This project is sponsored by Ryan Mortuary and All Saints Catholic Church. Steve Ryan has come out each day to say hi and watch our progress. Scott Ryan has been coming out and taking pictures too. I show some of them further into the journal. Thanks, Scott!

Visit their website at http://www.ryanmortuary.com/

The setting here is beautiful. Very soporific and restful. There is something about the Great Plains that is calming and easy going. In the image above, you can see a large grain elevator to the north, where the harvest is stored until ready to be shipped to market. This slab is 50 feet across – substantially wider than the usual area we are given in which to cut the labyrinth. We are making the standard Chartres replica, 42 feet across.

This is the view to the east. The setting is very rural. Noise and disturbance is all in the far, far distance. It’s quiet, with birds singing, and cicadas whiring and the wind singing to us. I found several trails of muddy quail foot prints crossing the slab.

My Mom lived in Salina back in the late 1920’s and early 1930’s. She emailed me: “I went to Bartlett Grade school to Kindergarten, and to Franklin (on 9th Street) until 5th grade. It was a neat town and I loved it…..Went to church at Christ Cathedral as they marched the St. John’s boys to church each Sunday. So me and my friends all sang in the choir (I was a monotone). We would sit up in the choir stalls and oogle the St. John’s boys…..Life was good!!!!!”

Next is an image of our familiar layout of tape. We have to know where to begin scoring our lines and end the line. We mark these places on the concrete with tape. This view is looking east toward the rising sun around 7 am. The three straight dark lines show where we cut the only straight lines on the labyrinth. The short ‘dotted’ lines on the left show where we begin cutting our circles. The dotted lines on the right show where we stop cutting the lines.

 It’s quiet, except for all the singing birds and today, the whistling of the wind!

Sign at the entrance to the cemetery:

We wondered who the tall ones are? Robert suggested Tall Paul.

View from the center looking west after we have cut all the large lines. You can see that the lines begin at the tape on the right and end at the tape on the left. We cut clockwise.

Above is a close up of one of the trefoils at the center of the labyrinth. Below is an image of the center.

Robert Ferre and I stand in front of the finished labyrinth.

An image from 2009. This is my family of origin and our children walking this labyrinth.

Family walking permanent concrete labyrinth in Salina, Kansas.

I’m always happy to answer any questions. Please add your comment below: