The Museum of Lost Toys

On a dark and freezing morning during the winter of 2015, a plastic baby doll head left behind by the outgoing tide caught my eye. I pried it loose from the frozen sand and took it home. This began my slide down the flotsam rabbit hole. 

First, I only collected toys, but the collector in me inevitably took over and my toy collection grew to include shotgun shells, shoe heels, combs, old pipes, toothbrushes, balls of fishing line, and on and on and on. Soon, my yard was a plastic graveyard.

I’ve discovered that like things float together. Some days I might find 6 or 7 tennis balls, other days the wrack line is a trail of colorful bottle caps. Once, two Monopoly houses washed up on the same day about a half a mile apart. 

All these items individually don’t say much, but together, they tell the story of all of us; what we value, consume, discard, hold nostalgic. – Corinn Flaherty