9/13 Carrboro, NC. Across the street from Weaver’s Market.
A former Explainer from the Exploratorium (www.exploratorium.edu) came by with her young daughter. Caitlyn was a teenager when she worked at the Exploratorium as an Explainer. This had to be at least a dozen years ago, and although she no longer has bright red hair and multiple piercings, she still looks like a kid. She and her future husband met at the museum and they now live in town with their young children. Caitlyn came by with her little girl to ring the bell and talked about how competitive it used to be among the Explainers to ring the bell at 5 o’clock each day when the museum closed. Since this bell will replace that bell, it was like a christening of some kind to have her ring and approve of it, along with the next generation.

When we first arrived, I parked around the corner from the market in a public lot away from the main street. We wondered how people would react if they couldn’t see the bell. It seemed like many people either didn’t like it or were only mildly curious about it. The traffic and rainy streets obscured the sound enough that we decided to move the bell onto the main street in plain sight. It was raining pretty steadily, but many people stopped by. I know we annoyed the people who worked in the ice cream parlor and the hair salon since we were parked right in front, and I apologize should they ever come upon this.

Here’s a nice article from the day:
http://www.newsobserver.com/102/story/486079.html


Thank you, also to Sherri for a wonderful visit.