The Sunshine Club

I went up to drop some things off that the students had made during Spring into Action and discovered what the Sunshine Club looked like.

These are all examples of things that the ladies are making to pack up for delivery to nursing homes and food banks; there are several sizes of tote and shopping bags, and a variety of children's soft toys. They also take donations [as well as make themselves] knit and crochet scarves and hats in all sizes. I have fabric that I can't use for anything, and even though I don't have students to sew with, I said I would be happy to make some bags and cats [are we sensing a cat theme yet in this blog?]

Jexited

My fearless companion, Mr. C, exited for bigger and better things [graduate school] two weeks ahead of me. I miss his smile and winning, laid back personality already. Congratulations, Mr. C!

more on the library [part 3]

The library is coming together, sloooooooowly, in part because [brutal honesty here]
1. I have lost my volunteers to summer vacation
2. [I have other summer duties]
3. I'm using my own power tools, which got shuffled around when we cleaned the basement to move in a jointer, band saw and a radial arm saw [these would have been so handy when I was building the library in the first place!!! - I digress]
4. I realized I misspelled a book title, which needs to be fixed before I put a clear gloss on the library to protect it - how awkward would that be to save for posterity.
5. And then it decided to rain...?
6. And I lost the acrylics...? Seriously...?
7. Clear gloss is frowned upon in certain circles.

Where in I found myself saying, buy some more red paint if you have to and get this puppy done before the next schedule school summer library day. Today, the sun is shining, I have volunteer hours in 2 hours, and I'm squeezing in some work on the library.

The kids helped paint the spines and  after they dried I put book titles different students, staff and faculty suggested on them in sharpie. Can you find my whoops? Hint, it's the red one.

Why a clear coat gloss? First, it offers some UV protection so that the paint job won't fade [and hopefully won't weather] as badly over time. Secondly, it makes it look, well, glossy! The paint job is already eye catching, hopefully that will also draw some extra attention to it. [As in, please don't hit it with your car or plow, please pay attention and come visit!] Third, and most important, the students were very thoughtful about what they wanted put on the library. It deserves to be protected.

I also attached the door knob today... with limited success the first time around. I remain ever undaunted by this project.

Volunteering at the Fort LeBoeuf History Museum

Today is my second day at the history museum. Last week it was sunny, so I spent a lot of time out front weeding the garden. Good thing I did; if the purslane is any indication, everything would have gone crazy. 

While it was raining, I took some time to rearrange the gift shop so that most of the like things were together. There is no advertising for the shop, and it sounds as though possibly making signage is in order as part of my volunteer duties.

I also discovered this hat. I know you are looking at it thinking, so it's a hat, okay. Fun fact: that hat is made of acrylic yarn, and it's also crochet. The entire outfit is natural fibers, except for that hat - we're a history museum trying to portray things as accurately as possible. Acrylic fibers are petroleum based and didn't exist 250 years ago. Secondly, it's crocheted. No one knew how to crochet in 1740, or 1750, or 1800, because it wasn't invented yet. At the time of the American Revolution, CROCHET WASN'T INVENTED YET. Doesn't that just blow your mind? Someone had yet to invent crochet by the year 1776, and this museum is portraying events that happened in 1753. Crochet a relatively new thing, comparatively speaking. So, I need some fire engine red wool, or navy blue wool to knit up a toque, aka a voyageur's cap.

Field Day

It is the last full student day of school, and what better way to kick off the start of summer than to have a field day with some fun games.

 

Little free library, two

This weekend I began building the box for the library. .It looked nothing like the original plan. I'm okay with that. The original one was a little more complicated than I could handle.

I enlisted the help of some friends to help me paint a base coat of exterior white paint and then begin painting decorations on the outside.

Since the library is going to be sitting on school grounds, and the school mascot is a cat, the students suggested quotes about reading, things to do with cats, and characters from children's books. The caterpillar will say something about 'Library' or 'Free Library' on him. The students haven't quite decided what is best.

It's starting to look pretty good, and most importantly, the students are very pleased with it.

Keep PA Beautiful

A beautiful sunny day is a great day to take some students out to clean up the school grounds. It was a bit like a treasure hunt, looking along the grass line for litter.

 And then, when students started finding paper money, it really was a treasure hunt.