“There are no extra pieces in the universe. Everyone is here because he or she has a place to fill, and every piece must fit itself into the big jigsaw puzzle.”
The house was only 65° when I woke up this morning. I hunted through the top layer on my closet floor, the summer layer, until I found my slippers. I can never feel warm with cold feet. I am now comfy and cozy.
Last night we had dinner on the deck and watched a movie. It was cold out, but the chiminea fire helped keep us warm most of the evening. Close to the end of the movie, though, after the wood had burned down, we started feeling the cold, the mid-50’s cold. Sadly, last night may have been the deck’s swan song until next summer, and I will dearly miss it. I spent more time on the deck than in the house. Summer passes too quickly.
I slept in this morning, far later than usual. Fern and Gracie stayed with me. Neither seemed all that anxious to leave their warm human. Both were sleeping right next to me. We all must have instinctively known today is not a pretty day. It is overcast and chilly.
Jigsaw puzzles are a favorite of mine. I started young with huge pieces in an eight piece puzzle and worked my way up to the larger puzzles. My favorite size is 500 pieces because the finished puzzle fits perfectly on my table. My mother used to have one in process on the dining room table, and everyone, on the way to the kitchen, always stopped to try and add a piece. I gave my mother a new puzzle every Christmas, and my sister continues the tradition. She gives me one in my stocking. Last year it was snowmen. I enjoy doing the puzzle while watching TV. It’s a perfectly fine way to spend an evening.
Explore posts in the same categories: MusingsTags: chilly nights, end of the deck, jigsaw puzzles, movie night
Both comments and pings are currently closed.
keepthecoffeecoming.blog 
September 12, 2010 at 12:49 pm
I never started a fire in the stove yesterday and I was glad about that this morning. The night had been warmer than most summernights this year. We would have boiled if I have had a fire 🙂
I too slept longer than usual, I didn´t get up until 6:30 am. For me that´s very long 🙂
I have periods when I love jigsaw puzzles. But nowdays I can´t have any on the table because my cats would just run over it. I have no doors in my home, except for the one to the bathroom.
Have a great day now!
Christer.
September 12, 2010 at 10:07 pm
Christer,
Tonight is also chilly but not as cold as last night. I see where we will hit 70° one day this week, but all the nights seem to be in the 50’s.
There is a case for doing jigsaw puzzles. It holds the puzzle in the middle while the two sides fold in to protect it then you can slide it under something like a chair or a couch. My mother had one when she had cats who stole pieces and ran.
September 12, 2010 at 1:21 pm
I was reading your post and went off on a google quest to find the site for the fabulously expensive multi thousand piece puzzles but I got side-traced by a site where I could waste time doing puzzles on-line. Forty minutes later, I’m back to comment. I love puzzles but I stopped doing them because I had a cat that loved to push the pieces off the table so the dog could chew them.
Great music choices today.
September 12, 2010 at 10:09 pm
Hi Caryn,
Thanks on the music choices. It was an eclectic day.
I mentioned the case to Christer. It protects the puzzles as you do them and the case hides under furniture when you don’t use it. I used to have cats who loved to bat the pieces around. The ones I have now just like to sleep across the puzzle as I work on it.
September 12, 2010 at 10:29 pm
http://www.wonderclub.com/puzzles/wrebbit_puzzles.htm
Cheers
September 12, 2010 at 10:35 pm
Minicapt,
The one 3-D puzzle I got was totally frustrating for me. It took forever to finish it.
September 12, 2010 at 2:39 pm
Puzzles on a winter evening — I could go for that right now.
September 12, 2010 at 10:10 pm
Rowen,
My mother was here with me one Christmas after I’d had surgery and couldn’t drive or do much of anything. We had the best time doing the puzzles I had bought knowing she was coming.
September 12, 2010 at 7:14 pm
My daughter-in-law had a book that described testing young minds and getting them to think early. So there are always three different tables at their house with zigsaw puzzles going non stop. I’ll have to say it works. My four year old is solving the 200 piece jigsaw and although it takes him most of the weekend and a little help from his 10 year old sister, he is quite proud to show off his mural. I’m amazed. I didn’t do puzzles till I was in High School.
September 12, 2010 at 10:12 pm
Z&Me,
For as far back as I can remember, we got puzzles every Christmas. As we got older, they got more and more complicated. I have one now I’m saving for when the nights get cold and being inside is far more inviting than being out.
September 13, 2010 at 11:29 am
I work in a psychiatric unit. The patients range in age from 18 to 80-something and they often don’t have anything in common. It’s amazing, though, how a jigsaw puzzle will draw the group together. Often, one person will start it and another person will join in and before you know it, others are stopping by for a few minutes here and there adding a few pieces until almost everyone has had a hand in the completed puzzle. It’s so Norman Rockwell to see a lonely 70-year-old and an alienated 18-year-old sitting for a couple of hours talking and bonding over a puzzle.
September 13, 2010 at 11:58 am
Nosila,
We all share a joy in finding a piece’s spot. There is a feeling of triumph, a raise your hands in the air sort of feeling.
Doing a puzzle with someone is such a neat shared activity. It draws people and conversation is a natural outcome. I think you’ve found great therapy for your patients.