Whale of a Tale - Day 5 - Week 1 (Mark Day School)

We paused today during our circle meeting just before lunch to look back at what we had built leading up to that point. And as our eyes passed over the whale body and whale coaster and our brains contemplated the additions still to be fabricated (a boat sail, a chandelier, food and menus, a chair, decorations and more…), one of our intrepid tinkerers commented: “I can’t believe we built that!”

Indeed, to think where we started on Monday with just piles of 2x3s and plywood, buckets of screws and our ideas drawn on sheets of paper in multicolor pen lines and then to see the fruits of our labor was quite a moment for us.

After our final build session, we reset our space by putting away tools and materials and sat down at closing circle to share appreciations about others in our camp and to reflect on how we achieved the goals for the week.

Then, the moment everyone had been waiting for arrived! We unveiled the “whale coaster” and whale insides to show off all of the creative designs and hard work. Our tinkerers had a chance to ride the coaster, enter the whale’s mouth, and see what it would be like to live in a whale — complete with dinner table, bed and tasty delicacies; and then to climb the ladder and exit the whale on a speedy slide. Such fun!

As we do every week, we ended with our skilled tinkerers using cordless drills to remove hundreds of screws and carry wood back to its starting place in our wood pile. This sense of responsibility for the camp as well as a sense of impermanence is something we touched on throughout the week.

We had a blast and we hope you and your tinkerers can join us next year!