Odds and Ends of Various Finds 2012

In my various searches for the interesting find and therefore a hopefully interesting blog entry I have come across a few odds and ends that may not be blog enough material but I thought I would share. North of Canastota NY 13032 on a side road I came across an old graveyard. The last person buried there was 1910. graves went back to 1790's. In this wooded area I spotted a small shadow like figure within the trees. It was a cloudy cold day in early November and it had a spooky look to it all most. Well....it was a Lawn Jockey , holding a lantern. An old one at that. African American with large lips and  features that one might describe as racially insensitive today. This one  probably was a lawn ornament in the 1940's or 50's. It was weathered.  Then I noticed deeper in the woods was something else. Upon a few steps further in and I realized it was 2 pink flamingo stuck in the ground.  Oh my God someone choose to use this area as a graveyard of old lawn art. Stuff often referred to now as tacky but in the past was a popular form of some sort of artistic expression I suppose. Google lawn jockey if you want to know more. Last summer near the Dutchess and Columbia County border left next to a now abandoned old home was a small piece of car history. A junked Opel fastback car circa 1967. GM imported these cars in the 1960's  till early to mid 1970's. All the windows were broken or shot up as I am certain this old heap was used for target practice. As a matter of fact I dug out what appeared to be a 22 caliber bullet out of the passenger seat. A tree was growing through the back seat area through the open window. A maple to be exact. I did harvest one thing , the emblem off the hood. A circle with a sideways lightening bolt through it. Perhaps to use for later research. These were at one time an inexpensive car that competed with the VW brand. But they had several weaknesses that finally caused the Buick Division  to end the import. GM still owns majority interest in Opel in Europe. Finally during a walk along Pre - Super Storm Sandy beach last winter with my dog Dashiell an interesting item came in on the waves that shook some cob webs loose of old popular memory. It was a laminated photo still well preserved. It was a publicity type picture. It was 2 actors. Robert Vaughn  and David McCallium. Both known in the 1960's as The Men From Uncle. A TV spy show that was made during the early James Bond craze. Vaughn is still seen in TV shows and McCallum is the all wise pathologist/ autopsy  doctor in NCIS.. I was a faithful watcher for many years. How it ended up as refuse in the ocean one will never know. How a lawn jockey or a junk car ended up  as they did only warrants a moments speculation. But then again that is the stuff of archeology. Happy New Year by the way.