Sunday, September 29, 2013

Rusting Hull

Yes, it's a rusting hull, but everytime I look at it I just see puzzle pieces. Jigsaw puzzle pieces to be exact. When it came to cards, we played Crazy Eights, Old Maids, 500, Gin Rummy among others. However, when the chips were down, Mom was an early 'game changer'. She knew just when to pull out those puzzles from the back closet. We often had a couple going on the kitchen table on those long, boring winter evenings. It was amazing how far a glass of homemade chocolate milk and a jigsaw puzzle could take her. When she had her stroke, I remember staying at Maine Medical Center till early morning trying to keep my mind off of reality by working on one of these puzzles. I think it was a fall, covered bridge scene.
Why do I remember these things?
Why does this look like puzzle pieces to me?
She always told us to start from the edges and work towards the middle.
If you do it right, a pile of chaos can turn into quite a bit of satisfaction, and take your mind to a different locale for a few hours.

13 comments:

  1. Having lived on a metal boat for 20 years........glad I'm ashore!

    Rust never sleeps.

    Aloha

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  2. my sis and i spent many a snowy wisconsin winter huddled around the card table with my dad, sometimes my mom, too, fixing picture puzzles. incredibly relaxing, quiet, peaceful time.

    my sis is coming to spend a week with me and she sent down two picture puzzles in advance of her plane travel so we could fix them on my kitchen table. :)

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  3. It does look like a puzzle. Either that or a great modern art piece.

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  4. Love your blog, Birdman. All of these images (especially the stacked rocks) make me nostalgic for my childhood home.

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  5. Yes, puzzle pieces & love to hear about those games!

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  6. I always loved doing a puzzle during the Christmas holidays.

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  7. Such a fluid, organic shape for something so sharp/brittle.

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  8. IT looks like faces morphing and melting together to me. Salami and knockwurst.

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  9. The images of you and your mother and puzzle pieces at different periods of your life fill me with sadness. She brought such joy into your life and those puzzles are a wonderful analogy of the two of you.

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  10. You are in a philosophical mood. The image could be lots of things. Take it as a Rorschach test. I see a tissue sample in a pathology lab.

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  11. It has been a long, long time since I have done jigsaw puzzles. But, given your history with them, I guess I can see why you made this connection.

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