Marilyn's Photos - Oct 27 2026 - Suitcases...Abandoned

 

What do you think of this dilemma?  Abandoned suitcases in Tokyo.  It is a spate of illegal dumping of suitcases on streets or in parks in Tokyo's Toshima Ward, reported in the Japan News today.  They are believed to have been left by foreign tourists after they buy new ones.  Last year there were 28.65 million foreign tourists visiting Tokyo.  There were 290 suitcases found on ward roads, in parks at garbage collection points last year - they mostly get abandoned around Ikebukuro Station.  The theory goes that foreign tourists are taking advantage of the weak yen to replace their suitcases with newly bought, better quality Japanese versions.  Oone article says that 400 suitcases were sent to the warehouse in 5 months. It is complicated there.  Unwanted suitcases are oversized garbage and need a disposal ticket to get them removed. And what to do with them when they are heavy?  They have to be opened at a police station. There are programs to buy old suitcases so they aren't abandoned. They pile up as they have to be kept as lost property for three months in case an owner comes forward. Storage space is a critical concern, and disposal is considered expensive.  Other airports have more serious luggage problems of their own - the lost and missing bag problem.  London Heathrow ranks the highest globally for lost or missing bags.  Paris Charles de Gaulle comes next.  Then it is Miami for mishandled and lost baggage, and in fourth place is Dubai's International Airport.   In comparison, Kansai's claim to fame is in the statistics of lost baggage. It claims it has never lost a single piece of luggage in 30 years.  Somehow it is the only airport reporting intentionally dumped or abandoned suitcases.  Who would guess. Isn't this picture so cute?  It is one of the floral designs at the Lily Show.  The purse body is covered in Croton leaves and the handle in moss.  Read past POTD's at my Blog: http://blog.marilyncornwell.com Purchase at: FAA - marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.com

Marilyn's Photos - Oct 26 2026 - Dog Time

 

Grimsby had a Halloween party on Saturday with the downtown  filled with children in costumes.  I was at the Dog Spot yesterday and she had over 400 children in for candy.  Dogs came in too as there is a dog costume contest that will announce the winner on Wednesday.   So far the most popular dog costume ofo all time is Keki, the dog dressed as a mop. This was back in 2017.  Here's how it worked: I guess with social media dog costumes have come into their own.  My thinking is that you can dress them up take the shot and then watch the costume get demolished. No worries about having to take the dog out for a showing. I am fond of the hot dogs, loaves of bread and pumpkins.  Read past POTD's at my Blog: http://blog.marilyncornwell.com Purchase at: FAA - marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.com

Marilyn's Photos - Oct 25 2026 - Best Jobs Worst Jobs

 

The best jobs of 1925 were supposely in finance, banking and corporate management.  That was followed by automobile and electrical engineering.  Medicine and Law have always been prestigious positions, and then the civil service.  At the bottom of the heap were unskilled agricultural and migrant labour, textile and factory, and coal mining.  Of course radium dial painting must be the all-time worst - they all got radium poisoning and jawbone decay.  That's just 100 years ago.  Think long ago and there were "gong farmers" who manually shovelled human excrement and waste out of cesspits, privies and sewers at night.  Too many excrement-related activities way back then.  There's one that picked up dog excrement from the streets by hand to be used in the tanning industry.  What do we think today's best and worst jobs are?  One site says that telemarketers are the worst, followed by cleaners, truckers, construction workers, soldiers, social workers, customer service advisors, slaughterhouse workers.  Some of these seem tame, don't you think?  OK here's a few:  pet food taster. crime scene cleaner, and...wait for it:  Pain dry watcher.  Checking how the colour of matt and emulsion changes over time...this one is a novelty job that is thrown in to entertain us. It seems to me these don't rate like the worst jobs of 100 years ago.  And what do they claim the best jobs are?  There's no list.  It's all about what's in demand and what's stable.  We can know that medicine is still in the top ranks, and today includes speech-language pathologists, physical therapists, occupational therapists and so on.  Of course corporate executives and lawyers are still tops. I expect information security is a great area now.  And there are lots of engineering specialties now.   So many neat and clean jobs now.  Think and be paid. Oops I missed the Hamilton Chrysanthemum Show - it closed yesterday.  Here's a picture from a previous year.  So many beautiful shapes, colours, and textures in Chrysanthemums. Read past POTD's at my Blog: http://blog.marilyncornwell.com Purchase at: FAA - marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.com

Mairlyn's Photos - Oct 24 2026 - Egg Cooking Robots

Don't think that it is only the interior that can benefit from silly trompe l'oeil effects.  These are chalk drawings and there are lots of them. Make your front sidewalk a little more fun. I am back to the strange egg cooker.  Here's the picture, but the article does not include this product.  So I asked Google.  It says it is a smart kitchen gadget like the Cheffy Egor smart egg cooker.  You can see it in action HERE.  It is considered a breakfast robot, or egg cooking robot.  You can also get the synchronized toaster robot - I guess that makes it a breakfast robot.  I don't think you can buy it, you have to pre-order it as they get their funding in place.  Early-bird and VIP pre-orders start around $199 to $299 US.  Combine that with the T.O.A.S.T.R. and it is $349.   This truly is a gimmick Christmas present.  It reminds me of the pre-orders for Teslas. Look at them now.  Blasting off into space with the Roadster 'flying car' that can perform 'kick flips'. I haven't found out if that egg machine s real or just an AI idea. Maybe Cheffy Egor saw the picture and decided to make a dream come true. And what would make me think of Christmas gadgets and gimmicks anyway?  It is wreath time for the Fantasy of Trees.  It is only a month away. Read past POTD's at my Blog: http://blog.marilyncornwell.com Purchase at: FAA - marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.com

MARILYN'S PHOTOS - Oct 23 2026 - Magnet Fishing

 

Here's the Santa holiday rug.  He seems to be coming out of the chimney in reverse, and to my mind that would be the sewer. All of a sudden there are videos of magnet fishing.  Is this a new endeavour?  No - it began in the early 2000s in Europe, and Wikipedia says it originated with boaters trying to retrieve dropped keys and tools from the water.  Then it got commercialized in the mid-2010s and catered to the hobbyist market.  The Pandemic caused it to boom as an outdoor pastime.  Now it is an online community, sharing stories on YouTube, and TikTok.  I think we are all fascinated with finding things that are surprises.  Strolling along the beach, looking for shells and finding coins, sounds ok.  But actively searching areas with a metal detector seems a strange pastime to me.  So metal-detecting underwater seems particularly strange and unpleasant.  All that gook.  And what gets thrown or lost in the water?  Here's a few things:   A live World War II bomb by a hobbyist in Milwaukee A safe full of cash - New York City couple totalling $100,000 An antique payphone  A medical hip replacement rasp - used by doctors during hip replacement A mysterious mask of Hillary Clinton  Firearms and handguns Industrial and auto debris And today's Acronym?  RINO - I had no idea what to make of this word in the New York Times news summary - Republican in name only.  On the other hand, who am I to think someone's hobbies are strange?  Here's a macro image I took of the side of a donation bin. Read past POTD's at my Blog: http://blog.marilyncornwell.com Purchase at: FAA - marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.com