Brain Food

 I recently stepped out a bit and bought my first jigsaw puzzle. Me being me, I went all the way and ended up with a thousand piece picture for my very first attempt.

While my sister was a fairly big puzzle gal, traditionally I have been more of a crossword type. Hard crosswords. I used to spend a week on the LA Times or even the NY Times puzzle in the paper. Working in pen, of course. Sometimes finishing and sometimes not. Since I no longer get the paper, I'm now trying an app before ordering an book.  

Anyway, back to that jigsaw. Right now I'm at the "find all the outside pieces" part, which I can tell you will not be my favorite portion. Because I have a small dining table, I've also ordered some puzzle sorting stackable trays so that I can at least at at a small corner of my table while I keep working on it bit by bit. I had thought about a Christmas puzzle but I love the pumpkins. If by some extremely unlikely event I'm done sooner than later I may add a Christmas option. Who knows. Will I stick with puzzles, or with this be a one-off? 

As part of my entry into the big 70, I'm aiming for my two big challenges this year to change my brain more than I have been and to do the same with the body, and I'm trying to use both as much as possible.

Not surprisingly, the creative part of my brain gets a fair amount of use. Just this week I spent more time than I would have liked doing the math to figure out the size of my quilt as well as making the pattern and deciding on the coordinating colors. Add to that the fact that my new shawl requires some new knitting skills and I am doing pretty well. 

The next project idea. More traditional

I can only obsess so long before I start sewing. I'll give it another day of re-arranging

But I'm always up for a challenge, hence the puzzle. My daughter said it will also help me with my small motor skills (ever the occupational therapist, is she). I reminded her that I hand sew and knit on small needles but agreed that they could probably always use improvement.

In theory reading is also a good thing for my brain, which is a good thing because I read alot. But like Tom and more than one other blogger, my reading is a great deal of John Sandford, Michael Connely, David Baldacci and Robert Crais and a little bit of Pillars of the Earth or classic fiction thrown in (having said that Ken Follet has returned to his mystery origins and has a new one coming soon called Never). I tried a challenge with my daughter  where I read a classic novel after each contemporary thriller but I have more than partially fallen off that band wagon. Probably because I read both voraciously and quickly (it's the being a researcher and scanning quickly thing).

I also had planned to go to senior college, since this fall it was in person, but a road trip or two messed with that one. Another planning fail in my life. So instead I'm honing my German skills and learning about music and the brain online with the Great Courses through Amazon Prime Video

Meanwhile, I'm missing a day of the dead festival, the haunting of the courthouse and about ten other things because I decided this was a hibernation weekend with writing and sewing and knitting. And football. Always Football. Not really deprivation though, because halloween is far from my favorite holiday. And I have a pack of individual M and M's to keep in the mood. If I need it.

My diabetic house shoes will come next week, I will have to take many pictures!