Smoking Elephant Cigarette Dispenser, purchased at Unique Thrift in Hillandale, Maryland, February 2012

Maybe this is enough to make a smoker quit. Seeing a cigarette coming out of an elephant’s butt should make anyone reconsider their dirty habit.  I have similar dispenser which dispenses cigarettes out of a donkey’s butt, so now my collection is officially bi-partisan.

The wooden donkey cigarette dispenser was hand-made in America, and it still works.  This elephant is made of cheap plastic, and was already broken when I bought it.  If it weren’t for the cool illustration on the box, I wouldn’t have come home with it at all.

This is my rendition of the Twelve Days of Christmas, using nothing but my fabulous tacky treasures.  I call it the Twelve Tacky Days of Christmas.  Here’s wishing you a very tacky holiday season!

A Rubber Duck Nativity Set

http://tackytreasures.com/seasonal/rubberduck.html

Two Headless Chickens

http://tackytreasures.com/topics/miketheheadless.html

Three Naked Santas

http://tackytreasures.com/seasonal/nakedsanta.html
Read more »

Entrance to the Tune Inn

The Tune Inn is back.  This historic bar, with the second-oldest liquor license in the city, has been renovated following a kitchen fire in June of this year.  My first impression, which was echoed by my drinking companions, was, “It looks the same, only cleaner.”  Back on the walls, in almost exactly the same places, are years of memorabilia and taxidermy.  Yes, the taxidermy deer butt has returned to its place over the door to the men’s room.
Read more »

Mary Jane mosaic shoe, purchased at Island Artworks, Ocracoke Island, NC in November 2011

At a gallery on Ocracoke Island, I purchased this remarkable Mary Jane shoe, adorned with china shards and images of the Madonna.  Note the “Miraculous Medal” of the Blessed Mother — it reminds me of the one that I was required to wear everyday as a student at St. Catherine Labouré elementary school.  You will also find a tiny thumbnail of the Madonna del Granduca by Raphael.  The opening of the shoe is festooned with a cheap glow-in-the-dark plastic rosary, and if you peek inside, you will see a vivid image of Our Lady of Guadalupe on the inner sole (soul?) of the shoe.  This work of art manages to be playful and yet not disrespectful of the Virgin Mary.
Read more »

Easter Island Head in Kensington, Maryland

In Kensington, Maryland, there is a replica of an Easter Island Head looking south toward Washington, D.C.  It was created about 15 or 20 years ago to appear on  a high school parade float sponsored by a local gas station.  For many years, it stood across the street from the Wheaton-Glenmont police station.  However, it was recently discovered, nicely repainted, at the Getty gas station in Kensington.  Unfortunately, it’s got a nasty gash on the side of its head.  Who would do such a thing?  I think it’s sad that some people don’t respect and value what little quirkiness we have in the D.C. area.
Read more »

Mystery Hole

Right at a bend in Rt. 60 in Ansted, West Virginia, stands a wildly-colored Quonset hut with a Volkswagen Beetle crashed into it.  True to the grand tradition of the American roadside attraction, the Mystery Hole does everything it can to draw you in.  If it takes a wrecked car, a clown, a gorilla, a bear, and garish paint job, so be it.  It’s just a mile west of Hawks Nest State Park, and if you are in the area anyway, it’s worth a visit.
Read more »

Fast Rooster, an oil painting by Bob Cantor

Congratulations to Bob Cantor, whose pencil sharpener collection was recently featured on the website “Obsessionistas: collectors and their collections.”  Unfortunately, I can’t post the link to Facebook, because for some bizarre reason they’ve flagged it as abusive.  But I can post it to my blog, and post this link to Facebook.  I hope you enjoy Bob’s little bit of fame.

http://www.obsessionistas.co.uk/collections/2011/6/18/pencil-sharpeners-0031.html

P.S.  Thanks, Bob, for the plug in your entry!

Fifi Le Pink Poodle

The Kinetic Sculpture Race is hosted by the American Visionary Art Museum.  The sculptures are amphibious, human-powered works of art.  The race covers 15 miles through the streets of Baltimore, and even a little dip into the Chesapeake Bay.

This year’s race was fantastic in every sense of the word, from the sculptures to the attendees to the city sights all along the race.
Read more »

Water tower in Montgomery Hills

Once upon a time in the 1970s, the Montgomery Hills neighborhood of Silver Spring, Maryland got a new water tower.  Not only was it enormous, but it was painted an unsightly bright orange.  One day, large black letters appeared across its middle which said, “The Great Pumpkin,” no doubt a commentary on the water tower’s appearance, and of course, a reference to the TV special in which Linus van Pelt spends Halloween in a pumpkin patch waiting for the Great Pumpkin to rise again.

The Great Pumpkin

In a way, the Great Pumpkin has risen again.  Eventually the tower was painted over with a pale blue color, and the Great Pumpkin of Montgomery Hills was forgotten, except by people like me who like a good prank.  Now, many years later, the words are becoming visible again, thanks to the deterioration of the pale blue paint job.

I wonder if anyone has a photograph of the tower when it was orange and the words were still clearly visible across its mid-section?  If so, I would love to see it.

Bobbing skeleton head salt and pepper shakers, eBay purchase October 2010 (just in time for Halloween!)

Here’s just another set of salt and pepper shakers that make you ask, “WTF?”  They are a pair of skulls mounted on a lovely ceramic base decorated with roses.  My theory is that these shakers belonged to Jerry Garcia’s grandmother.  When he was discussing the cover art for the Skull and Roses album, he told Alton Kelly, “My nana had the most awesome salt and pepper shakers.  Think you could put them on an album cover?”  Well, it IS just a theory.

To see the bobbing head action, go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/tackyjulie/5119372734/