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Marilyn's Pumpkin Patch LbNA #47127

Owner:Adoptable
Plant date:May 6, 2009
Location:
City:Maitland
County:Orange
State:Florida
Boxes:1
Planted by:Troop Boxer
Found by: DS
Last found:Dec 26, 2018
Status:FFFFFFaFFaFa
Last edited:May 6, 2009
THE STORY AND INSPIRATION:

Did you ever have someone do something that influenced you greatly that you wanted to do the same thing yourself. This was the inspiration for this stamp.. Here is the story. All typos are free as it is 12 am as I complete this.. : )

When my daughter was very young, I belonged to a church playgroup. We met once a week at various parks in the area. The first time I went to Maitland Community Park it was in October.. the best weather ever to do this...
Anyway, on my drive there I noticed a beautiful home and it had various pumpkins and jack-o'-lanterns arranged like a pumpkin patch in the yard. I just loved the way this looked. I had to return to see it at night when it was lit up. What wonderful charm it had and I knew someday I would want to do the same for my yard. So for various years I hunted all the Halloween and harvest sales for pumpkins and jack-o'-lanterns and now I have a collection of almost 15.

Did you ever want to take the time to go to someone's home and just tell them how much you loved what they did. How you appreciated their work and the impression it left. Well, I felt kinda silly about it, but I always remembered that house and the pumpkin patch.

Recently as my daughter is now 10 and a very active Girl Scout I discovered more about the house. I was trying to introduce letterboxing to Girl Scouts. I was involved with training about 200 leaders during an event to carve their own stamps and learn about letterboxing. We needed a cheap way to make sure all these volunteer women had something to make their own stamps. I found these great erasers at the dollar tree, 3 for a dollar and are white.(an example you will find in this box). My Girl Scout troop was working to earn their Bronze award by placing 8 boxes for council during the event at camp Mah-kah-wee as well and we were out of money. We then turned to our unit and other troops for donations of erasers. Besides we had just about cleaned out every dollar tree around town for these white erasers.

After our service unit meeting where I was giving a short explanation of letterboxing, what my troop was working on and the need for erasers, I got a phone call. Marilyn called and said she had ten packs to donate and I could pick them up anytime. When she started to give me her address.. I was speechless.. it was the same house that had given me so much joy with the pumpkin patch. I asked her if she was the house that made a pumpkin patch in October. She said, she did, but had not done so for awhile. I tried to explain that I knew her home and loved her pumpkins.

I am sure she thought I was rather silly, but her pumpkin patch has grown. Friends who have come to visit me in October have commented how much they loved my pumpkins. I always tell them the story of how I loved the idea from a home in Maitland. I now have two friends who have started a pumpkin patch of their own. Who knows how far this will go.
Although I love my collection, it never seemed to have the same magical charm of Marilyn's Pumpkin patch.

This letterbox is a way to say thanks for the erasers and especially for the memory and inspiration of her pumpkin patch. Her donation of 30 erasers for new letterboxers to create their own signature stamp will hopefully influence Central Florida letterboxing for a long time to come. I hope if you visit this box someday in October, you will be fortunate to see a pumpkin patch on the way. Just a note, please do not disturb Marilyn, just enjoy the story...


THE CLUES FOR THE HUNT:

Maitland Community Park 1400 Mayo Ave Maitland, FL 32751
Drive all the way in to the park and park at the last parking spot on the far left. Next the center.

As you sit in your car, you should be facing South West at about 1:00 you should see a path into the trees, not to the playground...

Exit your car follow the sidewalk as it curves to the right. In the center of the curve the sidewalk splits to the left by one square and then it changes to dirt/leaves. Follow this path toward the playground until it splits. Take the right split into the trees.

Follow this path into the trees. Keep right as you will see a leaf path and the dirt path. Stay on the dirt path. As you come to a park bench at the intersection of paths, keep right.

You will pass the "World Trail Horizontal Ladder" on your right. Pass the basketball courts on your right. Past sit up routine, past sit-ups and then at the park bench take a left. The trail will split dead end and you can go right around the tennis courts or left towards the board walk. Go left. Stop just before the wood plank ramp of the entrance to the boardwalk. Facing this go to your left side of the ramp the side towards the tennis courts. Where the ramp comes down to touch the dirt, underneath you will find Marilyn's Pumpkins.

This entrance is great and shaded with benches so you should be able to stamp with comfort and privacy. If you have some time, this boardwalk is beautiful. We recommend going on a cool afternoon as it can get very hot so bring water. Once you are done, you can exit to the parking lot by turning around towards the way you came, but do not turn, keep the tennis courts to the right and you should be facing the parking lot.

Please use discretion. when you are doing this, I would love this to stay a long time. Maybe Marilyn will get a chance to find this someday.

Please also take a moment to log in your finds at Atlasquest.com under Troop Boxer. Thanks for helping us keep track of finds.