Sophie, is that really you!!! I'm still here!!
I haven't posted alot this month been doin the CHRISTmas stuff over on the holiday forum..

I was wondering if you were still down there in FL!! It's
good to hear from you. Are you still junkin?? How many chairs do you have now??
Take care
Brenda

SophieMae!
Why yes - some of us are still here (mostly lurking...)

Matter of fact, I was just going through my stash of ....er...."stuff" and found things that I got on that train (the sign of a TRUE junker - never throw it out!)

Oh oh! And there's a christmas angel who gets hung up each year - came from someone on the J-Train a long time ago. Wish I could remember who......

Ah - those were the days............

Hey Sophie!!

fgirl21 let me know you were here asking about any of the "oldbies" as I call em.

I still listen to the CD that ChaosQuilt aka Susan sent me with the JTrain song!

Very very fond memories of those days.........

WOOOHOOOO!!! Hey, y'all!

Bright! I had to get rid of almost everything when we put our house up for sale... just before the market died. So we're still here and I'm still trying to declutter. *heheheh* I do still have my flamingo chair. And still haven't finished it. LOL! I held on to a few other chairs, but some are falling apart, so I really should get out there and hunt for more, huh? ;>

Fgirl! What got me thinking about it... I was going through some stuff (eternally decluttering) and came across the album! Can you believe that was nearly 5 years ago???!!!

Hope y'all are having a HAPPY JUNKY CHRISTMAS!

ICA,
Sophie ^i^

JEAN! I still listen to that CD, as well. She's such a sweet thang. I should try to get pictures of the album and post them here. No promises, mind you, but I'll try. 8-]

ICA,
Sophie ^i^

Hey gals its great to see ya'll and bring out those memories.
I've been a busy woman but I'm still here! Only posting occassionally because I haven't done much but work and take care of DH.

coloredthumb

Hey, Y'all. Sophie, Jean, coloredthumb, bright, fgirl.
I never took part in the J-train, but I watched its travels faithfully and cheered it on.

Merry Christmas, everybody.

Nell

Oh my goodness, I dont know what I have missed here, but it sounds like it was a hoot! Come on out now, spill the beans, yall are killin me, what the heck is the J-train????
I was thinkin, uhhh, junk train, then song, maybe?? It was cool just reading your post, everyone meeting up again like that, and after 5 years ago, too. Glad to meet some of you for the first time!
blessings-sherri

I remember the j-train, tho' I didn't get on board. Haven't been here in ages, so it's great seeing some of you again.

Nell dear - you are thought of often and with fondness.

I confess that I cannot see moss and NOT think of you!
And toilets too (LOL). We're about to replace our two and I was trying to think of how to convice DH that they'd look okay in the yard....

Funny how connections are made, isn't it?

Michelle

Sophie, do you still take those wonderful wildlife photos???
I have the little wooden carrier that I kept from the train filled with all my tools for mosaics and such. And a square of those little pin wheel things that we used to sew and make quilts and pillows from... it hangs in the spare room... It defineately was fun.

Sherri The junk train was kinda like secret santa only there were two boxes that we mailed all over the country from person to person. When it came to your house you took out some things you liked and replaced them with more junk for the next person on the train. We did this twice I think. OOHhh and Duddly dolittle was in the box and you took pictures of him around your home and posted them here. I forget which train he was on. Wish I still had those pictures. Putor crashed and I lost them.

Hi Brenda, Sophie, Nell, Jean, Michelle, Susan and
all the old junkers still checking in here
to see the new creations.

I remember the anticipation of being the next destination on the Junk Train...LOL
Dudley, Nell and Bullwinkle were our mascots.
I remember taking pictures of everything,
deciding what to keep and what to add to the box.

I can't remember who was the caboose ???
Anyone remember the last destination ???
Who started the J train ???
Klynnnn, Wendy, Kelly or ???

Remember how we could max out a thread with 100 posts
in just a few days...LOL

Maybe those old threads are archived somewhere ???

How 'bout those full moon nekkid chicken dancing bonfire junk festivals!? LoL They seemed to take on a life of their own!

Oh Jean! Too funny - they did get rather baudy didn't they?

Didn't the first J-Train derail somewhere along the way? I seem to remember some problem and that's why a second one was started.

And what about chaosquilt? Has she been around lately?

I think I have a bunch of stuffed spiders thanks to her!

Here are links to some photos that I saved from about five years ago.
You may recognize names of Garden Junk friends who gave permission for my using their pics on a web site.

Aquarium Beds

Wattle

Teapots

Metal Birds

Nell

It's so much fun to listen in to this garden junk reunion! The junk train sounded like so much fun! Wouldn't it be fun to start one up again? You'll have to share all of the details on how to do a Junk Train!!!! Thanks for the memories...even though I wasn't around then. This must have been during the time of "Spike" (Is that the right name?) that I hear mentioned once in awhile. :o) Bear Hugs! Kirk

Ah yes...........Spike.............and being sent to Disneyworld...

Raise your hand if you ever went to Disneyworld a la Spike!

(raising hand)

Didn't get sent to disney but there were quite a few that were!! LOL! It's soo much fun talking about the old days... I wonder if the old albums that klynnnn started are still out there. We've had alot of talented people come and go...and come back again.

Bright, I'm still taking pictures, even though my hands aren't quite a steady as they used to be. Ah, the joys of old age. LOL! I usually post some on my blog pretty regularly, but I've been lazy during the holidays.

Nell, thanks ever so for sharing those pics! That aquarium garden still amazes me! Lucy did that, right? (Good thing I proofed this before hitting send. I accidentally hit H instead of N when typing Nell!) (*;*)

FGirl, I've been trying to dig up chaosquilt's email addy. Hopefully, it's still on my old computer. I never got sent to Dismal World. I'm the good one, remember? ;)

I think the first J-Train disappeared in Canada. Or NY, right after escaping Canada? I still have a Dudley, Nell and Snidely Whiplash. (I got spares). Every now & again, I come across them and think about those days. 8-]

Ohhhhhhh Noooooooooooooooo
I was the good one! LoL I never got sent either.
Want to take a long walk down memory lane? Check out the FAQ's page. All Klyyyn's postings she did are still there. I think there have only been a few additions since then!

OH, and about the Jtrain...I remember there were some unsatisfied people, because when they got the box...there was JUNK in it! LoL Becky aka deseridata and I shared a stop on the train. We packed that baby full and then wrapped it in wallpaper book pages. The person who got it after the person we sent it to was the one who complained. She wanted treasures, not junk. Well, duh...it's a JUNK TRAIN. We were supposed to put in things to make other things from.

hey Sophie...I remember you and the j-train...lol
I remember that when Jean in WA and I sent out our package, it was received with criticism, cuz we had 'found and natural' things in it and she especially was ticked, cuz a couple of real spiders managed to hang on, inside a few pine cones I packed in there...hey, I didn't know they were there!!

do you remember when you posted some pictures of your yard junk for me, to take to court, cuz the county was on my a$$ about all the 'junk' in my yard?
first, it was dismissed but right away, the county girl who had a new job, wanted to get a few feathers in her cap, so she went back to my yard, took more pictures and it came up on the docket again..I ended up with a $250 fine for it...
I moved back home, filled up my own personal yard and have been here for over 4 years, without a problem,,,,well, cept for too many vehicles in the driveway..
some people say it looks like 'rush hour traffic' along both sides of my long driveway....oh well....

so, see if this looks familiar.....

{{gwi:199873}}

Dudley went with me, to the hospital, to visit my new born grandson....he sat in the baby's bag, just hours after little Jayden was born....he just turned 5, this past October..on the 27th, like the picture is dated...
now, those ARE some serious memories...

here's another one...

{{gwi:199874}}

{{gwi:199875}}

this should jog a few others from those days....I know that Jean and I had a blast, laughing so much, from the time we opened the box we received, to packing up and shipping our 'freight'.....
those were some outrageous days, back then...lol

Becky .(*_*).

I think Klynn and Susan both wandered off somewhere to do altered books and those wonderful assemblages that Susan does.

You know who else I miss? Nigella. I knew where she went, but her focus is on jewelry-type things now. I was so awed by her treehouse and greenhouse and the ladies room. I think the storms kind of did them badly.

We sent off a ton of junk, really bad junk, with the Scrap Man recently and tore down the old barn. I think I posted my aged wood and rock benches in this forum.

Ohiomom has a cooking blog now. I follow her faithfully, even if I don't cook much.

Who else has a blog?

Nell

Here is a link that might be useful: Dotty Pants

I love this idea! I think we should start a new one! Maybe for the spring!

Oh yeah... those old Spike days were something...I went with the group who broke off, got sent to disneyland in 2002 and went to msn... now we are gardenjunk.org and still thriving...however, I've really never left... you could always sign up under another name and email. My sister got sent there twice and she didn't even know what she did to deserve that...there's just too much creative juice flowing over here to ever leave....never did the jtrain but remember it well..have a happy new year!!!

I went with another group that broke off and went to a different MSN group. We're still hanging in there but moving because MSN is shutting down all it's groups.
We don't do much garden junking anymore, but we are great friends!
And, Becky's one of them...seaglassic used to be deseridata aka Becky. LoL Becky, you didn't say who you were!

This does sound like a lot of fun! Thanks for sharing your memories!

I still have some pictures of Susan's altered boxes - I absolutely adore them and have collected all kinds of stuff to make one .......and never have! A true junker I guess.

Didn't know that Linda had a cooking blog - can you post a link?

Thanks for the links to your blogs Nell - it's nice to see you again!

Oh - and I only got sent to Disney ONCE - and, as I recall, I never knew why.....ah well. Those were the days weren't they?

It's an appropriate time of the year to remember old friends (here and gone) with fond memories.

I found the oldest Junk Train Post on the Conversations Side and bumped it up. It was from April '06.

The Junk Train sounded like such fun! ~tenderlee

lol....yeah, Jean...I actually did say I was desiderata but it was in the post that got eaten up, when I went to post..cuz I hadn't logged in..lol
so, when I logged in, my whole long post was gone..lol
I started over again...

why on earth didn't everyone just read my mind????

Becky .(*_*). aka seaglassic aka desiderata...aka strawberrygoat
whoever I am.....

many things have happened, since the days of the good junking....
we used to do the 'roadside' shopping...
dumpster diving
sidewalk sales
free cycle
I don't even think that craig's list was going yet...
I do for sure remember lots of times, with my hind end upended in a dumpster for free wood...
geez, the things I used to have..
so much of it stayed behind...
actually, it's been enough years now, that I can tell what happened to a lot of it..
I couldn't stand to part with it all. I hated that the county had ruined, or at least 'quashed' my desire to collect and create garden junk, from found objects..
I had a tremendous collection of driftwood..
and an even more tremendous collection of 'finds'...sinks, windows, pots, stash, trash, you name it, I must have had it..tree stands, that I wanted to paint in different colors, other than the green and red, for traditional use..
so..........
my guy, who works up in the hills, got the backhoe, from his work...dug a huge, huge 'grave' for me..
we took two truckloads of my treasures and actually buried it.
it's up there in the middle of literally hundreds of the finest noble trees a farm can grow, for Christmas..
at the time, it was a liberating feeling...
sad, but still a freedom that I couldn't do alone...
only a few things I miss but know that it's all replaceable
the stuff was all a duplicate..
I didn't part with things like treasures that anyone had made...no 'one of a kind' things were parted with..
and then, we packed up all remaining things and moved back home, about 35 miles south, to where I am now.

I wonder what will be the wonderment of anyone who should happen upon that 'dig' in hundreds of years to come? lol

I guess I can read minds. I never even noticed that 'seaglassic' nickname, just read the post and knew it was you, Becky.

Letting go is hard, even when it's just junk.

I have those same pics of Susan's work, too, and some trinkets and papers, for someday.

O'Mom's blog is -- uh, I have to go look. My path to her blog is: I go to my blog, and from there to Janie's blog, where the link is stored. That way I don't miss anything, LOL.

Cooking in Cleveland

I think even O'Mom's daughters are awed by her cooking and her photos and recipes. It's a great blog.

Happy New Year, Y'all. I'm glad we had this reunion.

Nell

Seaglassic, what a sad tale! But won't it be amazing when someone does one day unearth it all? I'd love to see the look on their face!

So how did this J-train thing work? Who decided where the box should go next? How much did it weigh? What sort of things did you put in it? How long did someone hang onto it before sending it on to the next person? And what in the dickens is Disneyland (I'm assuming you didn't get sent to the real thing ... especially if you did something bad)? Enquiring minds want to know!

Yes! Please share the details on how the j-train works...I like Kirk's idea to start one. It sounds like it was a lot of fun.

somehow, the idea got started, when conversation was about exchanging things...then, as I remember it..one person took on the responsibility of gathering names, addresses and I think it was as simple as that..in the beginning, there was no 'wish list'..so, what was sent was both a surprise of what the contents were and also a surprise of who was receiving it next...I think we got an email of who we would send it to..but didn't know who it was coming from, till the day it arrived...it made for some crazy anticipation..sometimes hints were dropped..sometimes nothing...lol
everyone waited with high anxiety...lol
it would cross the states sometimes and other times, it would go to a town close by...

I kinda think that these days, it'd be a good idea to map out an plan of travel...
that way, it could travel along a general line..but then again..it would also give more of an idea of who could be next, by locations..so, that would have to be decided, cuz shipping costs could be potentially a bit..
I think that Jean and I paid somewhere around $25 or so..we split it, I remember that...it went a state away..that was the first of 2004..we loaded that puppy with fun junk...I remember trying to get Jean to let me keep one lamp she put in it...she wouldn't let me have it, for nuttin'...lol
we were paired up to receive a box, cuz we lived so close as neighbors, at that time....it sat in the back seat of her car, till we could get it open and that was the funniest time...we were total idiots, laughing and giggling, waiting for that box to be opened and see what treasures were in it..then, we had to be civilized and decide who got what, out of it...since it was to both of us..can you imagine two adults, trying to be adult, with all the anticipation of two kids, getting this huge present??....it took all we had, to not have a knock down, drag out...to claim some of those things...lol
I still wish I had one book she got from it...lol

the destinations were chosen by drawing names from a hat, I think I remember...
then, a mascot was chosen to ride along for every stop along the train path..
some held on to the box for only a day or so..others got derailed and kept it for long enough that there were posts about what happened to it...
it could even be that it got lost along the way and eventually a new train was sent out...that seems to ring a bell, somehow...

I think the Disneyland thing was that a person was blocked from access to the forums..gardenweb itself, if something had been done to pi$$ off the moderator...
I remember that I got a warning one time, when I posted some pictures that I had taken at a garden that had a copyright...but I didn't think it would be a problem, cuz they were from my camera and I had asked for permission from the owners of the garden...
the pictures were taken off but I only got a warning..

the box varied in weight, from person to person..that would totally be determined by what was in it...
I'll see if I can get a couple more of the pictures, from when Jean and I had it, to send out...

Dudley fell off the bed, from new grandbaby's birth, at the hospital...

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Yeah, it was a ton of fun. Becky, I do remember you and Jean sharing a box and what a time y'all had with it. The route was planned in advance, though. I actually tacked a huge map of North America on my office wall and used colour-coded push pins to mark where everyone lived. I had notes all over the place. I keep thinking there were two 'trains' to start with, coz there were so many people signed up and it was such a long, long route. And didn't we play a little trivia game to guess where it was going next? Or was that something completely separate? I'll bet Chaosquilt would remember. All I can rememmber is looking up all sorts of weird tourist attractions for places all over the country.

yeah, there are parts of it that I don't remember cuz I didn't have to keep track..lol
I could just sit back and enjoy it all.
I was talking on phone to Jean yesterday and she was telling me that it was you, klynnn and Susan, chaosquilt, who started it all..
I need to get in touch with her...it's been a year or so now..
will you consider starting it for another go'round???

and yes, the second train was headed in a totally different direction..now that you mention it..I had forgotten that.

Becky .(*_*).

What fun! I imagine the shipping could be expensive but if you consider what you might get out of it, it might be worth it. Does anyone here work for the post office? Someone who could maybe give us an idea on current shipping costs? Or does someone sell on eBay that would be familiar with shipping costs? I'd love to participate in this if it started up again! I love the idea of a "mascot" that people could take pictures of near their home and post too. And the notebook that people would sign and add comments to sounds so fun. Thanks for all the information ladies!

SophieMae - that's how I remember it as well.

I recall conversations of your big map and pushpins.

There were, indeed, two boxes that left at the same time for the first round. One WAS derailed (I remember because I was at the end and one who never received it the first time around).

Yes to the trivia and weird touristy facts too.

It WAS a lot of fun.

The SECOND time the train went around we did make lists of things we liked or themes that we had in our garden so that the sender could (if he/she wished) try to put things in to match our needs. That was nice but I fear it was probably more expensive than just sending our "junk".

As for restarting and shipping - there are FLAT RATE BOXES available at the Post Office. Doesn't matter how much it weighs - if the stuff fits in the box, you pay one flat fee. I believe they start at about $8.75 for a small box

DAWG! I can't believe it's been over a year and a half since this thread happened! The older I get, the faster time flies. I just came across the album again and thought how sad it is that all these wonderful memories are just sitting here in my closet. If anybody wants it, I'll be happy to send it. The PO still does media rate, right?

ICA,
Sophie ^i^