Scary Puzzle Piece

It is hard being a Far Away grandma, especially when country feet quickly refuse to painlessly play city games on concrete sidewalks.

But then there are jig saw puzzles.

My small grandchildren are puzzle whizzes. I think the skill has been passed down, through a long line of puzzlers. The puzzles may have child friendly themes, but the puzzle pieces are just as difficult as those of adult puzzles.

My East Coast daughter sent my young grand daughters a wonderful puzzle. The picture combined many familiar and not so familiar characters of many fairytales, into a delightful scene reminiscent of a Bruegel painting. The puzzle was fairly large. There were so many characters that of necessity they were very small.

To be honest, I am sick of the Disneyfication of so many of the ancient stories. I particularly liked this one.

The characters would have been far more familiar to the Brothers Grimm. One person in particular, the Beast, of Beauty and the Beast, looked like he had just recently arrived from the Dark Side. His eyes almost glowed. From the beginning, the small piece made me somewhat uncomfortable and made my four year old granddaughter more than a little apprehensive.

The two little girls and I set out searching for edge pieces to assemble on the top of an old blanket box in their mother's room. We made a good team. By bedtime the outline was almost put together. The next night and the night after that we worked together on the puzzle. 

We found all of Rapunzel's long braid, one of Red Riding Hood's shoes, and began to gather the pieces, for a Giant. We had a good time together, we tried to avoid each other's elbows, as we excitedly rushed to place each piece we had been looking for, for some time. 

The evening before I was to fly home we finished the puzzle, except for the last piece. It is always an honour to be able to place the last piece, an honour often reserved for the youngest puzzler.

The problem was that there was no last piece to be placed. There was Beauty on  a brick balcony with an empty place beside her. We couldn't find the scary piece. My grand daughter said she hid it because she didn't like the piece. Unfortunately she couldn't remember where the piece was hidden. 

We searched and searched everywhere, without success. The puzzle remained almost finished when I left.

Today, two weeks later, I got a call from her older grand daughter to tell me, the piece was found. Unfortunately, the puzzle was disassembled and back in the box. 

The Beast will have to wait for Beauty until the next time.

I asked the little sister where the piece had been found. She replied that it was under the bed.

I wasn't the least bit surprised, because as I remember from my childhood, under beds was where scary things lurk.

City Experiences - Toronto Revisteded

Recent Toronto Experiences

1. After all those years of giving my seat up for the elderly on the subway, a young man gave up his seat for me. Oh well, pluses and minuses.

2. The city is changing constantly, yet in many ways still stays the same.

3. I am definitely not swimming in my own gene pool here. The diversity is refreshing.

4. For the first time, I went out for chinese food with someone who could order in Chinese.

5. Most people live in cities and dream dreams of the country.

6. It is painful to walk on concrete, when I seldom walk for any time on sidewalks at home.

7. It is possible to walk from one end of the new subway train to the the other.

8. The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer.

9. The snowdrops are a special treat amid all the surrounding cement.

10. The regular rumble of the subway underneath the house is somehow soothing.

11. Parks are an essential part of children's daily life. This is where they can run.

12. I see more alphabets on signs than I consciously knew existed.

13. I went for my first ride in a Zip car. Instead of owning a car you sign up and can pick up a car at one of many downtown spots. The cost per hour covers insurance, gas etc.

14. Most cars on the streets are black, white or grey and clean and shiny.

15. So many people are ordering on line, the malls and shopping areas are losing customers.

16. Nova Scotians are not the only ones constantly talking about weather, especially when it is bad.

17. It is not difficult to get worn out by constant noise.

18. Oh so many homeless.

19. It is still fun to find coins on the street, as the snow melts.

20. It seems odd to see so many people and not recognize anyone.

21. Art is a bigger part of everyday life.

22. Sirens are a common sound.

23. People stil hold doors open for each other.

25. Food is everywhere.

26 Some of it is scary.

27. Oh for the taste of pure mountain water.

28. Some of the new houses on the Bridle Path are bigger than
small hotels. Who has that many relatives?

29. There isn't a food that you can't have delivered to the door,
except Mary's baked beans.

30. No one bakes squares. They don't even know what they are.

31. There is a trend towards grand kitchens and take out food.

32. Beautiful old homes in the more affluent parts of the city are
bought for two million dollars and then torn down to build monster
homes.



to be continued.

A Hearth Bug's Armchair Travels

I love to fly. There is no better "people watching" than in large airports.

In my teenage years, there was little more appealing than going out to Toronto Airport, to watch people from all over the world, re-unite with people they love. I was a cheap date.

The reason I travel is to be with people I love. Having grand children has greatly intensified these experiences.

I have travelled to far off places to visit the unfamiliar, familiar. It was such a thrill to stand in the Scottish Highlands, among the foundations of the crofts from which my family, two hundred years ago, were herded to make way for sheep. Being at home remembering is the best part.

I picked some heather to bring back to a land of maple leaves.

My passport is in the process of being renewed. I want to be ready if I am needed  outside our borders, but, I have no wanderlust.

My present joy is getting a taste of far off places from the adventures of far flung travellers. Women, I have known as babies, right now are experiencing places I will never be. A long time friend's daughter will soon be returning with her husband from Singapore, Thailand, Laos, Viet Nam, Cambodia. Another young woman, who has been part of my life since her childhood, will soon be returning to her family from Rwanda.

What a pleasure it is to get a personal peek of "other" from the views on Facebook.