"Now is the winter of our discontent"

Winter in Southeast PA seemed to go on and on and on~ It snowed the day after Christmas and it didn't seem to stop until March.

But there were highlights- In early January, Leafcutters, Cactus (my non-boxing sweetie) and I went to the 95th annual Pennsylvania Farm Show. In my pre-letterboxing days (wait... I had interests before letterboxing?), I used to be a beekeeper. Every year my club, the Montgomery County Beekeeper Association would set up an exhibit at the Farm Show and sometimes we would actually win. I miss keeping bees, the pleasant hum of a working hive, the gentle swish of bees flying to and fro but alas I can't lift a hive like I used to so I had to give it up. But I still love all things bees and I go to the Farm Show every year to check out how MCBA's exhibit did- this year they won!!!

This was the exhibit for the Beekeepers of the Susquehanna Valley. They won second place, but in my opinion they should have won first.

So letterboxing was nearly impossible, or was it? For my birthday in January, Leafcutters, Celtic Cat and I went to the "Winter is Here!" gathering in New York. What a fantastic weekend!! And you really can letterbox in the snow :)

We met lots of great people and reconnected with a few friends over the weekend at ae beautiful lodge overlooking the Hudson. We are already planning a return visit!

It always amazes me what wonderful people letterboxers (in general) are. Sure, you may get the occasional loud mouth or perhaps the drama queen but generally letterboxers are the nicest people I have ever met.

Then early February hit with the ice storms and more snow! I swear it was the only time I was sorry that our yard had so many trees! There were broken branches everywhere~

Then came Valentine's Day! Cactus & I went on a romantic sleigh ride at Howell Living History Farm in New Jersey. I have always wanted to go on a sleigh ride and it was a perfect albeit short ride~If you ever get to the Lambertville area, please go to Howell Farm! I have a few boxes hidden in the area and the farm is just amazing.

Going to the Promised Land...

Now, I don’t post here very often. Hell, it’s been over two years since my last post! The things in real life are often more important than updating this blog. So I am only going to update the blog if something truly wonderful in our world of letterboxing happens. That was what happened yesterday :)

Dad and I decided to head up to Promised Land State Park for a well need fix. Since it is my sanctuary, Promised Land has the unique ability to rejuvenate my soul. I was in desperate need of revitalization this week. We agreed that an early start would be best, so when the alarm went off at 3:30 am I was rethinking the whole plan. But by 4 am we were out the door and headed to heaven. After a drive around the lake and a quick stop at the park office, we headed toward our destination- Egypt Meadows Lake.

It has been a while since I’ve been to Egypt Meadows, but the early morning was the perfect time to visit. Dad and I hiked, talked and enjoyed the numerous blueberries along the trail. Breakfast!! We saw an osprey flying over the lake, so effortlessly it glided on the air. After a bit, we ended up at the bridge and took our first letterboxing break. We were hunting for Nefertiti by Pink Panther and Black Swan. Great box, highly recommended! As we sat on the bridge, we noticed that a beaver had made an addition to the construction! It amazes me that beavers 'know' how to use what man has made to their advantage.

Next, it was on to Bruce Lake. I haven’t hiked to Bruce Lake since I was a kid and I have never hiked around Bruce Lake! We were searching for another box in the area, but since it’s kind of a mystery I am not going to give the name. We were at the location, just finished the letterbox stuff and stood up when all hell broke loose! As we were standing there a doe came running, I mean RUNNING directly at us! She stopped about 15 feet away and was quickly followed by her two fawns. I have never had a deer run AT me before- it was a little unsettling to say the least! She stood so close to us for a few minutes and then ran off. She obviously didn’t smell us because she had no sense that we were even there until she was 15 feet away. It was an amazing experience! I don’t know what spooked her to run at us, but now I was a bit on edge!

We continued on the trail eventually crossing over to the other side of Bruce Lake. Then suddenly Dad starts running. I have rarely seen him RUN! So, he starts running down the trail chasing something. It turned out to be a porcupine! He managed to get close to it, before it climbed the nearest tree. We haven’t seen many porcupines, so this was a neat experience for both of us! Now our hearts were really pumping~ What would we see next? A bear? A raccoon? What?

Sadly, nothing else crossed our paths. We walked back to the car without seeing another animal except for a pair of hikers. We went on to find a few other boxes in the area, eventually walking about 8 miles for the day. All in all, it was a great day! Thank you so much to the letterbox planters for taking us to these great locations!

The Quest

The Quest
Herald G. Phelps

Sometimes we wonder
Where happiness lies.
Is it found on the ocean
Beneath the blue skies...
Or is it, I ask you,
In travel and fame...
In love everlasting,
Or in a great name?
We search for it,
Yearn for it
Year after year,
And come back to find it
Awaiting us here...
In the warm clasp of friendship,
The light of a smile...
The cheer of a comrade
Which brightens each mile.
Though riches may lure us,
And travel may call...
In the light of our fireside
We're finding it all.

My side of the Mountain...

So, I haven't been letterboxing for a few months. It seems that Dad has contracted a really bad case of Lyme’s disease and is a bit incapacitated lately. While not letterboxing, I seem to have a whole lot of extra time. It is funny, pre boxing days I never had this much time. I guess I was busying myself with other hobbies, but now with the lack of boxing, I have ALL this extra time. Well it's been mainly filled with school work; I'm taking two classes this semester "History of the American Presidency" and "Radicalism in the United States". Very interesting classes, but the ideas presented the radicalism class haven't seemed too radical to me, so far. I like the idea of communal living and socialism seems right in my view, but I guess it's radical in the grand scheme of things.

Oh well, with me extra time I have had some time to read for pleasure not school. Yeah, for reading! I picked up my favorite book again, Jean Craighead George's "My Side of the Mountain". Now, just so you know- I've read this book over twenty times. It's probably my absolute favorite book; the innocent charm of it overwhelms me. J. C. George has written dozens of books, each with an environmental core story. I instantly connected with her world view as a child, the whole take care of your Mother Earth sentiment. It's funny to me that this 'green' idea is just coming back into fashion; it never went out of fashion as far as I am concerned. Why wouldn't you want to take care of the Earth, be kind to your fellow living things. To not exploit the Earth's natural resources but rather take care of them? I don't know, sometimes I feel that I am really an odd ball; material things hold little interest to me. I would rather see a beautiful tree in the woods than an expensive name brand handbag anyday! Seriously, I hope that the new 'green movement' has success, and that it's not just another excuse for society to exploit people and the environment. I would hate for it to become a trendy status symbol.

Anyway, back to My Side of the Mountain... for father's day one year, I read the whole book on tape for Dad so he could listen to it in the car. And every time, I read it again I learn new things. During this current re-read I have been dwelling on Sam Gribley's family life. If you've never read the book, I'll give you brief synopsis. Young boy leaves family in NYC moves to the Catskill Mountains and lives in the wilderness alone for a few years. The book tells of his adventures finding food, making friends with the forest and generally surviving. So here is my dilemma, where is his family? At 12 he runs away and no one looks for him? That baffles me!! I understand it's part of the plot, but come on! While reading the book, I was really sad about the whole thing. I know it's just a book, but I was sad for the relationship that Sam had with his family. That they weren't closer. I really felt bad about it. I have an extremely close family and thankfully very loving, caring, wonderful parents. So through reading the book, I felt compelled to help people who may not have the blessings I have. I'm planning on using some of my extra time to volunteer at a local charity that helps families in need called a Woman's Place. It's just my small way of giving back to the universe. I also plan to make a new letterboxing series called My Side of the Mountain, look for it in the spring probably hidden at Hawk Mountain.

Happy New Year

New Year's Resolutions- the 2008 Edition:

1) Be kinder to all creatures. Be mindful of their lives and troubles, be more compassionate.

2) Respect individuality at all levels and try to understand different points of view, mainly Republicans and why they believe the things they do. It baffles me!

3) Make an informed decision on who to vote for in 2008, not just the knee jerk reaction of I like her, I'm voting for her. She may not be the 'best' candidate.

4) Find 200 letterboxes. This may not seem like a hard stretch but it is.

5) Carve and plant more letterboxes. This is rather hard, I rarely plant boxes. I love to carve stamps, I hate finding places to hide the stamps.

6) Walk more. 'Nuff said.

7) Find Zeno. I hate hate hate these boxes! They torment me but in 2008 I will try to overcome my hatred and actually try to find them.

8) Organize my house. The certain piles of stuff are invading the other piles of stuff, so I need to organize my piles.

9) Give up a certain disgusting habit that I've done too long! It's not only costing my $5 a day, but it makes the house, car, clothes, hair smell. I'm tired of it.

10) Start Tai Chi. I've done yoga for years but I think it's time for a change of pace.

So a new year and a new set of resolutions. Hopefully I can accomplish a few!!

Lotus

Letterboxing on Sunday

This past weekend brought a few surprises. Mainly, crazy hunters and very large salamanders. Let me explain...

Due to the time change, Leafcutters and I got an exceptionally early start on Sunday morning like 3:30 am! I had planned a mini-letterboxing trip, just a few easy boxes and a few not-so easy plants in the Schuylkill County area. I love Schuylkill County, not because the name is cool, but it really has some beautiful areas and interesting history. With that in mind, we headed out the door at 4:15 on our way to letterbox.

The drive was nice and relaxing. I particularly love the drive to a letterboxing location, Dad and I talk, reminisce and laugh. It always amazes me, I see him everyday and yet we always have something else to discuss. Today's topic was a new archaeological dig in Puerto Rico that has historians all in a buzz and also the funny video by Nattybumppo's hidden camera at the Trick-or-Treat box. I am still laughing.

We arrived at the first location, Janila's Green Triangle just before dawn. It was a crisp autumn day and the birds were quietly waking up. The box is a relatively easy find, which let our legs warm up. The carving is very cute and we thoroughly enjoyed the surroundings. It had been a while since we in that area of the Appalachian Trail, and I realized that I missed our past hiking excursions. In our pre-letterboxing days (PL for short) we would hike sections of the AT quite regularly. I knew the area around Bake Oven Knob like the back of my hand. We would camp up on the rocks, with only a sleeping bag and the stars. Now, we are usually only on the AT if there is a box there. I guess I should plant a whole series of boxes on the AT in eastern PA and combine the two.

Our next stop, was Lightnin Bug's Ali-The Greatest box. The clues have been available for over a year, but I just never got around to finding the box. I guess the idea of a 'steep' climb had me searching for other boxes instead. But today was the day to suck it up and hike the hill!! We found the area relatively easily, and started off on the trek. The hill is steep, I was tired just looking at it. But you know, perseverance is a good thing. I broke up the hike with little goals- let me just get to that tree or let me get to that rock. Before I knew it, I was at the top!! The trail levels off a bit and opens up into a large field.

Dad was a bit behind me (his coffee kicked in and he was off trail) and as I came around the corner I saw a hunter with gun drawn directly at me. Well, growing up around hunters and hunting I knew two things: 1) It was Sunday and you can't hunt on Sunday 2) He was hunting for turkeys and turkeys aren't in season yet! This guy was an idiot~ so I hung back and waited for Dad to catch up. We passed the guy and headed toward the letterbox. Dad hung out on the main path, while I went into the woods to stamp up. Thankfully he did, because the guy came up and complained to Dad that we were scaring away all the turkeys! Well, it got a little bit ugly~ the guy headed off into another section of the field to continue his illegal hunting and we headed off for the car quickly to call the PA Game Commission. Now, I am usually a live and let live type of person and I don't want to be called a snitch- but this crazy hunter was endangering people. So we wrote down his license plate number and called the PAGC. I don't know if they investigated it further or not, but at least I felt a little bit better. So my warning to all PA letterboxers~ wear something blaze orange everyday even on Sunday during hunting season. Also take the phone numbers of the PA Game Commission with you, just in case you run into the Idiot Hunter of Schuylkill County. It's 1-888-PGC-8001, save the number in your phone just in case. The number is only good for big game poachers (deer, elk and bear) or endangered or threatened species (eagles, hawks etc) but they gave me the correct number to call.

After the harrowing incident, I needed to just walk. So we decided to hide our letterboxes. Now, I can't give away the location of the boxes~ but let me say, the hike was really beautiful. We had never been on this particular trail and found it lovely. Which leads me to the next part, very large salamanders. We were placing one of the letterboxes and I had sent dad off to find a few rocks for a SPOR. I don't like to take the rocks in the immediate area, it tends to look a bit out of place. So we canvas the area for rocks and bring them to the hiding spot. Dad turned over a rock and found this guy...

It's a Slimy Salamander! I don't remember ever seeing one before in all my years of being a nature girl. I was shocked at how big it was~ now, if you know me you know that I love love love toads. But this salamander was so cute!! Dad wouldn't let me touch him though because his skin is very sensitive to humans. I wish I could have taken a better video before we put him back.

We continued our planting excursion. The path was relatively easy and we couldn't judge how far we had gone. I kept wanting to go farther and farther and see what was beyond the bend. But the letterboxes were burning a hole in my backpack, and we finally found a decent place to hide them all. We made our way back to the car, a little tired but invigorated.

By now it was nearly noon and as per our letterboxing agreement, I get a chauffeurs lunch. Dad pays for lunch when we letterbox because I drive. It's a fair agreement and a personal joke. I keep waiting for someone to put a letterbox near Le Bec Fin, so I can get a real meal :) We ended up eating on the run McD's. I am not a fast food fan, it never sits agrees with me and I soon found out that it never will.

When took our lunch to the next letterboxing location, Horse of a Different Color by Ladysgbug. Now the clues seemed simple enough. Find the SPOL~ we never did! We just couldn't locate the correct area and by now my stomach was icky. I went to sit in the car and Dad continued to look. We never found it and reluctantly gave up after a while.

Our next boxes were also by Ladysgbug at Kaercher Creek Park in Hamburg. We found The Biggest Heart and "Nokie" the Invisible Kitten quite easily. The park was really a gem. I never knew that it was there. Really pretty, especially in the fall. The "Nokie" box was a little difficult to maneuver to, the area was covered in brambles and poison ivy. We eventually made our way to the box and found that it involved a certain unique technique for stamping in. I am not sure if the technique will hold up in my log book without getting smudged, but it looked really neat.

By this time, we were ready to head home. Another fun and exciting day letterboxing in PA!!

Thanks for reading,

Lotus

Happy Halloween

So Wednesday was Halloween, and although I had to work there was a new special series by NattyBumppo that I had to get! Celtic Cat and I planned on meeting up after work and attempting to find the Trick or Treat boxes placed in Montgomery County. The boxes were hidden in "real" haunted places and the idea of hunting them on Halloween night made the idea even scarier!!

The clues were posted at midnight on Halloween and I spent 3 hours figuring them out with the help of Cyclonic. It really was a great help to have someone to bounce clue ideas off of, thanks ;)

After work, I met up with Celtic Cat around 5pm and we were off to the first location! I had reverse engineered the order of the boxes, to try to get to difficult boxes before darkness would interfere. So our first box was actually the "trick" box. No box to be found, although we looked and looked before finally giving up.

The next box took us to a location that was really scary especially since darkness was descending upon us!! We just couldn't get the clues to work, we wandered outside of the fence for a while retracing our steps and finally I was about ready to give up. Celtic Cat on the other hand was just starting! I decided to make an emergency phone call to Sheba the only person I knew would be out finding the same boxes. I ended up calling three times before the clues actually clicked! We needed to be inside the gate, not outside like we were. We moved the car inside the gate and began hunting around Building 17. Well after 15 minutes and still no box, we were accosted by the night security guard. He was a little bit perturbed that we were poking around a restricted area asking us what were doing on the grounds. I lied and said I lost my keys earlier in the day and we were just looking for them. I doubt he believed me and we reluctantly left the grounds without finding the box.

Just a side note, it is funny how the letterboxers mind works. Everything and anything could be a clue. We passed some people putting out a jack-o-lantern near the grounds of Building 17 and we were convinced that it had to be a clue. It's just funny that I see things differently now, that's all.

On to the third box location!! We didn't park under the basketball net as advised but had trouble finding the actual trail. It was really dark and I had brought a little wind-up flashlight. It was barely enough light to see let alone find the trail. We eventually found the trail and our first box- "Sucker" I felt like a sucker, wandering around in the 'woods' at night looking for pieces of tupperware but honestly I was having a great time!

The next box was hidden in an old cemetery. There was no one around and it was very dark. I had a sudden feeling of creepiness, I don't know if it was the thought of Halloween ghosts and goblins or the actual perception of other worldliness- but the hair was standing up on the back of my neck. Seriously, what was I doing here? We found the "Where-wolf" box and quickly replaced it.

The last box was also hidden in a cemetery, but this one was actually creepier than the first! It was located in an abandoned section of a state park. The cemetery itself was enclosed by a nice stone wall, but finding it was a challenge. The clues said to take 50 paces west and look for the trail into the woods. Pull out my trusty compass only to find it missing!! I had lost my compass somewhere along the way! Oh no, well we tried to figure out which way was west and eventually found the trail. Celtic Cat pushed on~ must find box. After we found the box, we sat outside the cemetery wall and stamped up. It was a beautiful night, a bit the moon shining through the trees- gave the area an eerie glow. The "Frankensteen" box was safely rehidden and we were off to try to find the non-event stamp.

Our idea was that the box was located on Wolf lane, because of the "where-wolf" box. We found Wolf Lane in Ambler, PA and drove up and down the street looking for Nattybumppo's house. After several attempts, we called it a night and headed home.

The next day, Celtic Cat went back to Building 17 and found the box! Seriously, she's got some spunk- I gave up but she kept on trying. Leafcutters and I also went out again on Thursday. He wasn't able to find the boxes on Halloween night and since Nattybumppo wouldn't be retrieving them until later- we went out together to find the boxes all over again. But this time it was daylight and not so scary! We also had the clues for the final box, the non-event stamp. Which was located on Natty's front porch :) The stamp was great and I had a fun time talking with his son Walker and his wife.

All in all, it was a fantastic letterboxing adventure. A big thank you to Natty for the great boxes and locations! And to Celtic Cat for her driving force behind our Halloween hunt. Maybe next year, I'll have a Halloween hunt of my own :)

Thanks for reading,
Lotus

(( Just a sidebar-- I know it's been a while since I posted a blog. Life has been a bit hectic over the past year. It was through the urgings of PhillyFanatic that I decided to update my blog. Hopefully, I will be able to continue updating in the future!))