From times past - no more telegrams are swishing by (photo for EH)

old telegraph pole with glass insulators, originally uploaded by Vilseskogen.

This photo of an old telegraph pole with glass insulators was taken two days ago in downtown Endicott, New York State, where there were many of these along the railroad line. Nobody had cared to harvest these glass insulators for selling them at $10/each in New York City's antique shops. Telegrams are no longer sent, and these lines and poles sit here like a fragment of a past that is long gone, like many other things in this area of southern New York State. Old road signs, store fronts, milk jugs, abandoned industries and rusty railroad bridges, it is all there. Sad to see, but I rather see them even if in a bad state, than have them being eaten up by McMansions, WalMarts, and enormous anonymous parking lots outside megamalls. During our little roadtrip we stopped at two historical diners to eat some classic American food, but more about that later.