“Working Hands”

I’ve been observing the masons at work over the last weeks constructing this wall in the park around the flower gardens. Today I ask them if I could take photos of there work. I asked what there ethnic background was. I was told they were Portuguese and Italian. I know full well that some of the best masons are of this cultures. Looking at there strong hands doing this hard manual work gave me a wonderful feeling of satisfaction.

The wall is not finished yet however is taking on great shape. The only disappointing objective is the stone is not sand stone but concrete as described at the end of my notes. Still I love the wall it is true craftsman ship.

Concrete blocks are produced with a mixture of cement, sand, and crushed stone, or lightweight aggregate. Today's concrete block plants are totally automated. The raw materials are loaded from trucks or railroad cars into bins. From there the mix is weighed, transported to a mixer, and fed into the block machine. If necessary, color is added. It takes the machine about six seconds to mold a block. The freshly molded blocks are put into pallets and placed in steam-curing rooms. After the curing process, they are stacked and taken to a storage yard for delivery.