Lloyd and I went to a meeting on Saturday where we are talking about building needs at our church. Afterward a lady was visiting with me about the room in the basement of my school where the quilters meet, and how nice it was that they have a dedicated space to leave the quilts up all the time. Her husband came up and mentioned that the group in town that makes these wonderful hand crosses doesn’t have a dedicated space – they just meet in a guy’s garage. The topic of retired guys building stuff gave me a flashback, and some inspiration.
The flashback was to this article I had read a long time ago. The jist of it is that there was a preschool that would have ‘Grandpa Day’ once a month – a day where some volunteer retired men would come for an hour and build with the preschoolers. The child could tell the ‘Grandpa’ what he/she wanted to make, and they could go to the box of scrap wood and see what they could cobble together. (Read the article for the full heart-tugging experience.)
Doesn’t that sound wonderful? I want that! Begin stage one: Shopping!
The article mentioned 8-ounce stubby hammers, which I had never heard of before. I have some smaller hammers that I’ve used with the preschoolers (we just hammer roofing nails into boards), but a stubby hammer? They are so adorable! I went to Harbor Freight and bought all the ones they had.
These little hammers make my heart go pitter-pat. I spent a fair number of minutes hoisting them around this weekend and demanding that Lloyd call me ‘Thor’.
They also make a beautiful sculpture.
I shall call it “Four Hammers and Stack of Paper Plates. It Would Have Been Five Hammers But I Took One To Work Already.” It’s going to be tough fitting such a long title on a museum plaque, but no trouble at all nailing the plaque to the wall – with my baby hammer!