At Self-Isolation's End

These disposable masks cost $2 each. We have reusable cloth masks on order, but they will probably not come until COVID-22. We test-drove these on a 90-minute walk. They were hot, uncomfortable and pointless because we were in close proximity to no one. 
We'll save the masks for shopping. 

This was our last week of self-isolation. We stre-e-e-tched our provisions and did not starve. And, we're both feeling better. Until we get tested for anti-bodies, and maybe not even then, we won't know what afflicted us. Whatever it was, it never made us feel as sick as when we have a good rip-snorter of a cold. So who knows. 

I spent my first week of self-isolation piecing together some family history. My second week, I put together a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle. 

The commentary below is inspired by the bored sports announcer and his two labs.

Day One

Clark's opening move is a play book classic, wise given that she has been away from puzzles for most of her career. We see here a good effort at flipping all the pieces face up and finding all the border pieces. There's some lack of confidence in how she has gathered some of the "like" pieces into little piles but left a jumbled mass in the middle "for later."

Day Two

Once again, Clark's playing it safe, going for the easy-to-find parts of the puzzle, using a bottom-up approach. She's really gone to town on sorting the piece piles. This is either her confidence improving or just a sign that she's all out of better ideas.

Day Three

Clark's showing good form here. She's put all the flower baskets together and filled in the side of the barge. She's checked the floor several times for the missing piece close to the bottom of the puzzle. 

Day Four

You can see Clark's growth as an athlete here. She's found the missing piece which wasn't really missing after all. She's tackled the sky, showing she's not afraid of pieces that all look the same, except for the ones that all look the same where there are trees in front of buildings with light shining through. 

Day Five

Just before the clock runs out at noon on Friday, Karen triumphantly completes the puzzle. Fifteen hours of back-breaking leaning over the table, eye-straining peering at the picture on the box, and trying the same wrong piece in the same wrong spot over and over and over, have all brought her to this. Now all she has left is to break the puzzle up, put it back in the box, put the box in the crawlspace and get on with her life.

Thanks for reading!

Stay safe!

Karen

On the other side of the
puzzle board: a poster
with the details of a 1999
trip to Hawaii

Our reward for venturing out again: stencil graffiti,
Riverdale Park pedestrian bridge over the Don Valley