30 MUD TIRES

A few weeks ago, I was at the site of the old Oak Bay Beach Hotel, and noticed an alarming number of bricks in a pit. I knew that, when they took the old hotel down, they rescued thousands of bricks for re-use. So I figured the ones in the pit must be broken - which suits my purposes just fine.

Every day after that I walked by the site and looked at the information number on the sign that shows how the new development will look. And every day I considered calling it but... for whatever reason... chickened out. Somehow, the thought of calling up the owners of a multi-zillion dollar thingie scared me. But... dammit. I could not bear the thought of those bricks being simply buried.

So the other day I screwed up my courage and called and asked about the bricks. And whaddaya know... on Saturday, the owner not only called to say "Sure, help yourself," but met me at the site and helped me haul bricks up from the pit and load up my truck. What a dude! He also said I could come back any time for another load... and I will.

These bricks are true bits of local history. Most are Baker brand, which seem to be the foundation of most of the older buildings around these parts. Quite a few are from the Victoria Brick Company, which, until Saturday, I'd never even heard of. A few others - huge, yellowish, heavy ones with no indentations, bear the mark of something that includes the word Scotland. And then there are a couple whose remaining letters seem to say Skagit. It's all quite exciting.

I loaded up my truck until the tires started flattening and spent a good chunk of yesterday unloading and hauling the bricks to the back yard. Then I stood staring, apparently for a longish time.

"Taking a break?" asked Mike, who was working on my shed.

"No," I said. "On the contrary. I'm doing the hardest work right now."

The staring. The planning. The wandering and pondering. The thinking through of all the countless potential ways I could use my new playthings. That is, without a doubt, the hardest work of all.

Once that's out of the way, placing the bricks is nothing. And you know what? It's the same for writing, the same for photography.

No, of course, I don't/can't/wouldn't want to work out EVERYTHING ahead of time. That's too rigid. Of course things change and evolve and take their own shape as a project moves forward. Which is good. But... to start in any meaningful way... the shape of the idea has to be there first.

So here I am today, with a big pile of bricks. Raw material. Limitless potential. And there it will sit until I decide on a pattern... a shape... a rhythm... a system of organization for the bits and pieces.

Not unlike the raw materials crashing around inside my head. They will take shape. Eventually. They just need some time.

The Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza is a performing arts and administrative center located in Thousand Oaks, California. It was built in 1994 on the former site of Jungleland at a cost of $63.8 million.