How do you entertain a guest who has had foot surgery and you’re not sure how much on the move they’ll be? Our solution was to have lots of Ravensburger puzzles ready to go! You can’t go wrong with this tactic, as it gives a chance to sit and chat while taking off the pressure to be out touring all day long. And a puzzle about flying home is perfect during an overseas vacation.
The latest addition to our jigsaw puzzle collection was sent to us from Ravensburger; Colin Thompson – Flying Home. This is a 2D, 1000 piece puzzle (keep your eye here for a look at their 3D puzzles coming soon).
Mom had a run-in with a pickle jar, and the pickle-jar won with the result of Mom seeing a plastic surgeon a time later to have some glass removed from her foot. This was just the week before she and Dad would arrive for a visit. So she wasn’t sure how much she’d be able to walk. So we were well-prepared by having a brand new puzzle for her to do. When we were kids we’d get Mom a new puzzle for Christmas, so we knew she like to construct them.
We set up the Puzzle Handy on the kids’ small table and opened up the Flying Home Box to start sorting through the pieces. Kallista likes to help divide them up into edge and centre pieces, so she sat at the little chair, Mom in a comfy chair, and me on the desk chair.
All of the frame and some of the middle pieces were completed that first night. After the kids went to bed, us adults ordered a wood flamed pizza from the local spot (thanks to Aaron for staying after he should have been closed to make us our pizzas instead of heading out for his birthday celebrations). And we continued working on the puzzle.
The first part of the inner puzzle to be put together was the horizon, swiftly followed by the hot air balloon.
Even Dad was putting it together, and I’m not sure I’ve ever seen him sit at a puzzle before!
Then it was time for us old folk to get some sleep, too.
Luckily, Mom was doing okay and she and Dad ventured out during the week, but each morning Mom and Kallista would put some pieces into the puzzle before they got moving around for the day. And they’d return again in the evenings.
The sky soon filled in, and then the castle. Then the green fields.
Strangely enough, you’d think that the pathway winding up through the scene would have been quite simple, but this seemed to be the most difficult as it was the final part of the puzzle to be completed.
The puzzle moved from this side of the room to that, depending on who was working on it, and whether it was being done by the light of day, or the overhead ceiling light at night.
After about a week of slotting in pieces here and there, the puzzle was finally done!
There are many little details to be found in this puzzle from the patchwork hot air balloon, to weird and wonderful other flying ships, to the characters wandering up the path, to an odd, giant, dead-looking leg lying out a door in the side of the mountain. I think it may be this particular detail that gives this puzzle a rating of 12 and up. But other than that, I didn’t see anything that would be disturbing for children (most of which would see worse than that on TV), but I do appreciate that Ravensburger is thinking about their supporters.
Now we’re left with many questions…where is this location? It looks like Co. Down, but is it? Who is flying these ships and where are they from? Who lives in the castle? Who’s in that window? Why is everyone headed towards it? That patchwork balloon is enormous, how do they get it to fly? And just who does that leg belong to?
Do you have the answers? Share them with me in the comments below, I’d love to hear your imagination’s response!
Colin Thompson – Flying Home 1000 piece puzzle is available through fine retail stores and Amazon.co.uk.
The Ravensburger Puzzle Handy is also available from Amazon.co.uk and retail outlets.
Follow Ravensburger through their website, Facebook, and YouTube.
