Puzzle Kit
17 December 2010
So I have one of those moments. The kind where I say, out loud, “I have an idea.” The Prince Consort, being way past eye rolling or sighing, groans kind of low.
But he cheered up right away. It was the annual “Let’s do jig saw puzzles.” I got out the card table while he whipped down to the ‘library’ (aka all-the-stuff-that-won’t-fit-anywhere-else-room). He returned with one of our oldie goldie puzzles. The one with the mountain and all the teeny skiers. Not a hard puzzle, and very appropriate to the weather outside.
Despite the fact that we’ve done this puzzle over and over through the years, it took us three days. And a fair number of back and forth mutterings of : “Where are the scissors, so I can make this piece fit?” “They’re right next to the rubber mallet in case cutting isn’t enough.” This is known as the puzzle kit.
We did not use the puzzle kit. But as we neared the finish on the skier mountain puzzle, (We found the piece that stuck to NikkiCat’s bottom long enough to disappear under the couch.) I began to think. I could tell I was thinking because of the creaky noise among my brain cells.
This time I did not say it out loud. But I had a revelation. If I didn’t come up with an alternative, next The Prince Consort was going to bring his second favorite puzzle upstairs. The black cat on the black background. ARGH!!!
So I went for: “I have a idea. We need a new puzzle.”
I went online looking for puzzles. Well, last time, probably in the last century, they didn’t cost that much. And last time we found them at Hallmark stores. You really need to see a puzzle before you buy it. Really.
So we go on the big Hallmark store hunt. I was sure there’s one in the new strip center. TPC was not so sure. We drove past it 2.5 times. As we cruised by on the third pass, I finally spotted the huge Hallmark sign. (Not going to admit that the other two passes I was fixated on the candy store window.)
We strike out. Hallmark is full of cards and Christmas stuff. What are they thinking?
So The Prince Consort steers to Hastings. Yep. Two shelves of puzzles. TPC picked out a nighttime NYC skyline puzzle. We started it right away.
The puzzle being a panorama is long. Too long for the card table. So we laid it out on the black tiled kitchen counter. I talked TPC into a new puzzle to avoid the black cat on black puzzle, right? Well, duh. The dark NYC skyline put together on the black countertop. I’ve been out maneuvered again.
Get out the puzzle kit. Kath
