Puzzles

“Oh great,” you must be sarcastically thinking, or “yep, I am so looking forward to hearing about someone’s puzzle adventure, which I imagine will be about as entertaining as watching paint dry.”

The truth of the matter is that I initially thought that this blog post might simply be about that, but I discovered that once I started to think deeper about puzzles, I realized that the whole of life is, for all intents and purposes, a puzzle, and we must, each of us, find the pieces that make up life for us, and lay them out in a full-colored finished tapestry.

I have been alive for 64 years, and for the last 42 I have been actively putting the pieces of my life together, trying to understand everything about myself and the world around me, about human nature and the human condition. So far, the only puzzle I haven’t been able to solve to full satisfaction is the puzzle, or meaning of life as it were, not so much specifically that, but to find the one answer that explains everything in a nutshell. I am not a religious person, although I consider myself spiritual to some degree. I tend more towards science, and although that is the case, I don’t think science can give me the answer either. I chuckled at one point on my journey when there was much talk in the scientific world about finding “The Theory of Everything.” They said they were looking for a set of equations capable of describing all phenomena that have been observed, or that will ever be observed. I chuckled because I surmised that they were looking for the very thing, or answer, that all those on the spiritual journey have been trying to find since the beginning of time. Think Aristotle, Confucius, and so many more.

A lot of my reading and writing, and even my artwork, especially in the early years, was in the pursuit of finding the meaning of everything, the single answer that would explain it all. After years of recovery and searching through my various means I came to a point in my life when I realized that there is no answer to some questions, especially not for the big one that always rattled around in my mind. I mean, sure, we can take the scientific path and we can explain everything back to The Big Bang. But there you still sit. What was before that? Now I know what scientists say about this and it leads to the same unfulfilling conclusion, so really, I am saying there simply is no completely satisfying answer. On a different level of thinking, I know too what religious people think or say, but I am not about to debate that. If someone’s religious beliefs are answer enough for them, then that is great, but for me religion is not an option.

There came a point a few years ago when I decided that it was time to stop looking for that answer, and so I did just that. It was quite freeing to stop the pursuit and just accept the fact that some things can never be known with any certainty. Besides, it’s not like I haven’t learned tons of stuff along my journey which I have truly benefited from, but the realization that the answer was not coming, and the void from its absence, was just going to be a part of life. Just to clarify, once I stopped looking, I didn’t stop living, of course. I just felt freer.

On a simpler note, I did define the meaning of life, one that I can and do live with. Simply put, is to live it, life that is, to participate fully in it and do so as well as I can. I have found that living an honest, thought-filled life brings me the most joy, so that is how I choose to live; to make my having been here count in a positive manner, leaving the world a better place for my having been part of it. It is simple in essence, but it does take a great deal of effort to do so, always being alert and adjusting to life’s dictates when required. So far, the effort has been well worth it. I love my life and wouldn’t change a whole lot if that were somehow an option.

I don’t recall if it was in an earlier blog, or in my most recent book, that I talked about the desire to find a somewhat different path for my life, on a smaller scale daily basis. I had been sitting at my computer for endless hours every day for the last few decades and I wanted to become a bit more unglued from it. Writing my book, Reflections, was a way to initiate a change, but it too was always at the computer. It was such a different process though, so the change it brought was most delightful. As is typical of me, once I started, I couldn’t slow down. What I thought would take a year took two and a half months, from the seed of the idea to the printed books. Gosh, writing the book was so much fun and the thoughts flowed so fast that I just couldn’t slow my pace.

With the book complete, I was back to the same place as before, looking for something to break the pattern. It was about this time that my wife, Denise, bought a couple of 300-piece jigsaw puzzles to work on. She said that I was welcome to help if I wanted. One thing about Denise that I have always thought of as cute, is that she does puzzles like she fishes. While fishing, she puts her hook in the water for a couple minutes and when no bite is forthcoming, she pulls her hook out of the water and goes back to reading. When it came time to work on the current puzzle, Denise snapped a couple pieces in place and then went to the couch to continue reading her current book. Of course, I sat at the table and finished the puzzle in no time at all. A day or two later, I started another 300-piece puzzle and finished that in record time.

So it is at this point that I am reminded that there is only one pace for me and I guess it is one of those things that makes me who I am. Perhaps I can’t change this fact, and there are worse things in life that one can do, so I am reminded that if I am going to build puzzles, I can do them in whatever way suits me. If I am going to build one or two a week, then so be it. One thing I learned long ago was to enjoy the process, not just the end result, so even if I am building at a fast past, I am still enjoying the process.

Since I was finding the puzzle building process to be somewhat entertaining, and it got me away from the computer for periods of time, I decided that I would allow myself to have a new space and build puzzles whenever I was moved to do so. A quick trip to Home Depot for a folding table, and the blessing from my wife to set it up in a somewhat out of the way area in our apartment style condo and the scene was set.

My Puzzle Station – Photo by Don Cheke

Do you remember the feature image at the start of this blog post? It is not a real jigsaw puzzle. It is a photo edited picture I took at one time here in Saskatoon. While pondering what constitutes a good puzzle, I went through many of my photos and renders. I settled on the train bridge because it has numerous areas where identifiable parts are, a nice separation of colors and although the trees in the lower left corner might prove more challenging, they too have enough color separation to make it still doable, albeit somewhat challenging. I like to give my brain a good workout, but I still want to be able to make good steady progress.

Grand Trunk Bridge (CN Railway) – Photo and Photo Editing by Don Cheke

Over the years I have often heard people say that building jigsaw puzzles is good for the brain. I decided to see what my new AI friend, Bing, had to say about it. 😊

Note I have interspersed photos of puzzles I have done over the last couple months within his answer. Keep in mind that the colored italicized text is still Bing’s response.

Me: What are the benefits of doing jigsaw puzzles?

The Love & Hope VW Bus – Eurographics 1000 Piece Puzzle (Completed February 18, 2024)

Canada Globetrotter – Eurographics 1000 Piece Puzzle (Completed February 25, 2024)

Brooklyn Bridge – Ravensburger 1000 Piece Puzzle (Completed February 22, 2024)

Charles Wysocki Rockland Breakwater Light – Buffalo Games 1000 Piece Puzzle (Completed March 1, 2024)

Canoes on the Lake – Eurographics 1000 Piece Puzzle (Completed March 6, 2024)

Home for Christmas – Cobble Hill 1000 Piece Puzzle (Completed March 10, 2024)

I couldn’t agree more with Bing’s summation and points about the process.

John Deere – Ravensburger 1000 Piece Puzzle (Completed March 17, 2024)

I can’t finish this blog post without talking a bit about 3D puzzles. I am not talking about 3D jigsaw puzzles like the Tutankhamen one pictured in my old office from another time, but mechanical 3D puzzles.

My Home Office Up to 2019 – Photo by Don Cheke – Arrow Points to 3D Jigsaw Puzzle

The fact is that I love the idea of 3D puzzles but quite dislike the task of building them. They always seem to be too complex for my squishy little brain and I look for the solution sheet almost immediately. I had a small collection of 3D puzzles for years but got rid of the bulk of them when my wife and I downsized in preparation for a move to our new condo. Pictured here are the few mini-puzzles I have hung on to.

3D Mini Puzzles – Photo by Don Cheke

On the far left is a bamboo cube puzzle by MI Toy International Inc. The wooden spherical puzzle is a product from a company called Pocket Puzzles. The puzzles in the clear cube boxes are from a company called PussyCat Puzzles.

In the days when I was very interested in 3D puzzles, I remember being fascinated by the engineering genius of many of them, especially the ones designed by people such as Miguel Berrocal, where they are sculpted from metal and defy belief and make me wonder about how someone can possibly design such a thing.

Puzzle Art Sculptures by Miguel Berrocal – The sculptures shown here are in the personal collection of Wikipedia User: Ke4roh, also the photographer.

To wrap up this discussion of puzzles, more specifically 3D puzzles, I would like to give mention and a thumbs-up to my son-in-law, Adrian, a machinist, who produced a 3” soma cube for me one Christmas a number of years ago. I have kept this very special gift on my desk and I look at it often and ponder the creative process of 3D puzzles and more.

Soma Cube – Disassembled – Machined by Adrian Arsenault
(Note that the help sheet was found on the internet and printed to aid with assembly when needed.)

Soma Cube – Near Full Assembly – Machined by Adrian Arsenault

Soma Cube – Fully Assembled – Machined by Adrian Arsenault

Storage box for the Soma Cube – Designed and 3D Printed by Don Cheke

All that said, I hope that you take time from your busy life every now and again to work on the puzzles available to you, be it the jigsaw kind or the deeper psychological ones that life provides.

Happy puzzling! 😊

Donald B. Cheke – March 25, 2024

4 thoughts on “Puzzles

  1. I enjoyed the read Don, I guess to be honest from my point of view we share some many things in common.

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