Bunch of Garbage or a Sign from God?

Well I don't know if anybody remembers the flood waters I wrote about back in January, but they left behind a ton of garbage and debris along the riverbank.

Since I spend a lot of time at playgrounds and skater parks down there, I end up walking along the brown and dead vegetation killing time.  And I started realizing there were not only groovy bottles to discover, but other strange things as well.

Here are some of my finds:

• The most practical: a genuine swiss army knife
• The most spiritual: a praying ceramic figure
• The oddest: a vintage salt shaker in working condition
• The most mysterious: a broken French dish
• The quirkiest: a red plastic ring in the shape of a hand
• The most sensible: an old fishing lure

There were also lots of bottles and spoons in addition to things I chose not to scavenge such as animal bones, rags, rusty metals, bits of plastic and other unidentifiable "garbage."

So the whole thing has me thinking about objects and the meanings we attach to them.  The day I found the praying figure, I literally said the words, "can I please just have a sign?" less than an hour before discovering her.  And it was the only object that I found that was nearly completely buried.  Only one portion of her shroud was sticking out of the ground and I literally gasped when I pulled her out!  Then I panicked if I had somehow messed with a grave.  Then I got a grip and realized what a religious region I'm in and that it's likely from one of the many garden plots along the river.

It's funny because I'm not a religious person but this was a spooky discovery.  Yet I haven't attached any  emotions to the other objects.  It's not like I'm sitting here saying to myself, "I wonder if the spoon means I should eat softer foods."  Or that the lure "maybe means I should work more fish into my diet."

So last weekend I was puttering along with my plastic bag full of treasure and I pass a German man clearing a path through the woods to the river.  He's using an old-fashioned pitch fork, exactly the type you only ever see on the walls of restaurants anymore.  He's even wearing overalls so he immediately becomes the living German version of American Gothic. I'm in love.  And he starts talking to me.  Now this rarely happens, Germans don't randomly converse with people.  They don't even smile. The elderly are especially skeptical of foreigners.  So this tells me he's either:

1. wanting a break from his work.
2. a curious sort of guy.  - OR-
3. completely insane.

This is when you know your afternoon is about to get interesting!  He asks me what's in the bag and I shyly show him a bottle, not really sure if I should share the rest of the strange debris that I can't possibly explain what possessed me to collect.  I ask him if he's discovered anything interesting while clearing all the tangled dead plants away from his trail and he says, "only a bunch of damn garbage!"  So I go on to tell him about the praying figure and he's totally impressed and laughed at my bad description of how I found her.  "I think it strange rock but then I pull soft ground and comes out lady praying and my heart so beating my ribs break from inside my body!!!"  The dude pulls out a hanky to wipe some sweat but I secretly think he's blotting the tears from his laughter away.  The old bugger had me at "Hallo."

Here are a few tips if you want to scavenge a riverbank:

• Watch out for dog crap.

• Watch the thorns, and possible entanglements.  Use a long stick to push away any bramble-thorned nasties.

• Watch the broken glass and sharp rusty metal crap. 

• Watch for sink holes.  I'm no naturalist, but the soil is so spongy and soft that I sank up to my ankles in a few places.  I'm not sure if there's quicksand in Germany, but it's sure not the way I want to go out of this world. (Can you just imagine being found clutching a plastic bag of garbage in your cold, dead hand? Nice).

So peeps, what are your thoughts on my little Holy Figurine?  The old fella in my story is what made me think it's meaningful.  He had cleared away wheelbarrow loads of dead crap and didn't find anything so precious.  What's the coolest things you've ever found?

Comments

[Anne]

You know you are my kindred spirit finding little treasures while out on your walk! And yes, be careful out there. Have you had a tetanus shot in the last 10 years?

So many great artists were inspired by God and created works that are treasured centuries later, so maybe it is a sign, esp. since you found it during Lent.

[TJ]

Girlfriend, if you and I were to go on a walk, we'd never get ANYWHERE...!! LOL

Good idea with the tetanus. Should probably get a booster!

Hope you're sewing up a storm, I'm about to get busy myself. I think you're right about the sign. It's totally weird for me. I'm not sure what to do next...

[Lay Hoon]

what a great treasure find.
thanks for the tips sharing.

[lee]

Treasure findings, intriquing I have never found anything, ok maybe some money on the ground, never anything as cool as your stuff. I laughed when you thought you had messed with a grave, I would have thought the same thing

[Veronika]

Hmm, I've never found anything interesting ever, so I might have to protest here! :D
Not sure what your treasures could be a sign of but they could definitely inspire some interesting art :)

[rebecca]

i love finding stuff like this! i put things like this around the flowers in my garden ;o)

[Frau Dietz]

I have a feeling the pitchfork-wielding man is going to be visiting me in my dreams tonight... :S

[TJ]

Thanks for the comments gals!
Yes Lee - I don't know why I thought about a grave because I've never seen a headstone with this kind of figure on it. Yet my mind just went to the worst scenario!!

Veronika- how is it possible that you've NEVER found anything. Ever. That's unreal? We'll have to change this.

Rebecca- the garden is a good idea...! If I can learn to keep my plants alive, I may someday decorate them too..

Pitchfork man is definately after you Fr. Dietz. He was a great fella, but not exactly erotic dream material...!

[Skytimes]

Lovely post... would have loved going garbage hunting with you. Especially like the tiny liquor bottles.

The most recent find I made was a passport in the bushes. It had a "shopping-list" written in the visa section: buy booze, weed, papers, condoms and sweets. Oh and buy more booze." Brought it to the police who didn't laugh as much as I did.

[Quantumfog]

Tari, oh my goodness, I forgot how funny you write! I miss our asynchronous conversations. I don't know how you manage to have such an interesting life...maybe it's just the attitude. Thanks for sharing; this one's as good as the cherry fairy.

[TJ]

Quanny, my scientific friend! Thanks for taking the time to comment, AND to use a word that I had to look up in the dictionary!!

I love that you always keep me on my toes...

[Jacqueline]

Seems to me that the best stuff is brought ashore in Germany. By the time it enters Holland, we are just left with the garbage - the real garbage! :-)

[The crazies from Twickers]

Oh my god - I have to show this to 5 star Martin!!!

[Chris]

I just realized that my comments aren't being saved because I am not scrolling down to put the codes in. WHAT? This is good stuff I'm saying, here!

Well, anyway, the first time I commented here it was about how happy I am that you linked to this post from your hat post, because this is fabulous. I would like you to link from all your posts to your other posts so I can catch up with everything I missed when I didn't know you existed!

(Sign from God? I think maybe!)

[TJ]

Chris! Thank you so much for your comment. It's so much stinking work to link up and "work in" all those old posts and I never know if anybody ever goes and actually looks at any of it.

Then I think to myself if I was a new reader, I'd like the chance to get the info. So I make the effort.

You have no idea what it means to read this!! *Pumps fist in the air and clicks heels together...** Danke Danke Danke!!

[viki]

WOW! You got some great junk! No such luck around here. Mostly broken beer bottles and rocks. Although I hvae picked up some odd rusty stuff. You never know what will come in handy to use in an art piece. Lovely story.