Letterboxing

Hi all.
I thought I would take a moment to introduce you to a hobby that has been diversion of mine for a while now. It's called letterboxing.
It's like a treasure hunt and scavenger hunt at the same time, only it's never ending fun.
Letterboxing started in England in 1854 at a place called Cranmere Pool. A man hid a jar somewhere at this serene picnicing area and suggested that all the visitors leave a note saying that they were there.
Well, this caught on and soon there were journal jars all over the place, hidden away from public view. The only way to find them was to get the clue from someone. Now-a-days we have the internet and over the past 150 years the hobby has grown and evolved. Now the letterboxes are small plastic containers that have a small journal and a rubber stamp inside. When the letterboxer finds the box she takes out her own journal and stamp and exchanges stamps in the journals and writes a little note to say hello and, very discreetly returns the letterbox back to it's hiding place.
This hobby is soooooo fun. There are about 30,000 hidden boxes all over the U.S. and more in Great Britain and Europe! Here's a couple of website links I made for you to check out and get the bug to start hunting!
http://www.letterboxing.org/
http://www.atlasquest.com/
And let mw say that one of the best parts of the letterboxing hobby is that while you're hunting you get introduced to beautiful places that you never knew about before. And it's really fun to do with the family!
Ask me any questions you may have and I will happily and eagerly help you get started.

My Computer Class Entry

Hi
My name is Carol.
I have had this blog for a while, then I switched to a .mac blog.
But, since we are doing this project for class on blogger.com, I thought I could say hi from here instead of creating a whole new one. I call it The Carmic Chronicles because my husband's name is Michael and I'm Carol. So I split our names and got carmic. It has a nice double meaning too. So please feel free to look around my blog. I have a lot of pictures and videos.
I am new to the Bay Area. I am originally from San Diego, where I got my teaching credential from Chapman down there. Then I moved to NYC to obtain an advanced degree and lived there for five years.
When the East Coast weather got to be too much for me, we moved here. Now we live in Hercules.
I am a Home and Hospital teacher for Mount Diablo School District. I am also a theatre director. I director plays for children with Golden Thread Theatre Productions. In fact I would like to invite you to see one of our performances this Saturday, April 5th at the Berkeley Library at 10:30am. It's free. Bring your children. They'll really love it.
Here's the website address for the theatre company I work for. http://www.goldenthread.org/
I also have a theatre company of my own where we do experimental theatre. Here's the web address for that.
http://www.ochlostheatreworkshop.org/
As I said in my little classroom speech, my husband is a professional dog trainer. You can see what he does at this address.
http://www.loupsdusoleil.com/

It was very nice to meet all of you and hear all the stories that brought you to this class.
See you next Monday!

The New Blog Site

We have the new site up and running.
Write to us if you need the address.

Stay Tuned.....

Hello all!
We're sorry that this blog has been neglected for so long.
You see, we have been trying to learn the ins and outs of our .mac account which provides a blog of it's own. And ever since our dear friend Barb has made the switch to the easier machinations of the mac system, we have jumped on board too....since we already had the account. The new blog should be up and running very soon. So, keep checking in and we'll send out a message to everyone to let you know where to go.
Yay!

Body Worlds

We all went to see the Body Worlds 2 exhibit in San Jose last week.
It was absolutely fantastic!
A couple of years ago Carol and her brother Ken went to the Body Worlds 1 exhibit in Los Angeles and even since then she has been eager to share the experience with Michael, Nancy and Nicole.
It is such a fascinating exhibit, very educational.
They are real human bodies that have been plastinated....which is a process much the same as when a piece of wood becomes petrified, each molecule of the wood transforming into, or actually being replaced by stone - yet retaining it's original appearance. This is done to these bodies with plastic. The bodies are transformed at a molecular level. The organic cells are replaced by plastic and the bodies retain their original colors and forms. And due to the nature of the plastic they are able to pose the bodies any way they want, which enhaces the learning process.
We saw the human body from every angle possible. We even saw different organs of the body at different stages of health. For example, there was a set of lungs that were healthy, another set that was filled with tar from smoking, and yet another set that was blackened by coal mining (black lung).
It is an experience not to be missed.
We all recommend it highly for everyone, especially for students who might have biology classes. You can learn so much about yourself.
Check the website out.
http://www.bodyworlds.com/en.html
If the tour comes anywhere near you, be sure to get there.

The Swinging Monkeys

This was an installation that was run on solar and bicycle power. The monkeys swung around as we peddled the bicycles and it appeared as if the monkeys were just dangling from their arms, swinging around and around. But it was more exciting than that. Check it out. Watch closely.

Dust Storm on the Playa!