Saturday, August 14, 2010

Boston Sarah and Dave's wedding

Grandma Jo, Jasper, Becky and I drove to Boston for Sarah (my daughter) and Dave's wedding. One afternoon we took a wrong turn and ended at the water where we got this great view of downtown.

Keelin, Augustina, Sarah, Swapna, and Katie at the Jamaica Pond before the wedding

Sarah and Dave at Jamaica Pond

A very proud day for everyone.

Sarah Brewer

We needed a crier at the wedding. Long time friend Sarah came through even before the ceremony.

Mother of the bride with bridesmaids Augustina and Swapna at the Jamaica Pond boathouse

Sarah, Grandma Jo, and Becky at wedding rehearsal

New member of the family- dave


The last time I wore a suit was at my own wedding. I rushed into St. Vincent DePaul's on Monmouth st. in Newport five minutes before closing and bought my union-tailored suit for $10. Becky is in a Calvin Klein outfit. sarah had to scramble for her wedding dress.

Diner on the Taconic Parkway

On the way to Boston. New England is known for diners like this.

I thought you were picking up the tab.

The father of the groom and the father of the bride

Friday, August 13, 2010

Two midwestern doofuses with their East Coast sisters

That's me with my Princeton, New Jersey sister, Betsy along with my buddy Hans Multhopp and his Upper East Side Manhattan New York City sister, Ingrid. Hey Ingrid, thanks so much for lugging the Baltimore bricks to the wedding. They already mortared in place out back.

Party Girls

Becky and Grandma Jo showing the young girls how to whoop it up.

Just Married

Sarah Gilliam and David Tetrault. August 7, 2010. Congtatulations.

NEBCO brick, Just-married Sarah and Dave, and their minister, Terry Burke

There really is no time off for a brick collector. Right after the ceremony I found this half brick in the churchyard.

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Welcome to Kalamazoo

Thank you so much Jerry and Donna Wilinski, not only for organizing such a great brick swap, but also for having us as your guests on such a busy weekend. So many great bricks, so many great people.

Donna Wilinski planting the IBCA sign in front of her house.

Let the bricking begin.

Square Foot Garden

Jerry and Donna's garden went on and on. Vegetables, ferns, hostas. Bricks,too.

Hosts Jerry and Donna Wilinski right after a great swap

Bruce Davey, Mike Corn, and me just after swapping bricks in the rain

Club President Terry Taraba and wife Jackie

Man Skirt

Kelley Adkins along with real man, Jamie Brewer, in his work kilt.

Looking for silo tiles on the flooded Kalamazoo River

The water was above the trees, but I still managed to get me a genuine Kalamazoo silo tile.

Kalamazoo silo tile

Freshly plucked out of the river.

Kalamazoo city silo

The rounded tiles for this silo were made right here by the Kalamazoo Tile Company.

Hot Brick Babe in front of Kalamazoo silo

Brick Water Tower at the Kalamazoo Psychiatrtic Hospital

We went into the mental ward to get a good picture of the tower, but then they we got locked in. At least that is how Becky tells it.

Monday, August 2, 2010

"K Q" brick

Now let us look at some of the bricks I picked up at the swap meet. Note the 'K' in the corner and the 'Q' in the middle. This from super collector Frank Clement of Orchard Park, N.Y. who is sucking up to me because he is after my one of a kind Cin'ti * brick that I have now promised to personally deliver to his brick museum.

Shamrock


Thank you again, Frank Clement.

Oval brick

I was the high bidder on this at the I.B.C.A. auction. $20. I just like its shape.

Detrick (Chicago, Illinois)

A gift from our host, Jerry Wilinski. The slot is for an I-beam. I think it was used in a brick plant.

Grafton, West Virginia

Becky grabbed this brick. Grafton is one of her favorite places, an semi-abandoned coal/railway town in Northern West Virginia. One of these days she is going to show up there with an army of hipsters.

Fairmont, West Virginia

See the rubber band on the brick. That means two things: that there is card where Jean Bear explains a little of its history, and also that the brick will be great shape.

Oskaloosa (Iowa)

If Becky was looking for her childhood West Virginia bricks, then I was looking Iowa bricks. Here is one brought to the swap by Minnesotan Fred Wolter, also a Wilinski house guest.

MTY MEX

I got this from Bruce Davey, a scrapper from Bryan, Texas. Must be Monterrey, Mexico. Si?

Old Virginia (Salem, Va.)

Bricks from Virginia are hard to find. This is my first. A geology professor from southwest Virginia brought this to the swap. Incidentally, I went to the University of Virginia where there are many unmarked bricks.