But few of us have estates of that sort, and so few of us have mazes. I never thought to have one myself until I read about a different type of maze at Oakland Community College in Michigan. This one is done in brick pavers - intricately laid so that one stares fixedly at the ground and tries to follow the pattern.
A flat maze has many advantages. For one thing, it is much easier to construct than one requiring hundreds of shrubs. Removing the walls means even claustrophobics can play. No one has to fear getting lost - if things get hopeless, you just walk away. And with a flat maze, you needn't fear being trapped when the plot thickens.
But the Oakland U maze turned out to have an even better advantage. Students and faculty soon discovered that, instead of just something to walk through on a dull day, walking the maze demanded a certain type of focus, while at the same time allowing the rest of the mind to roam free. Walking the maze, for many, became almost a form of meditation. It effectively helped enough people to relieve stress that it became overpopulated during final exams.
Having faced a lot of final exams and school stress myself (albeit from the other side of the desk) I loved this idea! I began immediately to speculate on how I could create a maze in our own yard. I rejected bricks as being too expensive. The flat stones that our yard seems to grow were too irregular to create the effect I had i mind. I thought of flagstones, but knew my husband would say they'd be too hard to mow over and would usurp too much of his precious green. In desparation, I thought of using spray paint, or walking around with an open bag of flour or chalk.
| Here's the follow-up discussion on this article: | View all related messages |
For a complete listing of article comments, questions, and other discussions related to Carol Wallace's Virtual Gardening topic, please visit the Discussions page.