Well I've finally come up for air...and thank you notes are on their way....but I wanted to take a moment to publicy thank those who helped make Desperately Seeking Sun a huge success.

A major thank you to Jackbear and Joystar, my co-hosts for this event. Despite fighting a bad cold...and hiding the fact that it was his BIRTHDAY...Jackbear came through with a wonderful ice fishing demo and an incredible ice fishing stamp for those who participated. Any one who saw this image must be really jealous if they didn't make it down to the lake..because it was one of Jackbear's best. They also generously donated an ice fishing starter kit...won by the Jiggs family. Jackbear manned the AQ event boards...passing on weather updates as I arrived in Brewerton on Friday and checked the driving and snow conditions. He and Joystar also stopped on their way to the event to pick up raffle tickets...as I had not purchased enough of them...and saved the day! All of this on top of carving another wonderful stamp..Steve Irwin Forever. Thank you thank you Jackbear and Joystar!

Thank you also to Catbead, one of the first NY boxers, who agreed to judge the Where's the Box? game, which had to be postponed because of logistical reasons. Catbead also donated another one of her amazing portrait stamps..this one of filmmaker Ed Wood. And if that wasn't enough...she donated several of her beautiful handmade logbooks..which some of you won in the raffle, in the planter's basket and separately. She also donated Dick Blick carving material..which was in the kid's raffle basket. Catbead is one of those great friends that never says no when you ask them to do something...they just ask "how much" and "how many". Thank you, Catbead!

My dear buddy Sahalie... who donated prizes for the raffle, two wonderful stamp carvings...and then tops it off by donating a pin-up stamp for the event! Sahalie knows I always have kids' boxes available..and wanted to make sure the adults had fun too. "Battlefield Betty" was definately a "LockWench" kind of stamp...and I had to remind people that I didn't carve it! Thank you so much Sahalie!

Thank you to everyone who donated stamps.....to Webfoot that donated PZ Cut for all of the Cootie Kits....to all those who scoured local store to donate those tiny logbooks for the Cootie Kits, to all those who offered to help set up..to Tamsyn for bringing that delicious cake and for surprising me with "The Giving Tree" stamp....all those who brought wonderful PT's such incredible food and helped clean up....Thank you thank you thank you. And a HUGE thank you to those who braved the weather, and learned the very distinct difference between a "County-Wide State of Emergency", a "County-Wide Travel Advisory", and a "County-wide Ban on Travel."

And most of all, thank you to my friends PartyPig and Wes. These two gentlemen drove up to Brewerton weeks before the event and helped me plant more than half of the boxes everyone got to enjoy...and refused to take the stamp images because they wanted to find them "in the wild." They cheerfully helped write clues and gave suggestions for hiding places. They donated three carvings of their own for the event. They "taste-tested" the food at the BrickHouse Cafe and charmed the owner Ginny so well that she was saying.."Lock Wench, who?" They volunteered to man the sign-in table so I would not be tethered there all day. They cheerfully handed out clue booklets, sold raffle tickets and answered questions. They threw in their own change when I didn't have any. They even whispered on Sunday morning when I was stumbling around with a hang-over...lol. I don't know what I would have done without all their help. I hope you all got a chance to meet these incredibly generous fellows....great friends and great boxers. Thank you so much, "Speedy" and Bill. :)

And thank you to everyone who answered my call for feedback. By popular demand, we will be holding next year's Desperately Seeking Sun again in Brewerton. Thank you, all!

LW PhD
"Nice Counts"