At the start of the Stay at Home times, it occurred to me that some puzzles would be nice. While living with Mom for three years
after moving back from Tennessee, we often had a puzzle in progress on the
massive dining room table. Mom the puzzle maker even had a puzzle board, so the
whole thing could be lifted and relocated if we needed the table for something
else.
Knowing how Mom likes puzzles, I thought about getting
her some for Mother’s Day. She’s been cooped up in the house since mid-January
when she had knee surgery. Poor thing, just as she was recovered from the knee
surgery and was able to start driving and felt like going out again, the COVID-19 restrictions
descended upon the land. This is typical of the kind of luck we have in my family. Anyway,
it seemed like some fresh puzzles would be a good gift. Unfortunately, this
idea hatched too late. Puzzles were either sold out or wouldn’t arrive in time
for Mother’s Day and she got home cooked food from me instead.
After the Mother’s Day puzzle failure, there were
still puzzles on my brain, but now for myself. It seemed like every day, people
were displaying completed puzzles on Facebook and there may have been a few teensy pangs
of jealousy. But dang, some of the puzzles I had found were crazy pricey – like $40!
For bits of cardboard in a box. Those were not the puzzles I sought. My puzzles
do not cost a minor fortune.
 |
| Puzzles! |
Last week, Zulily had a collection of puzzles,
with four puzzles costing about as much as one or two on the other sites that actually had any. The images
aren’t the best ones (cool mandalas and scenics were already sold out) but for the price, I’ll
be fine with Sherlock Holmes, chickens, puppies, and quilt blocks. With posters. Oh, is that why puzzles are so pricey? The fine art poster?
When the Friday vacation day was scheduled, it was partly
because I just really wanted a day off, and also with the hope that the puzzles
would arrive in time for a three-day puzzle marathon. On Monday, there was a
UPS notification that they’d be arriving Thursday (today!) “by 9:00 PM.”
This was good to know as it provided time to brush on
the rules. You know -- like, you can’t look at the picture on the box. Where is the
challenge in that? Cripes, any monkey can assemble a puzzle following the picture on the box. Then
there is the one about building the
outer edge first, which is just logical. And there is the rule that if you take
a puzzle piece out of the box, you cannot put it back into the box – it goes on
the table. I think those are all of them.
I thought the rules were actual rules that everyone
knew about, so imagine my surprise as an adult to have it brought to my
attention that this is not the case. Apparently, these were just Mom’s and my rules.
My sister declared the rules stupid and my nieces laughed at them. It turns
out, most people have no rules about puzzles. Apparently, a lot of people lack puzzle discipline.
The package tracking for UPS chronicled the journey
of my puzzles departing Easton, Pennsylvania on Monday to nearby Chelmsford
this morning. There is even a feature where you can see the truck on a map once
it’s nearby. At lunchtime, the truck was within a mile or two of the house, and
I figured I’d be busting open a puzzle and a beer at 5:00. But at 5:30, there
were no puzzles on the doorstep. According to the map, the truck was in the exact same spot three streets away as it was a couple hours earlier. Seriously? That’s
just a big tease and not a lot of progress.
They finally arrived at 7:30. By then, I was already
sidetracked with a typical act of dietary self-sabotage. It may have been a
healthy salad for lunch, but it was all about being elbow deep in a big bag of potato chips with a side of coconut chocolate macaroons after supper while watching season three of “The Handmaid’s
Tale” on the Xfinity “Watchathon Week” which includes premium channels and Hulu.
The puzzles will have to wait until morning. It will
be easier with natural lighting and coffee. Or something.
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