Rochester Nuts

A road trip to Rochester called this family of nuts together the day after Thanksgiving. It was very cold outside but the vehicle had a great heater. It even had controls so that the passenger and driver could choose different temperatures. I started out sitting inthe back, I was in the sun.

We had a nice stop for a break in Corning, NY. We were trying to find a Mexican restaurant but ended up at a new Chinese restaurant called Corning Class. The staff were very friendly and the food was good.

Not too much farther down the road, we stopped at a road side rest stop that had a really note worthy fence and warning about rattle snakes. Not that we thought any were out in the freezing weather but we checked the seat of the port a potty just the same.

The rest of the trip to Rochester went really smoothly. Just one more stop was needed to stretch our legs before we made it to our hotel, The Strathallan. It was an older hotel that is being taken under the Hyatt group's wing. We were glad our Chinese meal stayed with us, the food at the grill downstairs was very pricey.

It was Rochester Ballet's Nutcracker production that brought us into town. Ravenboy was hired as a guest artists along with his friends from American Ballet Theatre, two of who are Rochester natives. Ravenboy was cast in the role of Russian and had been in Rochester rehearsing all week. Two of his friend, Sara and Luis, are getting married next week. Sara's family was kind and invited Ravenboy to Thanksgiving dinner.

We had some "merde" gifts to drop off at the stage door for Ravenboy. When we asked if someone would be able to take them to his dressing room. They gasped, "Are you his family!? You are on our list!" We all took a step back and asked, "List?" It turns out we were ona VIP list and welcome to wander freely around backstage. We quickly thanked them but reassured them that we would only be in the way and wanted to grab a coffe next door. All I could imagine was us 4 walking to his dressing room as he is trying to get ready! Not hat he wouldn't have been gracious but who needs your parents and grandparents watching you apply stage make-up!?

The Nutcracker was, the nutcracker with a few additions. The added sweet of Enlgish toffee was a woman with a riding crop. RGBisMe looked at me and said, "She was SCARY!" She was.

Ravenboy's performance was as entertaning as always within the confines of some quirky choreography. I found each time the excitement mounted in the dance, somehow he would have to put on the breaks and do something oddly anticlimactic, like slap the floor. It was fine though and he pulled it off.

The highlight was having booked a room right beside Ravenboy's in the Strathallan. Back when real keys were used between rooms, we could have unlocked them and wandered freely between his suite and our room. Now using swipe type keys for the entry doors, this was not possible. Not that we didn't do it anyway. Did you know that one year Maga11 and Toolman Luke got Ravenboy lock picks for Christmas? He is very adept at many things. We spent the evening laughing and catching up with our favorite young man. Gosh I miss him so much!

The next morning, Ravenboy had to leave early to get ready for the matinee so we hit the road at the same time. We broke up the trip by enjoying a slight detoour to Wellsboro and eating at the Wellsboro Diner. It had the one thing that Toolamn Luke had actually wanted for breakfast that day, a chili dog!


This quaint diner, established in 1939, doesn't feel like it has changed all too much since the 1950s. It has a great small town feel to it, regular diner fare and the wait staff is blistering fast getting your food to you. Toolman Luke fondly rememebrs stopping there in the past. Although they were not doing it while we were there, he said the waitresses used to call out and the kitchen would be cooking it up as they yelled out the orders.

We browsed through the adjoining gift shop to extend the break. We had spent a lot of time sitting over the past couple of days and it felt good to walk around a bit. If it wasn't so chilly, we might have explored the town some too.

The weather was fine for our whole trip and we had plenty of laughs over the many miles. It's great to have good friends in family. It makes the time pass quickly.

Many Faces of Thanksgiving 2007

Young and old, near and far, somehow we all get together for Thanksgiving.

Less Than an Inch Predicted

We woke early this morning and thought we might grab a series of letterboxes close to home. Indigo Vulture's Teen Girl Squad promised a nice hike but were would have far to drive and could get home in time to start preapring for a crazy week ahead of us.

When we looked outside, a steady snow was falling but not really making much of an impact accumulation wise. We checked the online weather information and although it was a good chance it would continue to snow, it was not to accumulate more than an inch. The temperature was not too bad so we decided to go for it. Above are a series of photos of our hike in "less than an inch" of snow. The hike was over 3 miles with one side track we made and a few hundred feet in elevation gain. The view would have been more spectacular without the precipitation but we had a grand time ever step along the way.

Central PA Event Poll

A group of letterboxers are trying to get a clear idea of what everyone would most like to see represented in a future event that is being planned in Central Pennsylvania. If you letterbox in Central PA or have plans to in the future, please join us and share your point of view so that we can get the best idea of what might suit everyone's preferences.




Click to join centralpalbx

Thoughtful letterboxing discussion is encouraged

Mundane to Madam

Well you all wanted to know what I do to make my income right? Well it might not be what you are thinking from the title of this blog entry. I am not any kind of prostitute but I am a Reader and Advisor and my professional name is Mdme. Teresa (say it like you would Mother Teresa.)

I was hired to read at a man's surprise birthday party in Allentown area. There were to be 30 guests and I had 2 hours to read tarot cards for all who were interested. That, with transition times between reading, does leave much time for each person. I practiced many of my shorter readings, being clear and concise when I started letting them know it would be a brief overview then stopping each reading and encouraging them to take my business card if they were interested in more.

As the weekend approached, a cold I had hatched early on in the week took a turn for the worse. The most disappointing thing about that was that Maga11 and I had planned extra visiting time with Tracdc. We made the trip without incident but I spent most of my time at her home walking around like a drugged zombie.

The day of the party dawned and I had been hacking all night. Maga11 even left to sleep on the couch in the living room graciously saying she needed to change position. I downed some more cold meds but neglected to eat first. I was all of the sudden queasy. This was the first time I was ever struck by the realization that I might not be able to do my job and I knew of no one to take my place. I looked at Maga11 and said, "I'm scared." I was. I had no idea what to do in this situation. I had already received an email from the hostess telling me that half of the guests RSVPed "no." I couldn't let her down.

I went back to bed after forcing myself to eat something. I turned on the little tv in the room and watched part of a dog show on animal planet. Tracdc and Maga11 came in to keep me company. I asked Tracdc for my tarot cards. I shuffled them dealt out a spread and asked her to read them for me. I asked her, "What should I do about my job?" She looked down at the one card and said, "Well this guy is juggling balls so it must mean that he has to many things going on," I smiled and silently nodded in agreement. She looked at the next card, The Hanged Man - inverted, "This card... I have no idea what that means!" She kind of flicked the card away and we all cracked up, it was clear Tracdc was not going to take my place that night.

Although my voice kept cracking and failing me, as the day went on I did feel somewhat better. I took a shower and we all went out to a local tack shop's Breyer Horse open house. We made it just at the end. The models were all awesome with a $90.00 one of the great Barbaro. Too pricey for us. Tracdc and I went to look upstairs at the bargains and close-outs and found that was where the kids had some activities earlier in the open house. Coloring contests and painting miniature models had been something that was offered. We looked at the left over paint and a few scattered models and promptly sat down and painted a couple for ourselves. We were halfway done when a store representative came to clean up. Tracdc said, "We know these were for the kids but today we came with our mom, so we are kids." Oh no, Mom! We had left her and plopped down to paint without telling her where we were. There was no leaving until we were done because the lady would clean up the stuff we were using. Thanks goodness Maga11 found her way upsatirs and joined us. She painted a mule!

I knew I was going to make it through the evening and we returned to Tracdc's house so that I could take a nap and get ready. I thought the two photos of me that day were a real juxtaposition. So, know you have a better idea of what I do and who I am. Which one is the real me?

Feeling like the Devil

After an exciting weekend, I was feeling like the devil. My knee hurt from who knows what, I was depressed with nothing but work to look forward to for at least a week ahead of me and to top it off I was getting a really sore throat. I had my fun all weekend but the week was a demon to be faced.

Over the weekend, we had a great time watching jbzfarm unwrap the last of a gift that was given to them for their 15th anniversary. They took great care, had been carefully unwrapping and enjoying it bit by bit since February. Crystal is the traditional gift for one's 15th anniversary and they were careful to enjoy every facet of it without damaging it. Unveiled in all of it's glory, from many good people, it was a massive thing. They will have to share it with you sometime.

Although that took some time, we had plenty of time to enjoy some sweet food and sweeter letterboxes. The kids led us to find the 3 froggy boxes by Hopping Along in Hummelstown. We also visited a hitch hiker hostel along a neat trail in that town that was lonely for hitch hikers. After being tossed out of the Hershey Hotel and onto the fitness trail we found A Kiss for you From Hershey. Very cute stamp.

The rest of the day was spent biking with the kids on a local rail trail, hanging out at their wonderful farm, being treated to video games, you tubes videos by Rainbow Girl and then torturing Truck Jumping Boy with a video of the Nutcracker that put him to sleep. He was just getting an early start so that he could rise and make us a wonderful breakfast before the naughty adults ran out and bushwhacked around a lake.

With gimpy knee for no apparent reason, it was no wonder that coming home and getting to work was hard. I put my nose to the grindstone filling orders and preparing for a working weekend ahead of me. No fun to be had in sight, Tuesday brought an election day and the sore throat thing was in full swing. I was not cheerful in the long line of voters that stood in the cold outside of the door. I had been trying to get warm all day and this was the last thing I needed. I finally made my way inside and then to the point where I gave my name in a cracked voice. They called out my name and the what number voter I was for the the day. Immediately the woman swung her head back to look at me and apologized. The fellow sitting next to her tried looked concerned and tried to console me by showing me that if I turned my card upside down, the number would read differently. I chuckled, "No it is perfect," I was voter number 666.