Jigsaw puzzles

I have another killer hobby — jigsaw puzzles. They come in pretty boxes with the picture of a landscape or a still life or an animal and when you open the box that picture has been cut into 1,000 or 1,500 pieces that you must fit together.  

 They come in all sizes. My first jigsaw puzzles were gifts. They were 16 pieces. I was a child and I did them again and again until I could get them done really quickly.  Then I asked my mother to buy me a new puzzle with more pieces. As I grew older I did them less and less frequently because there were so many other things to do. Then I found myself in-between things.

 I landed in California and had no idea what I was going to do next. I stayed with a dear friend, Lydia, and one of my daughters. We were three people in-between things. Lydia was having trouble with her love life and I didn’t know what would happen next in my life. My daughter didn’t know what to do either because a large part of her life then relied on me.

Well, jigsaw puzzles are great to work on if you’re in that awkward situation. You have to concentrate on what you’re doing instead of on your problems. Does this fit into that? No it belongs to the other side. Three of you working on different parts. You have time to chat, tease, giggle. But you’re also developing your planning skills, your intuition and finally your patience. By this time we were up to the 500-piece puzzles and finally to the 1,000-piece puzzles.

Then I found an apartment, learned word processing, went to work. That ended that jigsaw puzzle period for another long time.

Finally I retired and had a stroke, which made me quite stupid. I strayed into a sophisticated toy store and saw many jigsaw puzzles. I bought one, still life by Cezanne, I think, and tried to make it. It took a long time but I could put it together. That made me feel a little more competent. I actually did that puzzle twice over five years I think. Both times it took quite a while.

Around three years ago I walked into the same store and bought a 1,500-piece puzzle. I’m sorry to admit it but I completely failed on that one. Then my cleaning lady would look at what I had done and make comments like I was taking too long. It looked so easy. Oh really? I finally said. I took down the Cezanne puzzle and gave it to her. Bring this home and do this. Tell me how long it takes you.

 After two weeks I asked, Have you finished it?  She pretended not to hear. She didn’t want to answer. Every time I asked that was the reaction I got.  She didn’t want to admit that making a 1,000-piece jigsaw puzzle can be very, very hard.

 I gave up on my 1,500-piece jigsaw puzzle but the box still rests in my storage room, against which haphazardly also rest two surf boards that belong to my grandson and his friend who are my houseguests these days. One day I hope to do that puzzle again, when my life is mine again, is empty again. When I have a table big enough to lay out the pieces and the table is all mine. But please don’t get me wrong.  I love having these 19-year-olds around me. They are a delight. 

 Another lovely 1,000-piece puzzle with a woman named Flora on the cover awaits my attention, a Christmas gift from a daughter. One day I will have the time to work on that. Maybe when the rains come.

Until then have I stopped doing jigsaw puzzles? No, no. no. I taught myself to do them on my computer using my mouse. I also bought an iPad that has puzzles downloaded but the trouble is, since my stroke, my fingertips are cold. I suspect I am perhaps dying very slowly starting at the fingertips so I have a hard time moving the pieces until they fit together. I have to rub my hands hard against each other to get some warmth in my fingertips. So I have a difficult time with just 120 pieces. But not to worry, I will find a way. That’s the challenge of having a hobby.

 In the meantime I am content with doing the jigsaw puzzles of Mediterranean, Caribbean and Asian ships with my mouse. I think my grandchildren — all three of them, grandson, bestfriend, girlfriend — think jigsaw puzzles are old-fashioned but they are in awe of the finished picture, which, by the way, I’ve done over and over again and it’s still not fast enough.

That’s the gift of a hobby. You can repeat endlessly and you never get bored.

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