A Road Trip to Remember

by Elmer Prather, guest blogger

As some may know I have to have a connection with a puzzle before I put the time and effort into putting it together. This is the 24th Cobble Hill Puzzle that I have had the pleasure of putting together. This puzzle reminds me of the camping site we used while on a fishing trip that my three fishing friends and I took to Ennis, Montana via the Pas, Manitoba. It is titled “Evening Glow” by Derk Hanson. This is the second Derk Hanson puzzle that I have put together, the first was titled “Rest Stop”. It was my 22nd Cobble Hill puzzle.

"Evening Glow" 1000 piece. Artist: Derk Hansen Photo Credit: Elmer Prather

In order for you to get the big picture I will start from the beginning. I was a much younger man when we took this trip. We started on this fishing odyssey in Atlanta, Georgia. We made this trip in a Volkswagen bus. While traveling in the bus, two of us could sleep, the third could drive and as we say in the south, the fourth rode “shot gun”.

Volkswagen Bus that made the road trip possible!

Our first planned fishing spot was 2000 miles away on Clearwater Lake which is just outside of the Pas, Manitoba. In order to make the best of our time, we only stopped for gas and to use the rest room. We prepared sandwiches for lunch and dinner and had pastries for breakfast. This drive took 40 hours and was approximately 2000 miles long. We fished for lake trout and northern pike for a few days on Clearwater Lake which is a natural glacier formed lake. It is a deep, clear, cold lake. It is one of the few true blue lakes in the world and the clearest in Canada and the second clearest lake in the world. We had a feast each night after cooking the lake trout we had caught along with hush puppies and fresh potatoes. One night we were blessed by being able to watch as the Northern Lights flowed across the Canadian sky. What a beautiful sight to see.

After a few days of fishing, we broke camp and headed west. We drove through Saskatchewan then Alberta. We crossed the U S Canadian border near Glacier National Park in Montana. Our next planned fishing destination was Ennis, Montana. Ennis is located about 50 miles South of Bozeman, Montana and about 25 miles West, as the crow flies, from Big Sky, Montana.

(Just a rough idea of what the trip from Georgia to Montana looked like, as told by Mr. Prather)

We camped and fished on the Madison river which runs through Ennis. This was years ago when we fished there. I have been back to Ennis since then and it has grown and prospered due to the trout fishing available there. Trout fishermen come from all over the world to try their luck fishing for rainbow and brown trout on the Madison river.

The Madison River, perhaps the most famous of all the rivers in Montana, begins in Yellowstone National Park at the confluence of the Firehole River and Gibbon River. From its origin, it flows for more than 140 miles through exceptionally beautiful scenery before it reaches the Missouri River near the town of Three Forks, Montana.

When we fished there, there was a faded sign posted by the river that showed a trout being caught and the caption, “Ennis, Montana 11,000,000 trout 660 people”.

Welcome to Ennis. Pop. 660 People, 11,000,000 Trout

This was a fun trip. We walked out into the river with our fly rods and our waders and the trout would bump into our legs there were so many of them.

We went back to the Pas two more times to fish. These two trips were from Atlanta to the Pas and back to Atlanta. I have many great memories of all these fishing trips.

CANTON, GA
USA

We hope you enjoyed Mr. Prather's memory. And if you're not able to get out on your own adventure, look for this puzzle box at your local retailer!

"Evening Glow" 1000 piece by Derk Hansen (includes reference poster)

Top 5 Best Sellers from our NEW 2020 Puzzle Release

Every year we release a plethora of new puzzles in a variety of piece counts. Our grand total for 2020 is 95 NEW puzzles! It generally leans heavier on the 1000 piece puzzles as this is our most popular category. This year, we added seven new 2000 piece puzzles, 52 new 1000 piece puzzles, 20 new 500 piece puzzles, eight new Family Pieces 350 puzzles, and eight new Easy Handling 275 piece puzzles.

It's only been just over two weeks since we started shipping off our new puzzles to retailers across North America, but already we can see which new puzzles are leading the pack in sales. As Christmas is just around the corner, our top five best sellers come as no surprise. The winter wonderland scenes are at the top of the list, but number five will warm you up!  So, if you're looking for ideas, here are the top five best sellers so far!

All of these puzzles are available at our Preferred Retailers in store and online. You can search for one using our Find A Store link at the top of our website.

1. Santa's Tree by Tom Newsom (1000 pieces)

2.  Happy Pawlidays by Robert Giordano (Family Pieces 350)

3. Skating Party by Greg Giordano (1000 pieces)

4. Hill of a Lot of Snowmen by Janet Stever (500 pieces)

Please check out the review by our friends over at Jigsaw Puzzle Hobby with close up images.

5. BartistArt by Michael Breach (1000 pieces)

We hope you enjoyed seeing our top five best sellers so far from our new 2020 collection of puzzles. 

The Cobble Hill website will have these available at the start of the new year, but we would love for you to support our local retailers right now by visiting our Find A Store link.

We have seen just about every one of our Preferred Online Retailers order each one of the puzzles on this list, so if you can't find it local - they'll have it for you - if they haven't already sold out!

Life Experiences Raising Quail

by Elmer Prather, guest blogger 

This is the 23rd Cobble Hill puzzle that I have had the pleasure to put together. This one was a little more challenging than the other ones but the end results were worth the effort.

I have to have a connection with a puzzle before I spend that time and energy to put it together. This was an easy choice because of the year I spent raising bobwhite quail. Of course the quail in the picture are bobwhite quail.

"Quail" 1000 piece. Artist: Rosemary Millette Photo Credit: Elmer Prather

When I was 15 years old our next door neighbors had a modern, functional quail raising facility where they raised bobwhite quail. They had other businesses that they had to manage like a grocery store and a medal fabrication business. When they tired of all of the day to day work associated with raising quail they offered 25 pair of quail to their oldest son and I. He was a year younger than I.

My friend’s parents kept a record of the feed and supplies that were purchased for the birds and when
we sold them they took the expenses out of the money we received from selling the birds and divided the profit evenly between their son and me. By this time I was 16 years old and I used the money that I made raising the quail to purchase my first used car. I learned a lot from this experience.

I learned how to be a responsible entrepreneur, how to manage my time, how to organize work flows, how to deal with customers, how to work with others and how to raise quail.

Having this responsibility and opportunity at age 15 was a godsend for me. It is something that I will never forget. This puzzle is a great reminder of that time in my life.

CANTON, GA
USA

Item 80194 "Quail" - available at your local retailer

Can't find Quail at a Preferred North American retailer?
You can order from our website with a free shipping coupon. Quail must be in your cart to honour the free shipping code.

Choose Ship to Canada or Ship to USA to purchase. At checkout, enter code: QUAIL

Falling For These Autumn Puzzles

A lot of people have a favourite season and autumn is mine. I love the crisp fresh air, the smell of rain, the sounds of car tires on wet pavement, the beautiful pumpkin patches. It's such a lovely season and if you're a pumpkin spice latte kind of person, you know this is one of your favourite seasons too!

I think the major drawback to fall for most people is they're sad that we lose the long summer nights with all that light. As the days darken, sitting on the deck sipping iced tea in the afternoon becomes a distant memory. 

So what is one to do? Jigsaw puzzles, of course! Bring the outdoors inside your home!  Make your favourite hot drink, sit down, start sorting, and enjoy falling in love with your autumn puzzle pick.

If you're new to puzzles, we recommend starting with a lower piece count to get you familiar with finding pieces by shapes and colours. Fall Feast by artist Jane Maday is a wonderful Easy Handling 275 piece puzzle. This piece count has extra large puzzle pieces so you can easily see a lot of the detail in one puzzle piece. The Easy Handling puzzles include a linen print reference poster, so you could even find a partner to share in building this puzzle with you OR since you have the poster, that means both box lids could be used as sorting trays!

If you're looking for more of a challenge, we have a lot of wonderful fall themed 500 and 1000 piece puzzles.  Some of them are bright and cheerful autumn colours, while others have that misty, moody fall feel.  We recommend having both on hand to suit whatever mood you're in whenever you're ready to dig into a puzzle and a cup of tea.

Apple Pie Kitchen is a Cobble Hill Creation puzzle, which means we either commissioned the art work on it solely for our use or our Creative Team licensed images from an artist and then created our own image using various pieces of work. This one in particular was painted for us and we love the vintage feel of the kitchen and the "smell" of fall apples being baked into a pie!

Apple Pie Kitchen 500 piece by Cobble Hill Creations

Joy Ride and Apple Pie Kitchen both have those beautiful fall colours and lovable dogs.

Joy Ride 500 piece by Anthony J. Padgett

In 2018, we switched over to the new box design that includes posters and at the same time, we also changed the finished puzzle size for the 500 piece puzzles. They used to assemble at 18" x 24", but now the finished size is 19.25" x 26.625", which means each piece is a bit larger. So, if you need puzzle pieces to be a little bigger so you can grip them more easily or if you just like having more detail per piece, then our new 500 piece puzzle size is going to be perfect for you.

The 1000 piece category has a popular fall puzzle called Autumn Bouquet. It's by artist Greg Giordano who is popular for his bird images.  The bright reds and oranges really make this puzzle pop, but those cute little pumpkins are what sells it as a wonderful autumn puzzle.

Autumn Bouquet 1000 piece by Greg Giordano

Another great puzzle with a lot of autumn colours is New Day by artist Mark Keathley. This puzzle has a lot of foliage, so it will be more challenging, whereas Autumn Bouquet puzzle can be sorted into flowers, fence, and ground. But it's a gorgeous puzzle when finished! And it's always a great new day in autumn!

New Day 1000 piece by Mark Keathley

Finished New Day by puzzler Terry Martin

We know that our puzzlers really enjoy our fall puzzles and we hope you will too.  Please feel free to share your adventure with our puzzles on our Facebook page, or Instagram with #cobblehillpuzzles. It's always a pleasure for us to see!

If you would like to see more options for fall puzzles, please visit our website and look under the Shop by Theme->Fall/Autumn link. Thanks for spending a piece of your day with us here!

In the US, click here.

In Canada, click here. 

Retailer Profile: Bolen Books - a bookstore and more!

It’s been an incredible 44 years for the family owned and operated Bolen Books store.  This amazing bookstore is based in beautiful Victoria, British Columbia on the wonderful west coast of Canada. In fact, it’s on an island!  And let’s just say if you were on the S.S. Minnow you’d be glad that your “three hour tour” gone wrong landed you in Victoria!  From the Schwartz Bay Ferry Terminal, you’re just a 43 minute drive to Hillside Mall, and from the cruise ship ports, it’s a quick 10 minutes. Either way, it’s worth the excursion whether you’re from Victoria or just visiting.

Map of Bolen Books location relative to Swartz Bay Ferry and Ogden Point Terminal.

Bolen Books is in a great location at Hillside Shopping Centre, which is a very family friendly residential area.  It’s also surrounded by the Camosun College Lansdown Campus, which serves 19,000 learners a year, and the University of Victoria, which serves nearly 22,000 students.  Between the young students and the retired readers, Victoria bookstores are thriving and VicNews surmised that it was due to education.  According to Statistics Canada, the national average for people with university degrees, certificates or diplomas at or above the bachelor level is 28.5%, while in Victoria, BC that number tops an impressive 42%! Perhaps that is why in this digital age, the city of Victoria still has dozens of successful independent and chain bookstores selling new and used books. And perhaps a matter of opinion, but in terms of gift giving, a book one can touch, turn, and smell, is much more personable than a characterless downloadable link.

Bolen Books storefront facing Hillside road that enters directly into their store from outside the mall (1 of 3 entrances).

You can enter the store directly from the parking lot facing Hillside Road without entering the actual mall or enter from two other locations inside the mall, one of which is by the food court (always a great choice for an entrance). But even with parking wrapping around the entire mall, it can be insane at Christmas time, so start shopping now - we already saw some Christmas goodies at Bolen Books!

A few Christmas cleaning cloths and Krumbs Kitchen spoons – great gift ideas!

For 25 years, Black Press Media has been publishing a “Best of the City” awards voted on by tens of thousands of residents for everything from shopping to sports and recreation.  In 2019, residents voted Bolen Books as the #1 Best Bookstore for New Books, an honour familiar to them in other years.

It wouldn't surprise us if Bolen Books' #1 win was attributed to their excellent customer service. There are 30+ happy helpers staffed at this independent bookstore and while each one will give you plenty of reading room, whenever you're ready, all of them are willing to help you find that perfect book, toy, board game, jigsaw puzzle, coffee mug, book light, book mark, kitchen gadget, greeting card, magazine, plushy, wrapping paper, calendar, reading glasses, journal or whatever you can’t imagine because they have something unique for everyone! Yes, indeed, Bolen Books is a bookstore, and more!

 Hmm… where do those footprints go from the front entrance till? You’ll have to visit to find out!

The place is always full of life with people wandering the various sections of books, magazines, games and gifts – and you can’t miss their huge jigsaw puzzle wall stocked with lots of great brands, including Cobble Hill!

This impressive puzzle wall is full of high quality brands!

Between this impressive wall and the rows of bookshelves, you’ll find many display tables full of games, puzzles, and other goodies (many from our corporate company, Outset Media).  You could spend hours in these sections alone and you wouldn’t even be a third of the way through the store. The games on the table are nicely organized by theme like Family, Classic, and Adults, so you can easily find something for everyone - like the popular Qwirkle from MindWare Games and our favourite party game, Pickles to Penguins!

 Tables full of popular games like Scattergories and Pickles to Penguins! Think game night and gift ideas!

This huge store is sprinkled with seating areas throughout so you can sit while you wait for others to finish perusing the aisles or relax before you take your second tour of this amazing store!

Seating areas in cozy nooks throughout the store.

If you’re looking to take something entertaining home, they sell a lot of games and they even have game demos that give you hands on experience before buying. If you’re craving a new book, be sure to look for their "Staff Pick” stickers, these are always a great choice!  If you feel yourself getting overwhelmed with all the options, you may want to consider buying one of their “hot items”, the NeeDoh stress ball.  It’s known as the groovy glob of gratifying goo that always springs back to its original shape, even after being squeezed and smooshed - and it’s available in different colours and styles!

 1. Purchased a couple of cute gifts for a birthday.  2. NeeDoh display at mall entrance area.

The front counters are always stocked with fun trinkets and impulse items that make for great gifts.  Another Bolen Book’s hot item, since 2014, is Jude’s Miracle Cloth – a microfiber cleaning cloth that strategically lifts and traps dirt and moisture.  It makes for no hassle, streak free, spot free, and lint free cleaning without chemicals. And apparently, the University of California-Davis Hospital determined that conventional cleaning materials only reduce bacteria by 30%, whereas microfiber could reduce the number of bacteria by 99%. No wonder it’s so popular!

Nee Doh and Jude’s Miracle Cloth are two HOT items at Bolen Books (food court entrance shown).

If you’re shopping here to find a gift for someone special and you just can’t decide, be assured that you can purchase a gift certificate in any denomination.  And if you’re a frequent shopper at Bolen Books, then you may be interested to learn that they have a physical lifetime discount card available for $50 that will save you 10% off every purchase! These have been sold in limited quantities over the years – and now you know!  Just visit a friendly staff member at one of the three tills located at each entrance of the store.

Tons of gift wrap, gift bags and greeting cards for all occasions.

Bolen Books is fortunate in that it compares in size to large chain bookstores, while being independently owned, so they have that freedom and roominess to hold lots of free events for the community.  They also rent out to folks who need a space to host their own events for workshops or meetings.  We can only imagine how stimulating, creative, and inspiring it would be to host a meeting in this place! It’s incredible the number of diverse guests who have graced this store including Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, comedy legend John Cleese, environmental activist David Suzuki, award winning author Ami McKay, Geddy Lee of RUSH, and hundreds more! Be sure to check out their events page so you don’t miss a beat!

Chris Hatfield signing copies of his debut book in 2013. (Photo: Bolen Books website)

In 2018, Bolen Books hosted their first jigsaw puzzle competition in the mall with prizes.  The event was a huge success and Bolen Books will continue holding this event at least once a year.  Winning teams get their team name engraved on the very sentimental family named trophy, “The Piotta”.  If you’re local, keep an eye out for their bulletin board announcing the competition and other great events!

Cobble Hill Puzzle Company had the honour of being the first puzzle brand to kick-off this local event!

One of Bolen Books’ favourite mantras is, “There is something for everyone in our store, but if we don’t have the thing you’re looking for, we can order it!” And from first-hand knowledge, we can tell you that it’s quick, easy, and effortless. This is a place where people care about helping you find what you need whether it’s tangible or an experience.  They’ve already been honoured with the award of “Best Bookstore for New Books”, but if they were ever awarded another title from the city, they’d love it to be for “Best Community Bookstore”.

If you’ve been receiving excellent customer service at Bolen Books since you were a child, please be sure and tell a staff member to pass that message on to the owner, Samantha Bolen or her daughter Madeline, who helps run the store, as this is the best compliment a customer can give them.

Madeline (daughter) and Samantha Bolen (owner).

We’re certain it will put a smile on their face and yours! Thanks for shopping local!

Does Cobble Hill Include Reference Posters?

For those who like immediate answers, yes, we include posters.  We encourage you to read on for the details and the exceptions...

Cobble Hill was established in 2005 with a nostalgic look packaged in sturdy recyclable material so your puzzle could withstand being traded with friends or reshuffled on your stash shelf.  The box design comprised of a light beige colour that framed the image on the front of the box. 

Below is an example of our original box without a poster:

For 13 years, there was no reference poster. Puzzlers simply used the front of the box as their only reference guide. For the most part, this was a non-issue.  However, our logo blocked a small portion of the image in the lower right hand corner and some puzzlers didn't like that. On the Easy Handling 275 piece puzzles, this was less of a big deal because the logo would only hide a few large pieces. However, on a 1000 piece puzzle, there could be several hidden pieces due to the logo placement.

So, after taking surveys and listening to our incoming comments, we believed adding a poster would be beneficial to many puzzlers out there. In 2018, we started including 9" x 12.45" (22.9cm x 31.6cm) linen print posters. 

How do you know if you get a poster or not? Regardless of the box style or the placement of the logo, it will always say "Poster Included" below the logo if it's supposed to include one.

Pro tip! If you shop online and a poster is important to you, look for the website details for either "Item Code" or "Mfr Part Number" or "Part No." and it should start with an "8" or "4", not a "5". If it starts with a "5", then it is likely from our classic box.

Last point, please don't be fooled by our special boxes that do NOT have a specific border colour. We have designed some specialty puzzles with a different look, like those from the seven colour puzzles in the Rainbow Collection.  But, again, if you do not see "Poster Included" you will not see a poster inside the box.

As well, for certain customers who want to save shelf space, we make "Modular" puzzles that are small and squareish in size. These do not include posters either. See below:

So, we hope that answers the question for those who wonder why their puzzle did not come with a poster. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to drop us a line!

Top 5 Reasons to Choose Cobble Hill Puzzles

Avid puzzlers are aware that there are many, many puzzle brands from countries all over the world. Do you have a guess as to how many puzzle brands exist? Give it a guess and read on...

There are many brands that may sound familiar to you like White Mountain Puzzles, Ravensburger, SunsOut, Springbok, Schmidt, Jumbo, Heye, Falcon, Eurographics, Eeboo, Educa, Dowdle, D-Toys, Clementoni, Ceaco, Buffalo Games, Bits and Pieces..whew...and the list goes on... but how long does this already loooong list go? Did you guess?  Well, based on the turnout from the annual World Puzzle Days puzzle competition, we know that there are at least 372 different manufacturers represented in this contest! That's a lot of puzzle brands to choose from (and we guarantee you that there are still more than that). So thank you for indulging us in our Top 5 reasons why we think you should at least consider Cobble Hill as your go to puzzle brand.

What makes Cobble Hill puzzles a great choice?

Quirky pieces. A lot of great puzzle companies use the traditional ribbon cut puzzle pattern;these are squarish puzzle pieces that line up in straight rows and columns. Random Cut puzzles are very different. There are no predictable patterns.  No tidy grid. We take our puzzle people on an adventure with quirky random shaped puzzle pieces. Our pieces have irregular bodies and beautiful curves, creating an enjoyable and uniquely different pattern that can be admired after it's assembled. We like to think that our pieces represent the diversity of people on the planet and we welcome you into our world.

Adventure with Cobble Hill's quirky random cut puzzle piece shapes (1000pc and Family Pieces 350 see here)

Textured paper. Puzzles are a very tactile and sensory experience. Our textured linen print paper not only replicates an artist's canvas, it provides a practical benefit.  The textured linen print paper reduces glare from artificial lights unlike a glossy or flat finish. With less glare, it is easier to see the details on each puzzle piece that you're searching to put in place. We even chose to wrap the puzzle box in linen paper, as well as the reference poster that we started including with out puzzles after our 2018 box redesign.  We believe you'll enjoy the elegant, cloth-like finish textured feel of our puzzle pieces between your fingers.

Textured linen print paper reduces glare from artificial lights and feels luxurious.

Truly Original Photos. The Cobble Hill Creations team designs Truly Original Photo (TOP) puzzles in-house making them unique to our brand.  While we do license enchanting scenic and wildlife images, we strive to offer you a different puzzle experience with our collages.  It's no coincidence that many of our TOP puzzles are also our top sellers! Our 2010 Teacups puzzle and 2012 Doughnuts puzzle have been best sellers since we first introduced them into our line up.  One of our most successful "experiments" was created in collaboration with artist Shelley Davies in a studio over four months. The project is known as the Rainbow Collection.  There are seven 1000 piece puzzles that can be enjoyed on their own, but when all seven are assembled, they seamlessly align to create a 7000 piece 15.5 foot rainbow! All our photography is expertly captured by JoAnn Richards of Works Photography.

As challenging as this was, it's a lot easier than our animal photo shoots! Thanks JoAnn for putting up with us.

Puzzle board. Our Creative Team spends countless hours meeting with licensing agents and artists to find those desirable images that evoke emotion and connect with the puzzler. So naturally, we want to print those lovely images on a thick high quality puzzle board to ensure the puzzle pieces feel sturdy when your fingers sift through the puzzle pieces and get snapped into place. The European blue board quality has a blue ribbon thickness that outlasts the flimsy and squishy puzzle pieces from an unequal brand. Knowing that many of our puzzlers collect our puzzles to be enjoyed again and again, we wanted to make sure that our puzzles, and our box, could stand the test of time and look good on your shelf.

Quality blue board that is thick and durable so you can share your puzzles with all your friends

Earth friendly. And last, but not least, from the box packaging to the biodegradable bag, all materials are recyclable and environmentally friendly making you feel good about choosing our puzzles.

Cobble Hill puzzles are recyclable from the box to the shrink wrap plastic.

The cherry on top is our customer service. Every reputable puzzle company has a program for taking care of puzzlers who have an issue. Sometimes a puzzle piece goes missing because of a hungry dog or maybe it was never in the bag.  Regardless, we want to take care of you so that you can fully enjoy your puzzle and feel confident that Cobble Hill cares.

Our Customer Care Team is confident that any puzzler with an issue will be 100% satisfied with our service, which is reflected in our social media testimonials.  Like many puzzle companies, we don't own the factory where the puzzles are manufactured, so you are a part of our quality control team.  And while we wish that there were never any disappointments, the factory employees are human. We can't always control what happens at the factory, but we can control how we respond to you.   We're thankful for our puzzlers who let us know how we're doing - for better or worse - we're in this with you!

If you enjoyed one of our puzzles, please find the puzzle image on our website and write a review so others can enjoy it too! Thank you!

We look forward to satisfying your next Cobble Hill craving!