The Puzzle Palace (short)

As Jenny said, it is only fitting that Vimeo release The Puzzle Palace Movie on Valentine's Day.  After all, it is our anniversary.  

Enjoy this staff pick!

EDIT:  It seems that some people cannot see the mature warning just below the play button.  This is usually a sign that something is about to be seen that is not for children.

For those prudes out there, you will see a bit of this old lady's naked body and her lover's as well.  YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

Happy Holidays!

 This is a sort of year end round-up.  We've had many visitors since the last update.  Rick and Mary Anne spent one short night in the castle on their way around Europe.  

A nice couple from Australia arrived and spent 3 nights or so with us.  

We've played Babbo Natale, and have entertained many of the residents of Panicale.

My youngest daughter and her lifelong school friend have come over for a holiday.  

Oh, and did I mention hamster socks?

Time has just slipped away from me.  Keeping up with the blog has not been a priority this month.  

Work progresses in Italian time on our home.  We did manage to get MOST of the kitchen put in place but seem to be stalled when it comes to the plumbing.  

Our plumber is so backed up we don't know when he will be coming to finish the Master Bathroom and Kitchen.  When he does, I've been told the rest of the work can be completed quickly.  (Italian quick that is.)

We are currently in Rome for a short holiday with the Bug before she returns home.  She and I were last here 10 years ago and we opted to revisit a few places we didn't enjoy as much when her father was in the picture.  The Colosseum was as ancient as ever.  

Give Trevi Fountain a miss.  Trust me.  Now that they charge to see it, the crowds are much worse than before if you can believe that.  

George's workshop move in has begun.  The benches have all been epoxied a beautiful blue (and red) and the laser cutters and 3D printers are installed.  

Our delivery room is being repurposed as a double office.  We've given up on ever having Antonio put in the door code entry and since I too need an office (I'm tired of running up and down the stairs to get paperwork from the 1st to the 3rd floor) so this room is now it.  

We managed to find yet another missing Berrocal Piece.

I continue to unbox puzzles.  The third floor of the Palace is completed and are filled to the brim with puzzles and Lego.  The second floor guest rooms are almost finished now.  Once these are done, it's on to the great wall of China.  

I wish you all a very Happy, Healthy, and Prosperous New Year.  

November has ended

I had fully planned to post about visitors, new puzzles, and our adventures, but time caught up with me again.  This sounds like a simple excuse, but trust me.  It's real.

First we had to take a trip up to Grardara near San Marino to arrange for a puzzle exhibition.  Sadly, George caught the whooping cough and we had to hand our hotel reservations over to a very happy Antonio and Elena.  They had a nice weekend while we spent it in bed. All is good though.  I've mostly gotten over it and George lucked out and his only lasted a month. 

Bruce and Sybil Whitehill arrived for a visit. They are hosting the AGPI convention in The World Puzzle Center this October and of course they had to come for a visit to check out our facilities.  We had a few wanders around the town, a dinner or two.  

I have put together a nice puzzling scavenger hunt around the town and we enjoyed walking through it together.  I also brought them on a tour of Castiglione del Lago.  Sadly the puzzle shop was closed this time.  

Between these guests and our next set, we had a ring at the doorbell one afternoon.  I appears that word is spreading about our little venture. This time it was an Italian family from over near the coast that had seen us on TV.  They came in and asked for a tour.  It was gladly given. There have been three of these impromptu visits this month alone.  

Once they left town, I got to work on adding a few more pieces to our Lego Christmas Display but didn't get too far before George's brothers arrived for a visit.  We loved having them and their wives and of course had to have a dinner at Gallo and Mosolino both.  Linda has cousins that live an hour away so they came over for a dinner and spent the night with us as well.  It was a real full house.  A few games of Eurorails were played, a lot of good meals were cooked, and much laughter was heard in the castle.  These three together is so much fun.  

We enjoyed a day trip to Orvieto.  I sat with Brother Gene and discussed life in general while observing the people walking by while George took the rest of his family to see the Orvieto Underground. After a bite to eat I took the ladies for a wander around town to do a bit of shopping.  

The day they left, we did as well.  We are now sitting at Oskars' place picking up a few more puzzles that have been donated to the WPC.  I suppose we could have had them shipped down to us, but it is so much more fun to travel and see friends. This also allows George and I much needed time with just the two of us.  We love having guests, but even when we don't have company, we have staff and workmen and random visitors from off the street.  There is no time alone. 

José and I spent a few hours walking around the Mall of the Netherlands.  I wanted to get a few Lego Christmas characters and to get my silly passport stamped.  Mission accomplished.  

While there, we wandered to a toy store or two and managed to find a few more puzzles I didn't have! We wandered back to the house with our packages and to spend a few more hours talking.

George and Oskar worked on some puzzle designs.  And as normal lately when George offered up the most recent puzzle he's been working on, Oskar handed him a similar version that he had already completed.

Our stay there was short.  We awoke the next morning and headed out to pick up the Van der Poel collection.  It was gifted to the museum after William's passing on the condition that it remain available for puzzlers as is our norm.  The collection was partially packed up when we arrived which was a big help.  George and I spent just short of 3 hours packing and loading the van.  We are very grateful for the collection and wish to thank both Hans and Peter for their generous gift.  

The van is now riding heavy.  We managed to return to Italy on 3 December as we had guests arriving on the 5th.  What a rushed trip.  This is turning into our M.O.