Category: Storytime

by: Playing Grounded

Father may be Wise but Mother Knows Best

They all hooted with delight, exuberantly holding out their plates as Mrs. Owl lovingly cut a wedge for each of them.

“Oh, boy!!” Hermes Chirped.

“Positively scrumptious, my dear!” exclaimed Archimedes as he shoveled a forkful into his beak.

“This is sooo…good mother!” Olivia canted.

That afternoon, the owl family, satiated by their supper, sang the praises of their magnificent mother and her culinary creation. Now that their bellies were warm and full of good food, they forgot all about their prior inconveniences and the mysterious placement of puzzle pieces by pernicious pad foots.

The moral of this long-winded, winged-tale is, aside from the quality of the puzzle and cut of the pieces themselves; a good puzzle is one that has just the right dose of difficulty and can hold your interest.

At Playing Grounded we believe:

A puzzle that is too simple—low piece count, big pieces, lacks challenge—and is easily completed, may leave one wanting and unfulfilled in the process.

A puzzle that is extremely difficult—high piece count, small pieces, fuzzy image, lack of detail or repulsively repetitive—may leave one uninspired and unwilling to go any further with it. This will also lead to an undesirable outcome.

But when piecing a puzzle together that has a moderate piece count (i.e. 500-1500 pieces), an imaginative, inspired work of art that is well drawn, painted, or photographed, and that is brimming with bright colors and crisp, clean details, the experience is much more inviting. This kind of puzzle will leave one with a simple satisfaction that would seem to be the perfect fit for an overall enjoyable puzzling experience.

And lastly, a mother’s love is the heart of the hearth and usually knows what’s best for her nest.

~ The End ~

by: Playing Grounded

Cabin Curiosity

One bright, sunny morning, a little girl named Goldi-chan was playing in the woods that surrounded her village. After chasing a bright green butterfly for a time, she realized that she had left the well-worn path she’d been traversing and had somehow gotten herself lost along the way.

Goldi-chan looked for the tallest tree that she could find and decided to climb it hoping to see where she might be. After making her way up the sturdy limbs of an aged oak, now high up in its branches, she found what seemed to be a little cottage nestled soundly in the towering timber.

As she got closer, she could see that it was indeed a cabin, carefully constructed out of the sticks that littered the forest floor beneath her. There were windows cut into its walls, with lace curtains adorning the interior and a little porch jutting out from its face. Curiously, she walked toward the front door. It seemed to be made of planks of polished wood that were firmly held together, and on the door there was a plaque that read “Wise Owl of the Woods inquire within for assistance.”

Part 2; Goldi-chan and the Three Puzzles

by: Playing Grounded

Table of Contents

Goldi-chan thought to herself, Great I can ask him to help me find my way home. She was just about to knock when she noticed a note tacked just beneath the sign written with perfect penmanship. The note read, “Have gone hunting, will be back by tea time tomorrow. ~ Archimedes Owl ~”

It seemed that Goldi-chan had missed her opportunity to meet the Wise Owl. But being exhausted from her ordeals and wanting to calm down a bit and gather her thoughts, she gently pushed on the handle of the door and soon found herself inside the home.

The house was impeccably clean, tastefully decorated and well-managed. The front room was furnished with a couch, a couple of high-backed chairs and a sitting table, made from a sliver of oak, in the center. A painted vase full of freshly cut flowers rested atop a linen napkin that sat firmly in the middle of the impressive hunk of wood, but the focal point of the room had to be the hearth. It had a fireplace of intricately laid stones encased in columns of smooth and polished wood shelves with rows upon rows of leather-bound books. It was a cozy little nest, to be sure.

Goldi-chan moved toward what appeared to be the dining area in the far end of the room. It was complete with a perfectly round dinner table and four chairs. In the corner, next to the entry way to the kitchen, stood an ornately carved hutch filled with painted cups, bowls and plates. Goldi-chan could tell by the surroundings that the Wise Owl must have a family and that they were probably (hopefully) all together.

Part 3: Goldi-chan and the Three Puzzles

by: Playing Grounded

Picking Up the Pieces

Feeling like an unwanted intruder at that moment, she was about to leave when she noticed that scattered on the big table there were three jigsaw puzzles in progress. Goldi-chan loved puzzles, and, feeling a bit curious, she wanted to see what the pictures were. The first puzzle had larger pieces and what appeared to be a barnyard scene with different types of farm animals.

Goldi-chan looked over the image, and before she realized it, she was fitting the the pieces into place. No sooner than she noticed the puzzle was completed “Oops, I finished it! That was a little too easy I guess,” she whispered to herself.

Not feeling satisfied, she proceeded to the head of the table where, next to the largest puzzle, there stood neat rows of perfectly stacked pieces all indexed according to their particular shape and size. She could see that this puzzle was definitely more complicated than the last. The picture appeared to be an aerial view of some kind of topographic map and detailed descriptions.  She picked up one of the pieces from a stack, which were much smaller than the first puzzle, and attempted to see if she could find where it might fit. Having failed to achieve this after several minutes, she grew frustrated and gave up. This one is way too hard for me, she thought to herself before moving on to the third and final puzzle at the other end of the table.

This one seemed like it was more up to her speed. It was a picture of a page from an illustrated field guide of all the different types of flowers in area. The art was very inviting. The illustrations of the flowers were colorful and brimming with fine little details that made them almost look real. The pieces weren’t so large, and, from what she could see, only a portion of the puzzle had already been put together. Goldi-chan found herself so taken with the beautiful art that she immediately sat down and started working on piecing the puzzle together in front of her.

Part 4: Goldi-chan and the Three Puzzles

by: Playing Grounded

Look Hoos Home

Time seemed to flow by quickly, and the minutes turned to hours. Goldi-chan, coming out of her focused fixation with the puzzle, became completely conscious of the methodic ticking on the wall above the entryway to the kitchen. “Jumping Jiggers! It’s almost 11:30!” she exclaimed. “I’d better get home. Mama will be calling me for lunch, and she’ll get worried if I don’t turn up.”

Goldi-chan got up quickly without undoing her damage and, only taking a brief moment to notice the owl’s lovely kitchen, proceeded out the backdoor. From there she got a spectacular view of the forest foliage and the wide-open countryside that lay beyond the woods. She could see the large white-painted barn of a neighboring farm not far off in the distance. Goldi-chan then plotted her course from that point, carefully climbed down the great oak and safely found her way home, just in time for lunch.

It was just a little after midday when the owls returned to their roost. Breathing a sigh of relief, Mrs. Owl, clutching a wicker basket in her wings, exclaimed, “Thank goodness, it’s good to be home.”

“Yes, it certainly is,” said the rather large and impressive looking owl that flew up next to her, and pushed open the front door. There were two owlets in tow. The littlest one piped up as he fluttered his way inside, “I’m starving! When do we eat?”

“You’re always hungry,” said the elder of two owl children.

“We’ll eat in good time. Now you two, go preen your feathers while I prepare supper,” their matronly mother commanded.

“Ahem…I have some work to do in the study,” said the wise Archimedes.

“Oh no you don’t Mr. Owl. You go clean those talons of yours. They’re a fright, and I will not have bits of fur flying around my dinner table!”

Part 5: Goldi-chan and the Three Puzzles

by: Playing Grounded

Guest in the Nest

At that moment, the youngest owlet squawked out, “Hey! Who finished my puzzle? Mom, she finished my puzzle!”

“I didn’t touch your puzzle, you grubby little larva!” the elder sibling retorted harshly. “I’ve got my own puzzle if I want…huh, who’s been working on my puzzle? Mother!”

“Lydia, you know I didn’t touch your puzzle. My feathers are full of chores to do around here. I’ve no time for games. Which reminds me, Lydia, I need you to set the table for supper. So all of you, please find somewhere else to play with your puzzles.”

“Mom!” the littlest owl protested. 

“Hermes, do as I say, and no squabbling about it!”

“But Olivia, you know the light is better in…,” Archimedes stopped mid sentence as Mrs. Owl shot him a sideways glance, the feathers furrowing on her brow, and then disappeared into the kitchen with her bundle.

Having lost the argument, the big owl sheepishly shuffled up to the table of his neat rows of perfectly stacked pieces only to realize that one of them was missing from its place. “Hmm…,” he murmured peering over the bridge of his glasses. “It appears that we have had an uninvited guest in our nest!”

Part 6: Goldi-chan and the Three Puzzles

by: Playing Grounded

Heart and Stomach

Over the course of the next hour, the three brooding birds had done exactly as they were told. The puzzles were slowly but surely picked up and put in their respective boxes, the table was set for the afternoon meal, and they had all cleaned and preened themselves thoroughly.

Archimedes sat in his chair ruffling the feathers under his beak as pondered and scribbled notes in a leather ledger, while the two younger owls squirmed in their seats glaring and making faces at one another from across the dinner table.

Just then, the kitchen doors banged open as Mrs. Owl rolled a serving cart into the room. Its wooden wheels clattering on the floor boards roused everyone to attention. She then placed a large silver platter in the middle of the table.

The owls gave up on their brooding as their hunger gave way to the delectable odors that wafted across their beaks. Mrs. Owl went about serving the afternoon meal, pouring a cup of strong Earl Grey tea for father, milk tea with sugar for the children and a cup of sweet tea with lemon for herself.

Then, she reached for the round covered baking dish that sat in the center of the tray which held the other owls captivated as they goggled in anticipation. They waited eagerly with their mouths now watering as she peeled back the heavy cloth napkin, releasing the billows of steam that flowed under it, a golden crusted, freshly baked mince mouse pie.

Part 7: Goldi-chan and the Three Puzzles