U is for …

… Unfinished …

My first entry for ABC Wednesday was J and I chose Jigsaw. I’d just got the pieces out ready to do it:

It’s a beautiful picture of Little Langdale in the Lake District. It’s also a very difficult puzzle partly because so many of the pieces are so similar in colour. Often a puzzle like this has to be done by matching the shapes of the pieces but what is so frustrating in this puzzle is that so many of them will fit together but they aren’t quite right and I end up with pieces that just won’t fit anywhere. The grass was bad enough and I know I’ve not got the pieces all in the right places because I have one green piece left and it won’t fit into the one remaining space. The sky is even worse.

It is UNFINISHED.

Also UNFINISHED is another U – namely Ulysses by James Joyce. Back in January I was full of determination to read this book, but so far I’ve only managed a few pages. It will certainly remain unfinished this year – maybe next year will be my Ulysses year, maybe not. It’s a daunting book because of its sheer length and reputation as a difficult book. It would probably help if I read it alongside Declan Kiberd’s book Ulysses and Us. I love the cover of this book, showing Marilyn Monroe reading Ulysses.

More variations on the letter U can be found on the ABC Wednesday site

ABC Wednesday

Last week I found the ABC Wednesday meme, which was started by Mrs. Denise Nesbitt, and people from all over the world come together to play and share their entries. Each week word(s) beginning with the designated letter are selected and illustrated through a photo, poem or prose. This week is the letter J.

J is for Jigsaw

As well as reading I also enjoy doing jigsaws and I’ve just started doing this one:


Eventually it will look like this. It’s a view of Little Langdale in the Lake District.

My Next Bookshelf?

I’d like to have this bookshelf:
bookshelf
Bookshelf

It’s a jigsaw puzzle from Wentworth Wooden Jigsaws, who make beautiful wooden jigsaws including “whimsy” pieces.  Whimsies are specially shaped pieces cut into puzzles “on a whim” by Victorian hand cutters and Wentworth is one of the only companies still producing these unique puzzles. Each piece is a different shape and selected pieces are cut in shapes that may reflect the image. Also the corner pieces aren’t the obvious corner shapes you get in other puzzles and there are straight edged pieces that fit in the middle!

the-mall-john-sutton-whimsies

These pieces are from the jigsaw of  The Mall, London from a painting by John Sutton. Here is the completed jigsaw.

the-mall-john-sutton-jig

And here is a close up.

the-mall-john-sutton-jig1