They call me Gypsy Jo…

Things are falling into place and I will be moving back to Burlington at the end of November! My purchase is firm and I've got my very first mortgage! Whee!!  Packing again!  For those keeping track at home, this is my sixth move since starting letterboxing mid-2010, and my seventh move since the start of 2010.

Yay, moving again!

Interesting fact: nothing I own is important enough to me to have moved it this many times, other than my cat.  Sigh.

More posts are coming, I swear... Grumble, grumble.

When two hobbies collide: postcrossing and letterboxing

Today, as usual, I came home after a long day of work looking forward to see what postcards might be waiting for me in the mail.  I was as usual delighted to find a pair of postcards waiting for me, but was blown away when I read one that came to me from Fort Dodge, Iowa.

This particular card came from a fellow letterboxer, helms2049, who kindly stamped the postcard with her miniature stamp and indicated that she had letterboxed nearby in St. Thomas, Ontario, last year.  The stamp she used looked vaguely familiar, so I looked her up on AQ and sure enough I recognize fully her signature stamp from my own travels in St. Thomas.  It is a teensy tiny world out there, people!

I also stalked her profile right to her blog, here: Ewe & Eye.  I love her post about the Charley Harper cardinals - I love Charley Harper prints.

Happy postcrossing!

Magic, letterboxing, & cinemagraphs

I’ve already posted about my love of magic in the world.  Some of you have also commented on the animated images that I often put up along with my posts – another thing I find magical and like to include – these are called cinemagraphs.  Essentially, they’re just animated gifs, which are just animated pictures that are pretty much as old as the internet. Unfortunately, they mostly look like this:

When, really, you can make them look like this:

I fell in love with the subtle style of it, like something was magically hidden within the image. Almost what you’d expect Harry Potter to see whilst traipsing through the halls of Hogwarts. But this feeling is not unlike how I feel about finding letterboxes; once I learned about letterboxing, it felt like there was magic hidden down every park trail.

So, I started posting some of my favourite cinemagraphs with my posts, always sort of sad that I couldn’t make my own – particularly of my letterboxing trips as a continuation of the magic in the woods.

Then one day while reading some blog post about the best iPhone camera apps to have, one came up that solved this problem for me, called Cinemagram. The review of it looked promising, so I bought it and had it with me for my last Guelph letterboxing adventure.



Near Blair's Sheaves Tower Letterbox.
Notice how the water goes out than reverses.
Now it can loop and go out only.

The app worked great to create these images on the fly (as in, literally, right on the trail walking back to my car) and I started using them in my posts as of that time. My only complaint was that the gifs made by that version of the app was that the images were looped by playing the video forwards, then backwards, then forwards again and so on.

Luckily, they updated the app almost the next day which included a toggle to switch that so that you could go forwards then loop right back to the beginning to start over in the animation.  To the right is an image from that day of letterboxing where you can see that problem.  At the bottom of the post is a more recent cinamagraph from when I checked up on one of my own letterboxes.

Anyways, I’m loving being able to make my own cinamagraphs. It's the perfect accompaniment to my travels and they are certainly something I intend to continue adding to my posts in the future.

The Rouge River on route to A Touch of Voodoo letterbox

Happy trails!

What to do with retired stamps

What do you do once you retire a stamp?  Not sure what the correct answer is, but my event stamp for Wink Wink, Nudge Nudge was taking up space on my desk so I posted it on the AtlasQuest exchange board and had a lucky new owner within an hour.

But as I started packing it for the mail, I felt a little... sad? nostalgic? So I pulled out some blank cards, made some prints, and have some sassy cards I can add to my card supply.  Hope the stamp likes its new home!

Although, watch the cardstock you use - the stuff I used here is too glossy and the ink is still not dry, a week later.

Letterboxing: an "intriguing" pastime

Disclaimer: rant ahead.

 

 

Intriguing.  Ugh.  I can even remember when I first learned about letterboxing reading that word, "intriguing".  Nearly put me off the hobby all together, actually.

 

Somewhere, sometime, in letterboxing's history, someone wrote these words: "Letterboxing is an intriguing pastime..." And this has been reproduced.  Everywhere.  And I hate it.  And so, if you are the unfortunate soul who first used this unfortunate word, please turn away and go to some other website.  You should definitely spare yourself the rant that follows.

 

I should first say that there is nothing wrong with the word "intrigue" or any of its deriviatives. I found my favourite television show to ever be produced, LOST, to be very intriguing. But the producers of LOST never themselves said, LOST is an intriguing show.  And in that context, I have no issue with the word "intriguing".

 

However, when I first learned about letterboxing, I googled it and first went to the LBNA website and read as follows: "Letterboxing is an intriguing pastime..."  Ugh.  It made my skin crawl.  The very site promoting/supporting/enabling letterboxing called itself intriguing. My, isn't that self-serving.

 

Isn't something being intriguing in the eye of the beholder, so to speak? Merriam-Webster says the definition of intriguing is: engaging the interest to a marked degree, or fascinating.  Well, aren't I fascinating?  If I wrote in this blog that "I am an intriguing woman", your first thought would probably be, "that's for me to decide!". You'd think that I am in no position to know whether that is true (and also, htat I am narcissistic). I feel the same is true of a institutional-style website, such as LBNA or AtlasQuest who hold themselves out as being the letterboxing community, stating that letterboxing is an intriguing hobby. 

 

Now, as a matter of fact, I do find letterboxing to be intriguing.  Not all aspects of it anymore - I now find certain clues to be fascinating - but the not the initial intrigue that drew me in in first place (I discussed this here). I have no issue with any individual letterboxing proclaiming loud and clear that they find letterboxing intriguing - they are outside, independant observers who are stating their personal opinion.

 

So why am I ranting? Because I hate that phrase.  Hate it.  I hate that potential boxers who are searching out this hobby read on various websites that,

• "Letterboxing is an intriguing pastime combining navigational skills and rubber stamp artistry in a charming "treasure hunt" style outdoor quest." LBNA
• "Letterboxing is an intriguing pastime combining artistic ability with "treasure-hunts" in parks, forests, and cities around the world."  AtlasQuest

And worse, these are further picked up and quoted all over the web when answering the question, "what is letterboxing?".

 

I have no doubt people will find letterboxing intriguing.  I hope they do, it's part of what gives magic to this hobby.  But can't we demonstrate the intrigue rather than self-servingly say that it is so?

 

/rant

Other things I obsessively do with my hands

Other than carving stamps, I spend a great deal of time removing and applying nail polish.  I love nail polish. I have a huge box of all kinds of different colours and types, and I probably redo my nails in the neighbourhood of 2-3 times per week.  Just like carving, I do it while catching up on tv shows or movies.

You will notice there is no carving material or letterboxing in this image.

Living in a letterbox desert

I live in Markham, Ontario, Canada. The average rainfall is 718 mm, and average snowfall is 142 cm. And yet, I live in a desert. A letterbox desert.

Back when I first took up letterboxing, a search of within 30 km of Markham would have netted you two (2) letterboxes, In the Great Green Room and Roxbury Valentine Hearts. There are a few more just outside town, but you’re pretty much looking at a drive into downtown Toronto or else a drive right out of the GTA in order to find a couple boxes in one go.

To me, until I move, I will always be in a letterbox desert. To my knowledge, there are no other letterboxes here.

But I suspect everyone at some point comes to live an a desert. There may be boxes when you arrive, but over time, you have to travel further and further to get your letterboxing fix. I wonder at different areas of the US where it would appear to me as an outsider that the area is pretty self sustaining. Enough letterboxers – both of the planter type and finder type - that new boxes come up from a variety of planter on a fairly regular basis. Is that the case? Or, are there so many pre-planted boxes available when a new boxer enters the fray that there is never the need to travel. One wonders.

Inevitably though, I think we all end up in a desert once you find everything within a given radius of your home or work.  So nothing to complain about, really.  Nothing to see here, keep moving.

And another thing...

I recently went to a work event and as a gift from the company organizing it, they gave a nice Starfrit salad lunch kit thing to everyone. Upon taking my seat and seeing this, I exclaimed, "Wow, this is perfect - I need something like this to take lunch to work." to which my companion replied, "But don't you have that huge stack of Tupperware at your house?"

Slow blink. She meant all my Lock 'n Locks.

"Yes." Quick change of topic.

This wasn't the stack she was talking about.  This is today's new addition to the stack.

The Magic of Letterboxing

Please note that this post was written at one in the morning. On a work night. Insomnia at its finest. The following post may not represent the opinions of the letterboxer known as Bumble, but rather the voices in her head.
 

I sometimes question whether it is a good idea at all to be involved with activities that bring me into contact with other letterboxers. It’s not that any of the letterboxers I’ve met are anything other than fantastic, charming people who I would love to sit and share a pot of tea with - I love everyone, but the essence of what brought me to letterboxing itself was the magic associated with finding these treasures, left by gracious strangers, whose paths I would otherwise never cross.

For instance, there are some Ontario letterboxers that I know well (as far as one can know a fellow human being whom you only know through letterboxing) who when they plant a new box, I go out and find the box without question.  I know the clue-style, the quality of the box I will find, and the likelihood of the other local boxers who may have found that particular box already.  I know enough that if the clue goes wonky, I can probably stop, look around, and think to myself, "where would so-and-so plant this?" (I've had a huge amount of success with this technique.) Something about the mundane nature of this means that a part of the magic of the box is gone. There isn't the excitement you normally get when you open the lid.  You pretty much know exactly what will be there. Not that it won't be great or fantastic, but the magic is certainly diminished.

One of the big things that brought me to letterboxing in the first place was this magic.  That particular kind of magic I have found in other things as well - one of those things particularly was the Lost Experience which was run in conjunction with my favourite television show, LOST.  I'll never forget the indescribable feeling of watching the commercial that ran during the show which turned out to be essentially  the rabbit hole for the game (ARG terminology for trailhead). I had an amazing time with the ARG, and although I haven't participated in one since, I certainly cherish those memories.
 Here is a great run down of the game:

On a different note, I found this recently and I think there is some magic here, too: 

 

 

 Wonder if he'd let me host a letterboxing mini-meet there...

Anyway.  Sorry for the ramble.  I love letterboxing and won't change my ways.  I'm in the midst of prepping for the Coaster Boaster event this weekend down in New York state, as well as carving for my Wink Wink, Nudge Nudge mini-meet, and carving/prepping for the fall's BoxON! event.  Clearly, I'm not going into hiding ;)

Off to bed.

Not much carving this weekend...

...due to my cat's sudden understanding of my magnifier/light.  She's discovered that she can force me to pay attention to her AND be warm by forcing her way under the light directly in front of me.  And I am helpless in the face of her cuteness - I end up giving snuggles every time.  Sigh.

Reflection on 2011

Greetings everyone and I hope you are enjoying your last day of 2011!!

This will obviously be my last post of the year, so I wanted to take the opportunity to reflect on my letterboxing experiences over the past year - and what better way to do that than to look at the numbers :)

In 2011, I found just over 200 letterboxes... for reference, in 2010 I found only 38.  In 2010 I had just learned about letterboxing, so there you go - that's why the numbers have changed so much.  I suspect though that next year will bring me fewer finds since I've now moved to an area with far fewer letterboxes.

I think my favourite letterbox of the year must be a tie between Norasta's Edwin Holgate letterbox and Fiddleheads'  Neoclassical Revival letterbox. Both for different reasons, but both the boxes, the clues and the amazing locations, along with my personal experiences in finding the boxes make those two stick well out in my mind as favourite boxes for the year.  I highly recommend both.

I also had an amazing outdoor experience whilst seeking Sylvie... I do have a number of amazing memories from this year's letterboxing.

This year, I also had the opportunity to do some cross-border letterboxing, starting with a trip I made to Charleston, South Carolina.  While there, I found the South Carolina State Butterfly, the Lost Ring of Charleston, and Batty for Bats. It was the idillic letterboxing/vacation trip: I had the day to spend in Charleston and spent it for essentially free, letterboxing, while nevertheless seeing all the best parts of that gorgeous city.  Perfect.

Later in the year, I got down to San Diego for the International Comic Con (cuz you know, I'm a geek like that) and while there I danced for the jumbo tron.  Great quick find despite having no time to do any real letterboxing. Finally, I did my first cross border event in upper New York state, the Boneyard Boxing tour - and nabbed a lot of cemetery boxes that day.

I also did a lot of carving and planting this year 67 in total, up from 19 in 2010.  My favourites are the Numbers Station (which I fully intend to do a blog post about the making of that clue), the Purloined Letter, and Hic Sunt Dracones. None of these have a lot of finds on them - Numbers Station has a lone find on it - likely because the clues look difficult.  When really, once you figure them out, not so much.  My favourite carve would have to be one of my most recent plants, A Touch of Voodoo, which from a clue/hide standpoint isn't the best, but it's still my favourite carve.

Anyway, it's been a fantastic year of letterboxing and I'm looking forward to some good experiences in 2012 (not the least of which are my two events, Wink Wink, Nudge Nudge, and Box ON! 2012. I hope to see you there or on the trail!  I'll leave you with a Wordle generated from the text from my blog for the year.  Happy trails!

Time Flies

Greetings and salutations...

I haven't gone anywhere, I've just been living the crazy life since my last post.

I've now moved twice since my last post (yes, you heard me right) and now have settled for the time being (crossing fingers).  I'm also a member of an active marching band and as it is Santa Claus parade season, my weekends have all been eaten up.  So, understandably, no letterboxing has really been done recently... The last time was before leaving Hamilton where I replanted my HHH, along with recarving my Worm letterbox and planting a new one to make a pair. I also had a fairly unsuccessful letterbox trip to the Cambridge area - went looking for about a dozen, found five.

But, in the move, I've set up a brilliant new carving space for myself, which includes a fantastic new lit magnifier (picked up on sale in the midst of my last letterboxing outing).  All my stuff nearby, fireplace to warm my toes and a TV to keep me entertained - what more do you need? My first project will be to carve another signature stamp - my current one has Burlington as my home location, which is now two homes ago.  Sigh.

I'm now living in a bit of a letterboxing desert - certainly not as bad as other areas, but not really any nearby letterboxes that I haven't found to speak of.  In fact, in Markham there are a total of 6 unique letterboxes, 4 of which are mine.  Richmond Hill, there none.  This has to be corrected and I am up for that task!

If you're a fan of scifi/fantasy, you'll likely understand what I mean as I'm feeling fairly sympathetic to the Stark family's motto/threat/warning: winter's coming.  I spent most of last winter/early spring painfully monitoring the weather, looking for the opportunity to get back out on the trail.  Now, I'm stuck dreading when the first real snow fall is coming to bury all the boxes out there and putting any real boxing opportunities out of reach.  Snow shoeing anyone?

Happy Hallowe'en my carving friends!

Happy Hallowe'en everyone!  I hope you're having a truly magical day and are eagerly awaiting the ghosts and goblins at your doorstep.

My carving is about halfway done and I will post some pictures once I'm done.  In the meantime, I will treat you to a scene from one of my favourite classic movies, Clue, which I watch every year while carving pumpkins.

Still here...

Life has somewhat interfered with my letterboxing.  I ended up having to move one city over after my roommate decided to move in with her boyfriend, and days after I moved, I was offered a new position over an hour away.  So now I'm on the move yet again.  This will be the fourth move in two years.

This after a tree decided to take out my car - along with three others this past Labour Day weekend.  The insurance wrote off the car and I had to find another... I'm cursed with cars.  The  check engine light is already on in the new one.  Sigh.

Because of all that, letterboxing has moved down on the priority list.  Nevertheless, I still managed to make it to BoxON this year in Rockwood - had a fantastic time - and carve an enormous stamp for planting.  It has been divied up and planted, and I'm just working through the lengthy clue.  Hopefully, I'll be able to post it as a pdf here, which is my preference, not sure if I can do that with Blogger.  Stay tuned.

Happy Autumn, everyone!

Along came a bumble bee...

So the other morning, I wake up for the day, go downstairs to the basement bathroom and begin my morning preparations for the day. With my glasses off, feeling around trying to find my contacts case, I suddenly see in the mirror this enormous black entity start crawling across the carpet behind me.  The cat was watching it bemusedly.

I lunge for my glasses (scared, of course, that it was some sort of spider on some homicidal mission to take control of my home in a baby-step effort to one day take over the world) and slipping them on stared, puzzled, at one of the largest bumble bees I've seen crawling over the carpet in my basement.

Unhappy bumble bee waiting to be released...

Why was she there? How did she get in? Is there a bumble nest somewhere in my finished basement? Why is my cat so entertained by bugs?

I love bees dearly, bumble bees and squash bees in particular, so I grabbed a notebook and a tupperware container, lifted the lady up, and took her on outside to greet the day.  She wasn't entirely happy with this turn of events, but happily flew off to visit some flowers in the garden.

So, it might be a sign; I picked Bumble* as my trail name for a reason, but I nevertheless proceeded to carve a cute bumble bee series that I hope to plant soon...

Runway clear; ready for take off.

Tomorrow, I'm off to the Remember the Railroads mini meet in St. Thomas, hosted by Big Blue Team.  I'm excited and looking very forward to it - the pasta salad is made and ready to go.

*Actually, it was BumbleAlong until recently.  But that was only because AtlasQuest wouldn't let me register Bumble as my trail name at the time, apparently because it was too close to some existing name.  On a whim, I tried to change it and it let me.  So there you go.

To love and hate logbooks

Disclaimer: As I am currently under the influence of heavy medications due to some recent significant dental work that involved drilling into my jaw bone, please note that none of the following comments reflect the opinions of either myself or anyone in the letterboxing community, but rather are the official view of the voices in my head.

The weather is killing me.  Yesterday it rained, and today it is raining and snowing. It has no business snowing on April 17th!  I have had a great letterboxing trek planned that has been thwarted two weekends in a row by weather.  I also have two boxes that are ready for planting, also thwarted by the rain.  And to make matters worse, my work has decided to replace all its photocopiers to these shiny new ones that, you guessed it, do not lend to transfers.  The Hamilton library system, also brand new non-boxy photocopiers. I've been all over town - all shiny new copiers. Aren't we just coming out of a recession??? Either the recession was a lie, or there is some huge conspiracy involving the big three photocopy machine makers, the banks, and the Harper government. It's the only logical answer.

Anyways, logbooks.  I hate 'em.  I love to carve, and the logbook always ends up as the last-minute what-the-heck-am-I-gonna-use-oh-shoot.  And if I have some little books, they are never compatible with whatever size lock and lock I'm going to use.  I'm also not that big on making them, except for those for my microboxes.

But on the other hand, I love finding boxing with logbooks containing multiple entries. There's nothing like coming to a relatively older box that has many entries that you can sit and peruse at your leisure. That's why I never understood why people want to be first finders... You end up stamping into an essentially blank log book.  I love books that are filled with stamps and fingerprints and short messages with stories of how the last few people found the box.

Unfortunately, there aren't many older boxes in my area.  Well, in fact, in my immediate area, all the boxes are mine so the issue is moot.  But thanks to the hard work of some of the original Ontario letterboxers, there are some amazing boxes around that have fantastic logbooks with lots of entries if I'm willing to travel.  However, state-side boxing is a completely different story.  I guess just from the sheer number of letterboxers in the US, when you find even a new letterbox there are already many, many entries in the log.

Grumble, grumble.

Hello, no one in particular...

Welcome to my newly-found addiction.  I didn't exactly prepare this blog for you, dear reader, but more for me to chronicle and remember my letterboxing escapades.

If you're a fellow letterboxer, welcome.  If you have no idea what I'm talking about, then (a) how did you get here? and (b) go to www.atlasquest.com - quick!

Happy trails!