I recently changed my backyard's look by completing a series of labyrinth designs. As I am well off and have a hundred acres in rural Nova Scotia, I can afford to indulge my passions. One of the things I most desire is earthworks of all types, most especially I have a thing for labyrinth designs.

It probably all started with my studies of Greek myths as a child. I am referring to the story of the amazing Labyrinth designed by Daedalus to hide kind Mino's dirty little secret, and the curse of the Theban youth, the Minotaur. I couldn't get the idea of labyrinth designs worthy to a trap and hold such a monster out of my head. I imagined how the victims are forced into the labyrinth, being lost and not managing to find their way out, finally ending being eaten by the Minotaur.

However, I had a real experience in a labyrinth with my first girlfriend once which I will never forget. Sheila and I were sixteen and she was a Wiccan as opposed to her parents' Christian orthodoxy. One day we happened to find a book of magic and witchcraft offering labyrinth designs. That is how we started building one in the woods.

Even though it is also possible to construct it with nothing but cornstarch, my girlfriend and I made our minds to cut it out of the overgrown hedges which grew down by the pond in the woods. We selected one of the more difficult labyrinth designs from the book but unfortunately didn't manage to finish it as we ran out of shrubs long before we were done. Even though, we didn't complete the labyrinth, it was a fun and pleasurable experience for both of us.

The kinds of labyrinths which I have been constructing recently are made of more sturdy stuff. They are build of huge flagstones located some thirty miles from my home. Every single day I drive out with my truck and come back with a flatbed full of rock. Then I spend the rest of the day laying. I made up the labyrinth designs myself. The first one is done while the second is on its way, due to be finished by the summer solstice. Then I will have many friends over to get drunk and get lost in the labyrinths. They will like this experience keeping it as a precious and fun memory.