Ultimate Dot-to-Dot Extreme Puzzle Challenges: Part 2

So, after figuring out how to "clean up" my images on Part 1, here's the last 15 dot-to-dot designs from the Ultimate Dot-to-Dot Extreme Puzzle Challenges book.  You just can't keep a happily-challenged girl down.  HA!

As a reminder, this is the 30-design book on 10 x 14.5 in. (23 x 38 cm.) paper.

I drew the designs between 28 February and 2 July this year.

[Amazon image]

Only one color!

Only one color!

And once again, the cheat-sheet at the end:

There you have it!

And you wonder what I do all day with all my free time as a retired woman.  :)

Ultimate Dot-to-Dot Extreme Puzzle Challenges: Part 1

Talking about crazy (last post), how about something totally different from me!  But...when you stop to think about it, you know it it totally up my alley, which is the crazy, fun part of it.

A couple years ago an English friend of mine from our Shutterchance photoblog told me about a dot-to-dot book she thought I'd enjoy.  BINGO.  Since then, I have purchased 3 different books, all with designs of +/- 1000 dots.  I'm such a glutton.

The last book I bought is the Ultimate Dot-to-Dot Extreme Puzzle Challenges, using colored sections of dot-to-dots...a new challenge in the dot-to-dot sphere for me.

As you can see from the cover, you're also able to color the drawings once done,
which I didn't do...but I would use thicker pens the next time.

[Amazon image]

And yes, between 28 February and 2 July of this year, I drew all 30 designs.

Today I will post the first 15 in the book, followed by the rest next week.

Each design is 10 x 14.5 inches (23 x 38 cm),

too large for my scanner, so please forgive the poor quality of my photos.

Only one color!

You can't say I didn't warn you!

No titles/explanations/descriptions were given to any of the designs.

However, you do get a cheat-sheet at the end of the book.

And now you know what I'll be posting next week....

Gorinchem 2017: Crazy River Run

How's this for some crazy fun!

Astrid has been running 5K twice a week since forever along our citadel wall here in Gorinchem, NL, where we live.  We access the wall just a few meters outside our back door!  I am crazy proud of her, seeing how much good it does her every time.

When she found out a few months ago that there would be a Crazy River Run here in September, she made the decision to do it...and so started to train for it by running along the grassy knolls and river banks nearby.

This past Sunday, 10 September, was the day!

The start-up point for the race was at our outside water port on the Merwede River.

We got there in plenty of time to get the lay of the land (me for photos)

and a chance to just chill before starting (Astrid).

While I walked around, allowing Astrid to chill, I clicked away.

Sometimes you have to give each other a pep talk!

And with shoes like that, how can you NOT run!

How can you NOT be crazy!

(that's pretty-tame Astrid in the center)

The race really IS a river race...well, at least at the beginning and end.

But because I stayed put, I saw Astrid...only at the beginning and at the end.

When she crossed the blue carpet both times, the timing chip on her shoe was activated.

I had already walked down the beach to catch the beginning part of the race.
Astrid is at the back of this 5K line, easily recognized by the time she flies by.  HA!
(red shirt, light-gray baseball cap...and, yes, that's the wind you hear)

Lucky for me, newspaper photographers caught Astrid in the places I wasn't.
That's my crazy Lady of the Polder, having so much crazy fun.

This is the collage I showed on Facebook after the race.
She did it!

And then everyone got to chill out.

There were 83 who ran the 5K race:  38 men and 45 women.
Astrid came in at 00:35:30 minutes, a couple minutes longer than when by herself.
She couldn't have been happier.  Can you tell?!

Sometimes the crazy world in which we live is a GOOD kind of crazy!

My Dutch Weathervanes Book

It's done!

It took me only a week to do it...380 images on 94 pages...a book that's been in the wings for a long time, as most of you already know.  I'm glad it's finally come to fruition.

Enjoy:

Click here to view this photo book larger

[I apologize that the embed code from Shutterfly does NOT allow this book to be fully displayed correctly in the video.  Pages 34-35 should be a full-page spread, but because it's not, the rest of the book is off-kilter. 

If you click on the "view this photo book larger" link below the video, and then click "view" when it opens, you can see the book exactly as it should be, but it will be hard to read the text unless you enlarge your screen several times:  Ctrl + for Windows; Command + for Mac?]

And now you can also find it on my sidebar.

Watercolor Sunday and Saturday's Color: August 2017

Surely I've mentioned before that once we hit September on the calendar, I feel like we're running downhill into the new year!  Indeed.

But this post is for August, so here are my Watercolor Sundays on Facebook:

August 6 (photo manipulation):

"Promise me you'll always remember:  You're braver than you believe,

and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think." 

(Christopher Robin to Pooh) --A.A. Milne

August 13 (photo manipulation):

"August is a gentle reminder for not doing a single thing from your new year resolution

for seven months and not doing it for the next five."  --Crestless Wave

"August rain:  the best of the summer gone, and the new fall not yet born.

The odd uneven time."  --Sylvia Plath

August 20 (photo manipulation):

"Someone is sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago."

--Warren Buffet

August 27 (photo manipulation):

"When summer gathers up her robes of glory,

And, like a dream, glides away."  --Sarah Helen Whitman

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

My Saturday's Color posts on Facebook for August:

(finished on 2 June 2017, posted on FB 5 August 2017)

Of all the designs I've ever colored, this was by far the most labor-intensive,

taking me 2 full weeks and 3 weekends.  I should have kept track of the hours.

Let's just say I felt I had sewn a quilt by the time I was done.  :)

(from my Mind Body Zen book)

(finished on 10 March 2013, posted on FB 12 August 2017)

This Viking Colouring Book design always makes me laugh,

not only because it's called a "pair of gripping beasts," but because of the "eyes" at the top.

Wouldn't you love this as a clock/watch face?  :)

(finished on 6 December 2015, posted on FB 19 August 2017)

From my Celtic Stained lass Coloring Book, everything black you see 

is part of the black-background page and not colored by me.

This is the book that uses translucent paper for its designs.

(finished on 24 July 2017, posted on FB 26 August 2017)

Trying out new color combinations from my Kaleido Color book,

on black-background paper.

Now join me as we slide down the hill towards the holidays and another new year!