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Puzzle: La Santorini, Greece


Size: 1000 pieces
Dimensions: 51.12cm x 66.52cm
Producer: MB Puzzles, Big Ben
Notes: Santorini (Greek: Σαντορίνη) is a volcanic island located in the southern Aegean Sea, about 200 km southeast from Greece’s mainland. A giant central lagoon, more or less rectangular, and measuring about 12 by 7 km, is surrounded by 300 m high steep cliffs on three sides. The island slopes downward from the cliffs to the surrounding Aegean Sea. On the fourth side, the lagoon is separated from the sea by another much smaller island called Therasia; the lagoon merges … Read more

Book: Rough Guide to Travel with Babies and Young Children, by Fawzia Rasheed de Francisco

Title: Rough Guide to Travel with Babies and Young Children
Author: Fawzia Rasheed de Francisco
Source: Veddma library
ISBN: 9781843537045
Available online

Notes: This is a brief guide that covers preparation for travel, making the journey, being at your destination, and has some notes on specific countries in the “Travel the world” section. The author has travelled to many places with her two sons and she shares tips on bus, airplane, train, and car travel. This includes advice on getting time off school, travelling as a single parent, staying safe, saving money, … Read more

Puzzle: Plaza de España, Spain


Size: 1000 pieces
Dimensions: 73cm x 48.6cm
Producer: Impressions, Sure-Lox
Notes: The Plaza de España is a building in Maria Luisa Park, in Seville, Spain built in 1928 for the Ibero-American Exposition of 1929. It is a landmark example of the Renaissance Revival style in Spanish architecture. The Plaza de España, designed by Aníbal González, was a principal building built on the Maria Luisa Park’s edge to showcase Spain’s industry and technology exhibits. González combined a mix of 1920s Art Deco and ‘mock Mudejar’, and Neo-Mudéjar styles. The Plaza de España  complex … Read more

Howl: a graphic novel, by Allen Ginsberg

Title: Howl: A graphic novel
Author: Allen Ginsberg , animated by Eric Drooker
Source: Veddma library
ISBN: 9780062015174
Available online

Notes: A surprisingly well done graphic novel version of the Allen Ginsberg’s Howl, one of the defining works of the Beat generation. The illustrations echo the despair, insanity, and obsession brought forth in the poem. I also quite like Eric Drooker’s depiction of Moloch.

Puzzle: Fresh Bouquet


Size: 1000 pieces
Dimensions: 58cm x 74cm
Producer: American Publishing, LJN Toys
Notes: A flower bouquet is a collection of flowers in a creative arrangement. There are different kinds including nosegay, crescent, and cascading bouquets. Even before flower bouquets were used by brides in wedding they were used in a different form of art. They appeared as early as the 17th century and possibly earlier. Flower bouquets were captured in paintings and on pottery as decorations.

The art of arranging flowers was first documented in the 17th century, when the Dutch, in particular, painted … Read more

Puzzle: Architecture, Puri, India by Jim Zuckerman


Size: 1000 pieces
Dimensions: 73cm x 48.5cm
Producer: Sure-Lox
Painting: photo
Artist: Jim Zuckerman left his medical studies in 1970 to pursue his love of photography and turn it into a career. He has taught creative photography at many universities and private schools… The work of Jim Zuckerman has been used for packaging, advertising and editorial layouts in more than forty countries. He has been published in calendars, posters, greeting cards and corporate brochures and annual reports, and his work is also sold as fine art prints in scores of furniture … Read more

Puzzle: Catherine Palace, Pushkin, Russia


Size: 1000 pieces
Dimensions: 51.12cm x 66.52cm
Producer: MB Puzzles, Big Ben
Notes: The Catherine Palace (Russian: Екатерининский дворец) was the Rococo summer residence of the Russian tsars, located in the town of Tsarskoye Selo (Pushkin), 25 km south-east of St. Petersburg, Russia.

The residence originated in 1717, when Catherine I of Russia engaged the German architect Johann-Friedrich Braunstein to construct a summer palace for her pleasure. In 1733, Empress Anna commissioned Mikhail Zemtsov and Andrei Kvasov to expand the Catherine Palace. Empress Elizabeth, however, found her mother’s residence outdated and incommodious … Read more

Puzzle: Le passage by Vadik Suljakov


Size: 750 pieces
Dimensions: 59.70cm x 39.37cm
Producer: Sure-Lox
Painting: photo
Notes: Since arriving in the United States over a decade ago, master Russian artist Vadik Suljakov (pronounced Shul-ya-kov) has established himself as one of the most distinguished young impressionists in the country. Suljakov, born in the cultural center of Moscow in 1960, comes from an intellectual family with many generations of artists and writers. [Monsoon Gallery]

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Puzzle: Tuscany, Italy


Size: 750 pieces
Dimensions: 39cm x 60cm
Producer: Impressions, Sure-lox
Notes: Winemaking, or vinification, is the production of wine, starting with selection of the grapes  or other produce and ending with bottling the finished wine. Although most wine is made from grapes, it may also be made from other fruit or non-toxic plant material. Mead is a wine that is made with honey being the primary ingredient after water.

Winemaking can be divided into two general categories: still wine production (without carbonation) and sparkling wine production (with carbonation).

The science of wine and winemaking … Read more

Puzzle: Garden Bluebird


Size: 300 pieces (oversized)
Dimensions: 38cm x 54cm
Producer: Buffalo Games
Artist: Joe Hautman
Notes: The bluebirds are a group of medium-sized, mostly insectivorous or omnivorous birds in the genus Sialia of the thrush family (Turdidae). Bluebirds are one of the few thrush genera in the Americas. They have blue, or blue and red, plumage. Female birds are less brightly colored than males, although color patterns are similar and there is no noticeable difference in size between sexes.

Bluebirds are territorial, prefer open grassland with scattered trees and are … Read more

Puzzle: Bremen, Germany


Size: 500 pieces, 3 missing
Dimensions: 35cm x 48cm
Producer: Canada Games, Windsor
Location: The City Municipality of Bremen is a Hanseatic city in northwestern Germany. A commercial and industrial city with a major port on the river Weser, Bremen is part of the Bremen-Oldenburg metropolitan area (2.4 million people). Bremen is the second most populous city in North Germany and tenth in Germany.

Bremen is connected with a fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm, the Town Musicians of Bremen, although they never actually reach Bremen in the tale. [Wiki]