Normalish

We finished the 1000 piece puzzle of Paradise Park, Mount Rainer, WA.  I bought this puzzle second-hand for $1 and so I didn't expect it to have all the pieces. (We figure on average there is one piece lost per assembly)

Much to our surprise, it had all 1000 pieces!  Look closely and you will see that in the image above there is one empty space and one piece on the table.  

Empty Space

Piece on the Table

The strange thing is that the piece on the table does not fit the empty space; neither the shape nor the color is right.  That's weird.  But it gets weirder.  

 The extra piece with no home DOES fit in the puzzle. It is in the center of the image above.

Our youngest son found where it goes, but there is already a piece in that spot identical in shape with a slightly different picture.  Hmmm.  

Here are the almost duplicates.  One has some scuff damage.  I wonder if someone else with this puzzle has and extra piece that fits our space and a missing piece like the ones above.  We could trade.

We were thinking about how this about sums up how Roland is feeling.  He seems to have the right number of pieces, but something is missing (and not just his hair) and there is something extra that doesn't quite fit.

Today he dug some holes for trees we want to plant and tried to tan his head a little.  After this he needed a big nap.  He is getting stronger every day.