Trying Letterboxing

A companion (or possibly rival) activity to geocaching is letterboxing. Geocaching is a search for hidden stashes using GPS coordinates posted on the internet. Letterboxing is a search for hidden stashes using clues posted on the internet. We've geocached quite a bit but the app version now has fees if you want to find anything more than the most basic caches. We don't go often enough to justify the expense, so we gave letterboxing a try.

Back in the summer, we had accidentally discovered a letterbox stash in High Ridge Park near our home. In November, we looked the stash up online and found that four stashes were in that park. We printed out each write up, a few of which required decoding of simple ciphers. My daughter was happy to do that at home before we left. With clues in hand we went to the park.

The first letterbox was hidden near the basketball court, so we began our search there.

Following the clues

The find was in a stump just inside the woods. Happily we did little bushwhacking to make it to the find.

Searching for the right spot

Found it!

The stashes typically only have log books and stamps. Visitors take the stamp from the log book and stamp their personal book. Then visitors use their personal stamp to stamp inside the log book, along with a name and date if they want. No geojunk trades hands, making it an easier job, especially if your kids fight over which things to take.

The next letterbox was further in the woods. The clue to go off the trail was a tree with the number 8 on it, which we thought was daft until we actually found a tree with the number 8 on it.

Three children searching near the 8 tree

Making the find

Stamping the log book with our stamp

Stamping our book

 The final two letterboxes were just off a paved path in the woods. The path is sponsored by Wegmans, which is a big weird since the nearest Wegmens is a good twenty-minute drive away.

Following the corporate path

Path sponsor

The find wasn't too hard. Similar to geocaching, the hiding spot was in a fallen tree.

Working together

We found the final letterbox very quickly since it was the one we discovered over the summer. My daughter was happy to have a full page on her log book.

She was not happy about the bright sunlight

We enjoyed the park while we were there. The preschooler wanted to throw rocks from a gazebo into the river far below. We didn't have the heart to tell him he'd never make it all the way. Even we parents couldn't have done it.

Throwing rocks

We also played at the playground before heading home.

Stair climbing

Stair walking

 The next day, we tried to find a letterbox near Savage Mill, on the train trail. We started at the Bollman Bridge.

Crossing the bridge

Historical certification for the bridge

The trail was supposed to have two letterboxes. According to the write up, the first box is gone. We went on to find the second one. We found the right location according to the clues but couldn't find the box. The last find was two years ago, so judging from the amount of trash (beer cans and water bottles, mostly), the box is probably long gone.

The proper stairs

The proper spot?

We enjoyed the walk along the Patuxent River anyway.

Waterfalls on the river

Back at the bridge, we tried throwing rocks in the river again, with much more success. The preschooler was very happy.

Throwing rocks

Checking for a splash

We also stopped in at Savage Mill, which is festively decorated.

It is the most wonderful time of the year

Even with the disappointment, I'm sure we will try out more letterboxing soon.

TV Review: Doctor Who: The Tenth Planet (1966)

Doctor Who: The Tenth Planet (1966) written by Kit Pedler and Gerry Davis, directed by Derek Martinus

The First Doctor (William Hartnell) has his swan song when the TARDIS lands at the Earth's south pole in 1986 (which was twenty years in the future from the original broadcast date; now it is over thirty years ago!). He and companions Polly (Anneke Wills) and Ben (Michael Craze) arrive at a base directing various space ships. Things go haywire when a new planet shows up, coming toward the Earth. The new planet is absorbing energy from the Earth (and the space ships). If that wasn't bad enough, a ship from the new planet lands by the base and the aliens who come out are Cybermen (in their very first appearance).

The story has a lot of fairly convincing science (writer Kit Pedler was a medical doctor in addition to being a science fiction writer) and impressive looking sets. The "mission control" set has plenty of levels and sciencey equipment. The humans have a hard time getting their space ships back on the Earth; they have a missile that could be used to destroy the other planet, but as usual for Doctor Who, the characters discuss the moral and physical ramifications of using a planet-destroying weapon. Will the earth be in jeopardy too? Can they kill off a whole other race? I found the story quite interesting.

The production did have some challenges. Hartnell collapsed during the second episode, requiring some quick redistribution of his lines while his character recuperated in a different room for a couple of episodes. Hartnell recovered enough to act in the last episode. The end of the episode features the first regeneration of the Doctor (thus the first appearance of Patrick Troughton as the Second Doctor). Unfortunately, the fourth episode was lost in the BBC archives and only bits of it are extant. All the audio was available. This DVD has an animated fourth episode that works to finish the story. It also has a version of the fourth episode that was released on VHS--photos were substituted in for the missing video with subtitles to explain any story details. The reconstruction is less satisfying than the animated version but still interesting.

The Cybermen are great villains--they are basically humans that have taken so many cybernetic attachments that they all they have left are organic brains. Everything else is robotic. In the process, they've shed emotions, living solely by reason (it would be interesting to see a match-up between Cybermen and Vulcans). If the Cybermen are in trouble, it's only logical to take what they need from others, even if that involves the death of others. Their cold-hearted methods makes them unnerving. Their voices have a computer cadence that is also off-putting. Considering other 1960s Doctor Who baddies, the Cybermen costumes are impressive though certainly not as sleek as their 2000s counterparts.

Recommended.

Book Review: Fantastic Four/Inhumans: Atlantis Rising by G. Herdling et al.

Fantastic Four/Inhumans: Atlantis Rising written by Glen Herdling, Tom Defalco, Tom Brevoort, Mike Kanterovich, and Roy Thomas with Paul Ryan; art by Geof Isherwood, M.C. Wyman, Paul Ryan, and others

Morgan le Fey, evil witch of Arthurian legend, decides to raise havoc by raising Atlantis from the Atlantic floor. She wants to claim it as her ancestral home, Avalon, that sank beneath the sea millennia ago. The Inhumans, a hidden race that has moved from hiding place to hiding place (currently on the far side of the moon), also claim the land as their lost homeland. A freak accident by Nathaniel Richards (Reed Richards's father) has jeopardized the Inhumans's lunar home, so they need another place. Prince Namor, the Sub-Mariner and exiled king of Atlantis, naturally wants the land back under the sea and claims it for his people. The Fantastic Four (minus Reed, who died along with Doctor Doom battling aliens before this story started) has recruited Scott Lang, the second Ant-Man, to work with the team (and presumably keep the "Four" in "Fantastic Four"). They rush to the aid of the lunar Inhumans and then get involved in the Atlantis shenanigans.

The plot is rather complicated, which is a strength since it generates plenty of conflict and excitement. Even with a huge number of characters (I didn't even mention the Fantastic Force, a spin-off team from the Four), readers can follow what's going on and don't get lost in the chaos (something that happens in the Age of Apocalypse graphic novels). For a big crossover event, it's a fun and satisfying read.

Recommended.

Movie Review: War for the Planet of the Apes (2017)

War for the Planet of the Apes (2017) co-written and directed by Matt Reeves

Caesar (CGI Andy Serkis) and his group of apes tries to hold out in a California forest but they are perpetually hunted by humans. After two harrowing attacks, the second of which resulted in the deaths of Caesar's wife and eldest son, the apes decide to flee to a seeming paradise across a desert. Well, everyone but Caesar decides to go. He wants to take revenge on the Colonel (Woody Harrelson), the leader of the local humans who took a personal hand in killing Caesar's family. Three of the apes decide to go with him to make sure he returns alive to the tribe. Caesar has a difficult journey, both literally and figuratively, ahead of him.

I found the story engrossing and the plot developments interesting. The Colonel is a tough-as-nails villain with just barely enough humanity to make him understandable but certainly not sympathetic. He is superficially modeled after Col. Kurtz in Apocalypse Now, a film that is referenced in other ways as well. Almost the entirety of the rest of humanity is unsympathetic and one-dimensional, the one exception being a young, mute girl adopted by the apes on their journey. Caesar and the apes, by contrast, are fully-rounded characters who form the heart and soul of the movie, dealing with issues in a human way. The characterizations are biased, which is especially interesting as the movie grapples with the worthiness of humanity's continued existence. The ultimate answer is consistent with the story and unsatisfying for me.

The movie is interesting but bleak, which I suppose is a core component of the Planet of the Apes franchise. This movie is particularly bleak.

Cute Kid Pix November 2017

More pictures that didn't make their own blog post...

Our local library participated in Maryland's 2017 STEM festival with a scientific-themed playtime--Marvelous Magformers. Magformers are geometric shapes with magnets inside that can be connected to each other in amazing ways. My young son, after playing with some duplos, got into the fun.

Starting with Duplos

Not the most stable tower

Dinosaur helps out

Not sure about these Magformer thingies

More comfortable

He did get a bit abstract with his construction, promising a future in the arts, or at least in art museums.

Maryland had a STEM festival which was supported by more than the library. A local museum had a bunch of STEM activities one night. We went straight for the "use math to get out of handcuffs," though that turned out to be more than (and less than) we bargained for. The cuffs weren't real handcuffs, just two loops with a big string in between. Two people would be cuffed with the long string looped through and then they would have to figure out how to separate without taking the "handcuffs" off. There wasn't really any math or any handcuffs or even getting the handcuff-subsitutes off. I'd seen this before so I knew the solution but the kids couldn't figure it out and just got frustrated. So that was the end of STEM night at the museum.

Getting strung out over a couple of strings

The cub scout pack meeting had the boys making care packages for soldiers stationed overseas, as well as practicing some Christmas tunes for a nursing home visit in December. Hopefully we'll have some pics in December!

My son the scout

The elementary school had their book fair. We went on Friday night and got pictures with a celebrity!

Meeting Clifford

Hugging Clifford

We did buy way too many books, as usual. We were supporting a good cause, right?

St. Mary of the Mills Christmas Bazaar 2017

We had our first experience of Christmas in early November at Saint Mary of the Mills's Christmas Bazaar. My daughter is a member of the American Heritage Girls troop there. Troop members staffed one of the children's activities--Beanie Baby Bingo.

Getting markers out for the bingo cards

Our youngest was excited to play bingo, which he had never done before. Stamping ink on paper he had done before and just recently he's gotten good at recognizing numbers. He was an enthusiastic player.

Stamp master

Even though we didn't win any beanie babies, he was happy to help clean off the board when things were done.

Working hard

Another activity was the Christmas Bazaar classic--photo op with Santa. The boy was rather cautious and shy around St. Nick, eventually sitting on his lap. When asked what he wanted for Christmas, he needed a little prompting. I asked if there was any music he wanted. My son mentioned Pentatonix, a long-favorite in our house (though we get their albums from the library). When asked about toys, he said, "a restaurant." Hopefully he wants only a toy restaurant and not the full-sized type.

One of us is posing for the camera

Still focused on the camera

We also wrote a letter to Santa, which was weird since he was sitting right there in the room.

In the hall, a table was piled full of items to be raffled. We wrote our name and phone number on tickets and put them in bags corresponding to the numbered items. The number one item (also enumerated "1") was a giant teddy bear. The bear was bigger than our boy!

Hoping for at least one full-sized item

Other offerings

Down the hall was the cake walk. Unfortunately it was off in its own area and didn't get much traffic. Fortunately, they ran the cake walk with however many people showed up. We gave three tickets and had the floor to ourselves, so one of us was bound to win.

Cakewalking

Ready to walk

My son did win, earning a cupcake which he promptly dropped, icing-side down, two minutes later. He was very distraught and I picked it up the best I could. He wanted the icing back on (otherwise it's only a muffin!). I managed to salvage some that hadn't touched the floor and spread it wide enough to make it look like a cupcake again. We went upstairs to the cafe to eat at a table. They were serving breakfast items along with coffee, tea, and apple cider. I bought ciders for the three of us. Mommy was off shopping at Granny's Attic, looking for bargains among donated items.

When she got back, we shopped at the bake sale for some after-lunch treats. We also bought some lunch--the various communities in the church had food for sale. We opted for the Jamaican chicken and rice. We also bought a bottle of wine at the wine raffle. A good time was had by all.

The main part of the bazaar--vendors, silent auctions, and food

Book Review: Amulet: Book Six Escape from Lucien by Kazu Kibuishi

Amulet: Book Six Escape from Lucien by Kazu Kibuishi

The city of Lucien is being evacuated as it is overrun by shadowy creatures who possess the living and turn them violent. Most of the residents have escaped. Our heroes would flee but they need to activate a beacon in Lucien to gather their forces. A small group goes into the city hoping to stay one step ahead of the shadows, activate the beacon, and get out alive.

If that job isn't tough enough, Stonekeeper Emily has an even more difficult challenge ahead of her. She joins up with her enemy, Max, to travel into the Void with other Stonekeepers (who are on Emily's side) in order to fight the Voice of the Stones. The Void is made up of Stonekeepers' memories and the group mostly travels through memories of Max, revealing dark secrets that make the pending showdown more dramatic.

The story moves along at a good pace and the art is just scary enough to make everything more exciting. I'm looking forward to more of the story.

Recommended.