You said, “analyzing my motivation takes the romance out of trash skimming.” So rather than ask what is behind your practice of collecting found objects, tell us about your most interesting find?

The day before Easter this year, as I was driving north on highway 13 toward Wilmington, Del., I told myself to be on the lookout for one of those old rural route mailboxes. I’d seen them before, littering the side of the road, but never stopped. I kept my eye trained on the shoulder as I drove along. A couple miles south of Laurel, I saw a metal sign tucked back in the woods about 30 yards off the road. I made a note of it and decided to stop on my way home the following day. At 11 a.m. Sunday, I walked into the woods and discovered a creepy, long-forgotten dumping ground – my own El Dorado – full of wonderful things: a portable tv skeleton, miniature ironing board, saw blades, old signs – and sitting in the middle of a clearing, with a shaft of light hitting it, was the mailbox! It must’ve been calling out to me.

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