Cat Coat

I am super proud of the cat coat I made.

City Center 2006

This was our third year to see ABT perform at City Center on the exact same weekend. That makes our Metropolitan Museum of Art letterbox 3 years old. We were able to also check on our Carnegie Hall letterbox, it is doing well.

Maga11 and Toolman Luke were very generous by underwriting the entire trip to the city. RGBisMe was our driver in and around the city and I helped by navigating us place to place. We made it into the city on the tag end of a major storm. We had plenty of time to check out where we wanted to take Ravenboy for a meal after the show and then made our way into the theater just as the skies opened up again.


The performance opened with Stanton Welch's Clear. Our seats in the mid mezzanine allowed a nice view of the entire stage. I felt so fortunate to be able to see this cast, mostly young men, that featured my favorite principal dancers, Xiomara Reyes and Herman Cornejo. I was shocked that my attention was actually drawn away from them to watch some of the very talented younger dancers. Most impressive to me were Blaine Hoven, Jared Matthews and Arron Scott. Hoven's line, Matthew's whip-like turns and Scott's exact footwork as well as stage presence amazed me. Through their talent and ability to project everything from humor to joy of life with their dancing, we were engaged and diverted.





We made a group decision to leave the theater after the first piece. This gave us extra time to take Ravenboy to lunch and visit with him a while. We walked to whole way down to Rockefeller Plaza to see a terrific sculpture called a Sky Mirror.


We can be seen in it's reflection on the edge of the sidewalk, right by where the word "BUS" in the bus lane is.



It was then time to walk Ravenboy back to the theater because he was in the evening performance of In The Upper Room. This allowed us time to visit with Yugio at the Starbucks where I embarrassed myself last year. I almost had the chance to do it again. I was about a half a block behind my party entering the coffee shop and as I approached the entrance, Angel Corella was exiting. Maga11 and Toolman Luke greeted me with broad grins as they remembered my faux pas from the year before.



The evening performance did not disappoint. The maturity and professionalism of ballet dancers is mind boggling. In The Upper Room requires constant movement and awareness of self and others or serious injuries could occur in the blink of an eye. Stomper Jared Matthews and Ballet Men Arron Scott & Herman Cornejo had shined in the athletic matinee performance of Clear. They continued to excel while being accurate and steady partners in what is becoming one of my favorite ballets. The highlight of my evening brought me to tears. I was able to watch my son dance with, at the same level as the most talented ballet dancers in the world. Seeing him, Herman Cornejo and Paloma Herrera performing a beautiful trio had my eyes welling and heart racing. Seeing one's child achieving their dream can be a most satisfying moment.


Ballet dancers are young athletes with a flare for drama. Living in NYC, the city in it's entirety becomes a stage for them during Hallowe'en. These young ladies and men revel in choosing costumes and personas that they wish to put on as opposed to what is put onto them. Driving through the streets on our way out of the city for the third Hallowe'en weekend in a row had us laughing. Between the actors, dancers, singers and young at heart living in the Chelsea area, it was the third show we had seen in one day. Bravisimo!

The Elms of Penn State

I am so excited for any letterboxers who are able to visit central PA. RGBisMe and I spent a couple of hours over the last couple of days enjoying the great new letterbox series, The Elms of Penn State.

I won't post many photos of the these great Elms as the majesty of them cannot be captured. You have to see them with your own eyes. PSU campus is very pretty right now. We had a difficult time just focusing on the Elms when there were beautiful huge Oaks and Maples also grabbing our attention.


There are places that The Elms of Penn State take you on campus that will surprise you. You might even ask yourself how such a grouping of old growth trees could exist in such a busy area. Archaeobirder has painstakingly crafted a splendid tour of campus and added in his quaint stamps to make a letterbox series that should be on everyone's "to do" list.

Autumn was a beautiful time to do The Elms of Penn State but I cannot imagine that any season would not be a good time. The first snow flurries of the season started to come down and chill our hands at one point. We resorted to a quick stamping method for our 9 color signature stamp because we got too cold.

Fortnightly Foray

Since Toolman Luke has recently retired, he, Maga11 and I have been getting together for some adventures. They were instrumental in my getting the Scottish Tartans, Shadow of Death, Hartley's Chips, and other great letterboxes planted. They were even great cat grandparents and kitten-sat for us this past weekend as we finished up a huge local project and got together with jbzfarm so that Jim could seek Scottish Tartan #4.


We realized that it seemed like every other week we have been getting together for a nice afternoon drive. This past weekend found us in Shade Gap and nearby Orbisonia or as the local call it "Orby." Caught in Orby traffic due to construction, we all felt the need for a pit stop after our lunch at Grubs Diner in Huntingdon. The delay made our judgement a bit clouded and instead of finding place to stop where we could have some pie and coffee, we ran in to the first place that looked like a restaurant. It ended up being a very nice pizza joint where we got a medium pizza. RGBisMe had lots of leftover pizza for his supper.

This autumn has been just lovely and I will share these photos as I look forward to our next invasion into the surrounding counties.


a view from an unforgettable letterbox location


would you believe there were a lot of guys in kilts walking around the area we planted Scottish Tartans #5!?


pickin' out his punkin


posing by the mums


jbzfarm & RGBisMe stamping into Scottish Tartans #4


jzfarm's nearby dream home


that is a 70 foot drop off behind RGBisMe and one nervous smile


RGBisMe wipes the sweat from his palms as he stamps in

Why We Leave Home When PSU Plays

Mid September 2006


October 15, 2006 after the Penn State vs Michigan Game

Good Times

We took some time off to go and visit Tracdc in Bethlehem. The drive along the Juniata was very pretty with the morning mist burning off to show the colorful autumn leaves. We stopped to take some photos near Mifflintown.



We made a detour through Reading to find a few letterboxes. Angelica Angel, The Hidden Door, and Swan Lake are probably some of the least visited and most under rated treasures. The clues are charming, the stamps are great and "stop & stamp" locations are quaint. We took advantage of the time we saved by hunting down the placer to take her out to lunch as a small "Thank you" for the fun. Brava Team Little Dog!


Our Saturday morning was another beautiful one with a sharp chill in the air. We had high hopes of visiting many letterboxes in the area.


Tracdc led us to success in the chilly morning air but it took it's toll on those of us with breathing challenges. Smiles all around as we were first to stamp into a real gem of a local box.


Later, we soaked up sun as we stamped into one of Lightnin Bug's Scary Vegetables! Notice the smarty pants expressions above as we added sunglasses and our Palm device into the zip lock bag that was labeled as "Everything." This was a perfect local series of letterboxes for us.


Proud planter, Tracdc was all in after hiding 2 of her first letterboxes. We were excited to be along with her as she hid Laubach Blackberries and Pysanky Egg #1. Her artistic talents as a water color painter and photographer are appreciated by many. Now the letterboxing community is going to be very happy she has started to carve beautiful letterbox stamps to share in the Bethlehem area.


We returned home to a houseful of hungry and rambunctious pets. We can never spend enough time visiting but the empty food bowls and overflowing litterboxes upon our return remind us that we have limits. A long walk in the yard then the park helped to settle kitten-boy down... a bit.

Autumn Reflections

The beauty of Autumn is a wonderful consolation to a season where much is passing away. The sun is waning much more quickly now and we harvest the last of the apples before they are nipped by frost.

Lately we have had some sad news of friends who are either very ill or have tragically died before their time. It is hard to bear the intense beauty of the season when our hearts are filled with heavy grayness. I promise to do my best to remember the colorful times and share them. I will do my best to remember the days of birth and renewal and celebrate every stage of life.

Peace to those who have passed and their dear families, calm to those who are healing and happiness to those celebrating life. Blessed be.