"Lakeshore" Living, Life is Good

by guest blogger, Elmer Prather

This is the 55th Cobble Hill puzzle I have had the pleasure of putting together. It is titled Lakeshore by Greg & Company. I really like his puzzles; I have put 9 other puzzles of his together. Those other puzzles are Blue Truck Farm, Deerfield, Summer Afternoon on the Farm, Cozy Fireplace, Welcome to the Lake House, Hooked on Fishing, Sheep Field, The Happy Hen House and Summer Truck.

I must have a connection with a puzzle before I spend the time putting it together. My connection to this puzzle is the peaceful, beautiful, colorful display of the lakeshore depicted in the puzzle. I have a friend who owns a home on Lake Oconee, a 19.9-acre lake 109 miles South of Atlanta, Georgia. Lake Oconee has a shoreline that looks very similar to the shoreline depicted in the puzzle.

When I first saw this puzzle, I fell in love with it. As I was putting it together, I allowed my imagination to take over and I imagined myself draped in one of the warm blankets shown in the puzzle, sitting in one of the two large white Adirondack chairs that are facing the lake. It appears that there are two people planning on doing that soon. The couple who are soon to be drinking the hot steaming coffee have stepped away and are not visible in the picture.  One of the people planning on enjoying this coffee is left-handed and the other is right-handed based on the placement of the two coffee mugs sitting on the arms of the Adirondack chairs. They also have a wicker picnic basket containing silverware and food needed for their picnic. I envisioned a bottle of Merlot and a variety of cheeses stored in the basket ready for their picnic. The couple soon to be sitting in the Adirondack chairs probably own the dock and the motorized boat tethered to it as well as the red canoe sitting in the water near the boat. My friend and his wife who live on Lake Oconee have these same type chairs sitting near their boat dock.

The puzzle shows a man and a woman rowing their red canoe toward a large two-story waterfront cabin across the lake. I imagined it as their cabin. The large Eagle soaring across the lake is hunting for a fish to take back to his nest to feed its eaglets and its mate.

When I finished the puzzle, I sat back, looked at it and imagined myself sitting in one of those Adirondack chairs enjoying the beauty of Lake Oconee while sipping hot coffee with one of my good friends who has prepared a festive picnic lunch for us to enjoy later in the day.