East Coast Victorian Meets Old Wild West Excitement

by Elmer Prather, guest blogger

This is the 28th Cobble Hill puzzle I have had the pleasure of putting together. It is a 1000 piece puzzle titled Prince of Wales Hotel by Walter Campbell.

When I spend this much time putting a puzzle together, I have to have a connection with the image in the puzzle. The attraction I have with this puzzle is two fold. The first is that I have visited, but did not stay overnight at the Prince of Wales Hotel while touring Niagara-On-The-Lake, Ontario, Canada. Niagara-on-the-Lake is located approximately 15 miles North of Niagara Falls and is home to Niagara Apothecary, the oldest apothecary in Canada.

Prince of Wales Hotel 1000 piece puzzle by artist Walter Campbell. Assembled by Elmer Prather.

The hotel went by several names before renaming it to the Prince of Wales Hotel, after a visit by the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York who stayed at the hotel in 1901. And in 1973, the hotel was graced by Queen Elizabeth II who stayed there during her visit to the area. It still has flowers hanging off the front and still offers horse and buggy rides to hotel guests like the puzzle depicts. It is a beautiful old hotel that was built in 1864.

People enjoying dining under the flower baskets and the "Established 1864" signage.

The second connection I have with the puzzle is that it reminds me of the Delaware Hotel in Leadville, Colorado. I have visited Leadville on several occasions and have stayed in the hotel once. It is a three story building built in 1886. It has a very interesting history and has hosted many famous people. Some of them are the unsinkable Molly Brown, one of the few Titanic survivors, Doc Holliday and Wyatt Earp after their gun battle with Billy Clanton and his gang at the O K Corral in Tombstone, Arizona in 1881, Hudini, Billy the Kid, and Butch Cassidy just to name a few. As a side note, Doc Holliday is from my home state, Georgia. He was a dentist in Griffin, Georgia and after he contracted tuberculosis moved out West for his health.

The historic Delaware Hotel in Leadville, CO.

The Delaware Hotel has a similar style architecture as the Prince of Wales Hotel. When I saw the puzzle, I immediately thought about the Delaware Hotel.  Leadville is known as the highest elevated incorporated city in America. I can tell you that lugging suitcases up three flights of stairs in that high elevation will make a traveler huff and puff before they reach their room.

Last bit of history, Leadville was also the home of David May who opened a mercantile store in Leadville named Mays Mercantile. After several consolidations and mergers the May’s store successor is known as Macy’s department stores.  Leadville was a rough and tumble town during this time. It was filled with gold and silver miners who were looking for their next strike. If you are inspired to visit this town, it is located 100 miles South West of Denver, Colorado and 52 miles South of Vail Ski Resort in Colorado.

Prince of Wales Hotel 1000 piece by artist Walter Campbell

 Available at your local retailer or favourite online store.

On the USA and Canada Cobble Hill website, search item code: 80290

Family Day with Family Pieces Puzzles

Family Day is a holiday in many provinces across Canada and it lands in February every year. What a great day to set aside quality time to spend with your loved ones.  And what better way to spend it than enjoying a quality puzzle together!

Now, if you have older children or if your family members are all adults or well skilled puzzlers, then perhaps enjoying puzzles with higher piece counts is the way to go. However, if you have some younger children who are just starting out with puzzles or even if you have grandparents in the mix, who need larger sized pieces, then our Cobble Hill Family Pieces 350 puzzles are a great option!

Family Pieces 350 puzzle with large, medium and small pieces great for all ages.

The small pieces can be about as small as a quarter and not much bigger than a toonie (that's a Canadian two-dollar coin). Large pieces can be several inches, so it's easy to pick up for hands that need a little helping and they're also great for seeing more detail per piece. We love the fun(ky) random cut shape pieces in these puzzles and we're sure your younger ones will have a blast looking at all the weird shapes!

(Left) Small pieces, (Right) Medium pieces, (Bottom) Large pieces

Our Family Pieces 350 puzzles include small, medium, and large size pieces that cascade in one direction so that skilled puzzlers can work on one side with the smaller pieces and puzzlers can work on the other side with the larger sized pieces.  This is a fun way for the whole family to connect with one another as they assemble an image that they can all enjoy. In the Holy Night Family Pieces 350 puzzle below, the large pieces are at the top and the small pieces are at the bottom. In other puzzles, the arrangement of pieces could be different, but they will always cascade from large to medium to small whether from top to bottom, bottom to top, left to right, or right to left.

Cobble Hill offers over 40 wonderful Family Pieces 350 images to choose from and we're sure your whole family will be entertained.  Which one will you choose for your family?

The Warmth And Comfort Of A Quilt

by Elmer Prather, guest blogger

This is the 26th Cobble Hill puzzle that I have had the pleasure of putting together. It is a 500 piece puzzle appropriately titled "Portrait of a Quilt" by Hellen Klebesadel.

"Portrait of a Quilt" 500 piece by Helen Klebesadel. Assembled & Photo by Elmer Prather.

The reason I chose this puzzle was the brilliant colors in the fabrics displayed. The pieces reminded me of the different colored cloth my mother, grandmother and aunts used to make quilts. We lived in the country when I was growing up and my mother would let me do some of the sewing of the quilts that they made. I really enjoyed that. This puzzle was a pleasure to put together because as the puzzle came together, I could see in the puzzle the same colors of the pieces of cloth they used for the quilts. It made me want to find a needle, a thimble and some cloth to sew together.

My mother has passed but I was blessed to have had the best while she was here.

NEW 2020 Cobble Hill Puzzle - "Portrait of a Quilt" - includes reference poster

Available at your local retailer or favourite online store.
On the Cobble Hill website, search item code: 85079

The Informational Age of Puzzles

The Information Age began in the 20th century and continues on today. From being on the computer while watching TV or doing a puzzle and listening to a podcast, more than ever, people are multi-tasking to cram in as much information as possible while completing a task. So, it only makes sense that puzzles would soon welcome itself into this information age in the 21st century - it's "elementary, my dear Watson".

"Sherlock" 1000 pieces - a small excerpt from a 2020 informational puzzle

While puzzles are an ideal hobby for relaxing, after the puzzle is complete there are only a few options.  At some point after the puzzle is assembled, whether immediately or delayed, it needs to be dismantled. The other option is to preserve the puzzle with glue or some other method so that it can continue to be enjoyed, perhaps as a piece of art.

However, in between these two options, we say welcome to the informational age of puzzles! Cobble Hill is presenting a type of puzzle that provides information about a particular subject.  The company started with a few light versions of this "informational puzzle" by creating collages of quotes on different subjects like Dog Quotes, Cat Quotes, Chicken Quotes, Butterfly Quotes, Moth Quotes, but the information was more whimsical in nature in that they were simply quotes.

"The cocks may crow, but it's the hen that lays the egg" from Chicken Quotes 1000 piece puzzle

In 2020, Cobble Hill began introducing a more in depth type of informational puzzle for the more epistemophilic puzzler. Around the image subject, one would find anything from facts, figure, dates, and quotes. When a puzzler has assembled the puzzle, it can then be enjoyed for its information.

Cobble Hill has started out with a few space themes that include interesting facts and some speculation about our solar system. "The Moon" and "The Planet Mars" are two 1000 piece puzzles created from the work of Eleanor Lutz. She is a PhD candidate in the University of Washington Biology Department. She has a remarkable ability to take vast amounts of data and make it visually arresting.  To learn more about her science illustration visit the website (Tabletop Whale).

"The Moon" 1000 pieces with beautiful illustrations and arresting facts.

"The Planet Mars" 1000 piece with a visually appealing layout.

These solar system puzzles are definitely a challenge to put together, but they can be sorted into sections by colour and are completely achievable. We recommend these for the more avid puzzler or for a group of determined individuals.

To see more of these types of puzzles, visit our website's "Shop By Theme" link and click on the "Informational" link.  We'll share one more image of Sherlock so you can see what the excerpt looks like relative to the whole puzzle below.

"Sherlock" 1000 piece box, includes a reference poster.

The Perfect Puzzle for Anytime

by Elmer Prather, guest blogger

Foreword from Cobble Hill: With the new year of 2020 coming upon us, it's the perfect time for reflection. There really is a time for everything and a season for every activity. We appreciate that so many of you have made the choice to spend your time and your seasons with our Cobble Hill puzzle pieces - 2019 has been an outstanding year for us at Cobble Hill Puzzle Co. because of you.  We wish for you and your neighbours to have a peace that surpasses all understanding for this new decade ahead - from piece to peace! May your life be full of joy and laughter in the year 2020.  It has been our sincerest pleasure to serve you. Please enjoy a peek at one of our new 2020 puzzles and latest blog from our dear friend, Elmer Prather. Thank you!

This is the 25th Cobble Hill puzzle that I have had the pleasure of putting together. It is titled “Timepieces” by Shelley Davies. I have been excited about getting to put it together ever since I first saw it, before it was ever released for sale. I need to have a connection with a puzzle before I spend the time and energy to put it together. The reason that I was so looking forward to putting this one together is because I collect clocks and watches. I have a collection of over 200. Most were purchased at estate sales and antique shops.

A portion of the clock collection displayed in custom built shelves!

 I have this collection in my basement office. I display them on shelving that I built in my work shop. This collection has clocks that make different sounds on the hour and some on the quarter hour. I have them set just a few minutes apart so that I can hear the different clocks as they make their individual sounds.

The rooster clock (top right) is bigger than it appears (see it in the picture above, lower right area)

This puzzle fascinated me because of how all of the items in the puzzle were placed and staged. When I saw the puzzle, I wondered how Shelley Davies determined where to place each watch and clock in the display as well as all of the special effect items she included. This puzzle has so much more than just clocks and watches. It has randomly placed numbers and letters, a calendar with Sunday December 24, children playing, cuckoo clocks, a sundial, a digital clock, several grandfather, one granddaughter clock and several pocket watches. Some of the clocks have Roman numerals while others have numbers. The randomly placed number tabs, in different colors, have Roman numerals while others have just numbers.

"Timepieces" 1000 piece puzzle by Shelley Davies. Assembled by Elmer Prather.

The watches are for both male and female users. Most, if not all, of the clocks and watches have wind up mechanisms. With this many wind up mechanisms, keeping them wound and on time would be a full time operation. I know this because of my collection.

Some of the more unusual and unique clocks in the collection.

I really enjoyed putting this puzzle together. The more I added to it the more it came alive. 

From small to large, there are clocks of all kinds displayed here.

I am very proud of my clock collection and by looking at this puzzle, I can tell that Shelley Davies is really into clocks too.

"Timepieces" 1000 piece puzzle by Shelley Davies. A Truly Original Photo (T.O.P.) puzzle

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!