JR Returns & I Make a Guess This Weekly Link Round-Up

 

Some of you may remember JR the raccoon who showed up here a couple of years ago to paddle in the swimming pool and eat the treats I put out for him. Well, he came back for a couple of days this week. Someone asked me how I knew it was the same raccoon. For one thing, he pulled over the same birdbath that I put his treats in, even though the birdbath is in a different place now. He also went over and checked the spot where that birdbath used to be. I waited for him to show up twice before I put out anything for him, but he hasn't been back since. I guess I wasn't fast enough, darn it.

I've also mentioned my nameless friend that I was concerned about. I may have an aversion to deerstalker caps (or hats in general), but not knowing his name has been bugging me for a long time. Persistence has paid off-- I think-- and I now believe I've identified him. All I will say is T.M., and perhaps I will find out if I'm right. (Although I do understand if he wishes to remain anonymous. I just have one of those inquiring minds.) 

I have a new pinwheel to add to my collection. It came in the mail this week. (Thank you for it and everything else. You know who you are!) It's the best spinner of them all and is now on my scooter whirring away every time I go outside. Hey, it even spins when I'm around the ceiling fans here in the house!

It's been another scorching week here in Phoenix. I've been doing my outside chores as quickly as possible to avoid the worst of the heat, then I come inside to read and work on tissue box covers.

Virtual hugs to you all, my friends! Enjoy the links!

►Books & Other Interesting Tidbits◄

• The end of reading is here.
• The heat wave that made America legalize shorts.
• New Hampshire Governor Kelly Ayotte vetoed a bill calling for increased book bans.
• Austin, Texas, could become a "Book Safe Harbor" as censorship fights escalate.
• Amazon offers AI translation for self-published Kindle books.
• Everything you need for a a reading picnic.

►Channeling My Inner Indiana Jones◄

• A pair of 2,000-year-old gold rings, one engraved with Indian script, was discovered in an Iron Age burial ground in Thailand.
• A 2,500-year-old tomb of a "warrior prince" with a chariot and helmet was discovered on Italy's Adriatic coast. 
• Builders discovered an ancient Minoan ruin on Crete. Then, things got tense.
• 3D printing gives new life to an ancient game board discovered at a Roman fort near Hadrian's Wall in England.
• The oldest known plague victims have been found in a 5,500-year-old burial ground in Siberia-- and many of them were children.
• Hundreds of Spanish settlers died at the "Port of Famine." This newly discovered silver coin reveals where the doomed colony was founded 400 years ago.

►Channeling My Inner Elly May Clampett◄

• Sperm whales living in the eastern Mediterranean Sea seem to have developed a distinct dialect from those in the west.
• The return of Florida's wild flamingos.
• Cyborg cockroaches could help find survivors of natural disasters. New diving suits allow the insects to expand their search underwater. (Finally, a roach I can like...)
• Can a turtle tuck its head all the way inside its shell?
• Stream the beautiful highs and violent lows of albatross life with this new 24-hour camera on Midway atoll.
• How do dogs watch TV? A new study suggests that it might depend on their personalities.

►The Wanderer◄

• Crime and the City: Bari, Italy.
• Alexander Hamilton's First National Bank revolutionized the U.S. economy. After sitting shuttered for years, the Philadelphia landmark reopened as a museum.
• Vincent van Gogh adored the color yellow. A new exhibition in Amsterdam wants you to fall in love with the hue, too.
• Experience the grandeur of the Italian Alps with these 15 photographs.
• How America's industrial elite built their own palaces.
• A scenic road winding through Theodore Roosevelt National Park finally reopens after six years.

►Fascinating Folk◄

• Did this duke poison his brother? A new DNA analysis may solve the centuries-old Medici mystery.
• Spanish officer Bernardo de Gálvez besieged the British during the American Revolution, giving George Washington time to plan a pivotal attack.
• Meet Julia Ward Howe, the remarkable poet who wrote the Battle Hymn of the Republic and fought for women's suffrage.
• The true story of Laura Ingalls is wilder than Little House on the Prairie.
• To finance their lifestyle, Clara and André Malraux went to Cambodia to steal antiquities. They did almost everything wrong.
• The King and I spotlights an English governess who modernized Siamese society. The real Anna Leonowens exaggerated her influence and lied about her origins.

►I ♥ Lists◄

• 8 vineyard mysteries you can savor.
• 9 great books about survival at sea.
• 21 mysteries and thrillers set at sea.
• 6 films Silvia Moreno-Garcia recommends for writers.
• July's best international crime fiction.
• 9 murder mysteries set in resorts.

That's all for this week! No matter how busy you may be, don't forget that quality Me Time curled up with a good book!