Welcome to the Cabin

by Elmer Prather, guest blogger

It is hard to believe that I have just finished putting my 43rd Cobble Hill puzzle together. It is a 275 piece puzzle titled Welcome To The Cabin by Sam Timm. I chose this one because I love old log cabins. My connection to this puzzle was an old cabin that was built in the early 1900s. A close friend of mine rented this log cabin to be used as a hunting/fishing lodge by the members of the hunting and fishing club he had established. The cabin gave members a place to meet, have meals, plan hunting and fishing trips and to socialize. It was located just outside of Atlanta, Georgia on the Chattahoochee River.

Welcome to the Cabin by Sam Timm 1000 pc assembled by Elmer Prather

There was a small lake between the cabin and the river. The cabin was built on 40 acres of land abutting the Chattahoochee River. Sitting on the back porch of the cabin you could see the lake behind the cabin, just as the puzzle depicts. There was an inlet between the lake and the Chattahoochee river where the original owners could move their small paddle wheeler boat from the lake to the river. After many years of use, the boat sank into the lake.

 

The three room cabin had all of the modern conveniences like running water, electricity and a bathroom. It was heated by a large rock fireplace. It was cooled by raising the windows. My friend rented the cabin for several years. We had to stop using it when the remnants of a hurricane blew 100 year old pine trees across the road making access to the cabin impossible. Eventually the cabin fell into disrepair and was torn down. The property is now a Nature preserve.

 

The cabin in the puzzle reminded me of this cabin. The picture in the puzzle had many scenes that stood out. Some of them were the old used pick up truck parked beside the cabin, the light shining down from the three windows on the side of the cabin. Another scene that caught my eye were the two ducks flying over the lake in front of the cabin. The ducks reminded me of the ducks that flew onto and away from the lake behind my friend's cabin. In the finished puzzle, the blues in the duck's wings really stood out. Whoever owned the cabin must have been a hunter, like my friend, because there are deer antlers mounted on the side of the cabin. There is a bird house attached to a large oak tree beside the lake. The picture depicts a late evening timeframe since you can see the evening sun reflecting across the lake. There is ample firewood to heat the cabin stacked by the oak tree.

 

I did not see a boat in the puzzle but with the cabin being on a lake with a boat dock, there was probably one located nearby. I imagined that the cabin had a man and woman living there. The man had probably taken the boat out and was fishing while his wife prepared dinner in the cozy cabin kitchen.

 

The cabin in the puzzle was built with asphalt shingles not the wooden ones normally found on older cabins. The rocks used to construct the chimney can be seen above the roof line. They appear to be river rocks. The rocks that were used to build the chimney probably came from around the lake.

 

The puzzle had a ribbon across the bottom that read, “Welcome to the Cabin”. It made a statement that the owners enjoyed spending time with their friends and neighbors.

 

It was a pleasure putting it together and seeing it come to life.