On the 10th day of Christmas

On the 10th day of Christmas my true love gave to me
10 Chinnomotto's
9 Robert Stegmann's

playing with a tippie top

8 Jerry Slocum's

7 Eric Fuller's
6 Tony Fisher's
5 Richard Hess'
4 Mr. Fok's
3 Da Yan's
2 Brian Young's
And Stickman in a pine tree.


Stephen Chin is the master of the lathe!  When I first met him he was playing with a puzzle he called "La Bomba"  Truth be told, I wanted to kill him with his bomb and I'm pretty sure he wanted to kill my bug.  He was playing with that puzzle on the table and she just snagged it from him.  No manners at that time.  She has never forgotten that puzzle or Stephen and keeps pestering me about it year after year.  I know she wants me to buy her one, but since she has professed to "hate puzzles" I refuse!  (Mean mom I am)

Stephen's puzzles are always good for a smile. I have had great pleasure in showing one of his eggs around to people everywhere.  If you can ever get your hands on that one, it is THE puzzle to have!  His "Ze House of Mouse Ze Duong" is a hoot and then some.  It kept a smile on everyone's face who played with it.

Not only are his puzzles good for a laugh, but the man is as well.  Stephen smiles and laughs almost as much as I do.  Hmmm.  Maybe I should rephrase that to say MORE than I do.  (maybe it's all that gas)  I've never met another like him and that just might be a good thing.  Too many crazies in the world already.  But at least Stephen is one of those good crazies!

on the 9th day of Christmas

On the 9th day of Christmas my true love gave to me

Camera shy Rob

9 Robert Stegmann's
8 Jerry Slocum's

7 Eric Fuller's
6 Tony Fisher's
5 Richard Hess'
4 Mr. Fok's
3 Da Yan's
2 Brian Young's
And Stickman in a pine tree.

Rob is great for his puzzle page!  I have been drooling over that one for I don't know how many years now.  I also am pretty sure I have been bidding against him on some of his most recent updates.

Another thing you may not know about Rob is that he designs his own puzzles as well!  His IPP exchange this year was designed by himself, and he's been known to design a burr or two over the years.

Add to that a very good host who entertained the bug with a bit of historical knowledge that she refused to take from mom, and an all around great guy to have a drink with and I think I've picked a winner in today's post.

Rob has kindly sent me a photo to add here.

Post edited to get Rob's name spelled right!

On the 8th day of Christmas

On the eighth day of Christmas my true love sent to me,
8 Jerry Slocum's

7 Eric Fuller's
6 Tony Fisher's
5 Richard Hess'
4 Mr. Fok's
3 Da Yans
2 Brian Young's
And Stickman in a pine tree.

For those few folks who have been living under a rock and don't know, Jerry is the founder of IPP.  I won't insult anyone by giving a background story that is probably best NOT told by me.  What I'll do instead is introduce him as I know him.

I first met Jerry in person at IPP 30 in Japan.  He was so nice in making sure that I had lots of fun and that I was meeting people.  He was kind enough to do the same for my husband and was a real doll to bug who at that time was still a royal pain.  Every year since then, I have delivered puzzles to IPP for Jerry from Uwe and I'm sure I will continue to do so as long as I'm still invited.

Jerry very kindly donated his puzzles to the Lily library in Bloomington Indiana.  if you are ever in the neighborhood  do drop in and take a look around.  It is really a puzzlers dream and the staff at the library are pretty amazing!  If you can't make it out there, it is mostly online now and you can just go and drool over the photos that are up.  I do!