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.

Neato!

What could be better than an awesome veggie burrito? Eating it with a bunch of letterboxers and getting a stamp for it! A few little obstacles jumped in the way of our making it to New Cumberland but we dodged them left and right. Snowfall that was not scheduled to arrive until much later in the evening made an appearance and asked to be noticed about the time we went out the door. RGBisMe and I could not be deterred. We had to pick up Maga11 and DaBraLady and we had to finally get a wedding gift into the hands of Archaeobirder and LitChcik.
We got on the road after picking up the ladies and the snow cleared up in time for us to get a good look at an eagle's nest along the Juniata River. No one was home as far as we could see but it was obviously a nest of a few years in the making. It was so big!

We made a stop in Dauphin to find 4Rhine's Torchlight letterbox. After choosing the wrong road to explore we reoriented and set out on foot to find this little gem. It was cold but no new snow was on the ground so the four of us had no problem walking the letterbox back to stamp up in the warm car. It was so much fun to sit and chat about letterboxing with Maga11 and DaBraLady. We know that they usually think we are crazy for the amount of time and effort we put into this hobby so having them along for the hunt was very special for us.

The next stop was Cucumber Land. RGBisMe and I had put this letterbox out a few weeks prior to the event but Maga11 and DaBraLady wanted a chance to find it. It was so much fun to watch them out on one of their first hunts without us seeking with them. As we got closer to the box, we ran into the 4Rhines! Hugs and handshakes were shared and RGBisMe and I stood and chatted with them as Maga11 and DaBraLady continued on to the box. We told Fiona how much we had enjoyed finding Torchlight and that it was in very good shape.

As we caught up with the 4Rhines, we realized that we could see Maga11 and DaBraLady had veered off course from where we had hidden the box. It hadn't been so very long but Stonefly asked me a good question, "How long do you let someone look in the wrong place?" We started to discuss this and I decided that it was only cruel to let them stumble in the cold. I took a step to tell them to walk a bit more to their left when I saw that they had found it. Excellent! Nothing feels better than a success without someone hand holding you to the letterbox. They did just fine and didn't wander around anymore than we would have if we hadn't know exactly where it was.

Off to Neato Burrito where I ate half of a wonderful black bean burrito with salsa verde. We took the no utensils challenge but shocked the restaurant staff when we sent back the plastic fork and knife they served with our burritos. What was the good of giving us forks and knives that we would just throw in the garbage unused?! We saved wasting them on us; we don't need no stinkin' utensils!

The next few hours were spent in a blur. We gave Archaeobirder his belated wedding gift and many people kept thinking that it was some type of special letterbox. I was happy to get to meet Catlady8 and the Big Bad Wolfes but I never got to visit with many other friends. I had made it a point to watch "O Brother Where art Thou" the night before just to sit and discuss it with Indigo Vulture but all I managed to do was wish him a safe trip home. I spent about the same amount of time chatting with Pink Panther and Lotus, and even less with others. There just is never enough time.

Through all of this I never even sat with Maga11 nor DaBralady. It was near the end of the afternoon I checked in with DaBraLady whose eyes had glazed over a bit. Oh my, to be a new comer at a letterboxing get together is even more overwhelming and I had forgotten. We said our good byes and shared stories on the way home in the car. Having not spent much time together at the restaurant allowed us totally different interactions. It was fun hearing what each other had experienced during our time but feet from each other.

Thank you Hunter Jumper and PA Paddler for coordinating this mini meet and the wonderful event stamps. An indoor get together is just what was called for in central PA at this time of year. Burritos and Other Delights can be viewed at this link. Please add to this album if you took any at the Neato Burrito mini meet or on your trip to it.

Geocaching on Nittany Mountain

It's just 1pm and I am sitting in my warm apartment blogging away but earlier this morning I was hiking on Nittany. When I woke to single digit temperatures I never thought that I would be doing something like that but some obstinate spirit possessed me.

A new geocache was approved on Nittany Mountain this morning. I compared the coordinates of where it was to where my letterboxes are. I try to mark all of my letterboxes with my gps for reasons like this. I took time and put the info on google maps and can look at where they all are at an easy glance. This allowed me to also put in where the new geocache was. It looked like it was 100 feet from my one box. That concerned me because there is a thick stand of little pines right where the cache could be and geocachers might have poor satellite reception when seeking the cache. I really didn't want them to find this box and moving it would be tricky because it's location is critical in a clue to finding a bonus box in it's series.

I looked at the clue to the new cache and looked at the thermometer. Brrrrr, no way. A letterboxing pal I was chatting with online asked what I was doing today. I told him, "Staying home and cooking vegan food." Having put it into type, that made it so. No more thinking of hiking in the cold windy weather. No more being tempted by the long abandoned call of FTF a geocache but I had to check the log just one last time to see if anyone had found it. No finders but a note from someone saying, "If it wasn't so cold, I would go and get it." AUGH! That did it! I had to go.

At 10 am, I was throwing food and stuff into my pack. RGBisMe called and I told him my plan. I grabbed my bike and started the bitter and grueling trek to the trail head. While huffing and puffing, I had plenty of time to ask myself why I was doing it. I wondered if it was just to be first and if someone else had logged in first if I would be disappointed. I was clear on that, I wouldn't be disappointed because the call of FTF was spurring me into checking on it's location. It was also throwing me into another extreme weather adventure on the mountain. I had hiked it years earlier in a hurricane. I am not sure why when the weather turns foul that I am compelled to tackle the mountain. Hiking it in good weather is really a challenge enough.

Now don't all of you letterboxing geobashers® start in on me. I know I have a problem with getting the call of the FTF out of my system. Geocaching in this area years ago started it. Our posse, Deetylong, Diggles & Liggles and others would dash to a cache to try to beat each other as first finders. Deetylong was truly king before he left the area. This abhorrent twist on the geocaching game sadly gave many newbie geocache locals the impression that was the thing to do. An older couple we knew through my work who were interested in finding out more about geocaching came to a local event, much like our Huntin' Tupperware last year. At that time they had not settled on a trail name but they soaked all of the information up, including the call of FTF. When we speak of the now geo-famous carels, we usually say that we were responsible for creating a monster.

Carels came to mind this morning as I started up Mount Nittany Road, there was a yellow Hummer like theirs parked at the bottom of the hill. If anyone else in town would be foolish enough to brave what was 11° when I left the house, it would be them. They had gone on crazy hikes to find geocaches by bushwhacking for miles, fording rushing rivers, scaling sheer volcanic rock faces. Crazy and amazing people, they are also some of the most positive and kind folks we have ever met.

I was all warmed up for my hike from biking when I reached the trail head. There it was, the yellow hummer and carels sitting inside with the heater running. I waved to them and they jumped out into the cold to greet me. I asked if they were just starting out, waiting for someone or if they had already been successful. They had just returned from being first finders. I congratulated them and told them about someone logging that it was too cold to go for the cache was what goaded me into coming out. They laughed and we swapped a few stories before I hit the trail.

I had no problem with making the hike even knowing I would not be first and the hike alone was pleasant. The snow under feet my made menacing noises as it can in super cold temperatures. I started up the north face but the cache was on the south side of the mountain. The cold weather kept most people from the trails even though there were no classes on MLK jr holiday. One lone hiker on the south face passed me going in the other direction. He sure was a hottie and added to the beautiful scenery.

As I got within a tenth of a mile of the cache, I was getting a little concerned about how close my letterbox was going to be. As I approached the blue side trail and tight group of pines I checked my gps to see how much farther it was to the cache. If people started to look behind logs and things at this point I would be in trouble. The gps said I had over 250 feet to go to the cache so I breathed a sigh of relief. It was well down the trail away from my closest letterbox.

So, mission accomplished. My toes had gotten a little cold at one point during my ascent but once I hit the level they seemed to warm up. I kept my cell phone close to a hot spot on my body in case of an emergency but it looked like I would make it home in time for lunch. Do I keep going 250 more feet to find a geocache that has already been found or head back to my bike? Lead on gps, let's see where that cache actually is.

The cache was placed in a very tasteful manner where nothing will be damaged if the seekers have common sense and good satellite reception. It was a cammo taped Lock n Lock packed with McToys and a used deck of kids cards. A geocoin that carels had left was on top but who knows when I would be able to put it into another cache. I took nothing, stamped into the log and left a coupon good for one hand carved stamp before replacing the cache.

As I returned to the trail head and my bike I mused as to why I had left the coupon. We originally started leaving them as trade items in geocaches to try to get a few cachers to try some of our letterboxes. Of the ten or so RGBisMe and I have carved for geocachers, not one has shown any interest in letterboxing. It's not that they don't know about it. It's not that the hikes are too hard for some of them like carels. They even have some brain ticklers that are required to solve some of their coordinates so it's not like all of our clues would be too difficult for them. I know Archaeobirder has also geocached so I conclude that although the hobbies are similar, there must be some elements lacking in letterboxing that do not entice local geocachers.

I think it is fine that both hobbies currently peacefully coexist and I will hope that they will continue to. I will keep my finger lightly on the pulse of the geocaching community so that I can stay aware of how my letterboxes might be effected. Today a geocache got me out on the trail. I am glad for it.

Études

On June 3rd, American Ballet Theatre will have a revival performance of Études. The company has not performed the piece since 2000, Études is set to music by Knudaage Riisager, after Carl Czerny, and features costumes by Rolf Gerard and lighting by Nananne Porcher. The ballet was given its World Premiere by the Royal Danish Ballet in 1948 and was danced by ABT for the first time in 1961. The revival of Études will be staged for ABT by Susan Jones. The ballet will share the program with the new Tharp ballet for seven performances through June 7.

Many of you have kindly asked how Ravenboy is doing. His MRI came back showing very little tearing of his ligaments. Between his doctors, PTs and company staff, they will coach him in a way to minimize future tendonitis. At this point, he is in no pain and building back strength. This past week was his first full week back to work, they were kind in not giving him a heavy rehearsal schedule. He gave us a call yesterday to say that he has been cast in the first cast of Études. He is cast so amazingly well, a showcased role, that principal dancer Herman Cornejo is his understudy. We all agreed that being cast in such a part is wonderful incentive to heal up well.

Thank all of you for your love, thoughts and prayers during a time that was quite distressing for this family.

Ironton Rail Trail

We spent this past weekend visiting Tracdc and managed to sneak in a few letterboxes between birthday celebrations. We met up with Biker Chick and explored the Ironton Rail Trail. The level walking was just right for Tracdc who is finishing up building strength after her October foot surgery. It was another fine day for being out and, after the warmth of the week, the trail was muddy in most spots. We all came away with a little dirt on our pants, some more than others, but we also acquired many lovely carving impressions in our logbooks. Seven new ones in all.

One of the boxes we found in the open and scattered around. Everything was there except the log book but Biker Chick had a replacement to offer. We packaged it and replaced it to where we thought it belonged. I hope the placer might check to make sure. We were all happy the stamp was still there, stamped the image into the new log book as well as our own and hid the box for the next finders.

A couple of the boxes were on an unimproved section of the trail. We had a more difficult time navigating through the mud there. There was also a lot of gun fire nearby that was more and more unnerving as we got closer to where the boxes were. RGBisMe was so disturbed by the close shots that he left the one box for lost and went to find the other. He and Biker Chick found the one box and Tracdc and I grabbed the other. We moved away from the hiding places and gun shots to stamp in when we saw that there were "No Trespassing" signs along the side of the road. We were actually seeking boxes on posted shooting grounds! We packaged the boxes up and braved the noise of the guns to replace them. Sorry we trespassed but we put things back like we found them before we walked back via the paved road that runs parallel to the unimproved section of trail.

Beautiful skies, pretty flowing creeks and plenty of good company made for an enjoyable time letterboxing on the Ironton Rail Trail this past weekend.

12 Days of Rickman

Watching Alan Rickman's movies over the holidays inspired one family to fulfill a quest... of sorts.

See ya....

Lovett or Leave It

For someone who pales at the thought of cinematic blood and gore, my viewing Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street sounds like a torture I would avoid at all costs. I easily eschew the much esteemed Coen brothers, hide from all Halloween and Jason type slashers as well as miss many well done films because of their violent and bloody content.

I have a hunch there may be some other's like myself who will choose to be bold and attend the tale of Sweeney Todd. It is not for the popular Johnny Depp that I brave this genre rather Stephen Sondheim. I am thrilled that more and more musicals are making their way to the screen and wanted to see first hand how it was presented.

I was dubious as to how it would come across. Although Burton was a natural choice as director his transparent nepotism in casting Helena Bonham Carter and crony Johnny Depp made me want to pocket a razor just in case their acting drove me to slicing my own thrown in the middle of the film. The roles of Mrs. Lovett and Sweeney Todd are meaty (pun intended) and require depth as well as amazing singing voices. Depp and Carter have never struck me as good actors and imagining them singing was the more frightening than the fate of Judge Turpin himself. Casting for all other roles promised to be much better. Alan Rickman as Judge Turpin (mea maaaaxima culpa!), Timothy Spall as the Beadle (perfect!), and Sacha Baron Cohen and Adolfo Pirelli (how cool is that!?) had me hoping that I wouldn't be wasting my time.

Many reviews warned of two things; it was a real blood splattering arterial spray film and that lovers of musical theater were cautioned to go into the film with an open mind. Depp and Carter are no Lansbury and Cariou and no CG on the big screen was going to magically make them sound like broadway stars. To prepare myself, I viewed as many trailers and video clips of the new movie as possible. As to avoiding the gore, I relied on my memorization of the original libretto.

Although all of the characters were markedly less passionate in Burton's bleak London most of them did a fine job with the singing. All of them could carry a tune and Sweeney even turned out to have some Deppth of character. The caution that some songs were cut or edited was really unnecessary, each editing or omission was thoughtfully done. The ballad which typically opens the opera was used as the main score during the initial credits. During the time when the giant butcher block of a set would have been rotated to change the venue from sea port to Mrs. Lovett's pie shop, Burton gives us a scuttling rat's view of the streets of London. It was a perfect screen adaptation for this transition.

Highlights of the film (or what I saw of it) were the younger actors. Child actor Ed Sanders was chosen to play Toby and sings a flawless Not While I'm Around. Perfect casting for Turpin's ward Johanna (Jayne Wisener) and sailor boy Anthony (Jamie Campbell Bower). Well done new comers! Just a month ago I was forced to watch Borat so was not surprised that Cohen could pull off a foreign accent (or two) as Pirelli. What did surprise me was how well rounded he was able to flesh out (pun yet again) this character in the brief time he interacts while with Depp during the blackmail scene. Bravo Mr. Cohen!

The biggest disappointment of the show is Carter's two dimensional Mrs. Lovett. Weilding her cleavage as opposed to a cleaver she failed as the entrepreneurial shop keeper. The only thing flatter than her sorry meat pies was Carter's two dimensional performance. Goth and a bit too evil to be lovable at all, she should saved the Bellatrix Lestrange gaze for the next Harry Potter film.

My knowledge of the the stage version was a help and a hinderance. It was enough to allow me to close my eyes (and ears, good God!) at the critical moments without missing the rest of the film but made me long for some real vocal quality to back up that amazing score or humor to season those pies. Over all a job well done in representing and amazing Sondheim musical.






1996 - Ravenboy as Sweeney Todd

Pivotal Moments

This weekend is the beginning of winter and the length of daylight will slowly increase everyday from that point until the middle of June. I haven't noticed the like of sunlight this much as in years past. I have had plenty to distract me. I have missed the longer days but the overly warm late autumn must have helped me this year.

With the returning of the the sun is the returning of our son. Tomorrow we will travel to NYC for our 23rd anniversary and to pick up our son. There are still a lot of unknowns in his situation. Paperwork delays have not allowed him to get an MRI yet but his physical therapist has allowed him to start working and putting weight on his leg since he has no pain. The work is very limited until swelling subsides; there is serious risk of re-injury until then.

Thank you to all of our friends who have sent well wishes and prayers for him. He has a lot of work ahead of him but we will at least be spending some time together at home. We feel very fortunate for all that we have and happily face the winter ahead.

Thanks to Janila for sharing this inspiring video.

Crayola Posse Winter Wishes

Have a Merry Yule!

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Superstitions

In times of elevated stress I have been known to try to tip fate's scales in my direction by trying to manipulate my physical environment. I have looked around me and tried not to repeat anything that surrounds me during moments that have been traumatic. At it's most tame, it's like wearing a lucky shirt but at it's worst it can be like an OCD person making sure things are just so to keep the universe from coming apart at the seams.

Back in 1999, there was a terrible day while I worked in my son's ballet studio office. I came running when someone yelled for me that something was wrong and saw my son lying in a crumpled mass on the studio floor. His body was lying at a really odd angle and for the longest second of my life, I thought he was dead. He soon shifted a little to his side when one of his class mates became hysterical seeing the twisted angle at which his leg stuck out. His knee was dislocated and, because of it's shape, the patella was stuck near the side of his leg. This was a horrible moment that I will never forget and never wanted to repeat. I could never again wear the same sweater I wore on 12/2, it felt like I would be tempting fate to do so.

When he had an almost identical injury with his other leg four months later, it got worse for me. Although his first injury hadn't required surgery, the recovery had been difficult over those months. I was a nervous wreck and irrationally started looking for coincidences that linked the events. Both times he hadn't really been focusing on what he was doing, he was goofing around to a certain extent, pushing his limits as teen athletes will do. I became extreme in demanding that he never lose focus as to repeat any injuries. Another thing I fixated on was the date, 4/4. For some reason I started to dread dates like 5/5 or 6/6. Wasn't 12/2 pretty much the same thing? The patterns and coincidences haunted me sometimes.

The final year he lived at home was stressful on a lot of levels. His training was progressing to a level of competency that was difficult to accommodate outside of a school geared to training professionals. This caused frustration and urgency that he secure a scholarship in a prestigious school and remain injury free while doing so. It was his hard work that got him just that, all of my superstitious angst was certainly wasted energy.

Years passed and my son secured the job with the company he had always wanted to be in. Living a dream, lesser injuries came and went along with the frustrations of each. Over the last few years I learned to take things in stride more or less. When we got a phone call last night, it was not to the normally cheerful son we know. He had seriously dislocated his right knee again at work. This time he is surrounded by the best dance orthopedic surgeons, dance therapy and dance medicine in the country because of where he works. He is also supported by a close network of friends and people.

It is upsetting for us not knowing what the doctors will tell him today and frustrating on his part knowing, no matter what is determined, he has a lot physical therapy lying ahead of him. Although he knows I will be there for him if he needs me, he assures me things are fine at the moment. He doesn't want to be an inconvenience to anyone and is trying to take care of himself.

So where is my head at? Do I worry that he should have been more focused to have prevented injuring? Yeah, but there isn't to much I can do about that. As to the date, 12/12, I can't do too much about that either.

Twisted Traditions

Having Ravenboy home for a week was very special. He finally got to meet Miles and helped us decorate for the upcoming holidays.

We have many family traditions, most of them silly and origins so obscure that they are hard to explain. One is playing cassette tapes of old Christmas LPs while we decorate our home for the upcoming Yule Tide. Many readers can probably relate to that tradition and having been raised as Christians, RGBisMe and I have plenty of great childhood memories of the tunes. Ravenboy, however, was raised in an eclectic neopagan home and will raise a questioning eyebrow at some of the traditional lyrics.

Over 2 decades ago, one lively holiday medley became the victim of an oddly choreographed dance. I don't know what possessed me to start doing this high stepping jig that looks more like a fit than anything graceful. It is so aerobic that I swear that no matter how many times that I hear it in a season, I will only perform it once. As the years passed, I added the rule that it would be only the first time I heard it during the holiday season. My annual performance is usually in the privacy of our living room but fate has also required me to perform at Toolman Luke & Maga11's. Then there was a year that I heard the strains of the medley very early in the season in a department store! Not wishing to break the tradition nor experience public humiliation, I quickly exited even though I was alone.

I think the next twist in the tradition was influenced by the recent ease of recording the event. Disposable cameras at the ready, my family would anticipate the event with glee. Digital cameras and eventually the ease of digital movies with sound made each year a little more um... humorous. I resorted to trying to put off the performance for as long as possible. One year, I hid the tapes to delay the inevitable. The next year, I hid just the tape with the energetic music. Next time I switched the labels on the tapes. Their one weakness is they forgot which tape it is every year. It always amazes me because I certainly remember. Each year the tapes are hunted out and all the songs played through until the right tape has sent me into my annual cardiac workout.

Last year, I went to great lengths. I secretly duped the tape then copied a song (I could only find on VHS)that Ravenboy hates over the original tune. Mouths gaped as they thought the song was lost forever. I pulled out the duped tape and began my performance with a grin, knowing I had "got" them.

I had no great ideas this year, no grand schemes. I was at a loss as to how to put off jumping around my living room until my chest wanted to explode. We had limited time to decorate and celebrate, RGBisMe was taking the afternoon off with that in mind. Just before he came home, Ravenboy jumped into the shower. Finally and idea came to me. I popped the offending cassette into the player and fast forwarded it to just beyond the song I wanted to avoid. The moment the shower ended, I started the tape and gently turned up the music. RGBisMe came in all smiles and our afternoon of family fun started.

When the side of the tape ended, Ravenboy made his move to flip the side and noted what tape it was. After that, both sides had seemingly played completely through. As the afternoon progressed, their annual realization that they had forgotten which tape it was played to my advantage. Ravenboy tried to logically deduce which tape it was on by looking at which labels I had erased one year. He narrowed it down to 2 tapes. I tried not to flinch when he insisted on playing the on tape again. He eyed me carefully and put in the correct tape.

I tried to make a graceful exit to get into my costume (Did I mention there is a costume?) as my family smirked in victory. I did not sprain my ankle this year, I am not in as good shape as I was last year but my heart didn't explode. They smiled down onto my prone sweating form and congratulated me on a year well danced. I love our holiday traditions.

Steppin' Out & Stayn' In

The past couple of weeks have been busy. RGBisMe and I have been on the road a lot but our down time has been spent happily at home. We have found a few letterboxes and are trying not to "ReLive Stress" on trail or off.


A couple of weeks ago, RGBisMe and I made a trip to Pittsburgh for an alumni reception at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh. One of his recent works was featured nicely at the showing of alumni work and we went out to celebrate the event. We arrived a bit early to try a few of the new letterboxes in town. Although we found many of the landmarks the clues made reference to, we came away with no new stamp images.

The early evening was an enjoyable time to walk around his old stomping grounds. RGBisMe lived on the North Side and trekked across the 6th Street bridge to get to and from school during all seasons. It was near the Byahm Theater that we got a call from Ravenboy to let us know that he was able to swap out house duties and could get away the next day. We were glad to know that because of an impending ice storm that weekend.

It was pleasant meeting some of the staff that RGBisMe knew from years ago. We hope to tour the school sometime in the upcoming months.

Ravenboy did come home for a week. We had a great time visiting at home before his rehearsal schedule required him to return to the city. Our return trip included our regular stop for food and fuel at Wawa. When we got into the city, we got a look at the new Apple store on the corner of 9th and 14th.

A final funny moment on street near Ravenboy's house was a cross walk sign that had both the stop and go signs lighted up at the same time. One might be confused with it's message but we turned it into a good joke.

On the Cutting Room Floor

Some of the most interesting stuff can be found on the proverbial cutting room floor. Mistakes, things that aren't relative to the big picture and excesses can be extremely interesting when viewed by themselves or with the knowledge of where they had fit into the grand scheme of things.

My recent hair cut has left all but a smudge of my vibrantly colored hair literally on the cutting room floor. A radical edit visually but needed change allows my hair to actually fully dry in these cold months. My long hair, almost always pulled back, never seemed to dry and blow drying was out of the question for my wild mane.

Now an inch long in the back and face framing in the front, I am sporting the 'do that I have known for most of my life. The change has reduced my shower time by 75% . Although trim maintenance will increase greatly, time allocated for hair styling in the morning has been reduced by the same amount.

It has been just the past 15 years in which my locks were longer. During that time I have met a lot of folks who have only known me with long hair. Last night I got together with my good friend, DaBraLady, who has known me since we were in junior high school. She smiled broadly and told me it made me look younger. A more humorous reaction came from her 19 year old son. His eyes popped and he said, "Wow!"

My family was with me for the big change. I could see RGBisMe behind me through the salon mirror supportively beaming with every snip. Ravenboy sat looking through the styling books at the beautiful young ladies with meticulously coiffured cuts. As my own style took shape, I glanced sheepishly at myself in the mirror. "I remember a much younger face sporting that style," I mused. A few more snips, a quick blow dry and a little product were the finishing touches. "I like it," I smiled. RGBisMe returned my grin and Ravenboy said, "You are beautiful."

It might not be the final release of my production but I thought I would share the current work in progress.

Jennifer Alexander

Ravenboy's coworker, Jennifer Alexander was killed yesterday and her husband, Julio Bragado-Young, was critically injured in a multi-car pileup amid icy conditions on Route 3 in East Rutherford, NJ. They were returning to their residence in New York City after performing in a Nutcracker production in Williamsport, PA. Newspaper article here.

Please keep Julio in your thoughts. He loved Jennifer very much.

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.