BOXING ANNIVERSARY!

I just about can't believe it! I have now been letterboxing for over a year now. Blue Butterfly and I found our first box on June 18, 2005. It was Corazon's Gibraltar of the Confederacy in Vicksburg, MS. Finding that one box really got us hooked....we officially became addicted! Now, suddenly we're finding reasons to go to out-of-the-way places, sneaking around in bushes, taking trips, but taking very ...shall we say..."curious" routes to get back home so we can find these little treasures that mean so much to us.

Then, we decided it was time to start planting boxes...but would anyone even want to find them? We're not brilliant artists and we didn't want to disappoint anyone. Little did we know that others would appreciate our boxes, too. Letterboxers are such a great community of people, as we would later find out. So, we planted a few boxes and eagerly awaited those e-mail notices with the subject line: LBNA Status Changed.

We'd read extensively about letterboxing before we actually began, and even after we found our first box, we continued to educate ourselves as much as possible. We were wanting to go to a gathering, but we also knew that the annual Texas gatherings were held in the spring of each year and we'd have to wait a long time to go to one. Then, we found out about the Terrors of Telge Gathering that would be held in Houston. BB and I discussed it and decided we would go! SOOOO.....after we got home after a very late Friday night football game, we got up early and headed south. We made our way to Telge park and found a few of the permanent as well as temporary boxes that had been placed there. We were so excited to find some boxes by people we'd only heard about, but never found their boxes. Our favorite (or at least mine) was Mother of 5's Mr. Bones. Mr. Bones is a series of 4 boxes, and you had to put the skeleton together as you went along. I didn't know the difference between the pelvis and the rib cage until after I'd stamped the torso into my book....but at least I realized it before I stamped all of Mr. Bones in! The bottom line is that poor Mr. Bones is dancing on his head in my log book....but I digress....
As it got closer to the allotted time, we awaited the arrival of the other letterboxers. The first person we met was TeamKing. Soon after, The Legendary Silver Eagle and Baby Bear arrived. (We tried not to act star struck....I hope it worked). Others who came in were members of Gramatrick, Mother of 5, and two members of Birds of a Feather: Sea Dove and Liberty Eagle, the Frye Team, and Runs For Chocolate (sorry if I left anyone out). We were in letterboxing heaven! We found out that we weren't the only ones out there who did this and we talked about finding various boxes.....the hard ones....the fun ones...the easy ones...wow! After spending quite a bit of time at the table stamping into all of those event boxes and chatting, we had to part ways. We were sad to leave, but it left us feeling great about our new hobby and the people who enjoy it along with us.

Ok, Ok, I think I've gone on long enough. I started off all that to say it's been quite a year and I can't EVEN imagine now what I did with my time before letterboxing.
The hiking? Great!
The finding? Great!
The stamping in? Great!
The planting? Great!
The events? Great!
The people? WOW! FANTASTIC! COULDN'T BE A BETTER GROUP OF PEOPLE!!

Thanks to all of the people in the letterboxing community for making my year a fun-filled one.

This afternoon, Blue Butterfly, Stinky Monkey, Roarin' Lion and I met up for an exchange with a few new faces and a couple of familiar faces!! Barefoot Lucy coordinated a meeting with the Boxalots, who are from California, but are in the process of moving to a new location. The Boxalots have planted several boxes in the NE portion of Lousiana-including their MISSION IMPOSSIBLE AT ALLIGATOR PARK-which is still one of our favorites. It's always fun to put faces to stamp images and our little group sat around exchanging and just generally talking like we were old friends. I believe a good time was had by all. I'd like to say thanks to everyone who attended and I hope they enjoyed our little mini-meet half as much as I did.

Attendees included: The Boxalots-Tony, Honour, Linda and Smart Cookie / Barefoot Lucy and Lightening / TX Music Boxers-Blue Butterfly, Lucy Locket, Roarin' Lion, and Stinky Monkey.

Duck, Duck, Dog

After taking care of business on Saturday morning, BB, SM, and I went on a hunt for some letterboxes! We first headed to Port Gibson, MS to find Windsor Ruins, which was placed by our good friends Corazon and Navigator. We headed down the highway, then found the curvy road that led to the ruins. This was a great place for Corazon to lead us to find. The ruins alone from this estate shows that is was quite grand at one time. The columns that held up this home are massive and you feel so small in comparison to them. I could imagine myself coming to a social event here in my hoop skirt and dancing the night away.

Next, we headed back to Vicksburg. Blue Butterfly had made a special stamp which she dedicated to her father. She used to go hunting with him and she cherishes that time and the memories of that time together. Daddy's Beagle is located in a cemetery that is on the land where her father used to hunt.

Now, it was time for us to go to Vicksburg to find some more of Corazon's boxes. I so enjoy her boxes because she almost always has a great story to tell along with her hides. We found Tacito Bucci, Doc Smith's Cigar, and Mary's 80th Birthday. We found all of these in great shape.

Now, it was my turn to hide a box. I 'd recently carved Just Ducky and wanted to place it in the new park on the river front. The Catfish Row Art Park has a replica of a steam boat-with some original parts-and a fountain that children can play in. After I'd planted this box and BB and SM found it, we headed west....back home to Texas.

Butterflies and Stars

This weekend, Blue Butterfly, Stinky Monkey, and I combined family business with pleasure as we set to cross over from TX to LA to MS. Of course along the way, we just NEEDED to plant and find some letterboxes.

The first place we stopped to visit was a park in Henderson where there was a brand new box. The box is called Butterflies in the Park. This was a fun box...we enjoyed the logbook as well as the decoration of the box itself. SM enjoys visiting this park...since he loves stars....because there is a big star on the ground here. I believe this was the first plant by this family of boxers and it was nicely done!

Next, we wanted to stop in at Catch a Fallin' Star and Peggy Hill so SM could stamp in here. As you may recall, the Fallin' Star box was placed in honor of SM. He also wanted to play on the playground, but we were trying to get to Vicksburg before the sun went down.

Lake Tawakoni

Today, I took a ride up through McKinney, Plano, and Wills Point. I was on a mission to find a few boxes, of course....and hopefully find one. After taking care of some personal business in Farmersville, I headed to McKinney to find the Sister Grove Park. This is a nice park, which has a view of the lake. I started my journey by following the instructions and looking on the trail map so that I could find Sister Grove #1. I journeyed around the trail and into the woods and easily found this box. Unfortunately, I'd forgotten my signature stamp! So, I stamped the #1 stamp into my log book and made a note in the box's log that I'd been there, but with no stamp.

In order to get to Sister Grove #2, I just needed to stay on the same trail, so I continued my hike. By this time, there were a couple of other people on the trail. I found #2 and found a place to stamp in. This was a great stamp, too and not very many people have logged finds in these boxes. I would encourage boxers to visit this little park and enjoy it.

After finishing up here, I headed to the Community Center Natuer Trail in McKinney. This is another beautiful urban park. It has paved trails, a nice pond, and a fountain. There were families fishing and just enjoying the beautiful day when I was there.

As I looked for the box, I easily found the log, but I looked in the wrong hole "pointing towards the sun". I continued on down the trail a little ways, then came back to try again. This time, I found the box. KCSB (KC and the Sunshine Band) is a box by Sprite and Highlander, which is retired postal LB.

After dancing with KC, I went to the Arbor Hills Nature Preserve, to find another box by a non-Texan boxer. No Directions Needed! is located in a beautiful part of Plano, and when I was there, they were having free concerts one night a week.

After finding all of these treasures, I wanted to plant one myself. I made my way to Lake Tawakoni State Park. I'd carved Fairy At Work a few weeks ago, and had been itching to get her placed. This is a fairly new state park and everything in it is in top condition. I enjoyed finding a home for my fairy here.

It was a very satisfying, fun, productive day. I always enjoy my time letterboxing. I think I have a date with a certain monkey next week to do it again!