About a month ago, Audre Myers left a wonderful comment on my post “TBT^2: Modern Art and Influence.”  She made some incredibly insightful points about modern art through the lens of puzzles, specifically a solid white puzzle that is, apparently, a major challenge because there’s no reference to follow.

I asked her to expand that comment into a post, thinking she might dive into modern art versus real art in a bit more detail.

Instead, she sent me this post about puzzles—and I couldn’t be more delighted.

I trust you will be as well.  Who cares about the nature of art when we can do fun puzzles?

With that, here is Audre on puzzles:

When little children are able to sit on the floor without help, one of the toys we give them are very simple jigsaw puzzles. The toddler has no clue, of course, and each piece seems to spend time multitasking as a teething support or the slipping, sliding ‘ski’ of a chubby little hand – or foot. But for some of us – a deep connection is made that lasts the rest of our lives.

I am one of those people. I like jigsaw puzzles. I especially like them when solved on the computer – no ‘special corner’ of a room has to be set up with table and chair (as my dad used to do), there is no concern for losing pieces, and the ‘box’ does not require storage. Yes; I love jigsaws on the computer. I don’t mind admitting that since I have become a woman ‘of a certain age’ (ahem), I don’t have the patience to do big puzzles anymore; I stick with the 100 piece puzzles and find that I can solve them in roughly 20 minutes time – some a little longer, some a little shorter. They are satisfying – like a good meal or short story that catches your imagination.

The site I use has a very good selection of puzzles – 22 categories that are ‘gender neutral’. Ok. I’m sorry. I couldn’t resist. What I mean to say is, they aren’t all pretty flowers (although that is available); nor are they all farm equipment or bulldozers (also available). In the categories, you can find puzzles that are Halloween related, Christmas related, and Easter related and I enjoy those a lot. Another feature that you may want to consider is, each category has hundreds of puzzles to choose from – it’s a cornucopia of choice; a plethora of pictures; a whole bunch of puzzles to please the most exacting solver.

Mildly interesting (to you, anyway) but fun to note, I find I have a penchant for pumpkins, baskets, and the occasional dog. Another (useless) fact is – I won’t do a puzzle if it is somewhere foreign (sometimes difficult to tell) because … I’m ‘Merican and ain’t nothin’ better than here!

Another thing I’ve discovered about myself through the solving of jigsaw puzzles is that for most of my life, I’ve had no true appreciation for certain things that are so common in our lives. Take, for example, fruits and vegetables. I’ve been family grocery shopping since I was 17 years old and never once – not once! – ever appreciated the incredible beauty of God’s bounty! “I need that. I’ll get that. I’ll go to the checkout lane”.  The sizes, the shapes, the incredible colors! They are almost breath-taking in their diversity (which is not, necessarily, a dirty word – at least, not in the produce realm).

The second most satisfying thing about doing this jigsaw puzzle site is … ‘sound’. Laughing! When you fit the pieces together properly, there’s a ‘snap’ sound that is stupid, reassuring, and a form of reward – all at the same time, lol!

If I’ve piqued your interest, please feel free to join me at https://thejigsawpuzzles.com/. Look for me in the produce aisle.