When it comes to jigsaw puzzles, start with the edges.

Has it really been four months since my last post? How disgraceful. I'll not make excuses, but life has been complicated over the last 120 days. Much has changed, so, in my brain, the last post might as well have been written four years ago.

Imagine this scenario for a moment. It's cold outside, you're bored, and you're inexplicably struck with the urge to work on that 5,000-piece jigsaw puzzle someone gave you as a stocking-stuffer 10 years ago. You sit down at a table with a glass of wine, you sort the pieces on the table, and you sort, meticulously setting the edges aside. The outline is finished in short order, and you feel like you're getting on a roll. 15 minutes pass, and you realize you haven't found two pieces that fit together. One more glass of wine, 30 minutes, and you still haven't found a pair that fits. Nothing is working, and instead of ruining your wine buzz, you leave the table, puzzle unfinished. The thoughts and ideas written in the "notes" app of my phone are those puzzle pieces. Given time and focus, they eventually fit together. Instead, the random thoughts are nothing more than powerless victims of my impatience, incompetence, and complete inability to focus.

I've written enough words over the last month to make an encyclopedia blush, but with very little coherence and even less cohesiveness, I've been loath to post anything. Even something as simple as a brief description of furniture has made me feel more lowly and inept than the most God-awful screenwriters of Mexican novellas. Frankly, and no longer privately, I've been embarrassed. This block is just not something to which I am accustomed. Something changed today. Suddenly, words are actually flowing with the thoughts. It's not a cosmic shift, but it's an improvement. Besides, I need to post something just to get these photos off my phone.

I like to reconcile. I like to finish a book before starting a new one. I like to close a door before opening another. In that vein, here are the pieces I purchased and completed during my last few months in Florida........

I don't have a before picture, but this chest was a freebie. Slapped on
some white paint, Mod-Podged some pages from Atlas Shrugged, y....

.....Voila!!

Overpaid for this china hutch, but.....

....it turned out nicely. Painted the outside cream, the inside teal, and
replaced the crappy plexi-glass with chicken wire.

Picked up this antique piano bench on the cheap......

......painted it mint green, and glued some Beethoven sheet music on the inside.

A storm was brewing, and I was down to the last 2 pieces in Florida

Overpaid for this antique secretary....loved it, and it was an emotional purchase..

...Painted the outside doily white, and the inside a celery-green. It
was an utter pain, and I will never refinish another secretary.

Paid hardly anything for this pub table set. It was in a really
bad part of town (Fort Walton Beach), and I was thrilled to escape
with this set and my life.

Turned out nicely.....I really liked the fabric. It never sold..donated it
to the Gestapo.

Then, my time in Florida was over. At just before high noon on a Saturday in late-September, I finished packing an already-mostly-packed car, and I left the Emerald Coast. I will definitely write more about that experience soon (I have a ton of notes to sift through), but I'm just now getting my writing bug back. With any diligence, I should be able to finish putting together the pieces of this jigsaw puzzle, if for no other reason than to delete this encyclopedia of notes.