1995: The Brick Path

There has always been a network of paths through the oaks in the west side of the yard going down to the southwest corner. But for years the paths were just made of dirt packed down by Pirate's paws and our shoes.

Brick Path We didn't walk thse paths in the rain, so the mud didn't matter on our account. But Pirate ran around the yard in all weather, and we began to think about putting down a surface so he wouldn't track in so much dirt.

Then one day Craig got wind of five palettes of old bricks from Chicago. How those bricks came to be in Austin, I cannot imagine, but Craig bought them and had them delivered. Then he dug out all the paths.

There were, we figured, no kidding, 11 thousand pounds of bricks. I moved them all not once, but twice. First I carried them down from the street and made stacks all along where the path would be. Then I picked each one up, moved it to the path, and placed it.

This was in the raging heat of August, I might add. For some reason, most of our most physically demanding projects seem to happen in the hottest weather of the year.

Brick The bricks, being quite irregular, of different vintages, mostly antique and having been salvaged from demolished buildings, did not fit together closely. I thought they were beautiful, and they were cheap, but they fit roughly, with gaps. Laying them was more art than craft.

Brick Because of the gaps, we then hauled down several hundred pounds of pea gravel, which we swept in between the bricks. Finally, we swept in loose, dry cement and soaked and sprayed the whole thing clean with a hose. When it dried, we had a solid path.

I suppose there must be about 200 feet of paths, plus the little plaza in the southwest corner. The bricks are all marked "Chicago Brick Company."