Puzzle: Dinotopia: Festival of Children and Hatchlings by James Gurney
Size: 1000 pieces
Dimensions: 76.2 cm x 60.96 cm
Painting: Dinosaur Parade
Artist: Steve A. Roberts
Producer: Springbok, Hallmark, 1992, PZL6183
Puzzle: The puzzle is quite appealing visually, but not made well: the pieces are large, thick, and do not fit together without a significant effort. There are many distinct colour regions and guides to make this puzzle trivial to assemble: the steps, the building, …
Puzzle: Alter Terrain by Steve A. Roberts
Size: 550 pieces
Dimensions: 61 cm x 46 cm
Artist: Steve A. Roberts
Producer: Ceaco, Glow in the Dark series, 2003, #2333-24
Puzzle: Simple puzzle to do, the pieces fit unambiguously. Some good regions to start are the wizard’s face and clothing, the horse, the border between the two terrains, the cacti, the fortress, and the spheres of light. The grass, the rocks, the mountain peak, and …
Puzzle: Moon Magic by Myles Pinkney
Size: 500 pieces
Dimensions: 35.56 cm x 48.26 cm
Artist: Myles Pinkney
Producer: Sure-Lox, The Canadian Group, Glow series, 2007, #81200-5
Puzzle: Simple and pleasant puzzle to do. The Sure-Lox pieces fit together well, and there are enough distinct regions to split the puzzle into areas that are trivial to complete. A logical place to start is the woman’s face, hair, hands, dress, and the belt. The purple, …
Puzzle: Wizard Stonehedge by Meiklejohn
Size: 550 pieces
Dimensions: 61 cm x 46 cm
Artist: Meiklejohn
Producer: Ceaco, Glow in the Dark, Series 5, 2004, #2333-32
Puzzle: Simple puzzle to do: large distinct colour regions, large pieces and clear boundaries. Wizard’s face and robe, blue light bordering it, gold embellishments on the robe, hat with the star, the dragon ball, the lightening, and the skyline are all easily assembled. The red sky region, the hands, and …
Puzzle: Summer’s Light by John O’Brien
Size: 1000 pieces
Dimensions: 51 cm x 69 cm
Artist: John O’Brien
Producer: Empire, Puzzle Makers, Rooms with a View collection, #64020-001
Puzzle: Beautiful puzzle, gentle colours, the pieces fit together well. The repetition of the window parts makes for a bit of a challenge to assemble the largely-similar window grids, but there is enough variation in the room furnishings bordering the backdrop to make the assembly enjoyable. I have …
Puzzle: Venetian Interior by John O’Brien
Size: 1000 pieces
Dimensions: 51 cm x 69 cm
Artist: John O’Brien
Producer: Empire, Puzzle Makers, Rooms with a View collection, #64020-001
Puzzle: This puzzle is a pleasure for the eye. Lots of vibrant colours and small details. The pieces fit together well. The easiest regions to start are the vertical guides of the balcony doors and the white tall window, the street with the sky and buildings, the paintings …
Puzzle: In the Concert Room by John O’Brien
Size: 1000 pieces
Dimensions: 51 cm x 69 cm
Artist: John O’Brien
Producer: Empire, Puzzle Makers, Rooms with a View collection, #64020-001
Puzzle: Leisurely puzzle to make, with pieces fitting together reasonably well. Many possible places to start: vertical guidelines of the gold embellishments on the white walls, the opening into the street with buildings and draperies, the border of the floor and the rug, the red regions …
Puzzle: Evergreen Basket by Marjolein Bastin
Size: 500 pieces, 1 missing
Dimensions: cm x cm
Artist: Marjolein Bastin
Producer: Unknown (please let me know if you have this information).
Puzzle: A bright winter puzzle, with pieces not exactly fitting together well, but due to their varying shapes, fitting unambiguously. Red regions, birds, flower centres, and the baskets are the easiest places to start, followed by colour border regions. The rest of the puzzle fits together …
Puzzle: Stein Am Rhein, Switzerland
Size: 1250 pieces
Dimensions: 72.4 cm x 61.8 cm
Producer: Waddington Sanders, 1987, #116-3
Puzzle: This puzzle is best done leisurely, as it is large and there are quite a few distinct regions. I have started with the windows and the ridges between floors and parts of the building to define the vertical and horizontal guides. The flowers and the street as well as the roof/sky line can be made easily as …
Puzzle: Historical Farmhouse, Bavaria, Germany
Size: 1000 pieces
Dimensions: 58.5 cm x 46.5 cm
Producer: LPF Puzzle, Shutterbug series, 2009, #1101
Puzzle: A pleasant and a quick puzzle to do. Pieces fit together well and the contrasting colours help as well. The colonnade, the door, the window shutters and the door opening on the second floor are easy regions to assemble first. The log, white regions of the walls, the blue of the top windows and …
Puzzle: Long Fellow House
Size: 1000 pieces
Dimensions: 73 cm x 48.57 cm
Artist: Dominic Davison
Producer: Sure-Lox, The Canadian Group, Country Manor series, 2011, #44612-1
Puzzle: A wonderful puzzle to do: Sure-Lox pieces fit together very well, as usual, and there is enough challenge while guide regions are available to provide a logical succession of assembly. One can start with the path to the front door of the building, separating the bottom …
Puzzle: Waterfall in a garden
Size: 750 pieces
Dimensions: 43.81 cm x 58.42 cm
Producer: MB Puzzle, Oxford series, 1999, C4848-18
Puzzle: Despite the large regions of green leaves and small flowers, this puzzle is relatively easy to do due to the waterfall separating the two parts at the top, and to the small number of pieces. Waterfall, the rock behind it, the basin, and the yellow spot are a good start. From that point on, darker …
Puzzle: The Oceanwaves Quiltscape by Rebecca Barker
Size: 1000 pieces
Dimensions: 69 cm x 51 cm
Producer: Ceaco, 2003,3307-2
Puzzle: A bright vibrant puzzle, easily done due to multiple horizontal dividers with colour variations, and the geometrical patterns. The horizon line, the boats, the big turquoise wave, and the line separating the surf and sand create several distinct regions. From there on, filling out the rest is trivial.
Notes: “Rebecca has a deep …
Puzzle: Bridge to Unity by Dave Barnhouse
Size: 1000 pieces
Dimensions: 50.8 cm x 68.58 cm
Artist: Dave Barnhouse
Painting: original
Producer: Karmin International, The Art of the Dave Barnhouse series, 2006
Puzzle: Colourful puzzle, not very trivial due to large leafy and grassy parts. It’s easy to start with the buildings, street lights, the bridge and the path leading to it. Lighter grass areas, purple flowers, the cars, people’s figures, the sky, and wet …
Puzzle: Still-life with flowers
Size: 1000 pieces
Dimensions: 49 cm x 68 cm
Artist: possibly Abraham Hendriksz van Beyeren (unsure, since puzzle box does not list the artist)
Producer: Jumbo International, #00023
Puzzle: A very rich puzzle in terms of colours and arrangement. One of the ways to approach it is to start with the larger areas of similar colour: red flowers, yellow ones, large pink and striped ones. After that, the vase and …
Puzzle: Japanese Garden, Portland, OR, USA
Size: 1000 pieces
Dimensions: 51.12 cm x 69.85 cm
Producer: Guild Puzzle, 1995, 4710-12
Puzzle: Not a trivial puzzle, but a very enjoyable one. Daylight is a bonus. The good starting points are red bushes with their reflections, green patch of grass, shrubs with yellow and orange flowers, the rocks, the path, and the stairs. Pink flower tree, dark red bush under it, and light green willow are good focal points …
Book: Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual, by Michael Pollan
Title: Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual
Author: Michal Pollan
Source: Veddma library
ISBN: 978-0-14-311638-7
Available online
Notes: Michael Pollan argues that any traditional diet is better than what has “evolved” to be the Western diet, high in “edible foodlike substances” and lacking real foods. Most of the research has been described in other books of his, such as “Omnivore’s Dilemma”, …
Puzzle: Overlook Cafe II by Sung Kim
Size: 1000 pieces
Dimensions: 67.3 cm x 45.4 cm
Artist: Sung Kim – Born in 1940 in Seoul, South Korea, Sung began to exhibit his artistic talents early in childhood. Beginning in grade school, Sung entered and won various art contests by displaying his creativity and artistic imagination. He decided to pursue his passion for art and graduated with honors from Seorabol Art College in Seoul. Later he opened his own studio …
Puzzle: Christmas Tree Worms
Size: 1000 pieces
Dimensions: 73 cm x 48.57 cm
Producer: The Canadian Group, Sure-Lox, Jewels of the Sea series, 2009, 40675-4
Puzzle: This puzzle is not trivial to do, as even though there are distinct colours, they are scattered in many small regions. Very enjoyable nonetheless, with SureLox pieces fitting together unmistakably. Easiest place to start, I found, is the bottom green/turquoise/olive patch at the bottom with the adjacent white patches. The darker background …