Planning a Spring Trip

Each year I attend a Camping Conference, usually in the States and usually in PA.   This will be my third year (next year it is in Ontario, so no travelling!!)  It happens the week after March break which is usually the middle of the month.   So…. I have already planned to letterbox my way down and back.  This year it is in Mercersburg, PA, which is just across the state border from Hagerstown MD.    So…. having never boxed in any states other than NY and PA, I’ve decided to make a foray to the south on the day the conference ends.  I will pick up a couple of boxes in Maryland, a couple in West Virginia and a couple in Virginia, not to mention Punxsetawny Phil in PA.  (Now that is a cool one, since I have my own Wiarton Willie box here in Ontario.   I think Wiarton Willie will even make a trip down to visit his buddy Phil).   Anyways…. I have spent the last day coordinating the trip, searching out letterboxes that I want to find, etc. etc.    I’m already excited about the trip and it’s three months away!!!

Boxing Day Boxing

Today I spent a bunch of time making up a logbook for the Shepherd HH.   The whole thing is almost ready to go.  It will be sent on it’s way (to Oregon ~hopefully) in the next couple of days.  Here is some of the work in progress.

The clear laquer helps to protect the tin from rust.  It should always be inside another letterbox (theoretically), but I wanted to protect it from moisture as best as I could.

The labels were then affixed to the outside of the tin and I wrote instructions on them (as well as on the front page of the logbook).   I spray laquered over the labels once I had taped the edges with clear hockey tape to make sure they stayed on.

The nail polish is to keep the post from loosening as the logbook is opened and closed.   Once everything dries completely it will all be ready to go!!

My First Hitchhiker, and a couple of personal Travellers

Tonight I finished carving my first hitchhiker ~ Nativity: Shepherd.   I must say, I was quite pleased with the carve when it was all done.  It is to be released on or around Christmas to make it’s way to a Nativity box near Roseburg, Oregon.  That is a cool idea!   Now I just need to figure out where to drop it where it will get picked up and moved ASAP.  I need to find a frequently visited box that isn’t too far away.

I’ve also pulled the two small stamps I carved for Silver Lake (Camp) to use with the letterboxing workshop I did this summer, to be used now as personal travellers.   And I’ve completed a larger personal traveller based on an image I found that reflects (another) new hobby of mine.

Over the last week I have also downloaded and refined some new images for a continuation of the Niagara Escarpment Series.  I plan now to end in Tobermory.   I have 8 new images….  4 of which are fill-in’s to complete the first 16 and 4 of which are new ones to add further north.  So… just to keep on carvin’

So…. in spite of the fact that it just hasn’t stopped snowing here for the last two weeks and we are now under at least 2 ft of snow, I have been able to keep boxing.

WINTER!!

Hah!!! Just because I wrote in my previous post that I had a few weeks yet, winter has arrived with a vengance.  (Well… who knows if it will stay, but….)  This past week it has snowed and snowed and snowed!  Here are a couple of pics of our winter wonderland.

I guess that means I’m down to carving and making up new letterboxes in anticipation of ‘the melt’.   And… last night while I was cleaning out my office (I’m moving so my husband can move his ’studio’ into the house)  I found another whole sheet of ‘the pink stuff’.  Yeah!!!!  So I have enough to keep me busy through the winter.  Lots of time to get the new series finished and ready before the spring melt.    Back to the “drawing board”!

PreWinter Update

Well… prewinter has set in and I’ve been spending a lot of time outside trying to finish up my yardwork.  Today, I spent the day with my parents cutting and splitting firewood for the wood stove.  These things have all taken priority over letterboxing for the last few weeks. Now, I have some more stamps to carve.  I have figured out two more images for my Niagara Escarpment Series (I’m short 4 to complete the original set, but I may yet add a couple more at the north end).   So I just need to get at and finish them up.  Maybe I’ll even have a chance to plant before it snows deeply (last year it was January before we had any snow depth here.  We had a green Christmas).   Also, I have recently carved three personal travellers.  (All ready for the next event.)   And…. I just got a great idea for a series of hitchhikers.  (I’ve been thinking about this for quite a while, hoping for that inspiration.  And finally it came).   So….  all of those things should keep me busy for a little while.

I’m still working on “rebuilding” my logbook, stamp by stamp (got ruined by some liquid? earlier this fall).   So…. just plugging away and marvelling at those who are reaching significant milestones throughout these fall months!  Congrats to all!

Lion’s Head Revisited

I haven’t been doing much “maintenance” on my boxes because most are still listed as being “NEVER” found.  But… in light of having ruined my old logbook, I wanted to retrieve each of the images into my new book.  So today we took a walk out to the Lion’s Head box behind our house.  To my delight there are a few comments in the logbook.  Several non-boxers have found it (I have hidden it a bit better now) and really enjoyed it.  As well a couple of new boxers have visited.  How cool is that.  So… the hitchhiker that I left as first-finders prize has moved on it’s way.

It was a beautiful sunny fall morning and we had quite a nice walk along the escarpment bluffs overlooking Isthmus Bay and south toward Lion’s Head.   A great day to revisit an awesome view.

Logbook Blues

OK, have any of you ever had this happen? Two days before the BoxON! event I pulled out my letterboxing kit to make sure I had everything ready to go. To my absolute horror, my logbook was wet. There was a big stain where something??? had leaked into the top and all my stamped images in the top half and centre portion of the book were completely melted into one big blob ~ some of them I could still see faintly, others were completely gone! Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgh! (My husband tells me that the more r’s there are, the more distress it shows!) To say the least, I was very, very upset. So… I rushed down to Chapters (it’s about a 2 1/2 hour drive from home) to buy a new logbook exactly like the old one I had (I love my logbook. It looks like an old leather book with gold trimwork and a flap that comes up around the front with a magnetic closure. It has faint lines, but I find that they do not detract at all from the images ~ they are so faint ~ and they help me to keep my writing straight. I just love it). Anyways… my first task was to go through and number the pages that had something on them so “I CAN REPLACE THE IMAGES IN THE EXACT ORDER THAT I GOT THEM IN THE FIRST PLACE. Now I know, you will say that is a “dumb” idea, but I’m a bit of a perfectionist in that way. There are a few images that are no longer available for one reason or another that I will simply cut and paste into the new book once the old one is completely dry. However, I’m going to do my best to revisit each of my finds and replace those images. (I only had about 26 finds under my belt, so it’s not really that many, and most of them are within a couple of hours of home.)

So… how to make sure this doesn’t happen again? I decided that I needed a “waterproof” container to keep my logbook in. I found a couple of nifty ideas on the internet that I thought I would pass on here.

1. Create a case out of duct tape. Now the plans that I found were for a case for a video game kit. But I adapted them to fit my logbook. Here is the url. (I don’t know if you’ll be able to download this without being a member of the unschooling group it was on, but here it is)….. http://f1.grp.yahoofs.com/v1/sO_pSNjT40R3UpJ920sfMlg9MGDqRP0Dm7BKIIASDqf5JEaE5blN_ykEoenuPkeQNozzuFyef_DIbUlRDwVicL3rV8XBsu4NsF8eng/DuctTapeCaseHowTo.pdf

ykEoenuPkeQNozzuFyef_DIbUlRDwVicL3rV8XBsu4NsF8eng/DuctTapeCaseHowTo.pdf

Here is a photo of my case and how it turned out.

2. Knit/crochet a waterproof bag/case out of recycled grocery bags. I thought this was a really clever idea, but I wanted something quicker. However, I will pass this on for you.

Take your grocery bag and lay it flat on the table. Cut off the bottom (small strip) and the handles. Now cut into one inch strips / loops (no need to be accurate here). Slip knot the loops together to form a continuous “thread” of “yarn”. The suggestion was that the writing (from the bags) will create nice colour “blobs” on your finished product. I would also suggest that you use different coloured bags in long sections (like you would different coloured yarn) to create a different effect.

You can use any knitting or crochet pattern to create a bag (or whatever else you want) out of this resulting yarn. I have bags and bags and bags and thought this was a really clever way to reuse them (rather than throwing them out). So all you crafty people out there ~ have fun!!!

After “THE event”

Well, BoxON! Guelph has come and gone and I must say I thoroughly enjoyed myself. It was great to meet many of the “trail names” that have become familiar as I peruse the Boards and forums. Not to mention, the folks who have taken the time to carve and plant many of the boxes I’ve already found. The weather cooperated beautifully and there was a great turnout at Riverside Park in Guelph. So…. in the aftermath I’ve finally had a chance to sit down with my log book and “assess the damage” (that is to say figure out how many exchanges I made and how many new boxes and event stamps and cooties and hitchhikers I logged). Wow! My numbers of stamped images have almost doubled ~ JUST IN ONE DAY!!

I’ve got to say that in some ways many of them don’t “feel” like letterboxes. You know ~ no clue, no search, no stealth, no sitting in the bush stamping in to a logbook as leaves blow (or rain falls) around you!! That’s not to say that I’m not happy to have them, but it does feel a little bit like cheating. All I had to do was sit at a table and colour and stamp, colour and stamp, colour and stamp and pass my logbook around for others to do the same. My hands were covered with ink by about the first hour. I don’t know how all you people keep so clean!!!

Anyways…. I am very, very happy to have gone and met so many fine people. I hope to be able to do this every year!! And thanks so much to Fiddleheads, Lone R and whomever else contributed to the planning of the event and setting up all those great boxes in the park and around the area. It was a great time!!

Early Fall ~ At it Again

Well, summer is over for me.  The last campers have left, the staff have gone home and the camp is clean and ready for the first rental group (which someone else hosts).  So…. now I can think about letterboxing again and begin to prepare for the upcoming Box ON! in Guelph.  

I’ve been pondering a bit what I’m coming for and my conclusion is that it’s mostly to meet the people.   One of the “About Attending a Gathering” pages that I read said to make sure that you leave yourself time to box.   You know, I do want to get those event stamps and the ones that are temporarily there (for the gathering), but really, I want to spend time sharing stories and exchanging stamps and just enjoying people.  (For an introvert, that may be a funny thing to say, but it’s what I’m looking forward to most).  I guess that’s one of the things that I generally like about “boxing”…. getting out there in nature by myself (or my family) and having a chance to solve a clue and find the stamp at the end.  I am a mostly solo, non-urban prefering letterboxer.

Anyways….. I’ve started to think about more stamps, hitchhiker themes, and a new series.   I think tonight I’ll get out my SpeedyCarve and get started.  Yeah!!!

10 New Letterboxers

This week at camp I taught an “arts” class on letterboxing to ten 9 – 12 year olds.   We had four sessions of two hours each.   The first day we researched, designed and carved signature stamps.  The second they went and found two letterboxes that I had planted at camp, especially for them.  Then they designed and hid their own letterboxes and wrote their own clues.  On the third day they spent two hours searching for each other’s letterboxes.  Then… on day four we went offsite to a place where I had hidden two “real” letterboxes.  They were delighted to be the first finders on the two “Slough of Despond” letterboxes that I had planted.  (“So now everyone who finds this box will be able to see our signature stamps”).    So… I have maybe fostered a few new letterboxing families for Ontario to join the growing hoard.  We’ll see I guess.   Anyways…. it was an opportunity to get a bit of my letterboxing fixation fed until I can get back on the trail in September.  

And….. the first family to report that they have found a portion of my Niagara Escarpment Series boxes.   You were right.  If you plant…. they will come!!!  It is exciting to introduce these beautiful places (and my own creations) to a few letterboxers in Ontario.   And, I’ve invited them to come to Box ON in Guelph.   Now wouldn’t that be great to see them there?

Happy summer boxing.