Earl and I are avid jigsaw puzzlers. We really like 500 pieces with Americana themes: old cars, farm life, the town square, the country store. I haven’t kept track of the number we’ve done, but we probably average 30 to 40 a year.
This week’s puzzle was an extra challenge. I’m the border expert, and I could not find all the pieces. Earl puts the buildings together, drawing on his real estate experience no doubt. The middle of this puzzle showed a big, red barn; so he pulled all the red pieces together and started.
Two days later, we were both struggling to complete our self-appointed tasks. The border wasn’t finished, and there were holes in the barn. But no more red. This is the part where we crawl around the floor looking for errant pieces, check our pockets in case one fell in, and generally find what’s missing.
Not today. We finished, but there were 20 missing pieces. What makes this unusual is that the puzzle came to us wrapped in cellophane directly from the manufacturer. Not having all the pieces certainly increased the challenge, but it also increased our frustration.
We took photos of the puzzle, and I plan to write the company for a refund. When the box says there are 500 pieces, 480 simply isn’t close enough.
I enjoy puzzles also but mostly animals and birds.