by Elmer Prather, guest blogger
This is the 35th Cobble Hill puzzle that I have had the pleasure of putting together. It is a 500 piece puzzle titled A Day At The Lake by Douglas Laird. This is the second Douglas Laird puzzle I have put together, the first was titled Flat Iron. When I first saw this puzzle I was amazed at how much the rocks and lake in the puzzle looked like a real lake.
Douglas Laird's A Day At The Lake (500pc) assembled by Elmer Prather |
I have fished during some of my past trips to Canada. It is in the Pas, Manitoba. I have been to the Pas three times to fish with several of my good friends. On these trips to the Pas we would leave Atlanta, Georgia on a Friday in the third week of June. We did this because the temperature in the Pas is quite cold for most of the year. The Pas is 2000 miles from Atlanta and it usually took us about 40 hours to get there. This is driving nonstop except for bathroom breaks and gas. Once we got to the Pas we drove to Clearwater Lake and camped in the campground. Clearwater Lake a natural glacier formed lake. It is the clearest lake in Canada and the second clearest in the world. The lake is filled with Great Northern Pike and Lake Trout. We carried enough supplies to allow us to have a fish fry every night we were there.
On our first trip to the Pas we met two other fishermen. They were from Dallas, Texas. They shared with us that they came to Clearwater Lake every year to fish and camped in the same spot in the campground. One of them was a doctor and the other was a builder. On our subsequent trips to the Pas we made it a point to camp in our same spot so we could be close to our new friends from Texas.
The rocks at the edge of the lake in the puzzle remind me of a favorite place we fished near the campground. It is called the jetties. It is called the jetties because the rock formations there extend into the lake for about 100 feet. The jetties allow fishermen to walk across the rocks farther into the lake in order to be able to fish in deeper water and lake trout like deep water. I have posted a picture of me catching a nap on the jetties along with a picture of this puzzle below.
Elmer Prather camouflaged amongst the rocks! What a great nap! |
We drove over to the jetties several times on each trip and fished for lake trout. The mosquitoes there were enormous and plentiful. We made a mistake on one of those trips to the jetties by not closing the doors on the VW bus while we were fishing and when we went back to the bus, we found what seemed like a million mosquitoes all throughout the bus. On this trip to the jetties, we had caught a few lake trout when we saw two Game Wardens rush into our fishing area.They asked to see our fishing licensees and we produced them. The wardens noticed that the four of us had a total of five fishing poles in the water and one of my friends advised them that he had two of them. The Game Wardens gave him a ticket, took his rods and reels and told him to be at the Judge's office that afternoon at 4:00pm. We drove into town and let our pal out at the Judge’s office. When our friend returned to the bus, he explained what an experience that had been. He said that the judge was dressed in his full English judge attire and after firmly reprimanding him the judge charged him $25.00 for the infraction and dismissed him.
The next day we were back at the jetties fishing when about mid afternoon we noticed an old Toyota pickup truck with two Inuit Indian ladies inside, pulling a small aluminum fishing boat, drive onto the jetties and park beside our VW bus. They put the boat into the lake, loaded their fishing gear into the boat and took off. Approximately two hours later the ladies came back to the jetties and docked their boat. We watched as they drove the boat onto the trailer and hooked the boat trailer to their truck then we saw them struggling with getting something out of the boat. They finally were able to get it out and to our amazement, it was a huge lake trout. It seemed almost as long as the women were tall. It must have weighed between 30-35 pounds. I was so impressed that I asked them if I could take a picture of it with them holding it. They said yes so I took the picture. I have posted a picture of the two ladies and their prize fish below.
Huge lake trout catch! |
On one of the days that we were on this trip, we drove over to the boat rental place which was about 25 miles down mostly dirt roads from where we were camping. When we got there, we rented a boat and motor and did some lake trout fishing. We motored across the lake and found a huge mound of ice about ten feet tall on the edge of the lake. This huge mound of ice was formed by the ice that had covered the lake during the winter months breaking up into ice chunks and being forced off the lake and onto this mound by the strong winds and huge waves on the lake. We climbed the ice mound and posed for pictures. We left the ice mound and headed back to the boat rental place. On the way back we saw several Inuit Indian children swimming in the lake (talk about tough people). We had our insulated underwear and our field jackets on and these children were swimming in that cold lake water.
These trips to the Pas with my friends have been some of the most enjoyable times of my life. The obstacles that we overcame during these trips have caused us to bond and have made us lifelong friends
I am glad that I found this beautiful puzzle because it has caused me to reflect on some of those good times we had.
A Day At The Lake 500 piece puzzle by Douglas Laird
Photo album cover of Auntie Lillian completing Cobble Hill Koi Pond. |
Nice grouping of dog and cat puzzles! |
That's the owner's in-laws on the left! They're all very sweet too!! |
Fun caption for this White Mountain Broadway puzzle! She's a star! |
We didn't ask where this exact photo book was made, but we know that you can order these through Shutterfly or MixBook (there are probably many other options too, those are just most popular - no affiliate here). We hope you have fun making memories, and preserving them! Have a great day!
"Big Red" by Dave Barnhouse. Assembled and photographed by Elmer Prather. |
This is the 33rd Cobble Hill puzzle that I have had the pleasure of putting together. It is titled Sheep Field by Greg & Company. It is a 1000 piece puzzle and was an easy one to assemble.
When I first saw this puzzle, I fell in love with it. It is such an idealistic setting. It has a Collie dog, nine sheep, six free range chickens, three of which are white leghorns and three Wyandettes. It has a robin sitting on the rear view mirror of an old pickup truck. The setting is a Spring day in a pasture of green grass with daisies in full bloom.
The writing on the door of the truck reads, King Cole Farms, home of Rastus, Registered Quarter horses Littleton, Colorado. I checked the web and found a picture of a similar King Cole Farm truck. King Rastus was evidently the first of many quarter horses bought and sold on the farm. Their business was breeding and raising registered quarter horses. This type of horse is used to herd and manage cattle. They are also used in quarter horse competitions at state fairs and rodeos. They are called quarter horses because of the speeds that they are able to run in a quarter of a mile.
I was attracted to this particular puzzle because I was raised on a farm and when I was around 12 years old my mother gave me the responsibility of feeding and tending the chickens. Our chickens were free range. Free range meaning they were not caged. We had a variety of chickens, some were White Leghorns, some Game, some Rhode Island Reds and some were Domineckers. I fed them each day and when a hen started molting I would “set her”, meaning that I would put about 12 eggs under her that were marked with a number two lead pencil so I could tell the eggs that I had “set” from the new eggs that other hens had laid in her nest. Twenty one days after I set the hens, the baby chicks would hatch.
As I grew older, I purchased a truck similar to the one in the puzzle but older. We used this truck to work the farm. We had cows, horses, chickens, goats and hogs on our little farm. I learned a lot about how to take care of animals tending all of the ones we had.
All of this work taught me responsibility and I am so glad I had this experience. This puzzle took me back to my earlier years on the farm. It is a beautiful puzzle.
Sheep Field 1000 piece by Greg Giordano |
This is the 30th Cobble Hill puzzle I have had the pleasure of putting together. It is a 500 piece puzzle titled Deer Field by Greg Giordano. The reason I chose this puzzle was because of the beautiful farm scene shown with an old farm truck parked in the field. The old truck reminded me of one I once owned. I grew up in the country and was raised on a smaller version of the farm depicted in the puzzle. We had cows, a horse, chickens, goats and hogs.
I really enjoyed putting this puzzle together. As I put it together I kept thinking of the 1936 Chevrolet truck I found while driving around on a summer afternoon when I was 17 years old. It was parked behind an old barn on a farm about 25 miles from my home. I stopped and asked the owner if the truck was for sale and he is said that it was. He decided the truck was worth $50.00. It was in pretty bad shape but I had fallen in love with it so I purchased it. I had saved money from working at a local grocery store before and after school. My older brother helped me get the truck home and get it cranked. In those days just about anyone could work on their car or truck. We got it cranked and discovered that it had a main bearing knocking in the engine. The tires were dry rotted and needed to be replaced. We found a replacement motor in the local junk yard. My brother negotiated a price for the motor and purchased it. The truck then belonged to both of us. We changed out the motor and the new one ran great. We bought 4 new white wall tires from the local Western Auto store and my brother and I changed out the tires. Things were looking up.
We really enjoyed that truck. We drove it to school, to work, to the river to fish and camp and around our farm. My brother even dated in it. The truck was black, faded and had a dent over the cab that we straightened. It had a great patina so we decided not to have it painted. When we drove the truck around town it always drew a crowd because it was so old and so unique.
As time went by I married and did some trading with my brother and he then owned the truck. He kept it for years and eventually sold it.
As a side note, trucks like this are called “pick up trucks” because when the Ford Motor Company started making trucks many of them were delivered to the local train station via trains. The Ford Motor Company packaged the trucks in wooden crates for shipment. When trucks arrived at the train station the dealership that ordered the trucks would have employees “pick them up” and assemble them at the train station. Hence they came to be called “pickup trucks”. Once assembled they would drive them to the dealership. The trucks were easy to assemble. The wood used to ship the trucks in was used for the bed of the truck. Things were so much simpler back in those days.
I would not take anything for all of the great times I had with that truck. It is a pleasure to have owned it. It was like part of the family.
Deer Field 500 piece puzzle by artist Greg Giordano |
Centering is a common calming and focusing technique used to handle stressful situations, usually panic or anxiety attacks. The idea is to force yourself to live in the moment by taking deep breaths and focusing on your immediate environment: what you can see, what you can hear, what you can feel. By focusing on the concrete details of your surroundings, you eliminate a lot of other stressors. You stop thinking about your bills, your emails, your responsibilities, and you just focus on being alive and conscious. You distract your mind, in a sense, and free yourself from a lot of external anxieties.
This technique can be a lifesaver for people with mental illnesses, and I believe it relates in part to why puzzles have remained consistently popular over the last century, and their incredible resurgence these last few months. Puzzles are engaging; they relax and reward you with the immediate gratification of seeing the picture come together. Much like centering, puzzling helps your problems melt away. Our brains actually produce alpha brain waves when we work on puzzles, as opposed to the beta waves we usually produce while awake- this is similar to how our brain behaves when we’re dreaming, and being in this state helps improve our mood, increases our confidence, and it can even lower our blood pressure! Clinical neuropsychologist Dr. Susan Vandermorris says it best: “If you’re physically doing a paper or cardboard puzzle, you are, by definition, disconnected and engaged in a task that’s immersive, away from the interruptions and stresses of day-to-day life. And that, of course, is good for your brain health.”
Alpha waves, beta waves, ocean waves... |
The University of Michigan actually ran a study that proved twenty-five minutes a day solving riddles and puzzles can increase your IQ by up to 4 points. Puzzles are considered a complete brain exercise since it requires both the right and left parts of your brain to work together. Forming a picture and matching colours appeals to the left, creative side of the brain, while matching patterns and fitting pieces together is more of a logical right brain activity. Activities that force both sides of your brain to work together increase cognitive function and activate the occipital lobe. All of this brain activity helps prevent cognitive decline, which makes puzzles a fantastic activity for aging minds. Keeping your brain active is critical to delaying symptoms of dementia and Alzheimer’s. Puzzles help reduce the amount of brain cell damage these conditions can cause while helping create new nerve connections while strengthening existing ones.
Not only are puzzles great for older brains, they’re also amazing for growing minds! They can help children develop mental skills like organization and concentration, as well as emotional skills like patience, self-control, and confidence. Along with the physical coordination required, these skills are useful not only for children, but they can also make a world of difference in occupational and physical therapy, for people recovering from trauma to the hands, fingers, or even the brain. Puzzles innately impart your brain with essential skills, whether you’re learning them for them for the first time or relearning them for the hundredth.
Without downplaying the unexpected stressors of these last few months, it’s easy to see why more and more people are turning to puzzles as a leisure pursuit. Puzzles historically rise in popularity in times of economic hardship, dating back to the Great Depression, when the affordability of recently invented cardboard puzzles led to a surge in puzzle manufacturing. Puzzles helped people stretch their money at a time when spare cash was hard to come by. Weekly puzzles were sold at the local newsstand. Puzzles could be done together or shared amongst friends like a good book. People talk over puzzles, people bond over puzzles, and people make friends over puzzles.
Given the state of the news, it’s easy to understand why puzzles are more popular than ever. There’s a lot of bad news happening that we have very little control over; people are looking for a way to disconnect and start to put the pieces back together. With the way the world is right now, we have to prioritize ourselves and our mental care; a prescription for puzzles might be the kindest thing we can do for our mind right now!
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