A Very Busy Saturday . . .

Sue had a baby shower to attend Saturday so I made good use of my time "alone!"

I spent the morning letterboxing with Bookworm across the street from our house getting a few of the dogs from our Dog Walk Series add-ons. My simple challenge to the local boxing community has turned into at least 25 additional add-ons plus some mysteries! I had the opportunity to plant our long overdue bonus to the series Home Sweet Home. (By Sunday, 5 of the locals had already found it!) After a quick cup of tea to warm our bones after the sudden rain and snow showers, the Worm & I headed to Astrii and Celtic Roots' gathering in Berlin called Winter Solve & Carve.

The gathering was a very low key delight which was located at the Peck Memorial Library in their community meeting room. The fact that the attendance was limited to 60 people due to fire regulations turned out to be a blessing in disguise since this gathering was forced to remain small and quite intimate. And therein lay the charm along with the ability to renew old friendships and make some new ones. It was wonderful to travel only a few miles to a gathering in our own hometown!

Several friends expressed their concern at our posting hiatus at the gather. One our dear friend, Butterfly, sent the following email the day before:

"I know how long a mile is; I know how long a year is; I know how long a week is. I don't know long a hiatus is. I miss you."

After reassuring several of our friends that Sue & I were fine, happy and healthy, we spent the rest of the gathering exchanging and meeting new boxers and talking with old friends. As always, the potluck snack buffet (the gathering was held from 12:30 to 3:45pm) was as bountiful as any we've seen with every imaginable munchie represented. I had offered and arranged for an after gathering pizza dinner at a local pizza house so the munchies really fit the bill.

There were a few memorable occurances that we'd like to share. One being the carving of 12 year old who goes by the trailname of T2 . I predict that this young man will eventually be one of the premier carvers in this country. He is that good. His mom told me that her 12 year old son carved their sig stamp after I admired it. "Go ask him to see the ship stamp." After we exchanged, I went over to the table and introduced myself and asked to see the stamp that his Mom had sent me to check out. After our exchange, he stamped it in my book. It was a small image of a masted ship carved with surprising precision. If I didn't know better, I would have thought it was carved by Brian of TeamGreenDragon or Archimedes Screw. His mom later told me that she had recovered it from the wastebasket. Justin threw it away because he was not happy with it!

Another memorable event was a trio of senior women. (Am I allowed to say "senior?" I've been thinking long and hard about how to write about their age!) One of the women came over to the event stamp table and explained that she was a newbie and asked what were we doing. We explained the event stamp process and I introduced myself. "I'm R" she said, "Not very original." It seems R is the first letter in her first name. Later on, R came back to me to exchange and said "Spannerman" which is the secret word to get my personal traveler - an Easter stamp carved by Spannerman of Dartmoor and gifted to me on our first UK trip.

In conversation, I asked R how she came to hear about letterboxing. "A long time ago" she explained but she never did anything about it because she "didn't need letterboxing as a reason to get out and hike and enjoy the outdoors!" Several years later, a friend and their children discovered letterboxing in VT and came back raving about it to R. It was then that she started - last year at some point - and brought her other 2 friends who were also at this gather into the fold as well. "I've been reading your blog," she whispered to me. "I really enjoy it - especially the interviews." Needless to say, R is my new best friend and has been added to our will!

This was a gathering like those when Sue & I first starting letterboxing. Not a lot of boxes planted at the event - just time to exchange and socialize; renew friendships and begin new ones. Some of the letterboxers were from the Kensington area and it was great to meet new locals - some with whom we've corresponded and others whom we didn't even know existed! Also boxers traveled from MA, NY and RI.

Thanks to Astrii and her parents, Celtic Roots, for putting on a most enjoyable afternoon. It was just what the letterboxing doctor ordered for a snowy February afternoon! The only element missing was Sue - who joined the group later for the after gather pizza.

We'd also like to thank all of you who have emailed us with your concerns when we first posted about our hiatus. The 50 or so emails we received were unbelievable - from friends and strangers alike. In watching the hits this blog has received in the days we didn't post, there was no appreciable decline in visitors. It seems that many of you used the time we were away to further explore our site - discovering the goodies hidden here and there. That was a real gratifying statistic to discover.

One of the activities we've pursued while on hiatus was sitting in front of the television enthralled by the election coverage, the debates for both parties and the ensuing primaries. And - never too far from letterboxing - this election hobby has fostered a few new sets of ideas for boxes that should make their way to a hidey hole soon. As you know - everything eventually has a letterboxing tie-in with the Pinecones!