence in my own ability. The thing any teacher or parent knows is the major thing that children need to develop for successful learning.