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)
Saturday, April 30, 2005
May Day Clues Have Arrived!
Click on the flowers above to be taken to the clues for the May Day Gather. Clues will be posted after 7pm tonight!
Despite the threatening and rainy weather, over 30 hearty letterboxers from 4 states showed their mettle by meeting at 9am at Roaring Brook Park in South Glastonbury, CT. 18 debut letterboxes helped make the day for all.Special thanks to MayEve and Wild Rover for a well-organized event. Our "back door friend," RTRW, allowed us all to rest and eat at her wonderful home mid day and we so appreciate the warm spot and the hearty welcome. Some pictures highlighting the day's events can be found here. After some dinner and downloading, Sue & I are ready for tomorrow's May Day Gathering!
See the stories below for info on the Spring into April Boxing Drive.MayEve and Wild Rover have worked very hard to make this happen - including the planting of 18 new, special boxes!Plus an event stamp by RTRW! Don't let a little rain scare you - after all - do you box for the weather or the boxes!?!
Just get out there and box . . . . and join us at the Spring into April Drive 9am Saturday morning!
Mumma & Bunny Boy have planted boxes in honor of 5 teams from the Eastern League: Brewster Whitecaps, Chatham A's, Harwich Mariners, Orleans Cardinals, and Y-D Red Sox. This long-standing tradition of baseball at the beach is enjoyed by thousands every summer and is the proving grounds for those players with higher aspirations! It doesn't get any better than the 3 B's - boxing, baseball and the beach!
Just received an exciting email! Sangfroid and Limur of Maine are the proud parents of a second son, Jacob Thomas, who was born yesterday.Jacob weighed in at 7 lbs 12.5 oz. Limur and Jacob are doing fine. Our best to the whole family. Now if Jacob can carve like his parents . . . . .
Wild Rover has sent us a map that he's modified with the order and location of each of the boxes we will be stopping at during the morning portion of this Saturday's April Drive. The numbers on the map correspond with the box number.
MommaFox has just emailed me with updated info on this Sunday's May Day Gathering. Check out our Gatherings Page for the specifics. And check her website or ours Saturday evening for the clues to the boxes!
Do we know how to throw a party in CT or not?!April Drive on Saturday and May Day Gathering on Sunday.Stay tuned to our gathering page for the latest updates as they occur. In a self-serving vein, we will have a limited supply of our letterboxing bracelets at both events. See Sue or I if you are interested. See our boxing bands page for specifics.
Wild Rover emailed us with the agenda for this Saturday's Spring into April Drive. There are 18 letterboxes that will debut that day including a 1 day only box! Check out the agenda, located on our New England Area Gatherings page and hope to see you all there!
Heard from Sangfroid yesterday about selecting his Sangfroid is a Jerk! box as our Box of the Week. It really struck him funny to visit this site and see his WOM chosen. As a random act of letterboxing kindness, he sent along the clues for this new box via his email! Suffice it to say that it's very cleverly done and very original.
Friday we received our latest reorder of letterboxing wrist bands. Let us know if you are interested. For details, check out this page. As of today, there are almost 100 letterboxers wearing these funky, little green wrist bands! Thanks!
SwampYankee & Sunshine have just posted their newest letterbox, CT River Overview. Located in Old Lyme, this box is the newest entry in our I-95 Letterboxes page. If you have a contribution you would like included on this webpage, please let us know. With the advent of vacations, this page is used by many who travel this highway.
Spohie & Me have recently planted the Russia Letterbox in Milwaukee. Better study up on your Russian history and culturebefore you attempt to solve this one! Click the Russian photo collage above for the clues.
I received anemail from that Mystery Person de Maine, alerting us that all is well. Leger also advised our readers that the claim to the Easternmost and other 3 corners letterboxes have been previously established by other letterboxers including Amanda from Seattle, Green Tortuga and Legerdemaine, wellbefore the most recent letterbox we highlighted below. Usually a notice like this is a precursor to more new, wonderful letterboxes - we'll see!
Check out our Gatherings page for the lastest info on this upcoming event. You will also find the same info listed on the Boxing Drive page. Hope we get a great turnout - but with 2 new series debuting that day, I'm sure attendance will be way up there! And an event stamp by RTRW will truly round out the day.
SpringChick has just put out a new clue for 2 boxes but to find the location you must solve a word puzzle. Check out Wine Countryby clicking the image above!
Just heard from Wild Rover. He will be sending the agenda for the April Drive, which is scheduled for next Saturday, April 30. Stay tuned for more details!
Rush Gatherer & Pow Wow Dancer just posted on the LBNe talk list that they picked up the Suzie Q HH in Coventry, CT recently. The stamp and cat's eye inkpad were there but the logbook is missing. If you know anything about the logbook or might have taken it by accident, please contact Rush Gatherer. The placer or contact info was not present on the HH so if you own this HH, also contact her. She plans to make a new logbook if she is not contacted.
Keltic Kara has just planted what she claims is the Easternmost Letterbox in the USA. This box is located in Lubec, Maine at the Quoddy Head Light in a park of the same name.
Now, how about a little challenge? Let's see if boxers from the other 3 extreme corners of the US can make their own new contributions! Anybody up for planting some new ones?
We understand that there are others who have already planted 4 corner letterboxes and mean no disrespect to those that might have already done so!
Sue & I are anxiously awaiting our June vacation to MI to hunt for some of MI's boxing fare, as well as attending the Great Lakes Gathering on June 18th and finally meeting SpringChick and the rest of the MI letterboxing gang!
Finally, Evan from The May Day Lillies has posted the result of the Great Baseball Wars HH - Red Sox HH vs. Yankee HH.
The Sox won!
The idea was to see how many boxes and boxers each of these "team" HH's could visit - with the winner being the HH that traveled the most New England States. Apparently the Yankees only moved to 2 boxes. The Red Sox, so we've heard, have made it to ALL of the New England states plus NY and I think Wanda even took it down south with her!
I guess Red Sox fans are just more interested in baseball and letterboxing! Sorry, Seth!
Sue and I were joined by Deanne, the Lazy Letterboxer; Dave, the Letterboxing Ham and Tony and Veronica on Saturday when we met at Hartman Park in Lyme, CT to hunt for some tupperware.
The day started out with a huge surprise - Veronica brought over a special HH that Tony had carved and asked Sue & I to place it somewhere, but she was very anxious for us to read the story about the HH in the logbook. It seems the previous week Tony had proposed to Veroica in a hot air balloon and this new HH was to commemorate that event! Sue & I were really touched that we were asked to send it afloat on it's maiden voyage. Our best to Tony & Veronica, who plan to tie the letterboxing knot in October of 2006.
If you haven't been to Hartman Park - you must. Jay's Happiness at Hartman is great fun. His Gnomelet the Mini-Elf series is some of the most beautiful and intricate carving we've seen to date. Hartman is a wonderful facility with windy, climby trails that are rock strewn and tree root covered. Hiking can be quite tiring - especially when you are crazy like we were - non-stop for 9 hours and 9 miles! Tony's GPS gave us an accurate reading of the trails covered, distance, speed, and the time we spent standing while stamping in! Pictures are available here. We ended the perfect day with a great dinner at Tony & Veronica's.
We have sold out of our first order of small bands and have a handful of the large size left. Since we are filling the orders on a first come, first served basis, we ask that you send your check or money order as soon as possible to avoid having to wait for the next order. Orders are filled the same day we receive your checks.
For those of you interested in placing a new order, contact us via email as soon as possible. Our new order should be in by the first week in May. Check out details here. Thanks!
Energizer Bunnie, from Maryland, has just released Dr. Seuss at Sugarloaf Mountain, a Tribute. These 6 boxes, located in Barnesville, MD, commemorate the life of a truly great individual who has touched the hearts of many generations of children and grownups alike. Click the stamp image above to see the clues!
Two CT letterboxers continue to do great things but virtually go unnoticed; almost as if flying under the letterboxing publicity radar. Well, that will not last for long!
Rubaduc continues to plant her boxes, in her own quiet way, enriching CT with those great boxes that usually feature longer hikes in beautiful, remote places.
Sojourner, also from CT, just adopted a few of the older, unclaimed boxes from the letterboxing archives which helps preserve those older, unattended boxes that are part of our history. She also does her thing by aiding this hobby in a way that doesn't require the spotlight to highlight her accomplishments.
These CT boxers just get out there and box!
Thanks ladies for a continued great job! See - we're watching . . . and noticing and appreciating!
Dvn2r ckr and the family have planted some letterboxes in Korea during their recent trip! Check out the clues for Stone Guy, Dragon's Head and Lonely Rock. Thanks, Bethany, for spreading the letterboxing love to a foreign land!
Our Box of the Weekis Patrick and Amy's new mystery, Detectives. The clue is based around a letter written by Lt. A. Stepbehind and some accompanying code that all of you letterboxing armchair detectives must decode and solve. Let's see if a letterboxer or Lt. Stepbehind solves this case first!
Our Poll of the Weekasks which of a bunch of different tasks are at the top of your Letterboxing To Do List. Please vote below!
Today, Sue and I joined the rest of the Schmoopies and hit the Manchester, CT trails. After a successful day on the trails, we found 14 boxes. We especially liked MayEve'sRainbow Row boxes.
While on the trail we ran into the Luna Crew - who were out for their very first day of letterboxing. It seems that one of the crew happened upon a letterbox by looking at a pile of logs that were near the trunk of a tree and investigated while he was looking for bugs on the trails with his 2 sons. Energized by the idea, he did some research and found letterboxing.org and we ran into them on their maiden voyage. When I told him about exchanges and asked if he was interested, he declined, stating they had never even used their stamp and wanted to stamp it into a logbook first. We gave them some pointers about HH and our website and off they went. Received a nice email from them when we got home.
Once we were finished letterboxing, we had one of the famous cheeseburger platters at Shady Glen in Manchester. Oh - by the way, we also planted Schmoopie Box #2 - Picnic in the Park! We hope you, too, got out there and enjoyed the wonderful weather this weekend.
We just received an email from the lovely Ivy Hedge, the younger sibling to Lady Prisspott Hedge with her full account of the unfortunate events at the recent Atrium Lounge press conference. We warn you that this is not for the faint of heart! Read it here!
Back in February, Alafair agreed to come to our home and teach a few of us the fine art of coptic stitch bookmaking. While we would have loved to open this great session up to many others, space was at a premium. It was a wonderful afternoon and evening - bookmaking, snacking and gossipping! Our only disappointment was that the Hog, who was supposed to fly East to join us, decided to catch a plane in the opposite direction to a depressing little island called Maui! But she sent along a small contribution to us in the form of a great clue! View some pictures and the final results here.
We received our first order of boxing bands today. Spent tonight filling orders and will make the drop at the post office on Thursday afternoon. It'ssafe to assume that if you've already paid for your bands, you'll be receiving them soon. We had enough to fill all of our paid orders with a few to spare. Our second order has been placed and we hope to have it in about 3 weeks. Find out more about boxing bands here. Thanks to everyone who placed an order - hope you like them. Sue & I were very pleased with the quality and it's so cool to see our slogan on a wristband!
Kind of ironic - couldn't sleep [upon our mattress!] so I rustled up some goodies!
This week's Box of the Week is Once Upon a Mattress by May Day Lillies. They are appearing in this play, along with Chrissy. Hope you get a chance to scoop up this limited edition letterbox!
Our Poll of the Week asks for your opinion of the new feature on Letterboxing.org that allows you to mark a specific box as found. Is this a useful tool? Vote your feelings now!
We received an email from MayEve and Wild Rover this morning. It details all you need to know about the upcoming April Drive:
The "Spring Into Boxing Drive" will be held on Saturday April 30, 2005! Plans are as follows:
We will meet at the Cotton Hollow/Roaring Brook Nature Preserve in South Glastonbury on Rte. 17 at 9:00 am.
Here we can get a few exchanges, arrange a little carpooling, and OFF WE GO!
We will start the day with a brand new series, the 7-box "House Of Mouse" series planted by Wild Rover for Krusty Krab's 6th birthday, and then continue on to do several boxes in Glastonbury (list to follow). Then into Hartford for some more FUN!
RTRW has graciously opened her home to us (and she has an awsome house box, too!) where we can nosh a bit and get a few more exchanges under our belts! There will also be an EVENT STAMP (carved by RTRW) AND closeby in a special place will be a one-day-only stamp that you won't want to miss!
We will do a few boxes in the Capitol City, and end the day with the premier of the "Bushnell Park Series" by MayEve, RTRW and Wild Rover.
If you cannot participate in the whole drive but want to meet up "enroute" you can call MayEve or Wild Rover's cell for a current location! (cell phone #'s will be included in the list, along with a map of the planned boxes) .
Please Email MayEve at MayEve511@yahoo.com if you plan on attending the Spring Into Boxing Drive so that we make enough copies of clues/lists/maps and have enough "goodies" on hand at RTRW's house. THANKS and hope to see you there!
NOTE: The Spring Into Boxing Drive will NOT last ALL day, as the Winter Drives did... afterall, you need to same some energy for the 2nd Annual May Day Gathering by Momma Fox and Bald Eagle to be held the next day! We appreciate their blessings for this event! Two boxing events in one weekend? LIFE IS GOOD!
We've started a remodeling project around our house last week. While we have a few workers tiling, etc, Sue & I are wallpapering, painting and such. Sorry but no goodies this week. Just don't have the time. If things lighten up towards mid to late week, we'll put them up then.
In the meantime, we'll try to highlight a few new boxes or make a quick commentary here and there. Thanks for stopping by and for understanding. Don't you hate when life gets in the way of letterboxing?!?!
Adventure Seeker, from the Pacific Northwest, is now on a trip to Korea! Follow her antics and discoveries as they visit the Far East. Hope she finds time to hide a box or two.
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.
bravenet.com