Reflection

Letterboxing has become a great pastime for me and for my family to do together. We have a fun time looking up the clues, deciphering them, and then FINALLY opening up this gift that a stranger has left for us. We've also discovered the fun of leaving a gift for others to find and it's hard for us sometimes to decide which is more rewarding...the discovery of the letterbox and the new location, or planting a new letterbox and eagerly awaiting a notification that someone has found your little treasure. We've only been disappointed a couple of times when the letterbox we are searching for seemed to have eluded us, but we are still out there on the trail to discovery. It's too late to stop us now! Which box is hiding and just waiting for me to come visit it? I hope to find out soon!

Blueberries!

I was finally able to find a suitable hiding place for The Frye Team's Texas Blueberry Festival LB. I hid this amongst the plantlife of Stephen F. Austin's Arboretum. This arboretum has several acres of plants to visit, including an azalea garden which is nice in the spring. You can find the clue to this box on the LBNA or Atlasquest websites.

On another note....I checked on my Spring LB today. I was really worried about this particular box because it is very susceptible to being washed down a hill during a major wind/rain storm. However, it was fully in tact and in its safe hiding place. I opened it up and guess who had stamped in? Of course! The infamous P-Quest. The mystery continues!

Mystery Boxer

In the spirit of Maxwell Smart (aka Agent 86), I am on a mission to find the identity of a potential mystery letterboxer. This boxer, who claims to be from the Denton area, stamped into one of my boxes in Nacogdoches, TX. This wouldn't seem so strange EXCEPT that he/she stamped in the day after a very bad storm passed through our area. This means, that as everyone else was fleeing to go North, Mystery Boxer headed SOUTH! The Mystery Boxer even mentions how he/she "cleaned up" some of the debris that was on top of my box post-Rita. I will go to the edge of the Earth to find this boxer! ......Would you believe...to the edge of Texas? .....Would you believe... to the edge of East Texas?

Cherokee Nation

Cherokee Nation is a fantastic stamp planted by the Celtic Lions. Blue Butterfly and I traveled to Rusk in Cherokee County, TX to retrieve this box. It is located in the Footbridge Park, where you can also find Catpawz's Gephyrophobia. We were very impressed with the artistry and detailing of this stamp and both of us agree this is our best stamp thus far. We were also surprised to be the first finders and gladly claimed our special certificate and medallion. Special thanks to the Celtic Lions for doing such an outstanding job on this stamp.

Killough Monument

The weather took an unexpected turn for the better in Eastern Texas today, so I WAS able to actually go out and find a box. Blue Butterfly and I ventured out to the small town of Mt. Selman, TX and visited the site of the Killough Family Massacre. The Killough Family, who were early Texas settlers, were gathering their crops one day when they were suddenly and unexpectedly attacked by Native Americans. Many were killed, some were kidnapped, and even fewer were able to hide. The survivors who hid were rescued by a friendly Native American a few days later. This monument is a tribute to these early settlers.

The box was planted here by Barefoot Lucy. Even though I lived in this area for many years, I have never visited Killough Monument, so I thank her leading me to this historical place. It was a fascinating and educational experience.

Rita

As Rita hurled through East Texas yesterday, I took refuge at Blue Butterfly's home, about an hour north of where I live. Even though we did get a lot of rain and wind here, we were lucky enough to have our power stay on without interruption during the storm. I hope to make it back to my home later on today to survey the damage to my city. To those of you who were severely struck by this storm, I wish you a speedy recovery.

Withdrawal

From the way the weather is looking to shape up this weekend in East Texas, it doesn't look like I'll be able to do any boxing this weekend. We are supposed to be highly affected by Hurricane Rita and it looks like the rain storms and 75 mph wind will keep me indoors this weekend. I guess this means I'll just have to do some extra-hard boxing next weekend. See you out on the trail!

See Ya Later, Alligator!

This morning, Blue Butterfly, Roarin' Lion, Stinky Monkey and I drove a couple of hours to Powhaten, Louisiana to Alligator Park. We set out to find the Mission Impossible at Alligator Park LB. This is a great park with friendly people. They have scheduled feeding times during which there is always a narrator giving you fun and interesting information about the life of alligators. They also have birds, turtles, goats, and other animals. After we finished the questionnaire, we turned it into the gift shop for our prize. We were lucky enough to be the first finders and proudly claimed the FF prize, an alligator necklace. Thanks to The Boxalots for a fun adventure and a great stamp to add to our collection.

Box Exchange

I recently signed up to particpate in a Letterbox Exchange with other Texas Letterboxers. This was started so that letterboxers who wouldn't normally see carvings of certain letterboxers could be exposed to them. I was fortunate enough to recieve a box from The Frye Team. The Frye Team used the Nacogdoches Blueberry Festival as their choice to fit into the "Texas Festival" theme. The carving is outstanding and I can't wait to hide this box in the Nacogdoches area. Kudos to the Fryes!

King of the Wild Frontier

This morning, I made another drive to Houston County and checked in there with Davy Crockett. This is a box that was placed by Baby Bear in the county seat of Crockett as a part of his Texas History series. Baby Bear does a fantastic job with his stamps and I'm proud to say that I've now stamped into two of his TX History series and am looking forward to stamping into more.

Vivaldi's Four Seasons-Concerto No. 4: Winter

I was lucky enough to get out this afternoon to the SFA Experimental Forest and plant Winter. This is a nice little forest with a paved hiking trail and several benches along the way that you can rest on. I believe this trail loop is less than one mile long. You can find the clues to winter on the LBNA website.

Snow is Falling

I FINALLY put the finishing touches on Winter from my Vivaldi series. I should be placing this box by the time the weekend is here. Look for it soon!

New Blog

Blue Butterfly now has her own blog and you can find the link to it in my side bar. Good luck Blue Butterfly!

In The Jungle

Since today was a holiday, I was able to get out and do a little letterboxing this morning. I woke up bright and early to discover that the Frye Team had planted new boxes in Lufkin, Diboll, and Livingston. I decided to go hunting for the boxes in Lufkin and Diboll and save Livingston for another day. I visited the Ellen Trout Zoo in the hopes of discovering the Hippi and Ellen Trout Zoo letterboxes. I've never visited this particular zoo before, but found it quite enjoyable and took a few nice photographs. I stamped in at Hippi and claimed the First Finder's certificate. As I exited the zoo, I swung back in to find the other letterbox. I climbed out of my car and pretended to take a few pictures as I spotted the place where the box should be hidden. The next thing I know, a truck with what might be two maintenance workers (maybe not, but definitely some sort of zoo employee) pull up and park at the entrance. They are watching me. So, I take a few pictures, both real and fake, hoping they'll get bored with me. This didn't happen. So, in order to protect the integrity of the box, I had to leave, stampless.

I got back on Highway 59 and headed into the town of Diboll. I pulled into the History Museum, but much to my dismay, it was closed on this Labor Day holiday. I successfully found Crawlin' Down 59 and replaced it with no spies watching me.

All in all, it was a good day for letterboxing. The boxes I've mentioned can all be found on the LBNA website. This family does a great job with their stamps and I've thoroughly enjoyed finding their boxes.

Tag Along

Today, I was a tag-along as Blue Butterfly and Stinky Monkey went on a boxing adventure. They stamped into some boxes that I had either already found, or had planted myself. I had a good time with this dynamic duo. We took a walk through the La Nana Creek Trail. We heard a rooster crowing while stamping in, so Stinky Monkey and I turned into roosters ourselves :-) Needless to say, we had a fun and silly time today while out in the world of letterboxing.

Three Day Weekend

I hope that all of you out there in letterboxing land have a safe, happy, and productive Labor Day holiday. I hope to get out there and find a few boxes myself!