Free Box Photo for July

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I happened upon this today:

I think I was a little late for the good stuff, but I like the labeling!

Ellensburg's Little Free Library

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I was born and raised in Ellensburg, WA. A couple of years ago I stumbled upon Ellensburg's Little Free Library and grabbed a book for my Mom to check out.  She hadn't heard of Little Free Libraries and was super excited because she had a bunch of books that needed a home, so I took them down on my way out of town and that was all I thought of that.
Well, I guess since my Mom has ready a few books from the lending library that she has really enjoyed and now is a huge fan (not that she wasn't a fan before).

I was just in E-burg last weekend for my Mom's birthday and she had a book to take to the library and of course she wanted to see if there was anything new.  Here's a pic of my Mom perusing the library:

And here I am proudly distributing the zine:

I have to say that this is one of the nicer Little Free Libraries with a chair to sit down and ponder if you really want to read the book you have picked out or not and some very nice landscaping:

Pedalpalooza 2014 Free Box Scavenger Hunt Results!

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Well, I have to say fun was had by all.  There were three teams and two free box newbies, one of remarked that he would have to start checking free boxes out more often!  Hooray!

It was a beautiful summer day, the first day of summer in fact.  Myself and Meghan Sinnott, my amazing co-host, ended up having a wonderful day of leisurely biking to the end point (the Waypost) and looking for free boxes and checking out yard sales, a lot of which had corresponding free boxes.  Yes, I did get a few items and I have to say you couldn't ask for a more fun relaxing way to spend a summer day.  I should do this more often.

Meghan in front of the free porch in North Portland; it was my first time there!

Meghan and Maddy, the amazing free box finding dog!

And the winners!

One of the scavenger hunt items was to piece together a coordinated outfit from free boxes.  Well, the whole team found outfits and they were definitely the most coordinated.  I had them sing "hey, hey, we're the Monkees" as they modeled because their outfits just reminded me of the Monkees.  Carye's hat is pretty amazing.  It's crocheted, of course.
Here are some items they found:

This is a Portland Skyline Puzzle; pretty sweet!

The Book Shade, to be demoed later on the blog post.

After we checked all the items off from both teams, the winning team made a free box out of a suitcase they found in front of the Waypost, which attracted some passersby, who actually partook in some of the items and were actually super excited about what they got.

One of the tasks in the scavenger hunt was to write a haiku and the "best" haiku would get points.  I really like the second place team's haiku:

I got it for free
It may be wet and moldy
But hey, it was free

The first place team also found a couple of hilarious items.  We couldn't figure this one out.  Is it doll underwear or a sample?  It say XXL, which is very strange. 

It's definitely a questionable item, which has sparked a new column in the zine entitled: Questionable.  It will feature a questionable find or item in a free box, which as you all know, there are plenty of those type of things to be found.  We may even have a whole issue dedicated to it!

There were some folks hanging out at the Waypost that really liked my shirt -- I heart free boxes -- made by Jennifer Jansons, who was on the second place team.  They asked where I got it, and I said "it's your lucky day because we have at least 5 of them right here, right now!"  She was super excited and got a shirt and they grabbed some zines as well:

Like I said, fun was had by all, and I am sure this will happen again next year, so be on the lookout!