To Plant a Mockingbird

We've been hearing for several years about the annual dramatic production of To Kill a Mockingbird in Monroeville, Alabama, the hometown of Harper Lee, the book's author. However, we've never been quick enough to obtain tickets before this year. The play runs from the last weekend in April through the end of May with performances Thursday through Saturday each week. Tickets go on sale at the beginning of March, and by the time the play opens, every performance is usually sold out.
The old Monroe County courthouse, which has been beautifully restored, now houses the Monroe County Heritage Museum. A street in the fictional town of Maycomb has been created on the back lawn of the courthouse and serves as the setting for the first act of Mockingbird. All the actors are local amateurs, some of whom have been involved with the production for a number of years. A couple of the young people in this year's play have played the children's roles in previous years.When the trial begins in the second act, the audience moves into the oval courtroom, the same one that was recreated on a studio lot in California for the production of the 1962 movie version of the book. This historic setting added immeasurably to the drama of the event. Some of the audience members were selected before the play to serve on the jury, which primarily meant that they were seated in the jury box for the second act. Our cousin Steve, who attended the play with his adorable wife Betty, was one of those "subpoenaed" to serve. In keeping with the 1935 setting of the play, all the jurors were men, of course. (Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take photos during the performance.) The production was outstanding. A couple of the actors could hold their own in any theater we've attended, including New York. We thoroughly enjoyed it and recommend it highly.

Monroeville has claimed the mockingbird as its symbol, and we were convinced that the local chamber of commerce has "seeded" the city with an overabundance of these creatures. The first time we drove to the old courthouse square, a mockingbird flew down to the street and landed on the dividing line to greet us. These friendly ambassadors were constantly present throughout the town and especially in the courthouse square. In the middle of a letterboxing desert but only about 20 miles from the interstate, Monroeville seemed a good location for some letterboxes to be planted. We started with the intention of planting four and ended up with eight new letterboxes that now call Monroeville home. We hope they'll soon be receiving visitors, who will report their experiences to us.

Stone Cold Letterboxing

Spring break arrived in Atlanta and we happily joined some friends on a four-day trek to Stone Mountain Park with four gifted teen boys. The trip was designed as research for a doctoral dissertation on the benefits of outdoor adventures for bright young people. Our role in the event was to teach them the art of letterboxing and lead them on some letterboxing hikes at Stone Mountain. Despite the fact that it was spring break, it was quite chilly most days. One day we even had a few snow flurries, adding to the excitement.

The young men were a delight to be with, and we enjoyed watching them quickly develop letterboxing skills and intuition. Yet one box eluded all of us, even though we were so "certain" this was the gnarly cedar tree described in the clue. Happily, even though we were in the wrong place, we stumbled upon a different box anyway. The benefits of boxing in a place that is as saturated as Stone Mountain Park!
We all hiked the walk-up trail to the top of the mountain, a first for us. The view from the top was beautiful and we were able to locate three letterboxes at the summit. This was the second day of the trip and Ken had already started his role of picking up after everyone and carrying others' things that they didn't want to tote (like a half-eaten box of popcorn).
The Georgia Bubble Man was entertaining people in the park with his spectacular bubble making prowess. Knowing when to keep a good thing to himself, he declined when asked to share his bubble juice recipe.
Many metro school districts had spring break this week, so SMP had lots of special activiites available for the kids. We never found out if the hair sculptor was there only for the week or permanently. These two clients were happy to pose with their new 'do's.
As we trekked our way around the granite monadnock that is Stone Mountain, pools of wildflowers greeted us occasionally. Even on top of the mountain, these tiny plants took full advantage of all the soil that was available.
Over four full days, we hiked 20.7 miles and found almost forty letterboxes. We are optimistic that these enthsiastic novice letterboxers found a new hobby, and the research will benefit other young people like them.

Seek & Hide & Seek

Our niece Heather and her daughter Emma are visiting Ken's sister Marion (Heather's mom) this week so we just had to get together and go letterboxing today. Emma (trailname: Miss Butterfly Lady) is a very enthusiastic letterboxer and was ready to hit the trail at Leita Thompson Memorial Park in Roswell. Without the adult tendency to overanalyze, Emma found the first box when none of the rest of us could. Her grandmother has ingrained in her the need to wear latex gloves when handling things that aren't so sanitary... when Emma remembers to do so. She is very careful about rehiding the boxes better than we found them. After finding six boxes and hiking four miles, we were ready for a picnic lunch. Following lunch, Emma was ready for another kind of hide and seek. Thinking outside the (letter)box, she "hid" herself as part of this statue in the park. So creative!