B.F.C. CO.

This beautiful brick I found sticking out the bank of the heavily polluted Mill Creek behind Union Terminal in Cincinnati while canoeing with my son, Jasper. This and the next several bricks that follow are not listed in the data base compiled by long time International Brick Collectors Association secretary/librarian Jim Graves. I am sending him these images.

5

This brick and its cousin '4' came from behind a packrat's house being torn down on Draper St. off Spring Grove Ave. in an old industrial part of Cincinnati. I was there picking up sandstone steps with the Bobkitten in a deal I had made with Jimmy, the demolition man.

5

4

Listed are 1,2,3 but not 4. This brick is curved.

No. 2 SPLIT

I see several No.2's listed, but no with 'split'. Found on the bank of the Licking River near the Newport Steel Mill while with my daughter, Sarah.

Walsh 70 2 (Missouri?)

There are many Walsh bricks listed, but not this one. Note this 1" thick brick is slightly curved. From the Cincinnati along the Ohio.

36

Another one from the banks of the Ohio. Not listed.

Sasha Verdiantz and his parents in their St. Petersburg

Sasha is a close friend who was a musician for many years in Cincinnati, before returning to St. Petersburg to be a guide. He was very encouraging to me at the beginning of my Russian career. He gave me some great music to listen to and I still remember his enthusiasm when he taught me the word 'mecto' (place). Near the end of our month in Russia Becky and I arrived in St. Petersburg. I was still looking for a Russian brick. Could the great guide help me out?

Another basement cat in the Hermitage

Forget Rembrandt. I want to see the cats.

The basement of the Hermitage (St. Petersburg)

Sasha took us to the Hermitage but we got there late, only an hour to see all the masterpieces. But he more than made up for it, when he guided through the off limits basement. Here is my type of gal: a cat lover crazy/ historical researcher feeding some of the 100 cats who roam the basement.

T.O.C.M. (Russia) My Favorite Brick

And here it is, after searching all over Russia a brick with Russian letters. We found this in a rubble pile beside a 1700's palace in St. Petersburg. Later Sasha found a website that dated this brick from late 1800's. I tried to carry this over-sized brick onto the plane at the Frankfurt, but the authorities thought it might be a weapon or bomb. Finally, after Xraying and dusting it, they checked it through and let me proceed.

Sasha and Becky in St. Petersburg

I forget what you call these most delicious snack, a kind of freshly fried donut. We are out on the prowl for Russian bricks, or at least I was.

Dayshawn at Findlay Market

Dayshawn is a gentle spirit, a great guy. (For a while Sasha crashed at his place.) He will be playing the bongo at the Butterfly Show at Krohn Conservatory on May 12 @6:30

Ira

And here is Ira herself, hard at work at Angelina's Deli at Findlay Market. Ira was born in Moscow and moved to the Ukraine as a young bride. After that Greenwich, Connecticut and finally Covington where she fell for her husband, Scott. She is Becky's role model for what woman should look like.

Moore's Coney (Cincinnati, Ohio)

A present from Ira. She asked the workers in front of her house on Bakewell in Covington, Ky. if she could have this brick for her friend.

Catskill (New York)

A present from another Northern Kentucky bricker, Mike Kolb

Jonesboro

In March we were driving the back roads of Arkansas when we found this brick where an old building had been torn down.

Texas

I think I picked this up at my first swap meet in Paris, Illinois.

Tolstoy Brick

Becky and I saw where Lev Tolstoy In Kazan, Tula, And Moscow all in Russia. This glazed brick came from a pile of rubble behind his Moscow home.

Beverly Hills Supper Club

This brick comes from the night club where over 160 people died in a terrible fire. I remember coming out of the movie theatre in Mt. Adams and seeing the fire over in Northern Kentucky.

Chandler O.T.

O.T. stands for Oklahoma Territory before Oklahoma became a state. There are also I.T. bricks. I.T. stands for Indian territory. This brick from Terry Taraba.

S+H or H+S

Supposedly the owners couldn't decide whose name should go first, so they made this brick reversible and either the H or S can go first. This came out of a sidewalk in Boston, Mass. where they are the largest maker of bricks. In fact, I have a daughter who lives there and she claims that there are no other bricks to be had in the area.

Greeville, Miss.

The steamboat Delta Queen used to stop in at Greenville, Mississippi 30+ years ago when I was a deckhand on the Mississippi River.

Harris Brick

Many bricks come from Eastern Ohio. Z.O. stands for Zanesville,Ohio where we spent many a Thanksgiving with Ken and Linda

St Joe

Very well known in New Orleans. I stopped by the Preservation Resource Center and the girl there told me about a junk shop with 4 St JOE bricks. Becky and I dashed over on our bikes. They still make St Joe bricks the old way in Slidell, LA.

Bricks from the Wall - Don't Spit on Sidewalk

A very famous brick. A doctor in Kansas figured out that people with tuberculosis would spit on the sidewalk and the women would walk by in their long dresses and pick up the germs. I am especially proud that Terry Taraba gave it to me.

Brick Wall

I built this section of the wall out back in March. Many of bricks I picked up swapping with Terry Taraba down in Stonewall, La. He is the president of the International Brick Collectors Association. A very nice and interesting man.

Out With the Old Sidewalk

Sonny Boy Jasper busts up the sidewalk. New sidewalk will be granite pavers and crushed limestone.

The always glamorous Dr. Beatrice Porras

At Beatrice's office. Behind us is Augustina's mural. Beatrice is a full-time working mother, dermatologist and journalist. She is ever the perfectionist, so it was amusing, at least to me, to learn that the red welt on her forehead came from her curling iron when she got in a hurry doing her hair.

Nikolai

Nikolai reading a children's classic out loud during our lesson. He is very excited. His daughter Daniela just got engaged to my neighbor Scott. Congratulations to all.

Becky raking crushed limestone in ellipse in backyard

Sarah on the Licking River

Looking for Bricks on the Licking River

Found 10 different bricks (Dixie, Spilman, Kentucky Crown, etc.). Saw 14 turtles and a beaver or groundhog. Traveled in a canoe with my daughter, Sarah.