Such a Good Week

This week has been jam packed, ever minute filled and accounted for for months in advance. What lifted our activity to an unforeseen fever pitch was Ravenboy's ruminating a few weeks ago that he might like to come home between his Chicago tour and Met season. That ended up being a window of a few days, in just a few days! We had to shift some plans around to make it a go but it looks like it is going to work out.

A week ago we found ourselves in the local airport meeting the always crescent fresh Mososo Kruppe! They had just held a letterboxing event in Savannah the day before and blew into town for a couple of central PA job fairs. Their schedule was tight so we wanted to at least get a brief visit at the airport before they drove to Clearfield to rest up for the Monday educator's job fair at University Park Campus. We ended up going back to our place and catching up over chips and brews. Good times, great laughs and plenty of cool new ideas are hatched when we get together. They were up for a meal at a family run Korean restaurant and we called it night after some more shared stamps and stuff at home.

The next morning started my week of volunteering at our local public radio station. I can switch my schedule around pretty much as I please so for a couple of weeks out of the year I share 6 hours every morning during the work week to take calls for the pledge drive. This usually goes smoothly and is a really gratifying experience. This week was just a little more difficult with a few of the nights had the influence of staying up late and laughing until my sides ached with Mososo Kruppe and RGBisMe.

I regret not a minute. Each morning was increasingly more difficult to rise but I had the pleasure of looking back on the night before and remembering our antics. Some of the more interesting things we discussed were some of the Easter and Passover toys we had seen in the grocery stores. Did you know there are now Resurrection Eggs and Bag o' Plagues to enhance your child's religious holiday? Amazing. Sadly, not everyone at pledge drive shared my enthusiasm in discussing them. I think this helps disprove the thinking that public radio and related people there are all liberal. I know it disproves that I am ever focused and serious about anything.

Mososo Kruppe were able to visit after their job fair. It was distressing that many of the on spot job offers were going to new grads. They put in their worthy applications and did all they could and hoped for better luck at their second job fair in Bloomsburg the next day. To ease everyone's disappointment I insisted we go to Rotelli and try out their new spring menu items. Some of the new additions were quite good but the most refreshing and exciting drink, a Cucumber Martini, was one of the most vile things I ever tried. I kept trying to justify my purchase and sip at it but it was like trying to drink a cleaning solution. A most interesting piece of artwork was in the men's restroom. Not that I went in to see it!! We couldn't agree on what the green stuff might be. Did I mention it was right over the urinal?

As the middle of the week approached, we knew Mososo Kruppe had probably had about enough of us. They missed their exit on the way back from Bloomsburg and were half way to Clearfield. They had a perfectly good excuse for just going on and getting some rest. Their flight out the next morning was about as early as when I started answering phones during Morning Addition. Instead they turned around and came back for more Crayola Punishment.

We were glad to find out that Bloomsburg had gone somewhat better in how they were received as instructors with potential. Mososo Kruppe changed out of their dress clothes and got into some more casual clothes for one last run at local letterboxes. The one they were most interested in was in a park they had driven past a few times one their way to Clearfield. We had kept them out so long each night that it was much too late to get into this park when they drove by. We made a suggestion to go to the park, driving separately so that they could just go from there to Clearfield. That idea failed miserably because we all agreed how much fun it was visiting in the car en route to the boxes!

Because we had need to come back to State College allowed us to visit Otto's and share a pitcher of Arthur's English Old Ale - yummay! The meals Mososo Kruppe got looked so good; a shepherds pie and spicy chicken wrap were presented to them. RGBisMe and I were most impressed with the vegetarian chili they had added to their spring menu. It packs a little heat and is just right in a cup sized serving.

The evening did draw to an earlier conclusion. After our goodbyes, RGBisMe and I went home and sang sad songs while intermittently doing our bored jiggler dance (in a past blog - trust me). Central PA had become much more dull with the departure of our friends. Bedtime came early.

The alarm came earlier. I was beat. It was hard to answer phones and my last 2 hours that day I gave up the hot seat to pretty much zone out. After I got home, I just stared at the mountains of work I had neglected. Laundry was a like Mt. Kathadin. I think I stared at things a lot for the next couple of days because it wasn't until yesterday morning that I realized how close Ravenboy's arrival was supposed to be.

RGBisMe and I started at 7 AM and worked non-stop on cleaning every room in the house until 4 PM. We stopped for a bite to eat and then were back at it, outside in the yard until the sun was down. Everything looks great! Butterfly bushes are trimmed back, laundry is done and put away, and we have a fully stocked pantry and even a few meals pre-made to allow more time for visiting. The only shock was to come in and see how many emails and phone messages we had missed. More things to do and we promise we will get back to you all soon!

One email alerted us to one of our letterboxes being hidden in a tree that bees had taken over. That needed attention! The morning was to be cold and drizzly. As our tired bodies crashed into bed we agreed to rise early and bike out to move the box. The seekers said it was too dicey to even try to move the box with a stick so we took a bug netting for the face, a net to scoop the box, heavy gloves and lots of padding.
RGBisMe was chosen as the bee whisperer (visual dramatazation sen to the right) because of how well he did with that cow (in a past blog - trust me). We snuck up to the tree as close as we could from the trail. Neither of us could see any activity. He headed up toward it and stopped, lifted his bee mask and stared the tree up and down. As he got closer, I realized he was close enough that I couldn't ask if he could see any without yelling back to me so I just watched. He kept inching closer, lifting his bee face guard and sizing up the entire tree. I jumped as he bumped a limb in front of the tree. I couldn't see any activity but he stopped for a while. Eventually I saw him make a decision and grab the box with an even movement and start back down. It was a relief to see him moving easily toward me without a black cloud of bees following him. I asked if they were moving around slowly or what. He said he never saw any! Whew! We gladly moved the box a few hundred feet up trail to an old stump that bees will never check out. Thanks to JFA and family for looking out for our boxes. They are some of the kindest folks sending us newsy updates on finding our latest creations. I can only think of one of our puzzle clues that have ever even slowed them down; brainy and nice! Who could ask for anything more?

This week has drawn to a close and I didn't get half of the things done I wanted to do.I just realized I have to burn a CD of songs before Ravenboy gets here. I missed some things like the Outdoor Expo downtown that friends were working at that won't occur again for at least another year. I had to pass on some really great hikes (Quehanna!!) because I just didn't have the energy (or time). More fun for the future but at least home is ready for the boy and no one will get zapped by bees at one of our boxes. I look back on it all with a full heart and cannot regret a moment.

Ballet-o-mane Alert

Coming right on the heals of Nancy Ellison's latest coffee table book In Grand Style: The Glory of the Metropolitan Opera is what you might call a companion book In Classic Style: The Splendor of American Ballet Theatre.

This oversized, deluxe volume celebrating the exquisite spectacle that embodies the excellence of American Ballet Theatre, recognized by Congress as "America’s national ballet company," presents the unfolding beauty, grace, agility, and sheer force of its most recent productions. Distinguished photographer Nancy Ellison depicts such enduring ballet classics as La Bayadère, Othello, The Sleeping Beauty, Manon, Romeo and Juliet, Swan Lake, and Giselle, and captures the virtuosity of such unforgettable dancers as Angel Corella, Nina Ananiashvili, Alessandra Ferri, Julio Bocca, and Ethan Stiefel. ABT’s artistic director, Kevin McKenzie, has written an illuminating essay about this preeminent company. The combination of dynamic bravura dancing in dreamlike settings will be a sheer delight to ballet lovers everywhere.

It is not due to ship until May so you have plenty of time to put in you pre-orders. Ravenboy got a preview peek at a limited copy that a friend borrowed from the publisher. and sent a few sample photos that he is in.

A couple of Romeo & Juliet photos seamed together allows Ravenboy to have a twin on the stage.

Midsummer Night's Dream Rustics. Gumby boy is on the far left and then crouching and facing the camera in the photo on the right. He is in a shaggy wig.

Equinox

As a celebration of the equinox, we had purchased tickets to one of our favorite bands that started it's tour in NYC on Thursday. Ravenboy was back in town for a week of rehearsals before his company travels to the west coast. He was happy to be able to join us.

We had some business to take care of in the morning but met Ravenboy for lunch and gave him his ticket. He had to work until just an hour before the concert and was going to rush uptown to meet us after he showered at... The Equinox (of all places on that special day, ok it's not that funny, he showers there almost everyday.) We knew he would be cutting it close but he thought he could make it in no time when he learned the concert hall was just off of Times Square.

After sitting in the sun in Union Square, we walked Ravenboy back up to work and then on to his place to drop some stuff off. We trotted down to Utrecht, right across from Halloween Adventure, to try to take care of some more business but failed. Back to Union Square, we caught an express up to UWS to check on a couple of our letterboxes (more on that below). The journey between our two UWS letterboxes was intersected by one of our all time favorites, Harry's Burritos! It was too chilly for outdoor seating to have opened up but the jolly maître de sat us in a cozy two seater where we could people watch all of Columbus Avenue as we noshed on chips and salsa. It was just like old times having a meal at Harry's. I swear I am going to get up the nerve to take a photo of that bizarre lenticular photo of Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis and a riding crop someday. It's almost like shrine in there and I will be crushed if they ever remove it.

We wandered downtown to where the concert would be. Times Square was absolutely unnavigatable! Almost everyone was stopping to take photos and it made for a human traffic jam. We sought refuge in Heartland Brewery. It was just a block off of Times Square and packed. The long bar that bragged of many exciting micro brews was packed 3 deep. We struggled to the far end, I laid my hand (clutching a $20) on the corner of the bar and we got served within 5 minutes of entering the place! Things had been like that all day for us; each time we entered a business the staff saw to our needs with extreme speediness. It was an extremely satisfying experience to have had so many potentially stressful errands to run behind us. We raised an equinox glass and darted next door to the concert.

Ravenboy made it with 20 minutes to spare. He said the express trains were super speedy and I saw why he had been unconcerned about making it to the show on time. We hugged and visited and went down to our seats in the front row. Granted, we were well right of center but this concert was less about the visual show than the music. EVOC describes itself as "a powerhouse five-piece band, a string quartet, and two outstanding vocalists—brings the towering emotion and timeless musicality of opera into the 21st century." You have to hear them to believe that they are better than rock, better than opera. Truly, the whole is greater than the sum of the parts you are imagining. By the end of the show, my cheeks were wet from bawling at the beauty and passion of the vocalists and my throat was raw from cheering. I had never imagined screaming "More Puccini!" at a rock concert but it happened.

A brief time was left for visiting and catching up with Ravenboy that night because he had to work in the morning. We all laughed over chai, he showered me with birthday goodies and then I cut his hair at midnight. We crashed and slept soundly in his lovely brownstone building. The day was equal to the night and both were pretty near perfect.

Thinking back on letterboxing, we did find Miss Moon's Poor Clark Kent. It straight up admits to having no log but the placement and carve are worth the visit even to those purists who will not consider it a "letterbox" proper. RGBisMe hammed it up at the location (only one of 4 like it left in Manhattan) but the photo looks more like he is being abducted by aliens than turning into Superman.

It was pleasing that Imagine was doing well. Not to be ungrateful but I wish the person that had swapped out the last logbook for some scraps of paper would have offered to send it to us or just told us the log needed to be replaced. We would have paid postage or gotten Ravenboy to do it within the week. I love seeing the myriad signature stamps and I have specific logs for each letterbox.

We also checked on Peter the Fisherman. The box was not hidden under a ledge behind a wall but was hanging in the bush near it. It probably got hung up when the last letterboxer tried to replace it. That made it a challenge to find as we were groping around two feet lower than where the box was hanging. In the 3 months that it has been hidden, it has managed a couple visitors a month. Sadly, the ziplock bag for the logbook was already gone. We swapped it for the one the stamp was in and will replace that as soon as we can. Again, a heads up would have been nice. We had no idea a bag was missing from this box.

Through a series of discussions, the Crayola Posse have concluded that our expectations of quality control and respect are different than mainstream letterboxers (or at least those who are more vociferous). We promise to continue to treat any letterboxes we find with the utmost respect by handling them in ways that will insure their integrity. This includes having our victory celebratory snack well away from the letterbox and handling the box without food on our hands. We will also do our best to contact the placer if there seems to be any problems or concerns with the box, it's contents or it's location. We would hope the same from others but have concluded that we can not expect it. Because we feel the direction letterboxing is taking is markedly different from how we wish to participate, we will choose different outlets for many of our personal creations. Some of our creations will remain as letterboxes, many others will be similar and will still have the option of being logged as letterboxes. The main difference will be in our expectations of how they are created, presented and handled. Most are now works in progress. We are very excited in how they make us feel like we are stepping out of the darkness and into the light.

My Anniversary

I had these photos all ready to blog about my anniversary and life got just too full to do it. Ravenboy took us out to a super cool restuarant called Jekyll & Hyde's.



It was like Chuck E. Cheese for adults. The waitstaff and hosts all interact and there are little shows throughout the meal. They came around offering fun shots and we tried a couple of them. Ravenboy extracted some directly from his Dad's neck. I liked the other flavor better because I am not a big passion fruit fan.

The meal was good but the decor and shows are what made this place so much fun. It was a challenge to find the bathrooms down a hallway of seemingly just rows and rows of books. Sometimes the waitstaff and some of the actors seemed to try to get in each other's way and there was some underlying tension. It made for a spooky evening on a different level. We stayed to watch as many shows as we could before saying goodbye to our new friends and heading off to more good times.

Ravenboy has a favorite hangout called Fat Cat's. It's a chill pool hall that features live jazz bands. The store cat and dog are always around if you look hard enough for them. If the pool tables are all taken, you can always play a little shuffleboard, ping-pong or chess while you wait.
Our evening there started off with a laugh as the bouncer was methodically taking IDs at the entrance. Most of the clientele at this point of the evening was NYU students. When RGBisMe handed the man his ID he looked up and just cracked up. He said, "I should have just looked at you, man, Get in there."

The pool tables were all full so Ravenboy got us some drinks and we grabbed a shuffleboard table. I started off in rare form by trying to shoot the little skeet like disc down the table, up-side down. Ravenboy kindly set me straight.

The store dog made his rounds and we finally got a pool table. It was parents against son, then son and mother against father and a final game of guys against gal. If it weren't for Ravenboy scratching on his final 8 ball shots, he would have aced it all. What mattered the most was that we had a blast before were went back to Ravenboy's and crashed. It was the best anniversary celebration ever.

Central Pennsylvania Hiking in March

Most of the letterboxes we went looking for were either frozen into place, under a foot (that's 12 inches) of snow, or under so much ice we couldn't even say for sure that we had found the right location.

Hiking on trails that were solid sheets of ice were the most challenging. That and snow that was packed so hard and then had glazed over. That is what we found this weekend in the northern third of Pennsylvania.

We visited Friday with Tracdc and Satan. She was lucky enough to get a photo of a bald eagle and it's nest along the Juniata River.

Today we found more snow, more glazed trails and a wonderful 4+ mile hike to a find a local geocache. The trails around Shingletown Gap were just lovely. We walked in the valley by the stream and hopped some rocks ridge top. Hill Climber multicache is a perfect sample of great hiking within miles of my home.

Holey Turnpike!

What type of adventure can one get into on a day where it is pouring down rain in icy torrents? Exploring abandoned tunnels along a section of the old PA Turnpike! Last week we were invited to join in the hunt for a difficult geocache in the abandoned Sidleing Hill tunnel.

The history of the area is interesting. When the Pennsylvania Turnpike opened in 1940 the four lanes of traffic narrowed to two lanes at each of seven tunnels. By the 1960’s, four of the seven tunnels on the original Turnpike received a second tube to accommodate heavier traffic: Allegheny Mountain, Tuscarora Mountain, Kittatinny Mountain, and Blue Mountain. The other three tunnels were bypassed and abandoned. This adventure starts near the eastern portal of the abandoned Sideling Hill Tunnel.

The now abandoned section has an unofficial bike trail that goes through it. We used a lot of the information for the Pike to Bike website. Google and Wiki searches will get you more interesting tidbits if you can't get enough.

Our goals for the day were four geocaches; PA Turnpike Cache #1, PA Turnpike Cache #2 "The Cache Down Under", PA Turnpike Cache #3 "The HoJo Cache" and PA Turnpike Cache #4 "The Four Way Stop" . The most difficult one, PA Turnpike Cache #2 "The Cache Down Under", was the one many of us had our sights set on for logging as milestone finds.

RGBisMe and I arrived near the HoJo cache bright and early before meeting up with the good geocachers of the day. We had some letterboxing in mind and didn't want those plans to get in the way of everyone else's.

On our way to the tunnel, we stopped and found PA Turnpike Cache #3 "The HoJo Cache" leaving a surprise for Redtailforester when he stopped by later. It was very rainy on and off all morning but we were able to log into this cache during a dry moment.

Back onto our bikes, we went off to take a peek into the tunnel before meeting up with the rest. This is when we planted our new letterbox, Holey Turnpike. Now you might recognize that name, and it's not just because it's cute. Jbzfarm had an awesome letterbox planted along the turnpike called Holy Turnpike! We need to give them proper credit for doing a little spin off of the name and make sure to mention that in the clue. Gotta give credit where credit is do, no? Might there be soon to come, a series along the entire thoroughfare called "Wholly Turnpike"?

The whole crew of adventurers included 2GuysNamedMoe, Redtailforester, feralgyrl, Angrist, HolyCowboys, George1, carels, RGBisMe and myself. We were so honored to be invited along for this milestone adventure. Everyone who came to hunt this cache brought ideas and tools and expertise with them. I knew that the day would not end without finding this cache and it was great to see how we all came together to tackle it.

Exploring high and low, the tunnel was just amazing. Success did not evade this group and we all reconvened to sign the log, pop the cork and celebrate. What a good time sharing snack and celebratory drinks. We snapped many photos. Congrats to The Moe's 600th, George1's 600th, HolCowboy's 400th, Carels' 4500th milestone finds! We celebrated finding a round number of "things" ourselves.

One the way out, I noticed that lack of lunch and much celebration made for some more interesting adventures. Biking in this tunnel was challenge enough, very disorienting in the dark. Some cachers were game to take on our WOM clue for the new letterbox and stopped to stamp in before heading out to find a cache just on the outside of the tunnel. Very sporting of them.

I wasn't smart like feralgyrl to head on to the port-a-jane. I hung around to log into the geocache all the while having to pee like crazy. Carels had gone exploring up the one bank so I climbed the opposite side of the tunnel to "find a tree." Just as I got to the top level of the tunnel, Carels pops his head out from the old structure on the second level. Too cool! I quickly "found a tree" and ran around behind to find him and HolyCowboys inside exploring where the giant exhaust fans for the tunnel were. They helped me through a broken window of a door and Carels showed us how you could walk above the roof of the roadway for the entire length of the tunnel. George1 snapped a photo of me sticking my head down through an exhaust vent way above the ground level and Carels took a photo of me and HolyCowboys by the giant fans.

I think it was because the tune of Raiders of the Lost Ark started in my head or that HolyCowboys and Carels magically turned into Nicholas Cage and Jon Voigt in National Treasure that I found myself exiting the second level over a deep chasm. I couldn't see the bottom but Nicolas Cage told me to be aware that there weren't any stair but just put my leg and brace it to the left on the ledge. HolyCageBoys has legs that go on forever as opposed to my 26" inseam. I committed to the decent at the same moment I realized that strategy wouldn't work. I relied entirely on my upper body to carefully lower myself along the old rusty hand rail for 10 - 15 feet. Nicolas Cowboy was there to spot me or cheer on my plummet to death if I fell and I think Carels-Voigt was singing another John Williams movie score unless this was all in my champagne bubbled brain. All I am sure of is that the folks from ground level were a little surprised to see the 3 of us emerge from a place where they had seen no stairs to go up.

The party continued back at the trail head with a lovely cake brought by the Moes. Sugar and wine and beer and champagne, we all needed some lunch enroute to the other end of the tunnel for the final geocache in the series. The weather was quite rainy all day and torrents of water poured down the way some of us approached the location of the cache.

This would have been a miserable day if it had been shared with any other type of folks. Those who love a good laugh, sharing thoughtful ideas, stories of great hikes are the best kind of people to hang out with. Thanks for sharing your milestone day with us peeps.

We all took a bunch of photos. I will try to add more below this.

Carels hit 4500!!

George1 celebrates in his own way.

A milestone kinda day.

Carels makes the moment special.

Me and my bike under a cold air vent.

RGBisMe having a good time!

Hucklebuckle.

Birding on Lower Trail

Maga11 and I have been getting together regularly but not everything is something to put in my blog. I took some nice photos of our outing yesterday but also have to share what happened earlier in the week. The heavy rains meant I would probably have extra work with flooding and use of a shop vac. I wasn't looking forward to dealing with the needs of other tennents and their basmenet apartments so I asked he if she could come and get me away from the place for a few hours. We had a nice day of shopping, running errands,lunch of hot & sour soup with hot tea, art supplies and topped it off with shopping coffee at Wegman's.Wegman's is one place where we can get the brand of teas that we like. Before she left, I had to drop off some things with RGBisMe and asked if she wanted to stop in at my apartment at all. She said she would have to because she had to get her tea out. I mistakenly thought she had to pee, she meant the Wegman's tea she had purchased was in my bag of groceries. Now a pit stop is sometimes refered to as "getting the tea out."

The flooding came and the work associated with it also but the next day was quiet pretty. The swollen Juniata swirling against it's banks didn't stop Maga11 and I from getting out in the sunshine. We hiked a couple of miles on the Water Street section of the Lower Trail. The snow pack had not disappeared from most of the trail and the sun made it tricky footing for the most part. We only ran into one other walker during our couple of hours on the cold and slushy rail trail.

It was early for a lot of the cheerful birds I enjoy on their spring migration but we managed to see some regulars. Other than the letterbox we were in search of, Yellow Throated Warbler, we also saw and heard some Pileated and Downy Woddpeckers and a Kingfisher. It made us look forward to spring and getting out more often. Thanks for brightening up part of a dreary week Maga11!

I'm Still Standin'

I have been busy and ill and involved and distracted and working and creating and not blogging about it. I am fine, still standing and reveling in various life's aspects, dedicated to challenging the Earth's collective imagination. If you haven't figured it out, I am still in pursuit of true indigo.

January and February were great months filled with a lot of fun. Ravenboy came home for a week in between winter storms on the direct bus from Chinatown to home. It was crazy just to pick him up across town and drop him off at the same location. It made for quite a wonderful and mellow week before he had to get back to work.

Another real highlight for me was that Ravenboy used a real live tax preparer this year. I was so relieved not to have to figure out how to deal with all of this extra paperwork (royalties from PBS, workman's comp, self-employment tax, etc).

RGBisMe and I have been chompin' at the bit waiting for the snow to melt for long enough to check out some of Archaeobirder's new letterboxes. We did sneak in finding his Don't Squeeze the Charmin - very cute carve!

Inspired by Ravenboy's latest body art acquisition, I have been refining the design I intend to get as a tattoo. He worked for over 4 years making sure it was something he wanted. I am close to putting the final touches on a design based on a piece of artwork that is almost 300 years old. Terribly exciting for me.

We have been cooking a lot out of a great cookbook, Veganomicon. It has recipes that have been tasted and tested so that they are at a point where you don't feel you have to change a thing about them. It has an amazing chili verde that I can not get enough of! NAVS annual Vegetarian Summerfest is quite local this year for those of you who might be interested in such things.

We started reconnecting with a friendly local group of hikers, bikers and geocachers. It was so nice to not have a lot of expectations when getting together with these people. They have been so excited to have us join them. It's a relief to have contacts who regularly like to hike and bike locally.

I had the flu and survived.

I have been tweaking how I approach the whole letterboxing hobby so that it suits my needs and conflicts minimally with others'. I finally got my premium membership confusion on Atlas Quest taken care of. I have transferred many of our letterboxing clues to a new website. I have been fixing clues that were in error. I have been retiring letterboxes that will not be replaced. I have been creating a new letterboxes, one that is stocked with smaller related boxes for finders to take away with them (if they so choose) to plant.

I invested my birthday money in a guerilla art project to transform Bratz dolls into people I know and photograph their stories. To answer a question that I know one person will certainly ask me, no the dolls are not images of any letterboxers.

This weekend I am planning to join a group of adventurers in exploring the abandoned PA Turnpike tunnels. The exciting part is we are being included in this hunt to mark some of the geocachers' milestone finds. Some will be finding their 400th some their 600th. It got me curious to how many things we had found and I added them all up. It turned out that we had just hit a milestone too so we will be popping a champaign cork with even more enthusiasm this weekend. Cheers!

R Valentine?

moar kittehs

R-e-s-p-e-c-t

I want to start by making it clear that I have never felt that any of my letterbox clues, images nor the boxes themselves have ever been grossly disrespected, intentionally or not. That is not where I am going with this.

When someone has a history of enrichment, bringing high standards or inspiring quality their is a name that should be treated with respect. In the past time of letterboxing there are names of letterboxes and their creations that are respected. Regionally we are going to recognize a few different people who have contributed to letterboxing in a way that their competence is respected. It is a rare individual who is recognized inter/nationally for their contributions. Although I do not feel that anyone should be held up as a god, I think that recognizing that their name, creations and clues deserve respect. I think that respect can be reflected in the way we treat their name, clues, imprinted stamp images, location of and their letterboxes.

I admit to having done stupid thoughtless things in my life and I try to learn from them. An example is that I now I do my best to try to wait until after I have stamped into a letterbox before I pull out a snack. Even though a hike might have been exhausting, I know eating away from the box location will give it a better chance of being enjoyed by others. I try to respect the effort of each artist/creator/planter and when I fail, I try to learn for next time.

My disappointment has been generated by an incident I have become aware of where a special creation of a highly respected letterboxer was photographed at a child's birthday party. My imagination races with images of the dearly crafted logbook's entries (dating back over 6 years) being smudged with purple frosting from a Hannah Montanna birthday cake. The care taken in choosing the paper alone for the creation of the logbook does not deserve to be handled with greasy potato chip hands. I worry that whole box was passed around like a party favor, it's delicate stamp being mashed into logbooks as iced tea might be again spilled by an exurberant birthday celebrant. Obviously it was special enough to snap a photo of it and post it and mention it by name on the event page. My dismay is that it wasn't special enough to be respected and taken to a table that didn't have drinks on it. I question why a special letterbox with such a legacy and limited log space would be brought to any event. I had left it in a well crafted letterbox in the wild to reflect how I had found it and give it the special treatment it deserved.

My hope is that others will have a chance to enjoy this hitch hiker that I felt was very special. I hope that when it is released into the wilds again that no critters will smell any tantalizing food scents on it and try to eat it. I hope that after being at an event that the pages of the log book still have space for others to stamp in. Posting this photo at a child's birthday party does not reflect the respect any Legerdemaine box deserves if you ask me.

Groundhog Day

What might compel us to consider taking part in the annual trek to Gobbler's Knob? Held by some as the most insipid of holidays, Groundhog Day is one of my favorites. Pennsylvania's own famous weather predicting groundhog, Punxsutawney Phil, seems like an odd icon for a holiday to be formed around. It's said that the holiday stems from the ancient belief that hibernating creatures were able to predict the arrival of springtime by their emergence.

The German immigrants, known as Pennsylvania Dutch, brought the tradition to America in the 18th century. They had once regarded the badger as the winter-spring barometer. But the job was reassigned to the groundhog after importing their Candlemas traditions to the U.S. Candlemas commemorates the ritual purification of Mary, 40 days after the birth of Jesus.

Candlemas is one of the four "cross-quarters" of the year, occurring half way between the first day of winter and the first day of spring. Traditionally, it was believed that if Candlemas was sunny, the remaining six weeks of winter would be stormy and cold. But if it rained or snowed on Candlemas, the rest of the winter would be mild. If an animal "sees its shadow," it must be sunny, so more wintry weather is predicted:

If Candlemas be fair and bright,
Winter has another flight.
If Candlemas brings clouds and rain,
Winter will not come again.

What's not to love? You have to celebrate the fact that day light hours are noticeably longer. Badger, gopher, groundhog, marmot, hedgehog or what ever, they are a cute way of recognizing the end of hibernation is near.

In 1994 we met Tracdc to attend Punxsutawney's Groundhog Day festivities. It was the year the town helped the video game Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (with the shadow-like demi character of Knuckles) debut and the year after the famed Groundhog Day movie. Ravenboy was nine years old and totally addicted to his Sega video games. Sonic the Hedgehog was his favorite. I remember a rap he made at the time:

Sonic and me are friends
We like to play to the day's end
Sonic and me
Especially

I think you can catch the general feeling that we were a family that was a bit more sedentary than we are now. There is no parking at Gobbler's Knob proper and none of us were up to hiking back country roads at 2:00 AM. We caught one of the many shuttle busses before 3:00 AM. It was about 12° that chilly February night as we stood for hours near where Punxsutawney Phil was in his cozy little temporary enclosure. Tracdc reminded me that the cold effected her asthma and that her inhaler froze. We had to go into a nearby building to thaw it out so that she could use it.

Eventually the marmot was pulled from his hut and made his prediction, an obvious one. I then remember waiting in the line for the returning shuttle bus for what felt like the predicted final 6 weeks of winter. When we got back to town we grabbed some watery hot chocolate at a Burger King. Ravenboy's hands were so cold he spilled his hot drink all over my legs. After the initial burn it felt really good and I thanked him.
The call of Gobbler's Knob is strong this year. The holiday is on a weekend and the crowds will be fierce but that hasn't deterred my interest. I called yesterday to ask how many folks actually trek to Gobbler's Knob. The fellow at the Community Center said only a few young people did it, most catch the shuttle busses. I confirmed that the roads to the Knob were eventually out of town and that flashlights might be recommended. I asked what route he suggested to walk and he seemed to draw a blank. Something tells me that he has never made the actual "trek" to Gobbler's Knob.

We know the weather is supposed to be dicey until midday Friday but it is not until then that when we are planning on heading out. There are a few activities that sound like a lot of fun in town, including a scavenger hunt. We will also be taking a huge cut out of Punxsutawney Phil to wave on a stick (see below) so try to pick us out us on the sometimes national morning news coverage of the event. It will be early, Phil makes his prediction about 7:25 AM. After that I will go back into hibernation. updated information on our trip in comments

Here are some fun links for those of you who can't make the trek this year:
Visit PA :: Grounhog Day
Groundhog Day 2008 Schedule of Events
Punxsutawney Phill's page
Punxsutawney's Page
2007 Groundhog Crossing - a cross country adventure trying to reunite the groundhog with his shadow
2008 Groundhog Duel - Groundhog and Shadow's continued adventures and battle
Plush - A tabloid style blog dishing dirt on celebs Groundhog and Shadow
PA Highways Groundhog Day page

Resort Proposal in Central PA

Although it's too early to purchase those online season passes, you might want to read about the proposal for Holy Land PA. Notice that they liken their access to major attractions and rides to Knoebel's Amusement Resort. Perhaps this will open up a new venue for central PA letterbox gatherings.

I assume it might be like the similar Holy Land Experience in Florida. A parody has been created on this website.