Puzzles

In my new state of retirement, I have discovered online jigsaw puzzles.  I never cared to do puzzles before because I didn’t have the patience to struggle with hundreds or thousands of pieces. In the process of putting it together it seemed you always lost a few pieces and then what are you going to do with this 5000 piece puzzle when you are done.  Intricate though they may be, I am not a fan of wall pictures made of finished puzzles.  Actually I have great respect for those folks who sit for hours working on jigsaw puzzles or leave a table up in their living room to work on the puzzle at their leisure. But, I am here to tell you that online jigsaw puzzles have taken care of all those issues for me.  First, I have a site where I can pick the number of pieces I want to work with.  I am about a 150 piece person or maybe 200 pieces on a good day.  I never lose pieces of the puzzle.  They are always all there.  When I finish the puzzle I simply click out of the picture and it is gone.  I had the satisfaction of doing a puzzle without the hassle of its care and keeping.
    There is another dimension of the online puzzles that I enjoy and that is I can enlarge the pieces so it makes the colors and designs much easier to see.  I have been doing the online puzzles for over a year.  Most days I do two puzzles.  I am not into the ‘puppies and kitties’ categories, rather I find I like to do the category ‘pieces of art’ where the works of famous artists are rendered into puzzles.  I just feel a real sense of satisfaction when I am finished and then can take time to study the picture and if I am really curious do a little search on the artist.
    Articles tout the importance of keeping your mind alert with things that challenge.  Many folks do the suduko and of course cross-word puzzles have many fans. I remember a couple of ladies I worked with years ago who did the New York Times crossword puzzle every week.  They would take their coffee breaks and come over to the library to look things up.  I was and still am very impressed. Again I am one of those who likes something I can get through with a minimum of hassle although occasionally I do look up a clue to see if it will lead me to a word. Here technology plays its part as I simply speak the word into my smart phone and it finds the definition for me to check.
    When I first retired several folks told me the best part of their day was that first cup of coffee while working the newspaper cross word puzzle while still in their pj’s.  I don’t take as much advantage of this as I should, but I am definitely working on it.