We're having our long summer break here in Australia. Those of us involved with teaching that is. A few things indicate summer holidays have truly begun for us --the weather gets really hot (only a few hot days here so far), the cricket is on tv (this year the touring side is India), we forget what day it is and I bring out a jigsaw puzzle.
We have a board which holds a 2000 piece jigsaw, sometimes extended with paperback books depending on the measurements, but most of my puzzles are 1000 pieces so fit easily. This year we're doing the church in the main square of New Orleans which brings back memories of our 2000 visit. My son says his memory of that scene is the smell of horse poo from the carriage horses.
The jigsaw usually lasts us the whole holidays--about a month if we start after New Year. It's a lovely slow past time. This year our son stopped a few days on his way to other places but was as grabbed by the jigsaw as he always was when he was younger. We sit and talk and listen to music and discuss the shape of the clouds, the blue of the sky and whether that bit is part of a tree or the church spire.
Visitors can't resist sitting down and trying to put in at least one piece--maybe two, and doesn't that piece go there? We have a couple of old favourites--Montmartre cafes, Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria, the Taj Mahal, a flower garden (only 750 pieces but HARD).
We're working on sky first this time after getting the frame done. There's nothing worse than starting with the fun bits like the horse and carriage and the church and being left with a box full of blue pieces.
4 comments:
What an absolutely lovely idea. I'm buying a puzzle and putting it on the card table at Easter when the kids all come home. I can already visualize the conversations and fun.
Love it. I have so many wonderful memories of conversations over gigsaw puzzles. Those lazy afternoons and evenings were when I learned most of the family history. We had one cousin who was so competitive he always hid a piece so he could put in the last piece.
It's a great way of developing an eye for detail, too :)
Make sure that card table is sturdy, Carolyn. Don't want someone accidentally kicking the leg and losing the whole thing!
That's been known to happen here too Sandy, and the "Where are the scissors? This piece needs trimming" comments.
It sounds lovely, though I'm not patient enough for puzzles! But I love the atmosphere you describe . . .
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