Cafe On The Water Puzzle 
by Guest Writer Roberta Shore

Cafe on the Water Puzzle - Roberta's Review

Why I am still a newbie: I lose my patience when sorting. I want to get it out of the way and try to be too precise about everything (by color and by objects) while also finding the edge pieces. This leads to always having a few missing edge pieces when I begin to actually put the puzzle together. And, I’m really slow. That did get better with this puzzle, but to be honest, that doesn’t bother me as long as I see progress. I don’t consider puzzling to be a race. I applaud their ability, but I do not need to beat other faster puzzlers.

So, what happened with this puzzle? I was missing TEN edge pieces when I put the frame together. I went hunting for them in my concentrated trays of precisely sorted pieces. As I did that, I found myself putting parts of the puzzle together, (and, yes, I found the missing edge pieces)! Initially, my thought was to start with the sky, but instead, I built out from those parts.

I bought this puzzle because each building was distinctly colored, a plus for sorting. I didn’t realize at the time how tedious my sorting technique would become! From now on, I think I will use the Puzzle Hobby technique - a general sort while finding the edge pieces, build the frame, and then do a more organized sort for the build. But, I was correct about the buildings. So, as Puzzle Hobby suggests, tray by tray, I laid the pieces out by shape and tint and they were built with ease. Same with the sky; the cobblestones were last, and probably the most time consuming area.

I have now done sixteen 1000 piece puzzles since I began this new hobby almost five months ago. Most were finished over 5 days. I don’t count hours, I take a lot of breaks, and I much prefer puzzling in daylight. This one just eked into the fourth day, but it felt like it was going even more quickly. Did I have fun? Absolutely! Do I feel more capable? Yes! But, there are still puzzles that look too daunting for me to try. I surely have challenging puzzles in my stash, but almost all the ones I’ve chosen answered my first question - can I sort this? Oh, there are a few at the bottom of the pile that answer this question - What was I thinking? So, yes, I might be a level 2 newbie now, but I’m still a novice when it comes to the big challenge. I’ve learned a lot, and I love puzzling.

Hopefully you learned a lot from my experience with this puzzle. It was easy to like! I have done several White Mountain puzzles - they deserve their excellent reputation. There are no negatives to report for this one. Tight fit, no broken, bent or splitting pieces, none were missing. Newbie bonus - their puzzles are larger, so the pieces are larger. What I like most are the bright, sharp colors and the photographic look of this illustration - different from most of their selection.

My grades: puzzle quality A+, fun factor A+

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