Imagine how a professional walker like me feels! Seemed like something I would have heard about as well! So don't feel too bad. ;o)

-- Ryan

I know it's a busy time of year but if you can make it work we would love to see you at the meeting Saturday the 13th!
https://www.atlasquest.com/showinfo.php?eventId=5252

I know it's a busy time of year, but if you can make it work, we would love to see you at the meeting on Saturday, the 13th!
https://www.atlasquest.com/showinfo.php?eventId=5252

I had no idea that this existed but it does sound like a fun peruse! I see the 1997, 2017, and West version on Amazon. Is there one that you like best?

This tracker is to bring a smile to others faces and bring joy to all of those who participate.

The rules:
1. This is a year long commitment, ending in December.
2. If you sign up - you will forward me your name and address privately, and when you are matched up - I will share your address with just that one person.
3. By the last day of each month you will send something to your person. A card with warm wishes, an LTC, a stamp, but nothing that will put you in financial hardship. This is about sharing good will and hope.
4. By the beginning of December you will send one final card - A Christmas card, a Kwanza card, a Hannukah card. If you wish to include a minimal gift that's thought provoking... that would be okay - but NOT required.
5. All are welcome, if you are a minor - I ask that a parent make sure you will follow through.
6. This is NOT meant to cause stress. If for ANY reason - you can't complete the year - please just let me know and I will make arrangements to make sure your person's year is complete.
7. You can let your person know who you are - or you can wait until the last month to reveal. We all like a little mystery, sometimes its fun trying to figure things out.
8. I will take sign-ups until December 26th then match folks up. Since you don't need to know who you are sending to - you can think - or make your first card and have it ready to go by the last day of January.
9. When you get something from your YOG friend, please post letting them know that you have received something. If you don't get anything by mid-month, let me know and I'll see if its just a hiccup with the mail.
10. When you sign up I will add you (if you aren't already a member) to our private group. Please add this and make it a favorite board so that the messages show up in your news feed. Please go in and add info to the “all about me “so your secret person knows a bit about you.
11. If you participated in 2025 I will match you with someone new. If you wish to continue sending to your 2025 friend - that's awesome, but not required.

Here's to making a positive 2026 for everyone who wants it. It's amazing how a kind word can make someone's day, their week - even their month.

Clarifying note
What you send can be anything; a postcard from your trip to the beach, a few Quisps you've gathered together, a purchased card... its all about sharing good will and positivity. Be creative... think out of the box... send something to make someone laugh... share joy, laughter and hope. DO NOT put yourself in financial crisis... those simple cards with heartfelt words mean as much - if not more - to someone than a diamond bracelet if they are bummed out.

Year of Giving 2026
As requested by past members - we will be mixing things up a bit.
1. Make sure I have your current address - if there is a possibility of an address change mid-year let me know that as well.
2. PICK HOW YOU WANT TO PARTICIPATE- TOTAL MYSTERY MATCH OR KNOW YOUR MATCH
A mystery match will be that you will know who you are sending to but someone else will be sending to you! For example I as Starbears could be sending to Teach JR but Qingwaa sending to me.
For know your match, you will be sending and receiving from the same person. For example Starbears would send and receive from TeachJR.
3. This IS a year long commitment. Life does happen - if it does contact me ASAP and I will help finish your year off.
4. This is meant to be FUN not stressful ;)
This tracker is to build on the positive, bring hope for the future and share with each other the best we hope 2026 will bring us - no matter where we are.

Thank you! Also, do you still have your PayPal account? If you do, please AQ MAIL me the email. Thx!

BB

My first letterboxing event was at that bookstore. Powell's City of Books, back in early 2009 I think. Great place to just hang out too.

Have you seen “The Backyard Bird Chronicles” by Amy Tan?

https://amytan.net/backyard-bird-chronicles

I hosted the first chat in March of 2020 and gave people had the opportunity to gather and socialize when they were told to stay home. Over the years I have opened the chat room to anybody who would like to attend, carve stamps, share life, ask questions about letterboxing, have the occasional Zoom party, do stamp exchanges, learn, laugh, or simply sit there and chit chat.

Here is what I am seeking: Is there someone who would like to take over hosting the Monday Night Chats?

What it entails: Have a Zoom room (or other video chat platform?) and open the Zoom room each week. Post the MNC on the AQ Events page. Plan to chat and spend virtual time with your fellow letterboxers. There are some regulars who have been attending for years and enjoy the time together, and there are some semi-regulars and folks who randomly log on to ask questions or say hellos.

Zoom room: You can have a free Zoom room, which gives you forty minutes of use at a time. In that case, people would get booted after forty minutes and have to sign in again. A paid Zoom link gives you unlimited time, and people could log out and wrap up their MNC time when they choose. MNC usually lasts about ninety minutes to two hours.

After almost six years of hosting MNC, I would like to pass the baton -- or the chat room, as is the case -- to someone else. Are you an experienced letterboxers who has time and the desire to be social and get to know and spend time with other boxers on a weekly basis? Please reach out to me. Thank you bunches!

If nobody takes over, Wassa created a video chat room that is always open. I used it for the 2020 virtual events that I hosted. No need for a dedicated person to host, anyone can enter at any time.

https://www.atlasquest.com/boards/read.php?authorId=1992&flags=128&startId=984596

I thought to mention that, but I am pretty sure that GT closed that chat room because no one was using it, and it was taking a lot of space/memory/something.

GT doesn't own or run it. I'm literally in it right now.

Oh, then it must be a different chat room than I knew about. That is definitely an idea. Someone volunteered to take over as MNC host. Maybe that boxer will see this information and consider it. Thanks, RI climber. 👍

In 1774 Thomas Paine emigrated to the colony of Pennsylvania from England. He saw that America was ripe for independence and wanted to be part of it. Paine was a master with words; skillfully creating the most enlightened writings with biblical references of the times. He was violently opposed to the aristocracy and monarchy. On this day December 10, 1776, Common Sense was first published, anonymously. It was a much more radical document than anything that preceded it. Sales took off like an accelerant through the colonies. Excerpts from Common Sense appeared in newspapers throughout the colonies and was read aloud at taverns and meeting places. In proportion to the population of the colonies at that time, 2.5 million, it had the largest sale and circulation of any book published in American history.

Common Sense was a wholesale attack on the entire world of Great Britain. At the time, no one in the colonies wrote that kind of extreme, tough language. Congress would never think of attacking the king, let alone attacking the king personally. When much of the colonies were saying, "the king just needs to understand our situation”, Thomas Payne was calling the king a beast. He was radically different from the founding fathers, and he was radically democratic. If all men are originally equals, no one by birth could set up his own family in perpetual preference. The country was ripe for independence and only needed to have someone tell them that they could do it. Common Sense was the stepping stone to the Declaration of Independence.

"George Washington commented, My country will come reluctantly to the idea of independency. I find Common Sense is working wonderful change, and the idea in the minds of men.

IMHO, Paine wasn't a founding father, he was a true revolutionary. The Founding Father were defending their country, Paine had no dog in that fight. He came here to rebel against the kings oppression.

Submitted for your consideration
Old Blue

I just read his Wiki page, sounds like my kind of guy.

That link goes to a blank message board...where is it on the search bar up top?

This is the conference room:
https://freeconferencing.vonage.com/room/atlasquest

And this is the post talking about it:
https://www.atlasquest.com/boards/read.php?authorId=1992&flags=128&startId=984596

Thank you so much for the thought, BB, but there's no need for anyone to send me money. I do still have my PayPal account so I can keep the Stampeaz.com website name -- just in case I get an irrepressible urge to try and resurrect the business and attempt another formula. We'll see how everything goes. I can't believe how huge the loss is. Remediation and rebuilding is going to cost more than the house (and lot) did in the first place. That doesn't count any of the contents and quite a lot of that got scrapped as well. Smoke and soot are incredibly destructive. People who have been through something like this already know how awful it is. I had no idea...

I tell people heading to that area, "just drop me off when we get there and pick me up on the way back." It's on my bucket list ♡ lol

I have not, but I'm always willing to check it out ♡ I love series (chronicles) books. I think it's the anticipation of reading the next book when they leave you on a hanger.

Hello! This seems like a good place to put a little advertisement for this — as pen palling and snail mail are somewhat forgotten hobbies. There was a big boom in 2020 for it though, and that’s how I got into pen palling more regularly!

If you’d like a pen pal in 2026, consider joining The Letterboxer Pen Pal Project!

I love going all out on decorating envelopes and posting them on Instagram — it’s extra fun to open your mailbox and see a fabulously decorated envelope!

Not to muddy the waters, but...
That last link is an older version of the video conf.
This one is a much better one to use: https://meet.vonagenetworks.net/room/atlasquest

Hi!
Newbie here! I'm excited to join this hobby! I've carved my stamp, it may be too big, but still need to go on the hunt. Life has been lifing and it's been cold and wet in my area.

Hello and welcome to letterboxing!! I love your stamp, it’s super cute! Good luck on your first few finds!

Welcome to the fun! On what area are you located?

We are opening a store for hiking, camping, and survival. Would you be willing to share some suggestions for what items you might need when you are out on a trail or camping -- or what item you tend to leave at home or forget until you need it? Thank you for your input. 😃

Great carve for a newbie! Welcome to this addiction/hobby. 😆

This is my list of supplies:

Pens. Trinkets. Swiss army knife/multi-tool. Telescoping magnet. Mini flashlight. Pruning shears. Tissues. Extra log sheets on Rite N Rain paper. Plastic grocery bags for picking up trash. Personal stamp. Ink pads. Logbook. Paper towels. Small baggies for log sheets. Extra nano container. Extra bison tube. Snack. Water bottle. Hair ties. Barrettes.

These usually stay in the car: Gloves. Step ladder. Anti-itch lotion. Bug spray. Baby wipes. First aid kit. OTC meds like Tylenol, Imodium. Camo duct tape. Hiking poles.

PAMB (personal anti missile battery), satellite messaging device, toothpicks.

I have a purifier water bottle that works like a French press. It is definitely a survival item. Mainly I used it in rugged South/Central American jungle areas where I didn’t trust the water source.