After finding our initial box in June 2002, we have since found letterboxes in 18 states and placed them in 13 states; 4 countries: Aruba, Bermuda, The Netherlands, Great Britain; and on a cruise ship! Thanks for stopping by our website and we appreciate your continued support.
"Have fun and just get out there & box!!!"
Email us: mjpepe1@comcast.net (Mark) or suepepe1@comcast.net (Sue)
Monday, January 31, 2005
The Bees are Swarming!
Our Box of the Week is Bees and Beehive, by Cadenza. While this box and several more in the series are located in Utah, the have a strong CT connection.Butterfly brought these stamps out west on her flight [get it?] last summer. This particular box was carved by CT's Slo Camel. Look for more to come in this series by other famous CT boxers!
photo courtesy of Talking Turtle
Speaking of the Winged One, the above picture shows this young-spirited letterboxer piloting a sled during the Great Cookie Caper Gathering in NY yesterday on not one, but many occasions, as she headed down a sizeable hill! Check out more pictures from yesterday's gatheringhere.
Our Poll of the Week asks for whether you place an inkpad or markers in your letterboxes.
Not much happening in the letterboxing world this week, so our posts have been less frequent. Just wanted to wish you all a good weekend and, if all goes well, there will be a surprise for you at the end of next week. While we may not be posting daily, we're constantly in the background working and planning!
A post of today titled "R U Stealthy," by Der Mad Stamper on the LBNA talk list asked that letterboxers interested in alternative methods of sharing clues to contact him via email. What can this mean? Is DMS up to some mischief? Time will only tell. Here is his return-to-letterboxing interview with us from this past in the fall!
Asking all of you cookie monsters to visit our New England Gatherings page for the latest on Talking Turtle and the Alphabet Bandit'supcoming gather to be held this Sunday, January 30!
Our Box of the Week is called The Propeller Letterbox, placed on Sunday after the Blizzard of 2005! Located in North Windham, this is another creation by The Dawnlanders.
Our Poll of the Week is provided by Pine Tree, who wants to know how you print out your clues. Please vote below.
Wolfy sold her new LbNE patchesdesigned by Phyto at last week's Winter Drive. Look for them to besold soon on this website and at most Northeast gatherings. This is a scan I made of the actual patch we bought from Wolfy. All that bought them thought they were great.
With the blizzard raging outside and before this afternoon's football games, we've used this "shut-in" time to clean up and add a few things on our website. All of our received entries from letterboxers for Letterboxers First Finds have been added and updated. There are still a lot of unrepresented states. If you would like your first find placed on this page, please email us at the link found at the bottom of the right hand column on this page. We've also placed a few new additions on our I-95 Letterboxes pages.
And now we are finished with clean up of a more physical and wintery kind - clearing out our driveway.We ventured out twice last night so as to diminish the amount of snow we'd have to push around at the storm's finale. I'd guess we got about 18 to 20" of the powdery stuff. The sun is out now, the snow is glistening and we now have a freshly shoveled driveway - all is right with the world!
An email with some WoM clues from Lightnin' Bug produced a new letterboxer's site! We are glad to host his new site, which for now has clues for an exclusive, WoM series, located in Allentown, PA called Scary Vegetables!
Happy Birthday wishes to CT's own letterboxing treasure, Butterfly, as she celebrates today. Sue & I wish you the best - you have been an inspiration to us and many others in the local letterboxing community! Have a great day! Several weeks ago, Flutterby planted a box to mark Butterfly's birthday.
Also - Happy Birthday to Wolfy - maker of our LbNE patches and clothing line! Thought I missed you, right?
Funhog, the pork behind the Pepe's postal pinecones!
We know why we've been procurring a passel of Pepe pinecones via postal portage! We have confirmation of the deed being done by Funhog from an impeccable source that shall remain nameless - you know how we press people protect our sources!
The Hog did it!
Today the mailman delivered 6 more pinecone stamps and each one from a different State! Our total now is 16 pinecone stamps due to the kindness of letterboxers! Or the snorting of a left coast swine - who still is tops in our logbook!
Thanks to all who've brightened our week and made collecting the mail feel like Christmas!
Deanne, the Lazy Letterboxer, had a minor mishap over the weekend. Sue & I want to send our wishes for a speedy recovery! Hope you are up and around soon!
Our Box of the Weekis The Selkie Box, by The Gal Pals. Located in Madison, CT at Meigs Point, this letterbox includes the shoreline, Irish folklore and the magic of nature.
Our Poll of the Week was sent in by Judy B of VA. Sewsobizzy was letterboxing with Phynstar of NY one weekend and noticed that both of these letterboxers were left handed so she wondered how many like-handed boxers are out there! Vote now!
Our first Winter Drive went off without a hitch, except for the colder than normal weather and those that smelled snow in the air! A group of about 35 were waiting as we drove into the parking lot at 9am in Meriden. After a confusing start as to whom was driving where, we sorted it out and began our drive.
One great surprise to start the day was the debut of Phyto's winning design of the new LbNE logo in a patch that Wolfy had for sale and that sold like hotcakes! Watch for patches and other items to be sold on this website and at a gathering near you.
Chrissy's team stamp worked well, alleviating individuals from stamping their sig stamps into each logbook. Each box produced an assembly line where one person would ink the stamp and also stamp it into each person's logbook, as the group waited patiently in line. It really was quite efficient.
The first 4 boxes were done in 2 hours, which included driving, hiking and stamping! Who said a group our sized couldn't letterbox in a timely fashion! As the day went on, some boxers jumped ahead, while we were joined midway by others. A total of over 45 boxers participated from start to finish, with many of them ending up at Central Pizza in Berlin, where we were joined by Jay Drew and Jerzey as well as Tony & Veronica. Plans are in the works for the second Winter Boxing Drive to take place towards the end of the month in February. Tolland County is in our sights.
Thanks to Chrissy for organizing the event, to Brian of TeamGreenDragon for carving another wonderful Dragon creation, to Pine Tree for the walkie talkies that saved the day and kept our 8 car caravan together ["Seth, do you read me, Java Boy?"] and all of those participants from 6 states who made the trek with us.
The snow is not coming into CT until between 6 and 7pm, according to Accuweather.com. Looks like we'll have time to get in a good day of letterboxing. Don't forget a snack to share and some food for yourself. There will be rest room stops at McDonald's and such, so we have that covered. Meet us at 6pm, Central Pizza, Farmington Avenue, Kensington, CT for pizza and drinks after the event. Hope to see you all there - 9am sharp in front of JC Penney's, Meriden, CT!
Well, the pinecones keep coming!Another 4 came today. Sue & I live on a rural delivery route and the mailman got out of his vehicle and delivered our packages to the front door today. Seems he was a little curious of the larger-than-normal influx of packages to our address!Wonder if he thinks we're terrorists or something???
He asked if it was our anniversary - since everything came in both of our names. I told him "Yes, and these packages are all from a hiking club to which we belong." Guess he bought it - but if the FBI knocks next week - everyone who carved a pinecone stamp for us is going to have to split the bail!
We make light of it - but are so overwhelmed and appreciative. Thanks to all who sent stamps. You should be receiving personal emails from us once we get past this Winter Drive tomorrow and another few bits of mischief in the works. This act of generosity has touched us more than words can express.
Sue and I have been the recipients of a little [or lot] of letterboxing love! Yesterday, we received 2 carved pinecone stamps in the mail. What a touching thing to think that 2 letterboxers thought about us and decided to carve us stamps! And from the left coast! I didn't think anyone East of the Mississippi read our webpage!
Today - 3 more came! One we half expected since Phyto offered to hand carve us a new signature stamp. It came out great - see it over there in the upper part of the right column of this webpage? Pretty cool - no more signing our names! Look for it in a logbook near you! The other 2 were complete surprises - again from the left coast.
The funny thing is that every package was addressed to the wrong street name! North Road instead of our correct street - Norton Road. Could this be a conspiracy? Are we to expect a bevy of pinecones crammed in our mailbox? Time will tell. Me thinks I smell a pink left coast piggy!!!
Despite the fact that this might have been meant in jest - although this story is still unfolding - Sue & I are truly honored that friends and some strangers have taken the time out of their busy lives to carve and mail us a pinecone stamp! We've always thought that we've gotten much more from this game than we've given and this latest gesture surely reinforces that thought. Thanks to each and every one of you who have carved stamps. They will be treasured and watch for some of them to be placed in boxes this spring. This might be a great way for us Easterners to view how those Westerners carve! From what we've seen so far, there are many talented people! And we all know how wonderful Phyto's work is!
Letterboxing's own preacher, Rev. Dr. Aloysius Hoyden, has once again made a late night appearance Thursday on the LBNA talk list. Not one to skirt an issue, the Rev has forwarded what appears to be a spam message; one like you may receive weekly in your own, personal inbox. Forgive him as he knows not what he speaks!
Just noticed a post of today by Roc'N'Ron of New York. He recently found our Dead Duck HH somewhere in the wilds of upstate NY. Nice to hear the Duck is moving along but rumor has it he's getting a little ripe about now! Last we saw this Duck was at the Monster Mash when we handed it over to Dead Duck Chuck from Maryland! For a dead bird, he sure gets around - the HH, we mean!!!
What developed was pure magic! Jay's post with the dotted lines left it open for others to turn his post into an unfolding story to which each letterboxer added a few lines. When this thread is finished, we'll post it on this website on it's own page - it's too good to leave in the archives of the talk list.
As a result of this creativity and participation, Jay has seen to start a new talklist called nobody home, based on this same concept. He started off a new story and it's open for others, who join this list, to continue the saga. What a great example of creativity, with contributions being made from letterboxers across the country! Who says there's nothing good on the LBNA talk list?!?!
We have set an Inclement Weather Policy and defined the meeting place in Meriden, CT for the Winter Drive this coming Sunday. Please see the new info on the Winter Boxing Drive webpage.
Yesterday's mail brought a special Dragon creation - the Winter Boxing Drive's event stamp that was carved by Brian of TeamGreenDragon. As usual, it's a wonderful piece of artwork and very fitting for our event! You'll just have to wait until Sunday to see it! Get details on the Drive here. Our weather looks like it will cooperate - sunny and cold - just perfect for a winter drive!
A new letterbox is in the making, called One Hot P-o-t-a-t-o-e. This box, by Armadillo Jo, is an homage to VP Dan Quayle and his famous mispelling of that most-revered spud.Clues will be forthcoming and the box is located in Huntington, Indiana where the future VP graduated high school. For more bon mots by the ex VP, check out this webpage!
Congrats to the following 4 teams who have become the first to solve the Alphabet Bandits' Great Cookie Caper box #1: Rabbit's Relations and Friends of NY, Sadie & Russ and Butterfly of CT, Tamryn and Bury the Mouse of NY and the Barresi Family of CT. Great work for a job well done! Nice to see some of our favorite people in there!
Watch their webpage, link located in the story below, for future clues and the latest as this Great Cookie Caper continues to unwind in the coming days and weeks. Knowing Talking Turtle's carving prowess, you can expect some wonderful images to place in your logbooks!
Seems as if the lure of CT's treasure trove of letterboxes was just too much for two letterboxers! Silent Doug has recently relocated to central CT from his former home in PA. We want to welcome Doug to his new home, along with Jen, and wish them the best as they settle into their new home.
Rubaduc just emailed us proof that on January 5th she became the sixth boxer to enter the Hall of Fame by finding all of the CT State Stamp Series located in each of the counties in CT. Congrats to our favorite Duc!
Thanks to Chrissy, the route for the first Winter Boxing Drive has been set! While the town order will remain, there may be some changing of the order of boxes we visit within a town. I've put up a page with the route by town and links to the boxes so that you can just out clues easily.
For those of you that have emailed me that you'd like to join us en-route instead of meeting in Meriden, so be it - just figure our progress by the towns listed on the route. And imagine 25 or 30 boxers tramping through the woods and all the time it will take!Chrissy is carving a "team" stamp for logging in, for those of you that want to use it, and Brian of TeamGreenDragon just notified me that the event stamp is done and will be in the mail to us shortly!
If you plan on attending and haven't contacted me already, please email me via the link at the bottom of the right column on this page. With the tremendous response we've had, we're thinking about meeting in a more public place after the drive instead of our house - at last count we were at 25 and still counting! We're thinking about a local pizza house in Berlin near our last box where we can get something more substantial to eat than dessert & hot drinks - when you see the schedule of boxes Chrissy prepared - we'll be starving at the end of this day! Hope to see you all there - and we may even have some special guests!!!!
Letterboxing enthusiasts hide and hunt weatherproof containers in remote or scenic places. Each container holds a logbook, a rubber stamp and stamp pad. The planter of the letterbox distributes clues to it's location via the internet, Word of Mouth, on websites or via other means. Clues can be easy to difficult. Finding a letterbox may require a combination of skills such as mapreading, orienteering, and puzzle-solving.
Letterboxers carry their own logbook and personal stamp when hunting for hidden boxes. Upon finding a letterbox, they will imprint their own logbook using the found stamp, and leave their own stamping or personalization in the letterbox's logbook. Some artistic letterboxers carve and even design their own stamps and logbooks. Letterboxes are hidden in various locations throughout the world.
Letterboxing has its beginnings in Dartmoor National Park in England, where the first letterbox at Cranmere Pool was placed in 1854 by a Dartmoor guide named James Perrott, who left his calling card in a container there while guiding tourists through Dartmoor.
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