> I'm trying to solve a couple of mysteries. They are both posted in the same place. One is a figurine that I need to identify. The second is a ghostly orb that needs to be explained. Two pictures of each. See link.
> Howard

Did the orb appear to be a free-floating sphere to the naked eye (ie before you took the picture)?

If it was visible to the naked eye and didn't simply show up on the developed film, then that rules out the most common cause of "ghost orbs": camera flash reflecting off dust near the lens.

The orb does appear to be out of focus, suggesting that it's much closer to the camera than the patio furniture.

It's hard to tell from the pictures, but my first impression is that light reflected off some flat, circular surface, and was projected onto a window, or some such. The octothorpe that appears on the orb is probably a feature on the casting object - at least, I can't see any sign that it's caused by a grid between the orb and the camera. Is there anything in the area that bears this pattern?

Its sudden disappearance would probably be due to either the casting object, or the light source that's reflecting off it (the sun?) moving out of alignment.