There were at least forty people in attendance along with a few visitors. I was very pleased with and impressed by the degree of professionalism and camaraderie displayed by the members.  I was also very pleased to be the only architectural photographer at the meeting.

There were several presentations made by the members and each of the visitors were given the opportunity to give a brief, thirty second, presentation about our businesses. I was pleased to discover that although the time allotted was enforced they were quite willing to allow us to exceed the time to a reasonable degree.

One of the members, Mary Albitz of Jigsaw Java in Redwood City, CA gave us a presentation about a “green” jigsaw puzzle she offers for sale in her store. This particular puzzle was a 500 piece puzzle that hd wildflowr seeds embedded in the pieces. I thought this was a wonderful idea because so many times I have seen people, myslf included do a puzzle once or maybe twice and then the box simply gathers dust on the shelf or takes up space in the closet. This puzzle offers a wonderful and intersting alternative.

Here is what Mary had to say about it…

The green puzzles are called Green Pieces™ and are made by TDC Games.They are Earth Friendly 500 piece Jigsaw Puzzles. When finished, hang the puzzle on your wall or plant the pieces in soil to grow wildflowers. These puzzles have been backed with paper that is recycled, renewable and also imbued with the seeds of many wildflower species. Soak the pieces overnight in water and plant them in the soil or pot. Water them daily until they bloom to reduce your carbon footprint.

There are 4 different puzzles: a panda, a tiger, an eagle with American flag, and an underwater scene. Each picture is a photomosaic, meaning lots of little pictures make up the overall picture. Each puzzle comes with a trivia fact about the little pictures and how they relate to the big picture. For example on the Tiger puzzle, the thousands of vehicles used to create this image are only a fraction the number of animal species that are about to become extinct because of vehicle emissions. The panda puzzle is made up of more than 2000 logging operations which is more than the total number of Pandas left in the world due to deforestation of their natural habitat. The underwater scene is made up of over three thousand oil wells that if they were pumped directly into the sea for three hours, it would be the same amount that is spilled into the oceans each year. And the Eagle with American flag puzzle was created with over 3000 aluminum cans which is the same amount discarded in just the United States every single second.

When I saw the puzzle and heard Mary’s presentation I knew this was something that my clients and readers would be interested in. Take a look at Mary’s web site, or drop by her brick & mortar store; I’m sure you’ll find lots of interesting and innovative green gifts for your friends, family and clients.

Thanks,
Dean