Puzzles

Puzzles. There are all sorts of puzzles.

Word puzzles, geography puzzles, history puzzles, Stonehenge…the list is endless.

Grant’s current favourite: Jigsaw puzzles.

I like them too but working on them hurts my neck, so my contributions are minimal.

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A recent jigsaw created a puzzle within a puzzle that still has us flummoxed.

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When every other piece was in place, there was an empty space. We searched high and low for the missing bit, concluding that it must have gone into the vacuum cleaner or a cat’s tummy. The latter is unlikely, but these pieces were very small.

Abandoning the search, Grant broke the puzzle up and proceeded to the next challenge.

Weeks went by…

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Hearing the rattle of bowls, one evening, I took it as a summons to the kitchen and was surprised to be asked:

“Where did you find it?”

“Where did I find what?”

“The puzzle piece!”

Having forgotten all about it, I had no idea what he was talking about and even when he produced the thing, I was none the wiser, since I had certainly not found it and now, Grant was confused too.

He had been putting the cat bowls out to serve up their supper and the puzzle piece was in between two of them, so Grant thought I had found it and placed it there to surprise him.

Surprised we both were. The cat bowls are in constant use, washed and dried repeatedly, so how could the puzzle piece have inserted itself between two of them and where had it been?

A puzzle within a puzzle. The Universe plays with us.

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Jigsaws are a good distraction and it is enjoyable putting together a pretty picture, but apart from neck pain, I found myself getting cramped legs from standing over the table which is the only way I could work. Additionally, my eyes have trouble processing busy images, which is why my contribution is small these days.

Once the frame is laid out, which I can do easily enough, I let Grant get on with the body and when he has enough in place, I can sometimes zero in on a particular piece as a token gesture.

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Some puzzles are particularly delightful.

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Little Man likes to be a part of it. As yet he has not repeated the total destruction he wrought on our first puzzle that was within 25 pieces of completion.

After the last jigsaw, Grant decided he needed a real challenge and sent for a 3,000 piece puzzle featuring bicycles and flowers against a backdrop of canals in Amsterdam. Just getting the pieces on the table was a project and I don’t know how he figured out where to begin.

Some three weeks on, the puzzle is 3/4 complete and it is fairly obvious that another piece has gone missing, as there is none outstanding that is dark brown with a bright yellow stripe.

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So we are wondering if, when or where this one will turn up.

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