THE JIGS UP
During my professional life, I was an economic journalist, a sleuth-seek-and-search newspaper job that often yielded surprises and discoveries. So, it rather surprised me to discover today, after digging down to pull up and dust off my investigative reporting skills, that the jigsaw puzzle industry, which is now enjoying a resurgence, peaked in popularity during the Great Depression. At a time in our history of primarily gloom, doom and 25% unemployment, those puzzle-producers realized a growth spurt. If author Felix J. Sheffield is to be believed, in 1933,10,000 puzzles a week were sold.
Fast forward to 2011. In Nevada, where I live, the economy has tanked, unemployment is 14.6%, and folks are losing their homes. A Recession, it’s called. (Notice I’ve dropped the “Great”. Really, what’s so “great” about it?) Maybe, just maybe, that’s why we’re in another jigsaw puzzle-frenzy now.
Why puzzles? Well, why not puzzles? These colorful, cardboard cutouts, of drop-dead designs and the style of a sophisticate, are reasonably priced, created for various skill levels, with mucho bang for the buck, and are recyclable to others. Go Green! Jigs provide hours of entertainment, whether you’re a family of four, like my kids in California, a couple, my neighbors, for example, or alone, like me. Stress seems to float away. There’s satisfaction in its completion, a feel-good pastime. As an additional bonus for we Boomers, it’s mental gymnastics for our brains: 1,000 little pieces just begging to be interlocked together.
This is when I admit to you that I am hooked. I am addicted. Contagious to the point that I’m willing to spread the ailment around. Actually I caught the disease from those California kids (don’t all trends begin in California and wind their way eastward?). Currently I have a puzzle-in-progress called “State Birds and Flowers”, which I received on Valentine’s Day. It’s a stinker. One-thousand pieces, 24 x 30 inches, floral, fauna and birds. The skill level is 12-years and Up. They’re kidding. Right?
I have already found out some interesting facts, however. The most popular birds? Five states chose the Western Meadowlark as their state bird and another five, the Mockingbird. Seven others Go Red. The Cardinal, of course. I was puzzled as to why Utah chose the California Gull as its state bird. My map shows Utah to be land-locked and shouldn’t California get first dibs on that particular gull? The story is that long ago, Mormon farmers were dealing with a devastating plague of Mormon Crickets, when some seagulls swooped in, gobbled up those critters and saved the day. In Salt Lake City, there is a monument called “Miracle of the Gulls”, commemorating that event. Thus, the state bird. To further their claim, Gulls, unlike most birds, can drink the saltwater supplied by the fly-and-stop gas station called the Great Salt Lake.
Although Jigs have been around for almost 250 years, first produced in 1767 by John Spilsbury, an English engraver and mapmaker, I’m a newbie to the pastime. While growing up as well as raising a family, we always had a shelf full of children’s puzzles. Didn’t everyone? But, recently, I’ve picked up my game, moving beyond the 300-, and 500-piece Jigs to those with 750 and 1,000 pieces. Devoted connoisseurs of the sport go even higher, 10,000 pieces and more. Egads. I’ve peaked at 1,000.
For holidays and birthdays, I now parcel out puzzles, just presuming the recipients will be grateful. To a micro-beer aficionado, I even found a 1000-piece puzzle of exotic beer bottles. He was not overwhelmed with gratitude but immediately got to work putting the “edges” in place, telephoning me two days later to insist two of the edge pieces were missing. Not there. No way. Couldn’t be found. A thousand pieces and several weeks later, the edges were found, the puzzle was completed, matted and framed and is proudly hung in his study. Now, he’s doing another, which he purchased himself!
It’s almost as fun choosing Jigs as doing them. Although there are more than thirty manufacturers who create quality puzzles, I’m currently partial to those made by Springbok, White Mountain , Spilsbury and Ravensburger. (Disclaimer: No free puzzles are headed my way because of that sentence.)
It’s a dismal, dark and dreary Winter evening. The wind’s howling outside. Get the picture? I just built a toast-your-innards fire. Popped a bowl of popcorn, properly buttered, for sure. Poured a glass of wine. (Red wine pairs with popcorn, I promise.) A jigsaw puzzle just daring me to try. Not so bad. Really.