Missing Pieces

The last time we tried to set a puzzle (about 10 years ago)

                Winter is the season of board games and puzzle setting.  As kids we spent countless hours playing Monopoly, Clue, Payday, and card games.  Christmas vacation was devoted to setting a puzzle while watching old movies in front of fireplace.  To me a puzzle means vacation, relaxation, and a complete escape from the every grind.

                One of the unexpected adjustments our family made when we took in cats was the end of puzzle setting and a revamp of favorite board games.

                Tigerlilly was a huge game fan.  She loved lying on the game board, batting around the dice.  She was known to grab a car from the game of Life and run off with it in her teeth.  She was also good at scattering discard piles across the room and sliding game tokens to new locations.  For the players, half of the play was keeping track of their games pieces and fake money.  If vigilant, the game could go on.

                Puzzle setting, however, has insurmountable problems.  When cats lie on puzzle pieces—and they will, that’s non-negotiable—the pieces stick to them like glue.  When they jump down from the table the pieces leave too, many of them never to be seen again.

                We have to rethink our indoor activities.  I can always read a book or play with the cats, but maybe our game playing needs to be shifted to electronic devices...at least until a cat decides to sit on the keyboard.