Hooked

Onboard ship near a sliding door of some sort...probably used to hang pirates up on if they tried to take over the ship (vivid imagination, huh?). I picked this picture tonight because I'm feeling exhausted from the long Thanksgiving holiday and feel like I'm 'just hanging on'. Although I thoroughly enjoyed family and friends...it's easy to get used to life in the slow lane. I can't believe how close we are to Hanukkah and Christmas! Now... there's a great deal to be done! At the very least, decorate indoors, outdoors, lights up, tree up, special meals, holiday cards in the mail, buy gifts, wrap gifts, spread good cheer...somethings gotta give! I think I'll make a list, but not check it twice... ho ho ho

Just Change Left

This photo is a representation of the enormous amount of money I saved this holiday weekend. Or, is it that this is all I have left? I'm still not sure...it will take some pouring over the lengthy receipts. And I think I'd better get back out on my walking trails and keep a keen eye out for 'found' money; I'm going to need all I can get. Everywhere I looked this weekend stores were giving me extra opportunities to save money...they were actually paying me to shop! And, since my daughter was here visiting from college, she was able to help me out, because lord knows I couldn't have spent it fast enough all on my own! I really needed all the help I could get. So...in the long run, I saved much more than I spent...good thing!

Cars

First of all...what was a guy named Kyle from New York doing throwing his key chain out of the car window in South Orange County California? Or, rather, was it his girlfriend breaking up with him and deciding to rid herself of anything with his name on it?

Notice that the two car names are 'fancy' cars? No cheapies losing name plates here! Only the best for my walking grounds...no Saturns or Kias or Fords...then again, maybe because their names are better attached to the cars and don't fall off on impact? Makes you wonder...

We Salute You

Happy Thanks-giving. This ammunition is onboard the USS Missouri docked in Hawaii not far from the Arizona's resting place. I find it fitting to post this picture on Thanksgiving because my family was fortunate enough to host two Marines from Camp Pendleton again this year. Sharing the feast and family experience with fine young men away from their homes is a wonderful blessing for us. I hope everyone had a bountiful meal and spent time reflecting on the things they are most thankful for. I certainly know some turkeys who were not so lucky :}

Rust

I think rust is totally cool. I don't get the science behind rust, but I appreciate the effect that results from something interacting with something else. Shiny metal goes through a 'gritty' transformation where brown hues settle onto the surface and fine grains of something coat the piece. Not only does the texture become aged, the colors change. On top of the grainy feel a greenish cast settles and adds to the 'antique' appearance. I think rust is totally cool.

Hot or Cold ?

Don't you just love this piece of metal? It has varying hues and wear marks and that all-over worn look that antiques have. Okay, that's stretching it just a bit, but it really is a pretty piece. However it does lead me to wonder if there is a flooded room somewhere in someone's home. I mean clearly it was needed to regulate the flow of water from some pipe somewhere! Either inside at a sink or outside at a garden hose hook-up. So.....either there's a big flood, or this old piece was replaced with a new sleek one, and this one was meerly discarded haphazardly along the roadside. (how cruel) Yes, I found this along the side of the road one day and rescued it and added it to my wonderful basket of metal finds.

Can You Hear Me Now?

So, phones in the 'old days' were tethered to the wall...keeping them where you could always find them. Now this wireless community has brought with it phone loss/disconnect! It used to be impossible to misplace a phone because it was connected to the base by a cord. Now you can carry your phone with you wherever you go, and misplace or lose it wherever you go too. I suppose you have to weigh the advantages and disadvantages. The person who lost this one (which by the way has a major cracked screet and looks like it was run over more than just once) probably would have preferred a more stable/secure one. Or, I could be wrong. It doesn't work, by the way. Oh, and I found it in a grocery store parking lot...no you can't have it back Nathan.

Under Lock & Key

Yes, all of these locks and keys were lying in the street! Soooo... how does one drive a car when the key has clearly broken off and found its way into the gutter alongside a highway? Okay, some of the keys are from something other than a car, but once they broke off (probably stuck in a lock or door somewhere) how did they find themselves in the street? Honestly, do you put the broken key in your pocket and then go for a drive so you can discard it out the window of the car on some well traveled street? To what end? The purpose would be? And what about the broken padlocks? Are these discarded following some sort of break in? Maybe a storage space somewhere? Really? Really?

Chain-Link Fence

Not the chain-link fence you were expecting, is it? Literally though it's made out of chains, which are made out of links, and it is hung in such a way as to serve as a fence. Ergo, it's a chain-link fence! It even has some wonderful rust spots on it to give it an aged look and feel. The fabulous water in the background is part of the Pacific Ocean around the Hawaiian Islands. I think I took this picture from one of the tenders we took from the cruise ship to get to one of the smaller islands. Yes, I was thinking about my metal objects even on vacation.

Mmmmmissing

How in the world can something keep driving along after a piece like this has bronken off? I just don't get it! Clearly the strength of this metal had to be necessary for the operation of some type of engine. At the very least it was holding something together. I don't think things made this 'heavy' and strong are just hood ornaments! It really scares me to think of the runaway trailer that could be out there bounding along because the piece holding it to the tractor is now sitting amidst my metal collection. And, all I did was rescue it from the gutter while walking along minding my own business. I don't even recall the sound of brakes squeeling or sirens blaring.

Keep Your Eyes on the Road

Man, I sure hope whoever lost these glasses didn't keep driving! Talk about 'twisted'. And just in case you're wondering, there were no lenses in sight (no pun intended). Actually, the one time that I fell while walking (early on in this journey) I ate sidewalk pretty bad, skinned legs, and bent my glasses...but not nearly like these.

I'm guessing that these glasses were lost by someone who was wearing sunglasses and had these in their pocket (a man with a pocket protector possibly) who bent over to pick a flower for his wife, and they slipped out unnoticed. Then they were repeatedly run over by passing cars? I sure hope they were walking along and not driving along. Hmm, but what do you do when you get home and realize that your regular glasses are missing? Do you really just keep your sunglasses on? I sure hope not!

Pull to Release

'Pull to Release' is actually stamped into this metal piece. I don't know about you, but I can't help but chuckle at this thought. Obviously someone pulled way too hard...this ended up in the street! But oh my gosh, what on earth did it release??????????? Not only did the metal 'hinge' break completely off, something was 'released'. I sure hope it wasn't something harmful to the environment (killer bees, laughing gas...). Hope I made you smile today :}

a Smooth Ride?

Early last summer I was walking along a rather big bridge and spotted this wheel in a little grass area between the curb and the sidewalk. My first thought was to leave it where it was for a few reasons...1) surely someone will come looking for it because a missing wheel will make a trip very rocky, or 2) it's not completely metal and therefore doesn't quallify for the collection of metal objects. Obviously, I threw caution to the wind and picked up the wheel, which sits proudly among the objects in the basket now.

So I thought long and hard about a story to go with the wheel. Now, this is where you will begin to think (if you don't already) that I'm really losing it! You see, in trying to figure out what this could have come off of, I contemplated a grocery store shopping cart, a little old lady type shopping cart, a baby stroller...none of these seemed to be just right...So, I settled on a coroner's gurney. I think that this wheel accidently came loose at the scene of a fatal accident when the corpse was being loaded from the street to the back of the coroner's van. That's what I've settled on...but it's probably from some useless cart of some sort and that's why no one is missing it. I sure hope that it isn't bad luck to have it in my metal collection basket!

Splat

I have absolutely NO idea what this might have come from. The only thing that I know for sure is that it was run over and splattened (one of my made up words, no doubt). It looks and feels like it has layers of very fine metal as if it were spherical at one point. The layers are almost soft; reminiscent of nasal hairs. And this odd piece of metal has been exposed to the elements long enough to have a fine, lacy layer of rust. Whatever machine relied on the whirring of this part is no doubt sputtering and making all sorts of noises now.

Metal Attraction

Onboard ship again and wandering the upper decks in search of metal oddities. Came across this pully of some sort that appears to be 'attracted' to the lightbulb. I was intrigued by the rusty color of the lightbulb socket, wondering how the salt water in the air had affected it without damaging the electrical workings allowing the bulb to shine. I wonder who is in charge of changing the bulbs? Now that I think about it, how often do they have to be changed?

the Fork in the Road

Truly, the fork in the road! Now you have to ask yourself, "how in the heck does a fork end up in the road?" Is someone just randomly driving along eating and their fork accidently slips from their hand and topples out the window? Or rather, do they decide that they don't need it anymore because they are eating 'finger food'? Could it be that utensils were just a burden, and they are tossing them out one by one until they are free from the pesky little things? Makes you wonder, doesn't it? And lastly, what type of big truck ran over this particular fork in such a way as to cause it to bend gracefully in half?

I walk...

I walk, therefore I find. And each thing I find I place it in a basket. As I walk more, the basket begins to fill with treasures. Each object has been plucked from danger near the curb of the street, and carefully carried to safety, nestled in my basket near similar items. Each object that I've rescued holds a special place in the basket, and waits quietly to see what new find will come to join the collection of special metals.

Veteran's Day

Since it is Veteran's Day, I thought it would be a good idea to use one of my photos from the USS Arizona Memorial. This particular metal object can be seen as you approach the memorial, and I believe it is actually part of the sunken ship. It looks like an entrance pipe that has rusted over the years from exposure.

What a somber experience to see it from the shore, as well as experience it underfoot. It certainly makes you feel a sense of patriotism and thankfulness. Ties in wonderfully with Thanksgiving...maybe that's why the two holidays are in November...ya think?

Pennies from Heaven

How very often I am walking along and notice the glint of a penny on the ground. That disk of shiny copper that feels so warm in your palm when you lift it from its discarded place. Most often they appear in parking lots, which leads me to believe that they resided in a pocket nestled next to a set of keys that when extracted, toppled unnoticed to the ground.

Or, rather, was it noticed, but disregarded for its lowly monetary value? Do we fail to realize the great amount of worth that a pile of pennies represents? "Just one penny" when joined by many others, soon amounts to something larger. The sum of the parts?... Next time you spot a penny, either bend to rescue it, or rather...leave it behind for me to find when I travel that way, for surely I will rescue it and add it to my collection.

Pipes

Again on the cruise ship, only this time it is important to look upward to see the beauty of the metal. When walking mid decks there is a deck above, so no sky to view. It is tempting to look out over the ocean, but the inner workings of the ship draw my attention overhead.

The picture is of a metal pipe junction of some sort passing through an opening between the inner and outer deck. I suppose one could contemplate its contents...water, sewage,...I was drawn to thinking about how often it has to be repainted. Shows where my creative mind wanders...there's always something at my house that needs a paint touch up...that's for another time...

on deck

Sometimes when you walk, you need to force yourself to look downward toward your feet. What wonderful things there are to see, besides a great pair of walking shoes. This metal object is planted into the wooden planks aboard the deck of the ms Zaandam. It has a wonderful green patina and a sort of turquoise layer in a rusty sort of disk. I think the center square allows it to be opened, but I can't imagine what it would reveal. Surely "sound" means something, or it could just refer to a manufacturer. Much to ponder......and to think that thousands of people have walked past this very spot and never looked down to see the beauty of this metal object. I have enjoyed sharing it with you. I can almost feel the breeze on my face and smell the tang of the saltwater...

The beginning

I suppose this story starts at the beginning, like most. It's my beginning and I see it as this...

When I first stopped smoking (after 30 years), I decided to get healthy. This led to a whole new set of quirks, but that's off topic...welcome to my random world! The healthiest newly acquired habit was walking. Not power walking or anything like that, just walking. And I mean walking anywhere and everywhere.

When you walk, the world is quiet. Sure there are sounds of things going on around you, but you can listen to as much or as little as you want. The same is true for the things you can see. For me, shiny things in the street catch my eye. This story will be about the many things I have seen, admired, and even collected while on my walks.

It all starts......