A special box.

I love reviving old boxes, and take great pleasure to restoring life to damaged boxes. Since I am a rescuer of sorts, this really trips my trigger. Samsonite and I had the opportunity to restore a box on our recent foray down to the Troutdale/Gresham area of Oregon. Unfortunately, some animal had chewed through the pouch and it had filled with water, since it was perched on a tree branch out of sight. The soaked stamp holder, a baby sock, had marinated the stamp for quite a while! The well-slimed logbook was a complete loss.

marinated and slimed

While we couldn't save the logbook, we were able to provide fresh zips, a new logbook, and a hair tie to hold the pouch in a desirable position to keep rain from filling it again. Restoration is definitely satisfying.

I also really enjoy bringing sentimental boxes back to life. Yesterday, I planted a box to commemorate a special time spent with my parents when I was a new-boxer. A mystery microbox had been planted at a dilapidated historical marker deep in farmland outside of Raymond. Originally planted by an old friend, the box had gone missing, was re-carved, then was lost again. The site has since been renovated, as I discovered on our planting reconnaissance a few months ago. 

I had the pleasure of finding  the original, which was a mystery box, with my parents. My mom sat in the passenger seat and figured out the location - we had spent a lot of time in this part of Washington when I was a child and tween, so she figured it out in no time. When we arrived, my dad and I busted out of the car to see who could find the box first. It is a sweet memory of my parents, who are both now gone. 

this feels like it was just yesterday

So, equipped with a new box, cleverly disguised as a rock (which I will post about shortly!), we set out to find the perfect spot at the site. The historic story is quite interesting: Dr. William Kiel and his family, back in 1855, had been planning to make the trek out West, and no one was more excited than his 19 year old son Willie. Unfortunately, Willie fell desperately ill just prior to the family departing, and made his father promise to take him on the trip, even if he died. It was so sad that he died days later. So, good to his promise, Kiel packed up his son in a vat of whiskey, and carried him all the way to Washington. The family stopped in (what is now) Menlo and buried him there. The story, and Willie, are considered somewhat of a legend, and he has been referred to as the 'pickled pioneer,' if you can believe that.

His final resting place can be seen from the marker. 

As always, I hope this box lasts a while. And, true to form, if it goes missing, I will want to try again. 

And the obsession continues. :)

Lost and Found

When I started carving, I didn't even think about saving my images for history sake. But it wasn't too long into the journey that I started a logbook to record all my carving success. They were always a source of inspiration and fun to look through every once in a while - to remember where I had been and what I had done.

As you know, I have been working at getting myself reestablished for carving and creating. In the effort, I realized I had misplaced those carving logs. To think I had lost them, (or worse, gotten rid of them), made my heart hurt. I looked for a couple of days only to come up empty-handed and frustrated.

But, this morning, my beloved found them stashed in his office for 'safe keeping.' I am sure I put them there, but just didn't remember. I am so grateful to have them back at my fingertips. Looking through page after page of images gives me hope - if I did it once, I can do it again! I must admit, I am a bit rusty. 

Maybe you would like to see some of the pages from the first log...

That super yard sale stamp is about 5" across - as you can imagine, the more I carved, the smaller the stamps and details would become. And yes, this was back when finding fantastic carving material and tools was not an issue. We didn't know how good we had it!

I wonder about those Nat'l Day of Planting stamps - as I remember, they were for the country-wide event, and it says 'first annual,' but I am not sure if it is what evolved into what is called PAL today. The stamps are cool - I wonder if they are still in my pile-o-stamps - I guess I will know when I take the time to go through them all! 

So, I leave you with a slice of pleasure. Back in the day, after the family was well asleep, I spent many a night carving with with only my thoughts and music as company. Last night I had the opportunity to find that space again. It made me realize how much I have changed, and how much of me has remained the same. 

Much to ponder. Meditate on it, I will.

If I plant them, will they come?

no, not that kinda plant! 

Perhaps one way to energize the hobby is to plant boxes. But then, how to get the word out, especially to those who have stepped away? 

Well, I am gonna plant regardless.

"Hi, my name is SHH ... and I have a bazillion stamps just collecting dust in a dark corner of our garage."

True story. 

I have thought that some of those lonely and forgotten stamps may be wanted by 'boxers across the country who want to plant. That is a possibility. I have also pulled some out to plant here in my town, because the ocean is calling! I have begun to prep boxes (read pouches) that are plant-ready to keep in my car. My poor companion ... every time we heading anywhere now, I want to stop somewhere to snoop out a spot to plant. He just chuckles. *smile* He puts up with me.

We planted two on our last trip to the central coast of Oregon - gosh, I love that area. And those two plants started the fever. "Plant, my pretties ... plant!"

I have heard a rumor that boxers near me planted many boxes for the 'plant love not covid' event (that I unfortunately missed). In fact, I even heard the champion of that effort is as close as a day's drive. Woot! They are certainly on my radar!

Our First Event!

Your first event is always a little intimidating, right? As a newbie, you have no idea what really happens at letterboxing events and you don't know anyone by their real names. If you are anything like me, I felt a little weird going up to someone and asking, "Are you Thunderbird?" (Thankfully, she was very nice and normal and sweetly said, "Yes!")

My first event was hosted by a famous letterboxer and friend, Daelphinus. Well, she didn't go by Daelphinus then, at that time her trailname was DVN2R-CKR. Yeah. (So, how DO you say that one?? Haha! It's pronounced Adventure-Seeker...) I didn't know it at the time, but I was about to meet some letterboxing 'royalty' at this event, as well...

our first event stamp, carved by Daelphinus

Yep, as you can see from the sig-stamps below, I had the distinct pleasure of meeting GT and Amanda...now, that was pretty exciting! And, not only that, but I actually got to group box with Ryan leading the way. Well, kinda leading, kinda not...yeah. It was a lot of fun and makes me smile just thinking about it again.

Our First Plant!

OK, how 'bout more from the way-back machine? This time it's our first plant, and yes, you guessed it - it's on the coast. Now, there's a shock!

The stamps were carved on Mastercarve, and I hadn't yet graduated to positive image carving, but that's cool - I still loved those stamps. I ended up replacing both of these boxes multiple times, and the Westport Lighthouse letterbox lasted for about four years. The Grayland stamp didn't even last a year...you'd be amazed at how many folks explore what seems like deserted areas. I have found that it is difficult to keep 'boxes on the coast, as the environment changes dramatically during the year.

Would you get a load of those jr. boxers?! Wow, time flies...

Our First Find!

For a change of pace, I thought it would be interesting to share some of our letterboxing journal. Our first find was back July '04, after we had been hearing about letterboxing from our good friends for months. We finally took it upon ourselves to give it a try, since waiting for them to take us out was just taking too long!

We decided to go for a box that they had planted at the beautiful Ballard Locks, in Seattle. We bundled up (yeah, July!!), braved the rain and found our first box. Exciting!

Back when we started, I kept more of a scrapbook than a standard logbook. The kids were good sports about having their pics taken and providing 'action' shots. (Gosh, I know they wouldn't do it now, that's for sure!!) They were pretty young when we started, as you can see from the pics. Since we are a homeschooling family, it was easy to just take off after bookwork was finished to go snag some local boxes - lots of field trips!

And the obsession...er, hobby...started!

Portfolio

From the very beginning of my carving 'career', I have kept a portfolio of my work. Initially, I wanted a copy of the stamp so I could re-carve them if needed. Since most of my stamps were going in traditional letterboxes, I was keenly aware that they may go MIA. I also wanted to record my progress. I guess I was pretty hopeful that I would improve!

I started with a smaller sketchbook and when that filled up, moved to a bigger one (which is now almost full!).


I always stamp my work in the portfolio, no matter what the purpose. So many of my stamps get sent away forever...it's nice to look back through these notebooks and remember what I have done. It's in chronological order, as well, which is interesting to look back on.



Here are some early hitchhikers and traditional box stamps from the first pages of my first portfolio:



And, the very first Star Wars stamps!


Look at that hand-drawn Vader! lol!

I highly recommend that everyone keep a portfolio of their carving efforts. It's inspirational and fun to see your progress!