Finger Lakes

A weekend hiking the area around Seneca and Cayuga Lakes offered up beautiful scenery, excellent hiking and some great letterboxing opportunities. This area is one of my all time favorites and RGBisMe and try to make it up at least once a year. It had been a few years since we did more that just hike the gorge trail at Watkins Glen, we were mostly focused on geocaching then but remember being disappointed that the letterbox hybrid in or near the park didn't really have a stamp that seemed to go with it. Sacajawea Stumper had an airplane stamp. We were confused and thought maybe we didn't understand the clues or area. As it turns out, what we didn't understand that many geocachers just didn't get letterboxing.


Janila and I were paired for the weekend and I have to thank her for driving my sorry butt every inch of the way. I did not offer to drive once and I am sure she was glad for that, HA! I did get way into her gps mapping program. When it has sat lock that little baby is one sweet piece of helpful navigational equipment. I felt weird without of of my paper maps so I was constantly tucking one off to the side, just in case we lost sat lock. Yeah, I bogarted all the park maps Jan, I promise to make you copies and send them your way.

The boxes we found in the Finger Lakes area were all really sweet but a real feather in my cap was the Finger Lakes Mystery box. I had intended on seeking it last year but either time or finances did not allow. To have all of the clues in order and find this box was so sweet. I think Jan laughed a few times at my broad grin over supper. Supper was another victory. We made it just in time for eating at Seneca Lodge and I had my favorite veggie Sunburger!!

The next morning offered up some more really great letterboxes. It was an honor to find a couple Cock o' the Trail letterboxes. I had been reading about them for years and to stamp into one that had been designed in 2001 was very special. Sugar Hill and Watkins Glen Centennial were both in places I was glad to have visited. I had been quite close to the latter seeking a geocache years ago but the Finger Lakes Trail hadn't taken me that far up the gorge. I was glad to have this letterbox take me to the area. It was a little dark so the photos will not do the area justice. Jan is all blurry because she was a speed demon and had her Coke already. I neglected getting my morning tea and my shutter finger was slow.


Meeting so many wonder people at the 2007 Finger Lakes Gathering was the best. I missed having RGBisMe along but these warm and witty people kept me smiling and enthralled. Janila and I boxed for hours in this lovely park with some new and old friends. Hiking along with Lock Wench, Party Pig, Phoenix, BibliochickMS and Tamsyn we overcame the challenges of graffitied snag ("DON'T SAY IT OUT LOUD!") and marvey marking after Pig's pigments. My favorite quote of the whole weekend came from Party Pig. After letterboxing as the above mentioned group for well over an hour and having made exchanges hours before that, he turns to Janila after she made a witty comment and says, "Who are you?!!"

Although we weren't able to get The Pirates Wife, I had the chance to eat at the most famous vegetarian Moosewood Restaurant. Poor Cyclonic and Pink Panther were shooed from joining the small table with Janila, Tamsyn and myself but I later found them at a very merry table ("I want to sit at the Kiddy Table") near the bar. The poor service far outweighed the good eats and I have no desire to return. Bummer.


Next day was a landmark for Janila. After a few false starts (my bad) Cyclonic and Pink Panther nudged us on in the right direction and then we got some momentum. Somewhere in Shindagin Hollow, amidst those 13 boxes and a brief rain shower, Janila stamped into her 1,000 letterbox. Cheers and a nice little rest for our team of 4 as Jan posed with her golden box of malted milk balls and drink of choice. That series of boxes had Jan grinning over her prime rib back at Seneca Lodge and I guess I had to chuckle at her a few times. Life was good.

I did plant a box while in the area. It was a Hazlitt Red Cat wine themed box and I cannot yet find the clues. I swear I was not drinking Red Cat, have never boxed while intoxicated. I am wondering if I should just say, "It's out there, somewhere." Cyclonic and Pink Panther will be first finders, for sure. ;)

Pennsylvania was calling so we enjoyed a wonderful new series of Williamsport area letterboxes on the way home. The 4Rhines have put out some really supurb fishing themed boxes, Stonefly's Fishing Adventures. You will enjoy the locations, clues and and marvel at the detail of the stamps. The long weekend was over all too soon. Thank you to everyone for making this trip possible.

Mountain Springs & River Valleys

What a fun day Maga11 and I had letterboxing through the mountains and river valleys. The day started early and we had a drizzle filled drive to the east. We chatted about the local strawberries being sold then saw an Indigo Bunting along the road. As we traveled along the same route and Maga11 was able to log into 3 new letterboxes. She was first finder for one near Hartelton.

We sought a few near Lewisburg and although we weren't always successful we enjoyed the area that each and every letterbox took us too. Visiting, laughing and enjoying the area as the weather just kept getting nicer as the day progressed. Springs and creeks, mountain and rivers; we traveled quite a bit today.

I loved sharing a neat grocery outlet, Wenger's in Mifflinburg, with Maga11. They have some amazing deals on different items. Although we couldn't take advantage of the frozen food, we grabbed some snacks for the trip. Although I turned my nose up at the idea at first, I enjoyed the sponge cake and ate it along the river.

After a very tastey lunch, I found it really odd to be checking out the areas where the missing DA had last been seen 3 or so years ago. Maga11 said there was a show that had 3 different psychics taking them to this same view above the river. They all concurred that he had been taken there. Beautiful area, strange story but there are many strange things that happen when Maga11 and I get together.

Bring on June

The month of May has had it's ups and downs. I thank all of my dear family and friends for their support during the stressful time leading up to yesterday's court date. I don't know if I can say it went well. How can anything so ridiculous go well? I will say that my original complaint was upheld and the fine that was initially $25.00 ended up having added court fees bringing it to close to $80.00. Such a foolish thing to do just to try to fight the system? target anger at a specific person? As far as I could tell, he is paying the fine and not appealing to county court. Maybe the first smart thing he has done. It was my words that sealed his fate. The magistrate zeroed in on my carefully mentioning the tenet initially introduced his girlfriend to me as his sister as he wanted to sneak her in to a one person apartment saying they had family trouble. The magistrate tore him apart for starting out with a lie and that no one will ever know when to believe him or not when he starts off lying. That was the crux of the whole situation and I was glad to have the magistrate be so intuitive.

Back to the good stuff. My visit to NYC to see both of Ravenboy's performances as the Bronze Idol were real highlights that helped me through. Between that and his very kind and soothing words, my son has been so very dear to me this month. He gave me a call yesterday during his rehearsal just to lend me support. His whispered tones of, "everything is going to be fine," assured me as did the reminder, "but a little sage, salt and carbon never hurt anyone." I love my son. He knows just what to say.

During that busy weekend we visited him, he made time to eat a meal with us at Ollie's Noodle House. Tracdc and Maga11 were able to come along on this trip. We all missed having Dabralady there, she only came to the Thursday performance but she was there is spirit. We had a lot of laughs over tofu and mei fun (no, that's MY fun) and got to meet Arika and Amy, great friends of Ravenboy.

This past weekend a nice crew of letterboxers was able to get together and bend elbows at Otto's. I was very proud that I caught up on all of the personal travelers that I needed. It was so much fun not being able to get up from the table and move around as we were forced to pass log books and secretly write answers to PT clues on slips of paper. It felt like passing notes! The 4Rhines brought Cookie Monster along who rightly demanded that we be re-seated out of the loud bar section. Archaeobirder and Litchick took time out of their busy wedding plans to come out and share their generous smiles. Long distance travelers included the effervescence Lotus and Leafcutters. I will say that it is Leafcutters' humor that got me through the weekend. Just as I would start to dwell on my upcoming court appearance, he would say something that would just crack me up. My cheeks hurt so badly from smiling and laughing with these folks. We finally got to meet Thick or Thin who is an exemplary boxer and geocacher from Chalfont, PA. It was great to see MsBeachys (what a smile!) Wanting Snow and XS Baggage (I can't believe that was you!!) again. They pointed out what I think is an error in my clues to We All Live Upstream #474 clues and I will check on that today.

Sweetest of all was seeing Cyclonic and Sheba. These dear folks traveled from so far and did some of the most strenuous hiking in the area. I was so distracted and things started to fall apart as the Memorial Day weekend wore on. We had hoped to hike with them a bit on Nittany but RGBisMe needed to leave town for most of the morning and afternoon, his mom has not been well. I have to say I was turning into an irrational nervous wreck worrying about my 10am court appearance. I didn't want to burden them with this information so this is my apology to everyone to whom I seemed distracted and inhospitable. Your kindness was so much appreciated and got me through a rough spot.

Something that we got slipped in through the cracks that make me smile in retrospect, I checked on my Tubin' @ Poe letterbox. No one has found it since August when it was planted.I am proud it has weathered so well. The trip down Penn's Creek is better earlier in the summer and it is so ready for a first finder.

Memorable Mini Meet

A group of awesome letterboxers are going to be in the State College area this weekend. We are getting together at Otto's for some good times and I have posted it as an event on Atlas Quest. I hope you can make it!

Click here to see details for
Memorable Mini Meet

A Lifetime Highlight

Words can not clearly explain how much seeing my son perform his dream role at The Met meant to me this past week. The opera house itself is glorious and I am always in awe when I go. I find that I mentally pinch myself and say aloud, "Our son works here!" to RGBisMe.

Although it will shock some of you, I am not a big ballet fan. I am a fan of my son. Through the years I have become quite knowledgable on ballet and technique. La Bayadere is a good ballet and I enjoyed it twice this week. What surprised me both performances was the cheers and applause that were showered upon my son.

I am sharing a video made of his first performance of La Bayadere's Bronze Idol. His friends (seen briefly before the music starts)filmed it from the wing. The curtain does not open until just after he raises his arms so you also see him preparing to perform behind a closed curtain. I am so proud, words fail me.


(the audio comes across a hair fast for some reason on these links, his musicality on the originals is perfect)

Bold & Stylish

Arron Scott pictured above

In today's New York Times:
Arron Scott was a bold and stylish Bronze Idol.





Below is a video of his dress rehearsal. It is an "MPG" file through photobucket.

Going for the Gold... I mean Bronze!

Arron Scott in American Ballet Theatre's La Bayadere


Ever have a dream? Did you ever work toward a single dream for over a decade and have it come true? Ravenboy has been steadily coming closer to dancing his dream role of the Bronze Idol in the ballet La Bayadere. He first saw a video of the solo when he was 10 years old and here it is, almost a dozen years later, he just had a dress rehearsal for it.

His Bronze Idol solo opens the act. He is the only dancer on the stage sitting lotus style at the top of a steep flight of steps at the base of a Buddha shrine. He descends the stairs while looking automaton-like straight into the audience. The dynamic and demanding variation is done wearing a huge ornate head piece and loin cloth, nothing else. A solid gold sheen, he wears full body paint that takes a half an hour to apply. Mineral oil with some type of gilt glitter, it does not come off easily but anything that sweats off is immediately wiped up by a stage hand dedicated to following the dance around until the curtain rises.

A thin gauze curtain, or scrim, is another difficulty that the dancer faces when performing this variation. The lighting on the dancer and the stage allows the audience to see the beginning of the act through the scrim but the dancer cannot see anything but a huge blank wall in front of him, no audience, no lights. This makes accuracy and stability of turns more difficult because it is hard to orient where a dancer has to spot or look for each turn. That and the heavy head piece make pirouettes , double tours or any turning leaps very difficult.

The Bronze Idol gets a solo curtain call at the end of La Bayadere. This requires the dancer to stay in the gold paint for quite a while and Ravenboy was warned it could make him ill. He said it made him a little dizzy. Oil based, it took the help of the costumer, Bruce Horowitz, to start scrubbing it off.

Yesterday's dress rehearsal was also a "tech rehearsal" and they were running it for time. After he completed his solo, he said to Bruce that he was ready to do it again! Bruce said he was crazy and also told Ravenboy that it was the best first time through he had ever seen anyone do. I wonder if Bruce saw Baryshinkov's first time though Bronze Idol while he was at the company?

Pack it Out

Ever feel the blood drain out of your face and go as white as the sheet of paper your were holding? I am subpoenaed as a witness for the commonwealth for the whole dog poop issue of a past tenant in my apartment building. Why he had to get a dog (lease said no pets) and then let it run loose (against township code) and not clean up it's poop in our shared yard (DUH) is a real push for my comprehension. I had hoped early on that gentle letters or kindly spoken verbal information would put things on track. Even a visual demonstration of a Walmart bag heavily filled with their dog's waste RGBisMe had cleaned from the yard was not enough.

My deciding to go through appropriate legal channels has gotten me a white piece of paper to back up the state against someone who doesn't want to pay a fine. They had gentle warnings. From me, my husband, and the dog enforcement official. After all of the warnings, they have persisted and are now fighting a fine. We heard they contend many things. They felt they only paid rent for the inside of the building and the yard was not their responsibility yet they helped themselves to trashing it with dog waste and emptying the contents of their vacuum cleaner into the yard and onto my sidewalk. They also have said that it was not their dog but loose dogs in the neighborhood that left the waste in the yard. I imagine it was the same dogs who brought their vacuum cleaners there too.

I am disheartened that so many (not always younger - see addendum below*) folks I run into seem to have the attitude that they do not need to be held accountable for their actions nor do they need to follow rules or laws. So much of what I see is a general attitude of, "This doesn't apply to me." When we, as a society, clean up after people are we enabling them? Should I have kept cheerfully dodging land mines of poop in my lawn until it was time to mow? Should RGBime continued to shovel up a weekly +5lb bag of dog waste when we don't have a dog? Along the same lines should we hikers pack out the trash others leave in the woods? If a ready "yes" comes to your mind then ask yourself if PSU should clean up the tons of trash left behind from tailgating parties on campus? Again "yes"? What are we teaching people when we clean up their messes and don't hold them accountable?

I won't stop picking up trash on the trail but I am very depressed that I have been called to court. I am also counseled to wait outside the magistrate's office, in the parking lot, until I am needed because the person who has been fined has a history of being so irrational as to become physically violent over this issue.

I don't like cleaning up other people's messes.

* If you are thinking that the tailgating messes are a bunch of drunken college students, think again. These are out of towners and alums who party and trash the area. Kudos recently given to our tidy PSU students and townies.

Philly Zoo

RGBisMe and I had made plans to find a group of letterboxes near Hawk Mountain. We made those plans twice this week and twice we have changed our plans. Yesterday, our plans changed to go along with Out of Sight, Lil' Milk Monster and Janila to check out some new Natty Bumppo boxes at the Philly Zoo.

It was very odd not letterboxing with our kitten. We said goodbye to him early in the morning and went to check out a bunch of wilder animals. They made have been wild but had plenty of personality. Some crazy big birds behind glass came up to greet me and offered me a toy. I was so touched, it wanted to play. I could see it's care taker inside throw is bites of food and then throw some toys around for it. These were cool birds.

That is where Janila and family met up with us. As we followed clues through the zoo, we enjoyed all of the animals. Lil' Milk Monster loved running around and made us all laugh. RGBisMe made a new buddy by the end of the day.

It was really odd walking through the big cat house and watching them react to Neshota, Out of Sight's guide dog. The lions took notice, the pumas were very disturbed and the tiger was upset. Neshota started getting quite jittery with all of the unwanted attention.


Between stamping and viewing, we all had a great time walking through the zoo on what was a perfect weather day. I hope others can check out the series, the stamps are amazing and the clues are ton of fun.









Today, we went to find some local boxes. Not all of them are posted but we took the little guy along to a couple of Dog's with Wings boxes in Reeds Gap State Park. We hadn't been to this park in a few years and I have to say it did not disappoint. It was another terrific morning with my favorite guys. Arjuna the Hunter and Planting Moon - Hawthorn Tree are two of the most lovely hand carved stamps we have ever logged. Folks are going to love these letterboxes.

Beltane

Happy May Day folks. Spring has come on full force here in Happy Valley. Jim and I were too ill to get out and enjoy it with some of our friends who were hiking in the area. This was a little depressing. It also kept of from helping out some of our most excellent neighbors from moving across town. This kept us house bound, trapped as it were, as the final few days of terrible downstairs tenant torture terminated (see previous post). The glum weather on Saturday suited our moods.

Sunday dawned so bright and cheery but we were in a weakened state. We did manage a nice walk around the edge of our field with our kitten. Even our cat asked to come out for a bit when she saw the beauty of the day. RGBisMe's mom, MagaG came over for a visit in the early afternoon. This normally would have been a fine diversion if the jerks on the lower level weren't fishing for a final fracas. Choosing to turn their overpowered car stereo system to the max, rap music with the most choice words filled the air, and I mean FILLED. Two other neighbors were mowing their lawns and you could not hear their mowers. We refused to say a thing, seeing the bed packed in the U-haul meant this was the final push, we could put up with just a few more hours of rudeness. The one mowing neighbor, however, had reached his limit. He shut off his lawn mower, walked over, and asked the foul people to turn their music down. They did, now it was merely "loud." Just as MagaG arrived, a tasteless hispanic comedian's act was pouring the "best of his act from the car speakers. I turned up "Thistle & Shamrock" on NPR so thankfully she was oblivious as she chatted away about this and that most of the afternoon.

Big sigh and huge relief as the afternoon meant we were feeling recovered and maybe even a little hungry. The tenants were moved out so we felt we could leave without a gunfight occurring in our absence. We decided to find someplace new to eat. We took a quarter and flipped it to decided which way we would turn at every stop. This started us in a circle and we thought we might end up back home. We ended up on the highway that had no stops so we flipped the quarter at each exit to continue on or get off. This took us along a wonderful back road through Zion and on to the town of Lamar along interstate 80. We passed a very flashy Amish buggy with the young fellow looking his Sunday best. The sky was blue and the area was green and looked so hopeful.

We poked our heads into the restaurants near the interchange. None of the buffets sounded good, we had not been eating for so long with the illness that we felt a buffet would be a bad idea. We settled on a little mom & pop place that we see as we drive along I80, The Cottage Family Restaurant. It was so cute with loads of silly crafty items for sale hung all over the walls. They didn't have a lot for vegetarians but we were satisfied with the veggie burger and side dishes that came with it. The waitress was friendly and chatted with may of the locals that came in for the late afternoon crowd. I nodded to RGBisMe and said, "This is what I hoped for, a place with regulars." Not that we will make a drive up the valley for just a veggie burger but if we find ourselves in the area, we know this place is very pleasant. It was a salve to a rough weekend that preceded it.

As we drove back, I told RGBisME how I would miss him going back to work on Monday. The weekend felt abbreviated with illness and the like. He reminded me that he had taken the day off for Beltane! I was thrilled and we agreed to check the weather and see if we might have the possibility to get out and hike a bit. We chatted about possible new letterboxes to seek and just as I checked my e-mail on the cell phone another new letterbox was introduced in Lewisburg, AdVenture with a Capital V. I called Maga11, excited to hear what it might be like and she read us the description of Kelly & Ben's first letterbox near a cute town playground. It was nice entertainment and we mused on the many things we might check out.

For the first time on about a month, I was able to sleep in my bedroom. The tenants who had lived below my bedroom had a habit of frequently arguing as they headed out on their 3AM paper route. I am a light sleeper and hearing other people's business of who paid what bill and their disturbing opinions of each other left me frequently all together sleepless. I slept like a log with no yelling or doors banging all night long. The cats even behaved and we slept in longer than we intended on Beltane morning. Thank goodness the morning dew had not totally burnt off and we took the kitties outside. All four of us washed our faces in the natural wetness. Highlight of the morning; the first oriole song of the year in a nearby elm. It never fails. I love Beltane.

Our plans changed as the morning went on. A good old friend from Lewistown had something to interest us. GeoZiggy was an avid outdoors man who used to geocache now and then. His geocaches used to be one of the reasons we loved hiking and seeking them before we were able to travel far enough to find a few letterboxes. While he got busy with helping with scouting and other activities, we became enthusiastic with letterboxing. We would still run into each other now and then, always a most affable fellow. We were surprised when we saw a new geocache in Lewistown hidden by him. It was a multi staged cache and was posted Saturday. Here it was Sunday and no local crazies had gone after it. A GeoZiggy cache being ignored!? Folks didn't know what they were shunning! We both decided it was because it boasted a mile hike. That distance was an easy round trip, level, along the Juniata and the old canal. These were our old stompin' grounds so made this our first stop with the kitten enjoying checking out many of the natural features. The walk and cache did not disappoint. We would seek more geocaches if there were more folks like GeoZiggy hiding interesting walk like this. The final location was an old stone culvert, just too cool. We were sad that we were first to find this cache that should have been enjoyed all weekend.

We went on with intentions of surprising a letterboxing friend by finding a passel of her new boxes but a wreck on the interstate shifted our plans. We were able to get a new mystery planted then ended up far from where we intended, near Lewisburg! Time to look for AdVenture with a Capital V. The park was very cute but the kitten was very unhappy with the sounds of children squealing with glee. We enjoyed seeing their cute hand carved stamp and hid it well before traveling on. No photos were taken there but we did go on to check on on of our mystery boxes where he enjoyed stretching his legs and exploring sections along the Mid State Trail. A spring, a trail and many trees offered us sanctuary in Penn's Woods. Kittens don't take to water but this bold fellow actually eschewed a few dry routes and jumped a large puddle at our encouragement. We praised him and his boldness. He even was calm enough to listen to some of his commands and "sat" on a keystone by the spring to have his photo taken.

Our return home was in time to tackle some yard work and celebrate the day by erecting the Maypole in our garden. Both cats came out in the failing light for a few photos. Young had to bite the old on the neck to show who was boss of the outdoors. RGBisMe then whipped up some supper and we enjoyed a late meal. We looked back on the whole weekend with pleasure. The year looks like it offers so much potential and we wish you all felicity as it progresses.

HOO HAAA!

We have been sick this weekend but a real celebratory sight is blessing our lawn (for anyone who knows our latest stresses).

The Best Family

It was so good to get together with my family last week. We missed having Tracdc and Satan with us but they were in our hearts. We had an abbreviated game of croquet and a quick meal before enjoying Ravenboy's photos of Europe and his tour of the mid-west. The limited hours we get to spend together are quite intense with laugher and stories and catching up. It ends up feeling like we pack months worth of visiting into a short amount of time. It is great to reconnect. Much love from our family to yours.

Good Times, Good Friends

What a great weekend to get out and enjoy central PA. We spent the Saturday exploring some of the letterboxes along the York Heritage Rail Trail. This 20 mile trail connects to another 20 miles in Maryland.


RGBisMe and I had the opportunity to take our photograph while standing on opposite sides of the Mason Dixon line. I was born in the south of the line so I stood on the rebel side.


After finding our fourth letterbox of the day, the rain started just as we made it back to our car and went to spend the evening with Toolman Luke and Maga11 who were cat sitting for us for the day.


The next morning we set out early to meet up with Janila (read her blog entry here ) and finally meet Dogs With Wings. Cat in tow, we drove back to the same general area but the day was totally different. We enjoyed lovely diffused morning sunlight for all of our morning letterboxing in the York area.


It was a day of walk a bit, drive a bit. Many of the trails were damps and some sloppy so cat hiking was quite limited. He spent most of his time on RGBisMe's back. This allowed us to keep up with our letterboxing friends.



I really enjoyed Nixon Park and the letterboxes there. Birds were in full song and some snakes were slowly making it out into the sun. Dogs With Wings became Snake Wrangler extraordinaire trying to get them to sun in a place they wouldn't get run over.



Around noon we met up with some of the planters of the letterboxes we had been enjoying. The Royal Fish, E-man, and TNT were a real pleasure to meet. Their enthusiasm to exchange and pick everyone's brains about letterboxing was encouraging.

Looking back on the whole day, it was the visiting that was the highlight. Catching up with old friends and making new ones. I had to smile today when pasting stamps into the Crayola Posse logbook, TNT was our 100th exchange. It has been great meeting so many nice folks.

Goodbye My Gould Friends

For the past 14 years we have had Gouldian Finches in our lives. We bred them and learned a lot about them. We used them as a hands on study in genetics in Ravenboy's homeschooling by tracing their recessive and dominant coloring patterns after the chicks had their first molt.

Our very last little finch died this afternoon. As a chick he had caught his foot in the woven nest and twisted his leg very badly. I had a difficult time releasing him from the nest and permanently lost his toenail and was forever lame. He was one of the 4 chicks we named for the Beatles (Paul died as a a chick). We will miss having these sweet colorful little birds in our family.

Therapy Cat in Training

Currently training to be a Delta Society Pet Partner.

Merde Ravenboy!

Ravenboy will be performing his most challenging role in Twyla Tharp's In the Upper Room tomorrow in Paris. Think of this dear fellow at about 10:00 AM NYC time (4:00pm in Paris).

Things that Grow

Everything from ideas to fungus has been growing in our lives lately. We have been busy with a couple of huge letterboxing projects. Our Crystals Series will have over 20 theme related letterboxes to find along a pretty trail in our "Keystone Keyhole". We are excited to share it soon and hope it's debut will be well received.


Next month we are hosting a local event, "Huntin' Tupperware®". Concerned, flattered, overwhelmed and stressed about the number of letterboxers who have shown an interest in visiting, we will hope for the best. The tiny back room of Panera is really only suited for about 20 people and 55 have signed up to come. We know weather will be the deciding factor but have still broken the event up into different off-sight locations. So that even locals enjoy the day, we hid 8 new letterboxes with a local theme for everyone to go "Huntin' for".


Toolman Luke gave us a really fun gift for Christmas. It is a mushroom growing kit. We had RGBisMe's favorite Hungarian Mushroom Soup last week made with our own home grown mushrooms. Amazing!


Probably the highlight of the winter, our Christmas Cactus has finally decided to bloom. This plant is the momma plant of many shared cuttings in our family. It lived for years in a bathroom in Hegins, PA. After doing some figuring on how long RGBisme's grandmother had owned it and before that, we know this plant is over 100 years old. It refused to bloom for us after we had transplanted it from it's rusty bucket. This year, it found happiness in a glazed pot.