Imagine you are lounging aboard an old wicker chair on the screened in porch of your waterfront cottage. You have time on your hands and little or nothing to distract you. Cell phone is off. Nobody is looking for you to check in at the office. What to do with this splendid moment?

Then it becomes November. The sun has set. There’s no porch furniture. But a nice wood fire heats the stove with a card table beside the couch. You ask the pup to move over. It does, reluctantly. A nice cup of tea steeps. What to do with this splendid moment?

A jigsaw puzzle would be perfect. Peaceful entertainment. Ideal mindful relaxation. And guess what! The Southport General store Gift barn has an ideal assortment of new 18-inch x 24-inch, 672 piece jigsaw puzzles for card table and porch! To be exact – nine puzzles with scenes created by whimsical artful Maria Doelp and juvenile delinquent master of the desert sky, Robert Mitchell. Maria’s art includes paintings of Southport Island, the Southport store, sailboats and Santa’s flying lobsters. Mitchell’s puzzle images are far more tame with views of Hendricks Head Light and snow covered buoys.

It’s not rocket science but it is fun and ever so relaxing. Whether you are on the porch at the shore or in the dark by the stove, these puzzles will entertain you and invite seldom experienced bliss. And when you have completely exhausted the mindless under retention, placing the final piece rings the phone and you are transported back in time to the hurry and scurry of a world filled by tedious overwhelm.

Try a puzzle or two, just for fun. It might just be what the doctor ordered, or forgot. You be the judge.