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"I do believe in an everyday sort of magic...the inexplicable connectedness we sometimes experience with places, people, works of art and the like; the eerie appropriateness of moments of synchronicity; the whispered voice, the hidden presence, when we think we're alone." Charles de Lint

Friday, January 16, 2026

Smidgen

Happiness is not something you find, it's something you practice. 

I am practicing happiness as I work on this fabulous puzzle from Philippa Stanton. When I boxed it up last time I divided it in half putting the top and bottom in separate bags. The intention was to make it easier for Margie to manage the pieces. I can't remember if she got to it....but the system is helping me out and I can't help but think about her.


I will completely finish the printers drawer in top half before I connect the border and move it up on the table. Managing 500 pieces in my boxes is easier than managing 1000!


I started with all the colorful objects in the printers drawer. 

I'm down to the pieces with just a smidgen of color which will leave me with just a box or two of connecting browns. Do you see that smidgen of pink on this piece?

I think smidgen is on of my favorite words...and it fits right in with thinking micro and working small. 

Several paths are already connected from side to side....and I love that they are connected by sometimes just a smidgen of color.


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4 comments:

  1. dotty seiter: now playingJanuary 16, 2026 at 8:12 PM

    MaryAnn, I don't make jigsaw puzzles often, but I do make them just often enough to have as part of my happiness practice the related acts of looking for pieces that have a telltale smidgen of color and then succeeding in finding their place in the puzzle. Satisfying and happiness inducing!

    What a poignant gift to have your puzzlemaking connect you to Margie again and again.

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    1. MaryAnn ShupeJanuary 17, 2026 at 8:13 AM

      Ha ha....Of course you get it. As artists we also appreciate what a smidgen of color in our works can do to pull it together. And these days....a smidgen of hope goes a long way!

      I am often connected to Margie with my puzzles. She didn't love puzzles when she moved here....but she certainly grew to love them. They were a key to her happiness practice.

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  2. Judy HartmanJanuary 17, 2026 at 8:40 AM

    Such an interesting puzzle, MaryAnn, and I do love looking for that smidgen of color in a piece when I work on a puzzle with my husband. I also loved the microburst of joy in your last post. It's nice knowing that we can find joy in small things - joy doesn't always have to be a showy and loud. We can find it in tiny, everyday things and that is delightful.Thanks for the reminder. 😊

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    1. MaryAnn ShupeJanuary 17, 2026 at 12:31 PM

      Thanks Judy! This is a fun one! More and more I'm finding joy in the small stuff as I get older....and it's good for us to be reminded over and over!

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