Box ON! 2016

Battlefield Park, Stoney Creek, Ontario

Hello and welcome to my long neglected blog!  If you're just joining me, you'll find that you want to bash me in the head sometimes because I forget to post somewhat important things... One of those important letterboxing things is Ontario's premiere letterboxing event: Box ON!


Last year was the ninth year of Box ON! and was hosted by a brave letterboxer and his family who have not themselves been to one of these events.  I think the established letterboxing community would agree that he hosted a wonderful event that was enjoyed by all!  So many thanks and much kudos to Bon Echo for hosting an amazing event!

For this edition of Box ON!, we all headed to Stoney Creek, Ontario to Battlefield Park, which was (is) located helpfully off of the highway and has direct access to the Bruce Trail.

As per usual for these events, it was lovely to reconnect with Ontario boxers and meet some folks who drove in from out of the Province - the carvings were spectacular as usual, and Mother Nature held out for us and only gave us a sprinkle at the end of the day.

Which way is north? An important question in Hamilton where the lake is north, unlike most of Southern Ontario.

 Myself, I loved the venue because I am growing every increasingly appreciative of historic buildings and places...  I haven't had a chance to visit during the war reenactments, but it's something I may look into.

 In fact, this place is a bit of a historic letterboxing location for myself.  One of Gwynlais' purple-diamond-worthy letterboxes, which has been planted since 2010, is still alive and well.  Although I have already found this box, because the folks I was boxing with wanted to claim the find for themselves, I got to see my old log from spring 2011 (now six years ago, what?!) and one of my original signature stamp impressions.

A letterboxing find from 2011.

Unfortunately, I wasn't feeling so well this day, so I didn't find as many boxes as I would have liked, but it was a lovely visit and a wonderful day to be boxing.

Thems some boxes in them thar rocks.

 So many thanks once again to Bon Echo who did a fantastic job.  Fiddleheads has once again taken the chair for Box ON! 2017 - Time Warp.  This will be the 10th year of the Ontario event and I'm looking forward to seeing everyone again - hope everyone will sign up!

Happy (Bruce) trails!

Bruce Trail marker, Stony Creek, Ontario

Inconceivable!

Inconceivable little library

So, with slight delay, I post here about last weekend's letterboxing trip to Kitchener to join StarHexen's mini event.

Two other casual letterboxers and I headed up to Kitchener after work on the Friday to make an appearance at a little library where there was allegedly a letterbox planted.  Kitchener must have the highest per capita rate of mini libraries (which is something to be proud of). This particular library, however, is unique with a green roof (amazing) and decked out with a Princess Bride motif.  And, of course, it joins the ranks of letterbox-containing-mini-libraries.

It was great having a little visit with StarHexen, but the ladies and I only had a couple hours before dark and so we stamped in (fantastic stamp) and headed on our way...

We then headed over to the nearby cemetery where I had found a number of letterboxes before.  The sun was quickly going down, putting the cemetery in twilight which was quite beautiful.

Unfortunately, once we came upon the box we were searching for, it was quickly apparent that my namesake insect had created a ground nest right in front of the hiding spot.  Yikes.  A quick stamp in for everyone, a delicate re-hide procedure, and we were on our way out of the cemetery.

It was a beautiful trip and although we didn't find any other boxes (one was a little too tricky and then it was too dark to continue) the day was great for getting back in the letterboxing spirit of things.

Eek, the summer is almost over.  I did manage to get out letterboxing and go to a mini event though so  I'm not hopeless.  I'm also planning to attend Box ON with a fellow letterboxer and even sent a stamp in for the event.

Hope to see you there!

Happy trails!

Letterboxing in High Park

What a gorgeous day.  Finally, out on the trail.  Though I was largely unsuccessful, I had a great time and am looking forward to some more letterboxing in my future.

I had plans with friends downtown, so I took the opportunity to then head to High Park to try and find some of the many boxes there I have yet to find. I can't recall how frequently I've posted about this, but I have a terrible time with the old High Park boxes. They are so hard but I want them so bad!

For those new to Ontario boxing, an event was held in High Park in September of 2009 (almost five years ago!) which, for the record, was before I started letterboxing.  Many boxes were planted, lovely, and are still sited to this day.

Nonetheless, High Park being the size it is, changes with time and trails and foliage undermine clues fairly uniformly.  As much as you spend in the park, you never really get a full sense of the whole of it and it's full of difficult plants.

I started with a Fiddleheads box and came across the most intriguing entry in a logbook that I've ever seen, here it is:

Sooo... besides the message, if they weren't looking, why did they have a stamp? Anyone read Mandarin?

Anyways.  I had a massively unsuccessful time next doing one of Gwynlais' first Smokin Festivals series.  Here's the thing: I actually got lost.  Lost.  Lost.  I didn't find a single box in the series and I'm glad I knew High Park as well as I did or I would have panicked when I got so turned around.

So I ended up back near the Grenadier Cafe, so I tried the Stockyards box and found it full of water.  Like full, full.  Like full of blue water, full.  And in a log with a bee nest in it.  So, yeah.

Full of water.  Full.

It was a beautiful day and a lovely walk through the park, so I'll consider it a win.

Hope you all enjoyed your first day of summer!
Happy trails!

Letterboxing in Boston, Massachusetts

So, after leaving L&B, Fiddleheads and I headed into Boston.  After the trip down and all my irritating singing in the van, FH finally snapped, slowed to 100 and shoved me out of her van.  Luckily, it was close to the "subway" and I was able to get downtown and rent a place for the night.  Jeez.  She's so touchy.

Anyways, I've been to Boston, Massachusetts, a number of times before, so I decided to spend my time focusing on two important things: letterboxing and shopping (big cross-border exemption applied).

Since the weather forecast called for thundershowers in the next couple days (hopefully to get rid of the stifling heat we had through the whole L&B event) I decided to get my letterboxing out of the way on my first day...

Beautiful!

 First I headed out to Harvard's Arboretum for a couple letterboxes. Man it was hot.  I seriously questioned the logic in letterboxing in the heat.  However, the Arboretum was fantastic and it was definitely worth the experience.

First box, Mad Chef dating back to 2002 had a massive logbook, but the box was full of water.  Very sad.

 I also found the Best Gift Ever - which was really cute :)  I planted one of my own, and I was off!

 Next, to the Coolidge for the Most Extreme Cool of All Cools and Only at the Coolidge.  The Coolidge is this gorgeous art deco theatre that still is showing movies.  I loves me some art deco, so I was really happy to trek out to see these two boxes :)

Heading back out on the "subway".  This is the "subway" which is almost identical to Toronto's older streetcars.  Very confusing.

Except that the "subway" does go below ground sometimes as well.  Jeez... And don't get me started about the Silver Line.

Anyways, I went out a little farther for Art Theif! which I think might be my favourite find in Boston.  Very cute stamp and a lovely location for stamping in.

The next day, I planned to do some serious shopping, but I got up before the stores were open to try and get another two boxes - I ♥ Old North Church and Sonnet.  I used the boxes as a reason to do some nice long walking tours of Boston.  Note to self: Boston is gorgeous, I need to go back.

Happy trails!

Remembering We Live & Breathe XV

It was an amazing trip.  It truly was.

The venue was great.  Okay, it was a little hot and stuffy (care of mother-nature), but perfect for our needs.  The trails were fantastic, the types/varieties of boxes were great, and I loved meeting so many other letterboxers from across the country.

Not sure what more I can say, other than to say that words wouldn't describe it properly.  So instead, here are some more pics from the event.  

Wassa was there, in spirit (or clue) of course...

When in doubt: be suspicious and investigate.

If I can't get to Dartmoor, this is the next best thing (for now!)

There wasn't a clean hand in the place...

Der Mad Stamper's amazing top hat...

... love.

Other boxers on the trail...

... and people were stamping in everywhere.

Magical and fantastical box.

Too bad you can't photograph heat...

... cuz it was wicked hot - high 40s with the humidex.

It's a dressy Fiddleheads!

Yarn-bombed trees... stamps were there...

I don't collect patches, but this makes me want to...

Ours should have won (on the right, but of course).

Obligatory boob shot, care of FH.

Oh Wassa, you're so handsome in that shower...

Beware of beavers!

Already looking forward to We Live & Breathe XX...

Happy trails!

ROAD TRIP! On the road with Fiddleheads and letterboxing in Shirley Center, Massachusetts

I am very derelict in my report of my fantastical adventure down in Boston.  I went down and stayed with Fiddleheads at the event.  Quite the drive.  Oh, she lived to regret it. 

Back at the end of August (how time flies!) Fiddleheads and I drove down to We Live and Breathe XV together, staying overnight in Albany.  It is a well-studied fact that on road trips, when confined in a vehicle for a long distance, one passenger will inevitably make the others miserable.  The key here is to be that person driving the rest nuts.  You can assure yourself that you will have a lovely drive so long as you can be as obnoxious as possible and drive the others batty.  Be happy as a clam by making the others miserable.

Reenactment of road trip.

As such, I made sure to juice up on caffeine before leaving Toronto and met Fiddleheads in Aldershot, Ontario, while practically vibrating.  There’s a story to go here about Fiddleheads, a renowned Ontario letterboxer who dominates the difficult clues, who manages to lose her own vehicle in a three-isle parking lot.  But I won’t discuss that here.  Too embarrassing for her.

Anyways, we over-nighted in Albany but didn’t get any letterboxing done. We were tired and it was hot. Pass.

However, the next day, we got to within spitting distance of Groton and decided to stop into Shirley Center to try our hand at a really old letterbox – 1999 was the original plant year. Town Pound in Shirley Center was a fantastic find and a great way to start off the letterboxing trip on the right foot.

It started with us not knowing what the heck the town pound was or where to find it.  Fiddleheads decided to remedy this by asking a local.  Me, I hid in the car.  Why?  Back home, I'd harass anyone I ran into for information if I thought it would help me find a box. But, I'm a Canadian, and sometimes with a USAer you assume they have a gun.  Don't spook the locals and all that.   Fiddleheads would have been right though: this was not a gun-toting maniac, but a sweet little old granny.

In fact, this sweet granny had the keys to the old church and let us in for some really cool exploring.  On the way, we saw two other letterboxers find this box before us.  Oh, well ;)  

Letterboxing in Guelph, Ontario

I'm here! I swear! I didn't go away, I've just been busy with life and unfortunately after PAL, letterboxing just seemed to slide low on the priorities.

Luckily, I broke an almost three month letterboxing fast with a trip to Guelph to letterbox with Vivian the Viking.  It felt really good to get out on the trail again.  Really, really good.  My latest logbook is now almost filled... Only a few more pages to go - so clearly I have new impetus to get it finished before my upcoming trek down to Live & Breathe.  Very exciting.  I have a new book all lined up and ready to go.

But, for now, Guelph.  I love letterboxing in Guelph.  Since my relocation to the Toronto area I haven't been able to get out there as frequently (distance/time), but every time I do, I'm very happy.

I had scheduled a time to meet up with Ms. Viking, but since I'm used to getting up so early in the morning and running on autopilot, I miscalculated what time I needed to be out and ended up in Guelph exactly an hour earlier than I needed to be.  Oops.  So I did what any good letterboxer did: I letterboxed, of course.  

What better box to break my fast with than Lone R's The Eagle Has Landed. What a great hide, but I'll spoil things if I go into any detail.  Lone R has done similar hides (or at least one off the top of my head) and she's really helping to raise the bar on the types of hide styles that we have in Ontario.  So I highly recommend this box!

The location was great and I think I've been down in that area for a number of other boxes.  The specific location it took me to was in the midst of a beautiful evergreen forest, with the morning rays scattering down through the trees and silent with the bubbling sounds of the creek nearby.  Very serene.  

Coffee and some time at the Chapters at Stone Road Mall which happened to be open on a stat holiday.  Weird.  Bought a replacement logbook - still in its wrapping and waiting in my car for the upcoming L&B!  Vivian the Viking arrives and we're off!

We head out to the trail head for Early Bedtime Essentials: Canadian Content by Fiddleheads. The clues for this series had myself and Ms. Viking running around in circles. Man, were we rusty. The clues themselves were fantastic, I think we were just off our game. Nevertheless, a fantastic tie-in to the theme and I know I'll be back to snag the two we missed.

The trail was actually one that I lived really close to during my time at the University, but one I'd never taken the opportunity to walk along. Thank goodness for letterboxing for righting all those wrongs (note: I lived in Guelph and went to the University for four years and didn't end up visiting the Arboretum until five years later when I started letterboxing. That is a sin. Thank you, letterboxing.)

The carves were perfect: it was great seeing something from nothing, the Paper Bag Princess was flawless, and Stanley was sure getting his party on...  The trail was great and we saw a lot of walkers and mountain bikers.  And dogs.  We had a really nice snugly visit with a lady and her two British Bulldogs - which I love.  

So what do you do when you're in town?  You get invited to Fiddlehead's home, of course.  Ms. Viking and I stopped by for a lovely visit with our lovely host and talked shop for a while.  She also told us where we went wrong for at least one of this series' boxes. Oops. Sometimes you feel real dumb after you miss a box.  Nevertheless, we headed out for another of her bedtime series!

We hit the trail for Early Bedtime Essentials: Old Favourites at the end of a dead end road.  Who would have thought that it would have led to one of the most beautiful trails in Guelph? 

This series again had perfectly linked-in clues that match perfectly to the theme. Great stories, missed a couple of the boxes, but again, we were not on our letterboxing game.  I also have some health troubles that act up from time to time and I ended up in some quite horrid pain about halfway through... Didn't have my usual drugs with me, so after this series, I headed home for the comfort of prescription drugs and a dark bedroom.  I feel better now, no worries!

Nevertheless, all in all, a perfect day of letterboxing.  The weather was perfect - not too hot, not too cold - and all said over 10 boxes to add to my collection.  Got a little eaten by the skeeters, but thems the risks of going out in the woods.  

Hope everyone is getting out on the trails now that the weather has cooled off!

Happy trails!

Staycation day six: verdict awesome

Whew.  What a day.  I didn't manage to get a lot of things struck off my list of things to do, but here's a little bit of what I did do:

Little parkette at the Roundhouse Park has a little play train... cute!

I moseyed on down to the Roundhouse Park to plant my Steam Whistle letterbox and spent a lot of time searching and exploring.

It's almost cliched to say that you like letterboxing because it takes you to places you never would have been, but it's even true to say that when you're planting! I'd never been to this park - even though I have been to the brewery a number of times - but never explored the roundhouse. 

It's amazing, worth the visit, and I'm glad I was finally able to plant my box there (well, near there - that place doesn't really provide any options).

Delicious Steam Whistle - you get a free drink if you visit.  My friend's condo was nearby.  We visited.  A lot.

 Immediately across the street is the CN Tower and I went over to see if I could finally nab Big Blue Team's CN Tower letterbox that I was thwarted from last year.  Well, with the construction of the new Aquarium of Canada (I can't wait to visit when it's open, but what a stupid name), the whole area where the box was planted is gone. So, unless BBT has swooped in for an early rescue, this one may be a goner.  Oh, well.

I love aquariums, so exciting! The orange and yellow thing is the aquarium, seen from the miniature railyard in the Round House Park.

It used to say "Opening Spring 2013".  Then it said summer.  Now it just says 2013...

I headed up Spadina and nipped in to the Global Village Backpacker's Hostel and was finally able to get the box there. The bemused Aussie behind the desk almost instantly knew what I was talking about, but noted repeatedly that he didn't understand the game.  His loss ;)  Great letterbox - I was very happy to see such a nice box being left by a letterbox traveller...

Anyways, because I was already in the area, I continued north and stopped into Kensington Market for a quick visit (quick because I might be heading back in again this weekend).  Cute shops and grilled cheeses were had!

Hopped a streetcar and made my way west to the Monkey's Paw - the coolest used book store in the city.  Seriously.  I would love to know how this guy sources all his used books.  Very interesting stuff.  And this cool thing: the Bibliomat.  Then visited Trinity Bellwoods park to see if I could spot the elusive white squirrel(s) and then nipped into the Graven Feather which, based on their website and what I saw in store (gallery?), is almost like a high end letterbox making store.  They just don't know it. 

Back on the streetcar and stopped into the Hudson's Bay (they're not going by "the Bay" anymore, you know) and used a gift card I had to buy a really nice canvass Hudson's Bay tote.  I took a much needed break after this then headed out to my first culinary arts class - 12 weeks and I'm guaranteed to be able to cook something!  Then I came home and flopped into bed.  All in all, I walked over 11 kms today. 

Meanwhile, when I checked in just now to my blog to write this post, it looks like my blog was hard at work today as well! In the last day, I hit an all-time high visitor count of just shy of 150 visits.  Whaaaaat?  Usually, I get 10ish a day - higher on days I post, pretty darn high just after last year's Box ON, and my former highest just before Hallowe'en for my movie posts (lots of Google traffic). 

Not sure where all the traffic is coming from, although about 30 hits this week came from a forum on another site for my how-to post on creating a piano hinge book.  I've tried to look at the forum who has been checking out my blog so I can pipe up and say hello but I'm waiting on membership approval (really?).  If you've somehow come here from that site, let me happily say: howdy!

Anyways, I think I'm going out of town for some letterboxing tomorrow. Depends on how I feel in the morning.

Happy trails!

Letterboxing on a rainy day in High Park, Toronto

Staycationing in Toronto

Next week, I have the week off for a much-needed staycation.  While it might have been nice to head right out of the country, I'm trying to save my scheckles for grander things.  And since I'm living in Toronto now and it's finally spring, I've decided to take a week to relax and get out to see and do all those things I've always wanted to do but never gotten around to doing. Some in Toronto, some in the beyond.  And lots of letterboxing, of course.

So here's the big list of places I'm planning to go, in no particular order for all you stalkers out there:

• Out of town for letterboxing (Kingston? Kitchener? Only places with a K?)
• Toronto Islands
• Riverdale Farm
• Evergreen Brickworks
• Out for a movie night with the girls
• Spadina Museum (would see Casa Loma too but it's not open yet, wtf)
• Mackenzie House
• Todmorden Mills
• Take the streetcar to the High Park loop (always wanted to do this... I love the streetcar)
• Start my culinary class (gulp)
• City of Craft festival
• High Tea at the Royal York
• Big concert at the Burlington Performing Arts Centre (you can come see me!)

Phew. Lots to do.  And there will be letterboxing finding and planting in there, and some blogging to round it all out.

I love plotting.  And half the fun of vacationing is the plotting.  Fun times, ahoy!

Letterboxing in Kitchener, Ontario

A little while ago, I was able to get out to Kitchener to do some letterboxing as well as to visit Ms. Viking and Starhexen.  So without further ado, here are my adventures!

My trip started with a stop in for Mmmtika's Holidays Start at Midnight for a quick find and a lovely chat with the police. A police cruiser pulled up and asked me what I was doing as I was walking back to my car. I explained that I was letterboxing and showed him the container and he said, "oh, I know what that is!" and then drove away. Huh.

Then off to find Flower Power - Sunflower.  Not sure why this particular stamp was planted in a place where there are no flowers in the summer, but it didn't matter because I was taken to one of my favourite things to see on the trail: a historic bridge.  This particular one is an old stone one which has basically degraded on the top - I'd hate to have to cross it - but nonetheless a sight I was happy to start my day seeing.  

Look at that gorgeous old stone bridge! And the water was rushing like mad.

Next I was off to Art Deco Time which was planted by Angel Treads but owned by mudflingingfools.  Couldn't really understand the clue while I was there, but I was really looking forward to finding this one so I basically brute-forced it until I found what I was looking for.  Fantastic history to this stamp and logbook, I wish we had more of these boxes - planted after travelling.

I then headed off into a forest which was still full of snow (hence why I don't live in KW) and went for a look-see for some Viking boxes.  I managed to find Sorry kid... there's no Santa Claus! (and apparently shame Viking into changing the box name...) but not one of the forest celebs that I'm sure is hiding in there... For next time! Incidentally, this was my 400th find.  Huh.

I next went out to the Huron Natural Area that had a number of boxes by different planters.  This is the kind of thing I like: a big park, lots of trails, and a number of boxes all planted by different planters.  I added to the lot while I was there, that clue will be posted in due course...

I first found Cecil Won the Race.  I nice hide by mmmtika, however I was nearly eaten by a fangarian snare-beast hiding in this box.  You know.  A big spider.  An awake spider.  An awake angry spider.  At this time of year, when there is still snow completely covering the ground, I do not expect to see a spider that big and that awake guarding a letterbox.  I just don't.  So I shrieked like a little ninny when it launched itself at me.

I know it doesn't look that big here, but believe me, it was huge. Having said that, how many spiders do you see in this pic?

I then continued on before I could go after the A Walk on the Forest Trail boxes.  This park was packed - lots of people out to see the world now that the sun was out and there were good temperatures.  So it was difficult getting this panoramic shot of the turtle look-out:

Click the picture to see full size.

 Great park - can't wait to go back in the summer!  I ended with a quick find of peek-a-boo - another snare-beast location, but I was on the look out this time and no attacks despite the occupants.  Shudder.

What a cute little fatty!

 
Leaving the park, I found a few more boxes while tooling around town - Ahsoka Tano (where I saw a gorgeous fat caterpillar), a couple more of Water Lily's Mennonite boxes, Sticky Take-Off (I love Gary Larson) and Think About It. There were a couple boxes that I looked for but couldn't find, though.  One that I was looking forward to was an old box by the Landmark Leapsters that started at a beautiful gazebo and ended in the cutest little neighbourhood parkette.  However, the tree that the box should have been hidden in was half-missing.  It look like lightning struck it or something. No box to be found.

I ended the outgoing part of the trip at a local gorgeous cemetery to find This Chick's An Angel.  Wonderful cemetery - I wish there were more cemetery boxes in KW...

As I said, I ended the day with a visit with Vivian the Viking and Starhexen - drinks and food were in order, and a nice urban find that I didn't actually do any of the finding for.  It's nice when you don't even have to convince the planter to retrieve their own box for you.  Heh.

Anyways, hope everyone is starting to get out for their own letterboxing!  There are some great letterboxes out Kitchener-way so hop on it!

Happy trails!