Friday, February 09, 2007

Mid-MO Winter LB Gatheirng of Games & Surprise Potlatch

When downright frigid temperature grip the mid west for weeks at a time what are die-hard LBers to do? Venturing out would surely result in the loss of digits.

A winter gathering is the way to get your fix! Recently the Columbia Library was home to the second annual Mid-MO Winter Gathering. This year’s theme was ‘A LB Gathering of Games’.

The theme was based on one of two contests. The first was C2B2’s excellent ‘Now You See Them, Now You Don’t’ contest in which local LBers created boxes which were hidden in plain sight and in high traffic areas. The winner was AHistory’s ‘Ode to Charolette’ LB with Mamaroots’ “Nancy Drew’ and TouchTrek and her ‘Oracle’ both took home prizes for second and third places. Speaking of prizes, thanks to OneMeanGreenBean, JennyJ and Mamaroots for bringing fabulous hand-made prizes to give away. Of course we must also mention C2B2’s fabulous grand prize which was an ingenious hand made (by C2B2) wooden box with a lid that had to be ‘tricked’ open.

The second contest, which the gathering revolved around, was for each to make a LB based on their favorite game. The LB and the game were brought and you could earn the right to stamp in by playing a bit of the game. The afternoon was spent moving from game to game stamping this and that, and of course fending of the continuing Cootie infestation.

Of course there has to be a surprise or two. My birthday was just a few days before and my son’s birthday was shortly after the gathering so we decided to give gifts. You see we were reading this fabulous book called ‘Zen Shorts’ by Jon J. Muth in which a Panda named Stillwater tells of his uncle who though he has little always gives gifts on his birthday. I mentioned it to our own JennyJ and she said it sounded like a Potlatch. I’d never heard of the phrase so a bit of research enlightened me that it is a tradition among NW Indian tribes to hold big parties and the host gives gifts to secure their place in the tribe. Well, we just wanted to do something fun. So my boy and I made a good number of handmade books and small whimsical photo albums which we handed out at the gathering. See, you never know what might happen at a Mid-MO LB Gatheirng!

Unfortunately such a good time was being had that we failed to actually vote on the favorite games LB contest. So if you attended and played through some of the games, send an e-mail to me voting on your favorite. I’ll send them a fabulous prize (not new car fabulous) and post the results when they’ve been decided.
We cannot speak of a Mid-MO Gathering without mention of the pot-luck. Oh how the saliva glands begin to fire at the mere mention of it! If you’ve never experienced a Mid-MO LB Potluck you have certainly missed out. These fine folks lay out a truly wonderful and generous spread fit for a king and queen.

I’m certain I have left out much of which people want to know or wanted shared. Please feel free to add your comments, or your own article.

I personally had a fabulous time as did my son. I cannot think of a better way to spend a frigid winter afternoon of gaming and boxing with this truly word-class community of LBers. If you’re interested in making this an annual Winter LB Gathering of Games, let me know.

For more pictures of the gatheirng click HERE.

You all deserve a root-beer!

Lnd-Crzr

1 comment:

touchtrek said...

While I wasn't there, I seemed to have reaped reward regardless! Many thanks to those who voted for the "Oracle", resulting in a prize for yours truly. Special thanks to Mamma Roots for the wonderful books on trees, and to Lnd Crzr for assuring my place in the tribe with a beautiful photo book. All of the efforts of the letterboxing community has provided me with much enjoyment, and I look forward to many more adventures with you. Thanks