Of Puzzles and the Latest (Toy?) Craze

We have many blessings here at Raleigh House, Fans, including an abundance of toys, especially in the wake of Christmas.  A survey of the play things revealed that we have, for example, no fewer than 22 puzzles (with two sets of four puzzles each being counted as one, mind you).  Not included in this count are the chunky shape puzzles that serve as an introduction to the category.  If we included those, the count would rise to 31.   Now, Fans, we love a puzzle (clearly), but 22, let alone 31, really does seem a bit excessive.  So Sunday morning found us considering the first 22 mentioned here and making some decisions about which puzzles we might donate to other puzzle-loving boys and girls who might not have anything approaching such an abundance of puzzles.  The bambini were game, but as you might expect, when we got down to brass tacks, it was rather like the Allies carving up Europe in the wake of WWI.  (We can only hope that we have not sown the seeds of another conflict on the scale of WWII.)  Naturally, all newly acquired puzzles were kept, as well as the solar system puzzle that is actually missing a piece.  We also kept some old favorites.  Mercifully, we have jettisoned the Thomas puzzle whose box gave no visual to assist the would-be puzzle master, and whose pieces did not fit snugly together.  (It goes to torment another family.)  We are down to a more respectable 12 puzzles.

The irony in all of this, Fans, to our way of thinking anyway, is that at the moment, Joe's favorite toy is a Ziplock bag.  (If he cannot lay hands on a Ziplock bag, an old, plastic Target bag will do.)  He likes to cram, say, all of his Star Wars figures into a Ziplock bag, or all of his Cars cars.  All of the grocery items might go into a Target bag, or all of the animals that happen to be on his bed at that moment.  It's tight quarters in these bags, Fans, especially the Ziplocks, with things crammed in cheek by jowl.  (Han Solo looks very uncomfortable.  It's a safe bet that he, too, cannot wait until the Ziplock bag craze is over.  The Ziplock bag cannot do the Kessel run in less than 12 parsecs.)