It’s been awhile since I actually wrote a puzzle related post for this “puzzle” blog, so I figured I’d better get back to the main reason why I started this in the first place – my Life puzzle!  In my Flickr Big Jigsaw Puzzle group, one of the members always takes photographs of his completed puzzles with a little rubber chicken named Evelene.  Now, I don’t know the story behind how Evelene came to be, but I have always thought it cute that he had a puzzle mascot of sorts.  Then, another member started using a stuffed Eeyore as his mascot, and a trend was born.  Another puzzler, our speedy Australian, recently revealed her new mascot, a Koala Bear named Colin.  So, I figured it was about time that I, too, got on board with the puzzle mascot movement.

I created a new topic on our discussion board to elicit responses from other members on what they felt might be the best puzzle mascot for me.  I wanted something cute, fun, and that represented my personality at least a little bit.  Ironically, as I was writing the question to upload to the discussion area, a very appropriate mascot came to mind.  I didn’t want to influence anyone else’s response so I did not reveal the one I had thought of, but figured I would after I got some other opinions.

As it turned out, the people in the group who responded all came up with the same idea that I had thought of while writing….Nemo!  Of course, it was the obvious answer!  My Life puzzle is chock full of clownfish in every color imaginable.  What other character would make a better mascot for me than cute little Nemo?  So, a couple of days after I posted the discussion topic and had received several Nemo suggestions, I went ahead and ordered my new little buddy.

Nemo is ready for his close up.

I couldn’t be happier with this choice – he’s a perfect companion, and I wasted no time in getting him acclimated to his new surroundings.  He appears to be enjoying himself immensely.  Of course he wanted to start working on the fish area of the puzzle…so that’s where we started.  Here’s what we’ve accomplished in our short time together.

Nemo seems to feel right at home working on the fish.