The House That Won't Stop Building

You need to see this! I had a dream about this house 30 years before I met it in person in East Saint last week.

Route 66

Photos of some historic places that used to flourish along Route 66 from the 50s to the early 70s. These were taken in Pacific, MO last month.

What happens when a Roof on a Brick Building isn't Maintained

The anatomy of an exterior wall which reveals the standard three wythe. If the coping tiles is cracked or removed rain will work its way down, expand with freezing in the winter, and eventually blow out a wall.

Hello from My Bike

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My Best Life

Three Gates

Graham Granitoid Sidewalk Marker 1910

A rare sidewalk marker spotted today in Tower Grove South.

Homage to Spike Japan

Wake up I wait for your heart. I thought of pachi guy and his spike when I saw the below. But unless you've read the blog, Spike Japan in its thrilling entirety well...it's sort of like watching the movie Naked Lunch without having read the book. You just aren't going to get it.

Made by Hand

These bricks were formed and fired by hand then loaded onto carts pulled by horses. This house was made by hand, the bricks rubbed by hand to create the wedges used below. The beautiful mortar is going soft.

I Ching Bricks

Urns & Black Brick - Clifton Heights

I'm always flummoxed by the neoclassical urns atop buildings in St. Louis.

Elusive black brick used here as a design element.

Baby's New Shoes

Antique Mortar Mix

Feldspar and Quartz:

Listing Utility Poles & Trees

Red Glazed Brick & Mortar

This is my first spotting of the elusive red glazed brick. It's has a deep berry color. We've all seen stained rose color mortar (right?) but this is a red mortar. It was a very exciting morning.

The bottom row of these glazed bricks shows the surface has popped off. What's beneath was fired differently and will crumble quickly.

Door Fence

Many years ago I admired a gorgeous collection of doors in Midtown/CWE that someone had used to make a fence. It was about 75 feet long. While I love the reuse to discarded doors I've deep sorrow that these quarter sawn oak doors weren't appreciated in their original use. Better here than a landfill.

Challenging Air

At dawn we're up, on bikes, and flowing.

Please consider the gorgeous Spike Japan Blog. Pachiguy has harvested my breath http://spikejapan.wordpress.com/spike-hokkaido-2/muroran-the-town-that-time-forgot/

Props to Christopher Thiemet for naming the bricks shown below snowflake. If you're a long time reader you may recall I give name to bricks patterns.

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