Method

If you give me a jigsaw puzzle, I will not eat, drink, sleep, or pay any mind to the fire burning down the building until the last piece is locked in place.  That's not entirely true; I will head to the nearest fire exit, but not before I carefully pack up the puzzle and carry it out with me.  This is not news that I get a little obsessed over puzzles.  This is why, when Soeur walked in the door with a 1000-piecer the day before she left for Europe, I asked her to keep the box sealed and put away.  Otherwise, that sucker would be framed and hanging on the wall by the time she returned.  She split for the airport and the first thing I saw was, whaddya' know, the puzzle box sitting on the dining room table.  I quickly tossed it into her bedroom and forgot about it.  Out of sight, out of mind, as they old adage goes.

Within an hour of her return yesterday, all one thousand pieces tumbled out of their box and onto the table.  We quickly got down to the business of pulling edge pieces and identifying the corner ones.  At least that's what I thought we were doing, because isn't that how everyone starts a puzzle?  When I noticed Soeur attempting to fit pieces together so soon, I asked if she had pulled the edge pieces already.  She replied, "I'm kind of just putting random pieces together.  That's my method."  No plan, no organization, no system.  Just plunging right in and tackling it head on.  Yep, that sounds like my sister all right!

I thought about Photoshopping out the dust on the table. And then I came to my senses.
7:40 pm.  Sunday.  25 November.  2012.