FUTILITY

 

JOY AND . . . NOT

 It's the 2nd of January.

Last night as I was turning in, I asked mein frau if she was going to have a difficult time getting used to the idea that tomorrow (today) was not Monday.

Having holidays mucking around with the weekends does tend to throw one for a loop.

Heck, some people were still celebrating the New Year today, I hear.

For some of us it is a time to make resolutions about how to improve our lives over the coming year.

For others . . .

I gave up making resolutions many New Year's ago.

Part of the joy of senescence is realizing it's probably too late to make much or any difference.

So Happy January Third tomorrow . . the first Monday of the New Year.

(groan)

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?

THE FRIDAY FUNNIES

 Here it is at last.

The final day of 2021, or as Queen Elizabeth might say, another annus horribilis.

Another year of Covid, storms, fires, heat, cold and capped off by my terrible experience with a jigsaw puzzle.

But enough about that.

Let us gird our loins, hitch up our bootstraps, lift up our chins and charge merrily and boldly into 2022.

Just watch your heads.

And so, as the band plays off into the distance, we bid a not-so-fond adieu to another year and gaze hopefully into the future.

Now remember, it's a time for one last wonderful weekend full of oysters, champagne, egg nog, steak and lobster, and sweets beyond compare.

Sweets like the dessert prepared by my friend in Colorado, Jolly Jeanne, aka Beaner, recently.

It's all edible, including the stars, and I won't trouble you with the ingredients but will tell you it makes SWMBO's teeth hurt just to hear about them.

So enjoy, Happy New Year and always recall to keep laughing!

Here, kitty-kitty . . .

NO SOLUTION

 Remember, if you will, what I said about the jigsaw puzzle ODD (Our Demented Daughter) forced on us as a Christmas "gift" this year.

Remember, if you will, what I said about a piece possibly left missing.

The puzzle was completed a few moments ago.

Here is a picture of the insane enigma some mad artist created.

As in any photos displayed on this blog, clicking on them will embiggen them.

You will perceive then the beauty of the wildlife, both flora and fauna, shown here by the mad genius of the creator.

But let me show you something else.

Let me show you a close-up of one portion of this "entertaining puzzle".

Look carefully.

Yes!

Yes, my Readers!

It is a blank space!

A black hole!

Where one of the FIVE HUNDRED pieces of this infernal mind-plagluer was supposed to fit!

Was it on the table?

Was it on the floor?

Was it in the box?

Nay, nay!

It was MISSING!

Just as I suspected.

The parlayer of this "entertaining puzzle" had left it out!

Misplaced it!

Do not misunderstand me.

I am not blaming the daughter.

The puzzle was inside a sealed box, encased in plastic film, never having been opened since the dastardly factory shipped it.

But this is not playing fair, ladies and gentlemen.

This is playing with our sanity; more importantly MY sanity.

This is a danger to the National (or more likely, International) Morality.

I weep for the young people of tomorrow who shall undertake jigsaw puzzling, only to be cheated of their victories.

Is nothing sacred anymore?

NASTY GIRL

 As noted by careful readers of at least one message on the refrigerator door of my wife's daughter yesterday, the BRD (Beautiful Rich Daughter) does have a vicious streak.

It was expressed cruelly at her Christmas Eve brunch when she presented her mother with an unexpected gift.

A jigsaw puzzle.

She knows, oh yes she knows, how I hate jigsaw puzzles.

I can't stay away from them, no matter how hard I try to ignore them.

So there I go again, erecting the card table for SWMBO (She Who Must Be Obeyed) to dump out the pieces and begin the work.

I hide in front of my computer or try to watch a football game on the television but eventually my eyes are drawn to that damnable mess on the table in the kitchen.

And before long, I am joining my wife at the torture of seeking out pieces that do not belong, or pieces that obviously have fallen off the table and have been kicked under the refrigerator, or pieces that the puzzlemaster surely has left out of the box.

Yesterday, I think it was though all awareness of time has vanished like the missing puzzle pieces, this was our progress on the enigma in our formerly happy home.

It's a little futher along now but we still have miles, miles I say sadly, to go before we sleep.

(to be continued)

A PEEK INSIDE

 The BRD's refrigerator door recently.

Does it reflect the lady?

I think so.

(If you can't read the words, clicking on the picture will embiggen it.)