The Hummingbird Jigsaw Puzzle Seduction

In the lunchroom shared by staff of the departments of Commerce and Health, a jigsaw is always in progress on one of the tables. The fact that I was never able to add even one piece to any puzzle over a period of several years should have served as some kind of warning indicator leading me away from any temptation to buy a puzzle.

Last week, I was shopping in Barnes & Noble and was drawn to a colorful box decorated with a beautiful photo of a hummingbird. I picked up the box and my fear of the 500-piece puzzle, for ages 14 and up, was outweighed by the vision of a lovely framed 18" X 18" hummingbird brightening Minnesota's long winter.

Support for Audubon seemed like a good idea, at least in the beginning

"Do the outside frame first," I thought, and struggled mightily for several days until Bob suggested that I measure how big 18" actually is. A good tip. I managed to get the corners done and gradually finished the frame, about 15% of the puzzle. Along the way, I realized that a few pieces didn't quite fit, and "close" wasn't good enough, messing up the possibility of real matches for other parts of the puzzle.

Over the weekend, I got the bird finished and filled in a lot of sections, such that I'm now about 75% done, with shades of green left. I've learned that I should have looked for a methodology before undertaking what has turned into a monumental task. Turns out it would have been better to construct sections first, by color, something that has occurred to me as I've struggled to find one piece out of a couple of hundred to fit in only one spot, and start over again with the next piece.

Not sure I'll be doing this again anytime soon!