I'm afraid Jekyll Island, Georgia has over the years become somewhat of a letterboxing wasteland. I was there years ago before it became so much of a tourist mecca and found some nice boxes. My efforts last month were not very successful. I seem to have rotten luck and didn't really enjoy boxing there this time. My friend has moved back to Las Vegas so that's probably it for me and Georgia. 

Great Hunger Memorial

Irvington, New York

Westchester's memorial to the Irish famine of 1845-1852.

Great 10-year old box nearby. 

It's been on my to-do list for a long time.

I choose a miserably humid day to finally go grab it!

Another Winter

George sleeps under his blanket of snow at Sleepy Hollow. 

Please Don't Spoil The Surprise

I am very disappointed when people post stamp images in fb. Why do they do that? Finding awesome images on the trail and being surprised by them are one of the joys of letterboxing. I wish people would stop spoiling the surprise.

And that goes for all boxes, traditional and event boxes,  but especially for traditional.

For Reasons Too Numerous To Explain

I happened to be on the letterboxing blog of a fellow boxer today. He's been letterboxing for many years and you would very likely recognize his trail name. He has been consistently finding and planting all these years. He has also been posting on his blog on a regular basis all these years. The blog entries are very interesting, detailed and well written. And in addition to the blog entries, he has added a lot of his own personal boxing statistics, broken down into different categories and kept up to date all these years.

He has kept up with his blogging with almost no comments by readers. Obviously this doesn't mean no one is reading the blog but I picked some years at random and looked for comments. There are almost no comments. Ever.

I really admire the fact that this really interesting person has kept plugging away at this blog all these years with what seems to be almost no feedback or encouragement. It's a very well done blog with really great photos, links, and fascinating information on the places he goes, sometimes alone and sometimes with friends.

There are people who stick their noses up at blogs and snipe that the people who keep them have no life. That's bullshit. This blog is a perfect example of a person who has kept up with an interesting blog and very obviously "has a life". And no one "has no life" anyway. The life each of us has IS our life, however simple or complicated that may be. No one's life is any less valuable than another life.

There are millions of blogs out there just waiting to be read. The blogs that you see featured in The New York Times are the rare cases. Most bloggers are just ordinary people reminding the universe they are here. Everyone wants to shout "Here I Am, It's ME!" Everyone wants the universe to know they are more that just a speck among all the other specks on the planet.

Considering the date of the last entry in my blog, consistency has not been my hallmark. But I admire it in others!

George Fell Asleep In Sleepy Hollow

Summer Above The Hudson

Those seasons just keep changing. Can't see the river for the trees but that's ok with Mikey and me.

The Seasons They Are A-Changing

For my supporters and my lurkers. You know who ::you:: are. Yes, I am still here. And :::there::: also. Spring is arriving at the new digs above the Hudson River. Sometimes I just sit and look out the window along with Mikey The Cat. I still find it hard to believe I live here. I am still so happy I could spit.

Movin' On Up

To the east side. Of the Hudson River that is. I'm heading forty-five minutes north of Gotham and out of the five boroughs into Westchester. I'll have a view of a wooded hill and the Hudson River from my living room window instead of the houses across the street. Sunday is the big day and I am so happy I could just spit.

This is the view standing in front of the apartment. That's what I'll see from my big living room window. And I'll be all moved in before the NEXT snow storm hits on Sunday night!! Yes. Another snow storm. Monday. But I'll be snug in my new place drinking hot chocolate and puttering, organizing, reading, looking out the window at the snow. And watching Mikey The Cat get used to his new home.

Life is good and I am blessed.

Why I Love Cemeteries

My love of cemeteries predates my love of letterboxing. I have an old photo of me (which I can't find!) lying in repose on top of one of those above ground vaults in New Orleans, eyes closed, with arms crossed peacefully across my chest. My sense of humor has always been more than a little morbid. I love them for many reasons. Here is one of them:

You turn the corner onto a dead end, drab, boring, even somewhat shabby little street in upstate New York and drive to the end. You turn right into the grounds of the cemetery that you couldn't even see from the street because the entrance area is hidden by trees. In front of you rises a very large hill, covered in grass and old gravestones. You drive up the winding dirt road and find a shady spot to park your car. Then you start to walk up and back.....and back, and back, and back. Hidden from the street is this huge cemetery that just goes on forever. You walk all the way to the back. As you walk you see stones that are so old the dates are no longer visible. You find the 19th century gravestones at the very edge of the cemetery along the treeline and the nearby pile of stones that hides the letterbox.

So many cemeteries are like this, totally hidden and unexpected, full of history and the lives of those that rest there. I think it says something positive about our culture that we have continued to keep these places in our hearts and minds even though some are so old and neglected the stones are toppled over and broken.

The planters and finders are often the only visitors to some of these old places. I'd like to think that the residents welcome our brief and respectful company.

What A Rush!!

Yesterday I found a box in upstate New York that was planted almost a year ago to the day by some visitors from Georgia and never found. I love it when something like that happens! It's a raised fist, "YESSSSSSSS!" moment. Clever clues, out of the way location, cemetery! (always a plus), cool hiding spot, safe, dry, and still in pristine condition. And it was a well carved, cool little stamp to boot.

It's not listed as a mystery box, so if you're ever nearby you should check it out. It's lonely.

http://www.atlasquest.com/showinfo.html?gBoxId=195244

No, it doesn't take much to make me happy.

Really? Neon?

Okay, I get it that you are new. I get it that you seemingly haven't found box one, or at least not on AQ. And I suspect your 'find count' of zero is the true one. You plant and join on the same day. They are 'store bought' stamps of God Help Us..............butterflies. You are eager to plant. I get it. And yes I went and found those 'store bought' butterflies. But I was interested in that particular location. I had never done any boxing even close to there and never even knew about the place. So sue me, I went and found the butterflies. It was a pretty cool location. I saw some cool stuff I wouldn't have seen had I not been there. The 'store bought' stamps won't cause my logbook to spontaneously burst into flames. No, really.

But newbie that you are, the concept of hiding the container so that IT CANNOT BE SEEN FROM THE TRAIL is pretty basic. And those bright, neon, bluish containers that look like little suitcases (huh?) and are not in any way, shape or form waterproof......really? In your journey of newbiness did you not pick up the water tight, HIDDEN thing? I am in spite of some opinions to the contrary, a nice boxer. I managed to hide them so that NO ONE CAN SEE THEM. I wrote you a nice.............yes it was nice.........note telling you that they could be easily seen and that I hid them. I made a nice, neutral public comment. My niceness abounds. HAH!

Quest, County of Broome

If you're near Binghamton, New York, you HAVE to do the Broomequest series! I busted my letterboxing posterior this weekend and still don't have all twenty-five of them. Wonderful images and a grand tour of the area! Most of them are really nice hikes so make sure you have time to devote to the effort. It's not a mystery series, so, here 'tis...

http://www.atlasquest.com/showinfo.html?gBoxId=210384

And when it's time to refuel, head for Nevoles Family Pizza in Johnson City. You can sit down and eat or take out if you are sweaty and stinky with dirt under your fingernails. Living here in Gotham it is hard to impress me with a pizza but this was really good. And when I travel I am never far away from a cupcake. I hike. I eat. Baked Euphoria's coconut was to die for. And three different people came in there to pick up their cakes so everything else must be really good!

Spring Has Sprung!

Though I did do a fair amount of boxing over the winter, it's great to be on the trail without seeing your breath in front of your face as you begin to loose the feeling in your fingers because you can't stamp in with gloves on your hands. It's time for that springtime boxing we enjoy here on the east coast before that heavy, sweaty, dense, blanket of humidity descends over those trails. You know those trails, the ones that have not one breath of moving air on them as you slog along unable to see the sky over your head between those lovely green boughs that are preventing the breeze you know must be there somewhere from reaching your sweat drenched face. And you love every minute of it.

God Bless Us Everyone

Somehow, once again we seem to have arrived at yet another holiday season. How did this happen? It has been another year of loving letterboxing and hiking the trails, going to events, meeting new letterboxers and seeing old friends. I continue to be amazed that after 8 years I am still just as passionate about this great hobby as I was in 2004.

I held my first event at the Maple Tree Inn in upstate New York and it seemed to be a success. Everyone had a good time, which is the most important thing. I carved, drove back and forth planting, worried about the weather and then just decided to let it go. The weather turned out fine, cold and cloudy but no snow or rain.

Retirement continues to be a series of phases. The one I'm in now seems to be a kind of rough patch. I've been retired since January of 2010 and have had a lot of fun. I seem to be in a bit of a rut right now but I expect it to pass. I'll get tired enough of being in a rut and will make a change.

My next door neighbors want to buy my apartment and I will take the money and run. I'm just not sure where I'm running to as of yet. But I think the move will be the catalyst that ends the rut.

See you on the trails!

Stroking The GPS

I have a Magellan GPS that I love, love, love. On an earlier post I mentioned how map challenged I am and how much I love and am addicted to my little electronic friend. I even have a Garmin back up in the glove compartment should my Magellan go belly up and I be stranded on some winding back road. I'm addicted and proud of it.

I am kind of proud of how I have learned to manipulate and play with the Magellan. Every GPS has quirks. Mine is no exception and I have learned how to make it cooperate every time. Most of the time, a town will be listed twice, such as "Saugarties, NY", and "Saugarties, NY, Town Of". Sometimes the address or intersection will only be found in one of those listings. Or if I don't type the full town name and let the GPS complete it, the address won't be recognized. But if I type the whole name, the address is recognized. Or it won't recognize the address in any of these and I'll type in the zip code, then select the town and it recognizes the address. Weird but doable.

This may all sound confusing but I am so used to it that it doesn't bother me. And most of the time all these quirks don't happen. But with some locations they do. The GPS may recognize "Route 2" but not "Main Street", which according to Google maps, the route turns into when you hit town. So I'll just use "Route 2" and I'm good to go even though the address I have is on "Main". Using Google Search, Google Maps, and the GPS I can find even the tiniest, most obscure cemetery or an intersection nearby.

I DESPISE driving around and not knowing which way to go so my GPS has to be loaded before I set out to find letterboxes. Oftentimes a planter says the nearest town is "So And So" but as far as Google Maps and then the GPS is concerned it is the town next to it. I think this is because the planter lives there (or nearby) and everyone just thinks of it as "So and So" when it is really across the line into the next one.

But once I hit the road, my little talking friend performs wonderfully, with no quirks or hitches. It dings and tells me when to turn, lets me know when the exit is 2 miles, 1 mile, .5 miles, and then which way to turn when I get off the highway...........immediately. I can look and see the whole route, all the way to my destination. One reviewer of my Magellan (a man of course) said that he didn't like being "led by the hand". My response to that is "Take my hand and lead me, please!!!!" I want to be told everything and as often as possible!!!

As for those stories you hear about people doing something dumb because their GPS told them to? Personally I think they were dumb to begin with and the GPS probably had a higher IQ.

Letterboxing 101 For Children

Children should be taught that although it is acceptable for them to run and get the box they should not do so unless the adults present have made sure there are no non-boxing folks nearby to observe.

The child should hand the container to an adult instead of sitting down, opening it and immediately stamping the image into their logbook, failing to hand the found logbook to someone to stamp into. They should also learn that when they take the stamp image it should be done in a timely manner instead of deciding to do it again and again, while the adults are forced to simply stand there watching them with nothing to do because the child has not passed along the found logbook. Of course in retrospect, any of those adults could simply bend down and take the found logbook.

When an adult does manage to get to the found letterbox before the child, that child should not reach across in front of the adult, grabbing the found logbook or stamp away from them before they have had a chance to do ANYTHING, stamp or pass along.

Do You See A Pulpit Here?

I have come to the conclusion that there needs to be a separate facebook for religious posts. I respect that people have beliefs but when someone posts one after another, day after day, after day, sometimes more than once a day it really gets to be annoying. Give it a rest. I don't go to facebook to be preached to. Or at.

Does Maple Syrup Go With Anything?

This is primarily for the folks that came to my Pancakes Event at Cartwright's Maple Tree Inn in Angelica, New York. I happen to love sardines. Yes, I'm weird. We already know that.

And who doesn't love maple syrup? What do I see at the Food Emporium this afternoon? You guessed it!  I didn't even glance at the price. How could I not get them? I mean seriously. 

Seriously? Every day?

Do I really need to know where you are off to each and every morning of your life? Not really. Perhaps there is someone on the planet who does need to know this but I am not that person. I'm thinking an "unsubscribe" may be in your future.