A Piper's Diversion

I look forward to Wednesday afternoons. That’s when our 8-year-old granddaughter visits us after school; between school and her Highland dancing lesson. We both love to do picture puzzles. Working together is ecstasy.

Not so long ago, I brought home a beautiful 500-piece puzzle from the library. There, one can trade one puzzle for another. This one is particularly attractive as well as challenging. It’s of an old train waiting for passengers at the railroad station. There are mountains and a desert in the background. That Wednesday afternoon, when our granddaughter arrived, she went straight for the dining room table where the colorful box containing the puzzle awaited.

It was an exciting moment when the pieces were emptied onto the table. Julia couldn’t wait until they had all been turned right side up. Instead, among the pile of confusing pieces, she found some that would fit. She wasn’t inclined to waste time sorting for color or edges at this preliminary stage. Later, but not yet.

Since she is so keen on finding the pieces that fit, I tended to do the rough sorting. Starting by turning all the pieces right side up, and finding the edge pieces, I maneuvered them into their similar colors and ones with markings that presented clues, while not trying too desperately, to put the puzzle together. I did, however, try to set up the border, but not entirely alone. Once there was some semblance of organization to the project, the pieces fairly flew into place. I’m astounded at the rapidity of how often I’d hear, “I got one,” followed by an audible hand pat, which assured that particular piece was secure and had completed its part of the picture.

Naturally, a 500-piece puzzle isn’t one that two can put together in the short time between school and a Highland dancing lesson. It would require several episodes at least, to complete it. Some of the time is always spent having an after-school luncheon and getting dressed for dancing. Consequently, I had to promise not to look at the puzzle until next week before her lesson. Can you think how difficult it has been to walk past the puzzle and see with a glance, the obvious likelihood that certain pieces were bound to go here or there? To ignore our mutual project for a week and then still another week has been a challenge to prove its worth. The enthusiasm abounding in our granddaughter upon her arrival to continue our project has proven how worthwhile the long wait can be.

This particular puzzle is interesting with the various well-dressed people, the colorful train engine, the station and the background scenery. At one point, Julia saw that the central area containing pieces that made up a three-inch square of the train engine was in the right area because it contained the large wheels, but somehow, nothing around it fitted. Then, she made the spontaneous discovery, that the section was upside-down. She reminded me of the physicist Archimedes, when he discovered how an object placed in water would displace the amount of water equivalent to its own weight. In other words, the weight of the displaced water represents the buoyant force supporting the object. “Ureka, I found it,” was his reaction.” Julia’s was similar. “Grandpa, the piece was upside down. No wonder it wouldn’t work!” Once turned around, the surrounding pieces fitted perfectly.

After we complete this puzzle, I hope to have found another one at the library, to await Julia’s arrival so the two of us can work as a team, and learn that two working together is far better than one alone. What a great time we are having doing something that’s appealing to us both.