Puzzle Meister...

Readers Paradise (by White Mountain)

If someone should ask me what I did during the deep freeze in January 2019, I’d tell them I put together a puzzle, or rather assisted, but did very little of the actual construction. Apparently I’m married to the Puzzle Meister who eagerly rolled up his sleeves and dug in last weekend once I prepared the piece of cardboard to go underneath (that was hard enough getting the measurements correct, which still ended up being slightly off).

To get started I suggested we maybe sort the pieces by color using some extra Cool Whip containers we had, so I worked on that while Andrew got busy constructing the frame. Needless to say he was done with that long before I was finished. In my own defense, 1000 pieces takes a while to sort.

He then kept studying the box before carefully selecting and placing pieces, much like an engineer might do I imagine. Not being left-brained, all I could see was a sea of color and lots of broken up books, none of which I could see any correlation between. Andrew said it also probably helps to have good vision (of which his is superior having eyes four years younger than mine).

 

Hence, my enthusiasm for this project never matched Andrew’s who was driven to complete this challenge. I am grateful for that as we finished it in four short days (or rather evenings as we usually worked on it after dinner). I was usually the first one to cry uncle as my back and knees got stiff from leaning over our pub-style table, though Andrew usually agreed it was time to call it quits for the night.

Anyway, so after Andrew laid the last piece this afternoon our fears were realized that we are, indeed, missing a piece. After a thorough search and a check on the internet (no, you can’t order missing pieces), 

I did the next best thing and attempted to isolate the area using my camera and Adobe Photoshop Elements. Needless to say this isn’t my strong suit either – using percentages to get the patch I created to fit the empty space. I came close and then decided to embrace the Japanese concept of Wabi Sabi, “In traditional Japanese aesthetics, wabi-sabi (侘寂) is a world view centered on the acceptance of transience and imperfection.” (Wikipedia) Good Enough! (which is apparently the Weer family moto, according to my sister).

I also hope to glue the puzzle down or put it in a frame, whichever is easiest and/or cheapest, but that’s another project for another day.

Incidentally, I have another puzzle (of the United States made up of license plates) that I am debating whether or not to construct (I can buy the same piece of art for $40 at At Home), but knowing that I’m married to the Puzzle Meister makes that decision a little easier.

Have a good week everyone!