We are currently house-sitting for some friends in the beautiful coastal community of Kiama.

Unfortunately, the heavy smoke haze that has been rolling in each evening from the bushfires south of us has necessitated engaging with some indoor activities rather than long sunset beach walks. To wit, Kelly has been methodically solving a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle that her sister found in a second-hand store for $4.00.

The whole Kelly clan are jigsaw tragic (it must be a genetic thing), and she has been up until well after 1 a.m. with her mum the last few nights banging away at it.

I, on the other hand, find them totally infuriating. I consider my self somewhat creative and puzzle competent, but when it comes to sitting down with a jigsaw I am totally inept at the required spacial and colour matching. I can be staring at the most bleedingly obvious missing piece for hours without actually seeing it.

We are leaving for home tomorrow morning and so the pressure is on to complete it. Last night I sat down for a couple of hours to help out. Total assist: one piece correctly inserted and a couple of bits rescued from under the table.

At this point it seems likely there is at least one piece missing (not to be unexpected in a second hand 4 dollar puzzle) and there may even be a ring-in fragment or two from a completely different puzzle. It adds to the drama.

Just in case you are looking for the perfect gift idea for a fellow jigsaw enthusiast, the largest commercially available jigsaw puzzle is made by the Martin Puzzle company. It is a collage of animals that can be assembled from a sanity fracturing 52,110 pieces.