Universal jigsaw puzzles

Dear Browsers and Browserettes,

it has to be said, the hands of my dear lady electrofried are forever dancing balletically across fabric and thread. Be it the simple sampler or a quilt exploding into patterns of the most exquisite colour and beauty, I never cease to be stunned by her work. It adorns every part of the House and extends to our wider family beyond.

A wedding treasury

I reflect on this at length during our recent visit to maximouse and His Imperial Hirsutelessness, further details of which appear just below in these increasingly bizarre meanderings. Adorning their conjugal bed is a purpled, kaleidoscopic treasure - a wedding present from mrs electrofried.

I look at it in wonder, studying the intricate fabric patterns that have been woven together in an extraordinary fabric jigsaw. How many generations to come, who have never met mrs electrofried or her half-wit husband, will also stand and gaze in awe at her work.

And then my thoughts pass to strands of DNA forever twisting and delivering messages, like the threads of a treasured wedding quilt, to those who must follow. Where did it all start and when will it all end?

More questions than answers?

In truth, I have no answers. I am content just to follow - and in this I find rich peace. There are many places in the House I fear we must visit together in the fullness of time, locked doors and bricked-up rooms. But for now, there is just one destination to which I would like to take you. Will you join me?

Along the corridor

It's good to walk with you along a corridor that exists only in a simple binary coding. As if to illustrate the point, may I adjust the lighting as we go. Here's a switch we will push up, and now another we will push down. And so it goes until a recognisable pattern emerges.

dot, dot ... dash, dash ... dot, dot.

Of course, it's no more than simple illusion, a little Vail code delivered by means of a carefully secreted squeeze-button, and yet in the flashing lights we sense a pattern we recognise. Which is a place we are now about to enter.

A room full of mirrors

Let me open the door for you - please do come in and let your eyes grow accustomed to the light.

We've just entered a large, high-ceilinged room. The windows are shaded by cream voiles that diffuse the fading sunset into a pleasing soft warmth. There is no need for further artificial illumination as the remainder of the walls are clad in ormolu-framed mirrors that reflect our image.

Who do you see standing next to you? Perhaps a portly horologist clad in black and wearing Predator sunglasses!

Table-topped jigsaw

There is, of course, one more thing to be seen. In the centre of the room squats a chunky wooden table and on it rests an album. Let's walk across together and see what's in there. We open it at random to a page that contains a photograph of a hand pouring out pieces of a jigsaw.

And at this point, please could I ask you to look up as I ....

A blinding flash of light

Oops, sorry! I should have warned you, but this is my studio, the place where my threads come together. Please forgive me for capturing your image.

There are many photographs in the electrofried family albums. They line an entire room in the House, and a brief selection from their pages already decorate this diary.

There are some that are my own wedding gift to maximouse and His Imperial, but they must remain as personal a jigsaw puzzle as the wedding quilt lovingly patched together by mrs electrofried. There are others that are blurred or over-exposed. And each is an observation - my take on life.

Room full of mirrors (slight return)

Which is where we step out into the light of a fresh day!

Would you care to come back another time to look through the family albums again with me? There are many stories to be told and, one day, all the pictures will link together in the universal jigsaw puzzle.

Until then, may I wish you as always,

best regards

electrofried (mr)