Jigsaw Puzzles: a Pleasant Diversion

For yesterday's "Quote of the Week" article I had originally picked one by Isaac Asimov that resonated with me...no wonder, since I had discussed the exact same quote a few months ago! So instead, before I finally settled on a music-themed quote, I explored what different people had to say about jigsaw puzzles, something I've enjoyed doing throughout my life.  I was "puzzled" by the quotes I could come up with: every single one of them used jigsaw puzzles in an allegorical sense, comparing them to some aspect of their lives and experiences...in no quote did anyone actually get down to describing their feelings about doing jigsaw puzzles per se.  So I'm here to fill that void...maybe only "unfamous" people such as myself can talk about liking them...

Jigsaw puzzles...at least the standard ones in which interlocking small cardboard pieces fit together to form a larger picture...are an inexpensive way to divert oneself.  You can pick out, from the wide selection of puzzles on the market, the picture you want to put together: beautiful scenes, animals, still life, themes like clocks, trading cards, signs, cartoons...anything worth looking at is worth being on a jigsaw puzzle.  You can also choose how large the puzzle is, not only with its dimensions but also how many pieces are involved.  If you have a reasonably large surface on which to spread out the puzzle without it getting disturbed, you can work on it at your leisure without any time constraints.  I like the exercise it gives my sense of perception and discrimination of shapes and shades of color as I group together pieces that are more likely to go together.  There are two ways to do these puzzles: either by referring to the picture on the box or putting it together "blind" with only a general notion of what it will look like in the end...I'm more likely to do the latter with 300-500 piece puzzles while I use the picture in those with more pieces...

One of my favorite old comedy films was from Laurel and Hardy as all sorts of hilarious things were going on throughout it...and there was a table containing a jigsaw puzzle in the background.  No matter what was going on in the story, whenever anyone happened to pass by the table they would have to stop what they were doing and work on the puzzle. Some people, when they're finished working a puzzle, glue it onto a surface and make a decoration from it.  I like to simply crumble it back up and stick it back in the box...sometimes I like to do them again at a later time.  I got a few this past Christmas...just finished a 1000-piece puzzle with clocks...that's it, finished, in the above picture.  I guess I must really like jigsaw puzzles since I wrote similar articles about them back in 2008 and 2017...