FROSTING AND FOGEYISM

 We have long since given up staying awake to see a new year come into being.

In fact I didn't even make it until 2022 reached the east coast of the United States last night, some two hours ahead of here in Arizona.

So I was surprised this morning to see what the young cherub had brought with him.

A frosting of fresh snowfall.

Just tickling the shrubbery, the rooftops, the streets and the hills, it produced a nice panorama in the fresh morning light.

And that brings us to my second topic today.

You will recall my railing on about a recent jigsaw puzzle with a puzzling missing piece.

A piece that I opined had been left out of the mix when the pieces (499 of them) were sealed in the box.

The deviousness, the cravenness, the sheer maddening meanness of the shipper that would do such a thing.

Her Nibs, the daughter who gifted us this puzzle, criticized me harshly, insisting that the piece would be found in one of my pockets or shoes or on a nearby shelf or still in the packaging.

Well, yesterday SWMBO (the giftor's mother) took the puzzle apart and boxed it up and I took down the card table and put it away.

And a bit later, what did she discover?

Look carefully.

The light is a bit better now that the table has been moved but there . . . oh, it agonizes me to say this . . was this.

You can see how the color of the underside, in the shadow cast by the now moved table, would have disguised it from two sets of searching but aged eyes.

When it is turned over and placed on a black background you can see it is . . . .the missing puzzle piece.

So I apologize all around for my rants.

I shall lick my wounds and retire to my lair, shame wrapped around me like a cloak.

I gave the puzzle piece . . . the 500th piece . . . back to my long-suffering wife.

Hmmmm, I wonder if she put it back in the box with the others . . . or tossed it in the trash.

Would she?

Could she?