Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Fall Gathering Wrap Up

Here's a little information to go with Lnd Crzr's pictures.

The Mid MO Letterboxers are crafting a tradition of well-attended, activity-packed events. About 31 folks turned out for our Fall Gathering on Nov. 4. During the flurry of stamp exchanging, LBers reconnected with "old timers" and put faces to trail names of newer members. We even had guest LBers from Kansas City and St. Louis to enliven the event.

After the exchange, the group broke into two smaller groups, and Lnd Crzr led a workshop on his signature logbooks, while Foxfyr gave a workshop on her tricky piano-hinge logbooks.

All the enthusiasm and craft activities of the morning worked up a mighty appetite in the group, so the potluck lunch was set out and folks set to it. What a feast! Soup, chili, wasabi-devilled eggs, Ahistory's marvelous morels, pies, oh my! and much more. Everything was delicious, no one could have walked away hungry.

We let our lunch digest a bit by enjoying the show and tell of letterbox memorabilia brought by some members. Young LBer Jaws proudly shared the contents of his mystery package, left on his doorstep by pirates - or was it Lnd Crzr?

In the afternoon there was just time for a workshop on aging paper, again led by Lnd Crzr. To our amazement, the day had slipped away, so folks made their goodbyes, already looking forward to the midwinter gathering. The LBers from the "far sides" of the state took advantage of the remaining daylight to hunt for some boxes, accompanied by some of the local group.

What a fantastic event - here's to many more!

2 comments:

Fox-fyr said...

Thanks, too, for Jenny J for providing the space. Though some may call it crowded, I prefer the term cozy (and good that it was free). If our community keeps growing, we're going to have to hunt for a bigger space for future Gatherings.

After the Gathering, some us us had the pleasure of "after-hours" letterboxing. we hit several nearby boxes before we lost the daylight. Local letterboxers played "tour guide" to our out-of-towners as we hit two of the Looney Tunes, Da Vinci in the Park and attempted Sylvester and the Magic Pebble. To save time, we even provided a letterboxing shuttle service (drop off at the starting location, and curbside pick-up near the final location. We then had a marvelous dinner at Bangkok Gardens and then continue with some late-night letterboxing. . .

. . .if you thought it was hard to go 'boxing inconspicuously solo, imagine a group of eight searching on the streets of Columbia for Charlotte's Web and Gemini. Then it was off to Capen, and one of the Favorite Books series. The last of us finally called it a day at 10:30 p.m. Of course, there was still the next day where local guides Lnd-Crzr and Fox-fyr with help from Ahistory led tours to five more boxes scattered throughout southern Columbia and eastern Boone County.

What a weekend!

Anonymous said...

What a grand time. What wonderful people. I am very excited about my new hobby. That there are such neat personalities and new friends is a Finders Bonus indeed! I wish we had arrived earlier to see the first two workshops. I am so tickled by what we did see and do though. My daughter mostly enjoyed Jaws and Fox-fyr. My son's eyes lit up at Lnd-Crzr's beautiful, detailed maps. Adam is currently planning his own boxes. Possible themes include Harry Potter and Stephen King.

Thanks again for such a great time at the gathering. I am looking forward to Dec 22nd. I can't wait to see you guys again and hopefully have the chance to talk more and enjoy each other's logbooks.

Happy Thanksgiving!