Intensive Learning @ MFS
The World At Your Fingertips
On the bus, it was stormy and rainy. We were all anxious to go blacksmithing and have a lot of fun. Soon the clouds parted and we were able to strike up a fire (albeit with some struggle) and continue our projects. The first hour went rather smoothly, with everyone working on their projects....
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The weather this morning did not want to cooperate. Thick fog slowed our journey back to Harriton House. Once back at the forge, we learned the proper way to start a blacksmith fire, complete with acetylene torches. Five fires were blazing by 10 so we spread out and got to work on our projects....
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Ship-Shape? Not Yet! Today, we got into the real nitty-gritty of the work getting the A.J. Meerwald ready for her 2017 sailing season. Scraping, Sanding and Painting.. We stepped out of the bus, and were once again “delighted” by the salty smell of rotting oysters and the Delaware bay. It was a little chilly,...
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Saturday, March 25 Today was our first official, full day in Cuba! During our first day here we worked in the church, doing different jobs. Some of us helped clean up by sweeping, cutting vegetables for dinner, and also doing construction. For the construction, we used a pulley system to hoist sand up...
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March 24,2017 We worked with Jeff and Pedro to ready the garden for opening day on March 25th. Inspirational words from Jeff — “Every day I tell myself, work hard, enjoy it, and make a difference.” “This was a hard working group of MFS students, and I was proud of their willingness to do...
Continue readingIt started raining and thundering today, keeping us from applying the final coats of Penetrol to the spars. We were able to move some smaller pieces of the boat undercover, where some of us scraped some paint off the wood and then repainted it. Those of us outside got drenched in horizontally-falling rain water, so it...
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Today was the final day for the quilters. Over the course of this week, we have learned many valuable skills. Students have learned how to use a sewing machine, hand-stitch, and even use a professional long-arm machine. It has been a wonderful and laughter-filled week for our little group of 6!...
Continue readingToday we finished making the bindings, which included ironing and sewing them to the quilt. We had a nice lunch of leftover pizza and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. After we had lunch we migrated to Hartman Hall and started the challenging process of hand sewing the bindings onto the edge of the quilt....
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Today we got up bright and early to eat breakfast at the hotel! We hopped in the minivan and were on our way by 7. Most of our crew started out their morning at Nancy’s kitchen working a variety of jobs from server to busser. Kristin and Georgia were photo assistants for the Disney...
Continue readingToday, we were applying a second waterproofing layer to the large masts of the ship. We also arranged and painted the pulley blocks. In between the painting, small groups picked up trash along the Bayshore premises. The weather was breezy and sunny, so it made for an ideal day for working outside. Another activity we...
Continue readingThe bus careened toward the Restore, our 3rd Day set to begin. There were tiles, there were asphalt shingles, and there were rugs, oh so many rugs. We started by hardily smashing furniture sets with sledge hammers. Half of the group quickly moved to the Restore’s secondary warehouse to dispose of broken pallets. One...
Continue readingWednesday was the third day of Quilting for Intensive Learning, and we went to Olde City Quilts in Burlington to quilt our projects. We used long-arm machines to sew the three layers (the top, the batting, and the backing) of our quilts together and make it more like a complete product. The task looked daunting at first,...
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Here we are at work in the greenhouse — and outside with the Center’s farmer, Dean....
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After a quick breakfast at 6:30, we headed over to the Give Kids the World Village to work in the arcade and help serve breakfast. It was Lina’s birthday (a 12 year old wish kid), so we sang to her, gave her cake, and painted her nails. Before we knew it, breakfast was over, so...
Continue readingToday we painted Penetrol on pulley blocks along with the other main parts of the ship’s rigging. We took turns sanding, painting the pulleys and cleaning out the insides of the pulleys with diesel fuel. Every now and then we switched groups and jobs.We did this all day* until we decided to play a...
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