Headless Horseman Rides Again . . . .

Well - sort of!

Those of you from the East that have letterboxed for 4 years or so remember a boxer by the name of the Headless Horseman. He planted some wonderful, creative boxes at Cape Cod back in the day. Many of us in the Northeast were amazed to learn that the Headless Horseman was a teenage boy! The carving and clue/location creativity seemed to lend themselves to someone much older and experienced!

Regardless of his age, this teen sprinkled the central Cape with some great goodies while riding his bicycle from place to place. At some point during the past several years, Headless got his driving license and entered college. Don't you hate when they grow up??

Some of his boxes have gone missing and fallen into disrepair over the years. Chunna, one of our Caper buddies, received a recent email from the headless one, asking if she would mind adopting his boxes! Mind?! She was thrilled!! Over the next year, you will find those missing Headless boxes recarved if missing using the original images and put back to pristine condition. Those of you head-ing (get it?) to the Cape this spring and summer will want to put a few of these boxes on your letterboxing itinerary! Thanks, Chunna, for putting the Headless Horseman back on the Cape! It's great to see those wonderful letterboxes coming back into the fold!

Looking for Some Winter Quests?

Letterboxing in New England can be a challenge in the winter with snow cover hiding many of the landmarks in letterboxing clues. Sue and I have tried it other years and have failed miserably!

Although not a particular problem this year (snow cover, that is) Valley Quest, Ski Vermont and Cabot Creamery have developed a series of Winter Quests aimed at getting you out of your recliner and into the cool, fresh northern New England air. Check out the Winter Quests page.

Many of you may remember that the Valley Quest program predates letterboxing in the US. Those of you that might have viewed that historic Rae Record film of that very first Killington, VT gathering that was on this blog might remember a man handing out papers while the participants sat around a table. That young man in Rae's film is Steve Glazer, current director of The Valley Quest program and author of several books based on Questing and its importance in developing a sense of community.

Want to Get Mooned???

Black Cat of MA has just planted what will be a monthly series for 2007 of Full Moon letterboxes. As you may or may not know, full moons bear the names of a special attribute or seasonal happening that was recognized by the Native Americans and the European settlers.

Black Cat will plant a new full moon box every month pertaining to one of that current month's full moon names. In doing research for this story, I came across a web site that shows a myriad of Native American names for each of the months' full moons.

The first box for January is called Snow Moon and is located in North Attleboro, MA. We'll just have to wait and see if the other moons will be planted as well in North Attleboro. A unique item of note - January's full moon is on February 2!

Better Late Than Never!

2007 is the Year of the Boar and while the holidays are probably just a distant memory - Sunshine and Swamp Yankee have just published clues to their annual holiday card letterbox.

The box is located somewhere in CT's Middlesex County. Read the poem; view the card and make your determination as to where the box might be. This is the box that keeps on giving even after the holidays have past!

Patches are Perfect!

Yesterday's return home from work greeted us with a UPS package that turned out to be the Newboxers patches that we had ordered less than 14 days ago. And they are great! I just don't know how they can turn them around that quickly; especially after inspection proved that the patches were produced in China! Amazing.

Well, the patches arrival meant Sue & I had our work cut out for us - filling orders last night. We came up with a kind of unique way to package the patches that took a little more time than just placing them in the SASE but we think it was worth it.

A few hours later, we had the 150+ ordered patches in their proper envelopes (we hope!) and had the envelopes bundled for mailing. The final shipment chore will be borne by Sue, who will take 3 packages after work tonight to the post office for quicker delivery: 1 to the TX gathering this weekend hosted by Barefoot Lucy; the second to KY for this weekend's gathering hosted by MoWizLiz; and the final envelope containing some patches to be mailed to Hong Kong!

Thanks to all who purchased patches! We have about 40 left and if the demand keeps up - will place a second order. Now get out there and sport those nifty Newboxers patches!

It's Coming . . .

The Four Directions

Sue & I received an email yesterday from our friend Koyote of the End Gang. Koyote and his family moved to Virginia, leaving behind many letterboxes in CT - their former home state.

He told me that he was putting up The Four Directions series for adoption and asked if Sue & I would be interested in taking it over. We instantly wrote back that we'd be proud to adopt this series of 22 boxes carved by letterboxers from around the country.

The Four Directions celebrates the rich heritage of all of the tribal nations of the Native Americans. Click the image above to read the clues. Thanks, Koyote!

Pre-Production Patch Purchases Prove Plentiful!

We are simply amazed at how quickly our spanking new Newboxers patches are being scooped up! And the patches won't be in for another 2 weeks! If you are interested in ordering a Newboxers patch, please click on the image above to be taken to our Letterbox Patches page - where you'll not only find the above patch but several others from around the country. These patches were submitted to us by the local talk lists.

If your area's patch is not featured on the page and you would like it to be, please email us with the info contained on the page for other patches, along with a jpeg image of your patch. We'll be happy to post it so that you might see increased sales and exposure for your group!

It's Only a Game . . .

Many of you know of our fascination of all things Capish (not capishe!) Sue & I love the people and the boxes found at Cape Cod. After all - that's where Rae Record showed what bumbling dolts we are when searching for her Phantom of the Boardwalk box in her recent video effort!

There are some great boxes based on board games like CCL's Candyland that we found the last time we were Capebound with The Schmoopies. We met a young couple there with their young sons and they told us that Candyland had rekindled their youngest's interest in boxing. That's how much fun these boxes are!

Well, Rabbit Tracks has just planted a new "game" series called Operation; based on that wonderful board game from our youth. How I hated to hear that buzzer sound when my operating tweezers hit the metal sides of the opening of the organ or body part that I was trying to remove! Guess that's why I never went into the medical field. I was smart to leave that to Sue!

Click the above image to be taken to this new series of 14 boxes located on a nice 1.5 mile jaunt in Chatham, MA that contains all the body parts you could ever want! And I bet my tweezers won't buzz this time either!

We Remember A President . . .

He was the only man in our history who served as both Vice President and then President of the United States that was not elected by the people. Gerald Ford said because of that very fact, he owed no favors and would make decisions that were the best for the country.

President Ford was the perfect person to heal this nation from the ravages of the Watergate scandal and the ensuing resignation of President Richard Nixon. He was a man of honor and decency. In a recent CNN tribute, I learned something I had never known about this man. He is looked on as a hero to the Southern Vietnamese who he allowed to come to this country after the end of the Vietnam War. A very unpopular decision at the time, many South Vietnamese war victims were allowed to enter the US and eventually make their home here. It was the honorable thing to do in his opinion and he touched the lives of those many new American citizens from Vietnam.

This week, on the Great Lakes Talk List, Mrs. Doglvrs wrote a stunning and moving post about their family's trip to pay their respects to President Ford's family as he lie in state in Michigan before his burial. We have included it here on our blog for our readers with the author's permission. Click President Ford's image to be taken to the webpage that contains this wonderful memory. Thanks, Angel, for allowing us the honor of posting your thoughts here.