A Unique Approach to Puzzles

Mary’s Monday Musings to Quilt Encouragement
A Unique Approach to Puzzles

The timing of our puzzle gift was perfect. Not up to power for a big, complicated puzzle, but needing an interesting way to pass the time while we recovered from Covid, we were given a puzzle of 500 pieces way beyond our concentration or thinking power at the moment. But this puzzle was different. The instructions informed us to turn the puzzle pieces over and sort them into 12 different piles according to the different colors on the back of the pieces. Easy enough even if not feeling exactly up to snuff. Once each color grouping was safely packaged in its own plastic baggy, we felt up to the challenge of the smallest baggie. It only contained 20 puzzle pieces. Surely, even covid brain could put 20 pieces together. With the help of the handy pictures of each group of puzzle pieces we soon realized we were putting together the picture of a squirrel. Fun, done in mere minutes. Off and on for the next days we undertook one baggie after another, gauging our choice on the smallest groups of pieces first which provided a faster sense of finishing in triumph. What a perfect occupation for a time of isolation and recovery. I hope this unique approach leaps of the shelves at Walmart to entertain and bring pleasant distraction to people recovering from flu, colds or more this winter providing just the right pace for each person to determine. The baggies held from 20 pieces up to the largest one with 97 pieces.

This is a good example of a clever brain coming up with a different approach to an age-old entertainment. My mother used to exclaim over what she called, “Amazing American ingenuity,” whenever she encountered something cleverly imagined and then accomplished. From the beginning of history, mankind has become inventive when confronted with a need that required a solution. From simple entertainment desires to important medical needs, God is available to supply answers that bless mankind when we ask. Let’s become alert to opportunities to ask.