All About Puzzels

On a recent visit to Heilebeere's home I had the opportunity to be instructed in the fine art of puzzle assembly by a young man who appeared to be very proficient.  He volunteered the instruction and being one always looking to expand my horizons, I took him up on his kind offer.

First, he got all the pieces out and made a pile of them in the work area.  That worked well for the particular puzzle we were using, the pieces where pretty big.  I'm not sure how well it would work with a 1,000 piece puzzle but for today's purpose it worked quite well.

Then, after checking out several different pieces, he selected an edge piece to begin with.  I was encouraged by that as that's normally how I also begin a new puzzle.

We stopped often as he put the pieces together to discuss this aspect or that nuance of puzzle assembly.  It was actually quite interesting to listen to him explain what he was doing as he went along.

He was very good to carefully consider and answer most of my questions as we went along.  Only once or twice did he look at me like I was crazy when I asked a question.  In those cases I didn't press for an answer - I didn't want him to give up on me as hopeless and cut the demonstration short.

He was very good to explain what he was doing at each step of the way.  I learned that corners are very important and, while they can be saved until late in the assembly, they shouldn't be left until the very last.

At last the puzzle was complete.  We were then able to discuss the picture the completed puzzle made and talk about the details of the illustration.  This was a marvelous puzzle.

And then, what do you do with the finished puzzle?  Well, you dance on it.  Of course!  All in all, a very enjoyable and educational experience with my grandson.  Gotta love him!

An Old Fashion Toy

The other day I was helping Brombeere do some cleaning at work.  We were cleaning out a closet that hadn't been cleaned that thoroughly for quite some time when we came across an item the likes of which I haven't seen for years and years.

We used to call them "tops".  What was amazing was that both pieces were there and in good shape!  The top and the string.  These were all the rage when I was in middle school - everybody had one.  Teachers were always taking them away from kids because they were disrupting class.  During lunch there were always several them going in the halls around the school building.

Of course I had to try it out and see if I could still make one work.  You take the string and wind it around the bottom of the top.  Yeah, backwards, I know.  But that's how it was done.  Well, maybe it was just a matter of winding the string and then holding it upside down to start.

So you get it all wound up and hold it with the end of the string between your fingers.  They always had something there to help it stay in place. This one had a big letter "H", which, while a bit cumbersome, still worked.  It served the purpose.

Then you stepped back to where you had a little room to give it a throw and let it go.  It would unwind as you tossed it to the floor and that would give the top its spin.  So while Brombeere continued to work, I had to play for a few minutes.  I was trying to get a good spin on it and get a movie of it at the same time. And I did but it wouldn't upload to the blog.  Disappointing.  But it sure looked cool to me!   And she let me keep it!