A puzzling mystery

Honestly, I was really careful when I opened the box and the plastic bag that housed the 1000 pieces of the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories puzzle I got for Christmas. I developed routines as I sorted. I followed classic puzzle-solving protocol and put together the outside edges.

The next logical step was to sort through and put together the titles. From there I went to people, then background items, and ended with solid color and the borders between books.

The problem appeared early. By the time I was halfway through, I was a bit worried that one title remained incomplete. I tried to convince myself that it resembled one of the pieces between the book. The color of the letters for The Clue of the Dancing Puppet was very similar to that of the space between books. The closer I got to the end, the more I realized I was delusional.

When I put the last piece I had into the puzzle, my worries were confirmed. Can you see it in the lower left corner?

Maybe a close-up will help.

I searched the house – anywhere I’d had puzzle pieces ,

• the table where I did the puzzle
• inside the yoga mat I was using as the puzzle mat
• the clothes in the laundry basket
• in, on , and under my bed

I branched out to areas I’d never helped puzzle pieces, all to no avail.

Friends accused Richard, but I knew better. He’s not a chewer and was usually asleep on the sofa while I worked on the puzzle. I searched off and on again over the next few days before finally resigning myself to the fact that the piece would not be found.

At this point the pieces are back in the box and I am convinced I must have left a piece in the plastic bag when I first opened the packaging. The truth is, I’ll never know for sure.

One Word Challenge

The last week of school before Winter Break was rough.

To ease us back in January, our Admins created the “2 for “22” project. On the first two days back in January, we all committed to not doing academic work. Instead, we committed to two days of community building and/or reflective activities. I knew right away that I would turn my annual One Word writing assignment into an art project.

Students would choose their OLW, but illustrate them instead of writing about it. I would take their words and post them outside my door. They could see their word everyday, and be inspired by the words of others, too.

Day two of “2 for “22” is almost over and I have spent the day stapling. They aren’t all up yet, but here’s what we have so far: