Every morning, Mary Nell Orman Barringer laces up her shoes, clips a leash to Fire — her nearly 12-year-old Irish water spaniel — and walks a mile through her Baton Rouge neighborhood. Fire carries a toy the whole way, a habit passed down from the dog before him, who learned it from the dog before that.
Barringer has her own habit: She keeps her eyes on the street. What most people walk past, she picks up.
It started with a strip of metal from a dying electric blanket. Now she picks up amber and brown beads, the spiral binding from a notebook, watch faces, magnolia husks, pieces of a remote control, costume jewelry, clear plastic report covers and more.
Whatever the street offers, Barringer considers…