Answer

Well, my whole host of visitors and lurkers were unable to guess this...I'm surprised.

It is one of my most favourite garage sale (car boot sale, for Snafu) acquisitions.

I bought it last month, brand new still in its wrapping, for one dollar.

It hails from the 1970s, although there are updated versions around.

It has been a tremendous aide to my morning routine

It is......

Hot Rollers!  Only, the travelling kind....

Comes in a nice travelling case

The rollers are placed on the metal posts (it's electric) and they take two minutes to heat up.

Then you roll them in your hair, using special clips (forgot to take a photo of them, but you get the picture!)

 -- for someone like me with frizzy hair, it's a boon, because they take all the frizzes out.

 (I know Snafu doesn't have that problem, but he might be impressed with the invention!)

I guess I will need to make my "what is it"  a little easier next time - but thanks for trying!

WHAT IS IT?

Hoping some of my 'lurkers' will actually come out of hiding and join the fun, by commenting their answer to this.

I will try to post a new picture every week.

There are no prizes for the correct guess -- except perhaps a boost to your ego!

This week's picture and clues:

Makes travelling easier

...just in case!

**adding another clue**

It's a hot topic

I'll post the answer in a few days.

Meandering Trails

Autumn seemed to come suddenly this year.

Daytime temps haven't been too bad, but it gets quite cold at night, and our 50 year-old house is not very well insulated. It seems craziness to turn on the furnace in the middle of September, but the portable electric heater has been out for at least a week, and has seen good use.

So when the temps went up today, we had to take advantage of the sunshine.

After church and lunch we headed to a nature trail recommended to us.

We are blessed that even though we live in the city,

we don't have to go too far to find some country.

This trail is just 10 minutes away by car and has convenient parking.

Called Colonel Danforth Trail, named after a road builder from the 1700s, it is -- well I can't say it's untouched by civilisation as there are plenty of marks left by civilisation -- and it is certainly not particularly well maintained. But it is a pleasant change from manicured gardens.

It was a little adventure for DOTH and I to explore the meandering pathways which run alongside Highland Creek.

But first....I always manage to find at least one unusual tree.

The park was quite deserted, but we did see a young man fishing round about here, who looked up at us and said, "You just missed it!" 

I asked him what we missed and he said, "I just landed a 10-12 lb salmon, but I threw him back in. I don't eat any fish from Lake Ontario -- I go up north to get the ones for eating." 

We looked for salmon as we walked along the creek - the water was quite clear in most places - and we sure didn't see any salmon. I think he was pulling our legs.

Lots of trees down everywhere

Junk in the water

But pretty little spots, too

We made a new little friend along the way...

So cute!! and her mistress was quite chatty...

she told us (we think - because she had a strong German accent) that she (the dog) is a  is 16 year old

part Bichon, part poodle - does that make sense?

So, in human years, the dog is 112, and her mistress looked to be at least in her 70s, and when they set off again, we couldn't keep up with them -- pretty sprightly!

This is an interesting photo -- hard to tell where land meets water.

A few more photos...

We had a lovely walk and then decided, because we hadn't seen any birds, that on our way home we should stop off at a little conservation area down by the lake...

Not many birds there, either -- swan, heron and seagull was the best we could do.

But the heron was interesting to watch..

Looks like he's on a conveyer belt on top of the water!

And then it was time to go home -- a lovely, refreshing  afternoon.

Back to the grindstone tomorrow -- six weeks left till the first deadline!

Mary Margaret, and Jonah

You gotta love this little story-teller!

(she's worth listening to, right to the end!)

Miau, Miau

This is for my sister, and cat lovers everywhere...

Of Kids and Star Wars and Noah's Ark

DOTH (Daughter Of The House) and I had the great privilege recently of babysitting for SOOTH (Son Out Of The House)

I mean it when I said it was a privilege. We have a family that seems to be getting larger by the minute and we enjoy them all.

They've just moved into a new house, so knowing that their computers are the 'main' toy, and that other toys were probably not unpacked yet -- and we don't allow hours on the computer when we are around -- we stopped off at a garage sale on the way and picked up Scategories and a couple of other games.

There was something we had to get used to first, though; some unexpected new additions to our family...

Something from Stars Wars, I think... Yoda? 

No, it's Reginald.

Well, there are two of them and I can never get the names straight, but I think this one is Reginald.

I'll show you Frederick in a minute - he doesn't show his face in the daytime.

They are called Sphynx cats.

So, there I am, working on my lap top, and Reginald jumps onto my lap. I am allergic to cats,

but, the good news is -- no fur, no dandruff. No dandruff, no sneezing, asthma or watery eyes.

The bad news is -- what do you stroke, when they are sitting on your lap...

...looking longingly into your eyes? No fur!

But he liked it!  You should have heard those purrs (louder, since they are not muffled by fur).

He could well have settled in for the day, but - sorry - I had work to do. He was quite miffed to be sent

packing....

   

...decided to go fly-catching instead.

"Why won't that dang fly stay still...?"

"...he's just too quick for me."

Meanwhile, sleeping in late, upstairs..

DOTH and Frederick

Do not tell DOTH I posted this picture...I will be homeless - may have to go and live with SOOTH and family, and Frederick and Reginald. You should try putting your feet on a cold, clammy, furless Sphynx in the middle of the night -- well, maybe some of you do have an equivalent.

On a lighter note, when Frederick finally forced  her out of bed, DOTH had great fun with GOTH (girl of the house).

They gathered all GOTH's stuffed animals and headed down to the pool

Played teacher for a while. Wonder which language they spoke - moo, baa, woof, gribbit...?

Perhaps it was an ESL class.

Then they all lined up for the ark:

I think even God might have been bit confused by this two-by-two configuration.

Some were coming, some were going, none of them were matched mates.

No wonder Noah was driven to drink.

Warm enough now for a dip in the pool...

...the turtle looks a little miffed about missing the ark - but maybe it was all for the best.

Still, he's not looking too happy about that water gun being primed for use, either.

Well, time to move to safer waters...

We had lots of fun with Scategories, and then it was time for the talent show.

This is DOTH's "escalator trick"

Unfortunately, no more to show you --

it all went downhill from there...|_

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The Journey of a Book

So, here is the journey my book will take, once it arrives at Friesens in Manitoba:

First, of course, it will need paper:

It's this fellow's job to make sure there is plenty on hand:

Next the paper needs to be cut to the appropriate size

(my pages will be 11x8.5)

The paper is fed into this machine and measurements are fed into the computer - the cutting is automatic - just a press of a button (I'd be scared I would input the measurements incorrectly; what a waste of paper that would be!)

This operator has an easy job, although you wouldn't think so. After the sheets are cut, because it is resting on air (just like a hovercraft), all he has to do is just give the stack a little push and it gently floats in any direction.

This next part is not so easy to explain, but I will give it my best lay-person's language:

Somewhere in here :) is the final copy of the book, already typeset by computer. Each of these modules contains a different colour ink, and as the paper travels through each, it picks up the text/photo designated for that particular colour and prints it.

The yellow, red and blue inking modules

Filling the inking barrels

To make a long story short...

...it comes out here!

Ok, so some of you are thinking about the environment --and saying, "let's hear it for the ipad!" when you see all this paper.

I may be old-fashioned, but I can't see me ever being happy curled up on the couch reading on an ipad.

Give me a book, any day.

Well, the next step is to fold all those huge papers (usually around 16 pages on each one, carefully positioned for folding so that they are in the correct order in the book)

So far, so good!

The pages are folded into 'signatures' -- a set number of pages in each.

If you pick up a book right now, and look at the top of the spine, you will see the signatures

Next comes the cover...

This, of course, is a hard cover -- with white 'end pages'

Lovely gold embossing for the title.

This young man is doing something special to the cover

that will give it this kind of beautiful raised, 3-D effect

(no, mine won't have all these fancy things!)

By now it was time for a bit of a rest. Although it's hard to show, this printing facility covers, what seems anyway, miles -- lots of walking!

That's a lotta paper!

It was great to see that they are so dilligent about recycling. They gave us statistics, but unfortunately I didn't keep track.

Can't show you the finished product yet, of course, not due out until April 1st --

but won't it be awesome when the cover graces this wall, along with the rest of Friesens' masterpieces!

Can't wait!