Taking This Week Off to Count My Blessings

 

I'm posting this early because I've decided to take the week off to relax and to count my blessings. 

That may sound odd, since I did lose Denis in June, but he brought so much to my life that I can't be anything else but thankful to have had him as my love, my companion, and my best friend. 

And, if anything, this year has shown me what wonderful family and friends I have. See? So much to be thankful for that I don't even need to mention material things.

Blessings (and Hugs) to all of you. You, too, are an important part of my life.

A Coming Out of the Fog Weekly Link Round-Up

 

I'm sitting here on a Tuesday afternoon, looking out the window to watch clouds scudding across the sky. We're in between periods of rain here in Phoenix. Light rain, which will soak in, thankfully. The weather is reminding me of UK forecasts with its "sunny intervals." We Americans just say "partly cloudy," but there's something more cheerful in the UK terminology.

I feel as though I'm slowly coming out of a tremendous fogbank. I'd stopped knitting for weeks. Now I have three different projects on the go. The new home health company I'm dealing with is providing 95% of the supplies for my leg which is a complete turnaround from the old company that was shackled by my insurance company to the point where all my needed supplies were out of my own pocket. Believe you me, I'm appreciating the money I'll be saving! And... I no longer hesitate to sit at the computer since it's not an instrument of torture now that I've finally sorted out Denis's affairs.

I still haven't made a move about Christmas decorations. Probably because they're all in a shed outside, and who wants to drag them into the house in the rain? Not I!

The only way I have yet to come out of my fogbank is in my reading. My reading has slowed to what is for me a crawl. We shall see what happens because I'm still slowly readjusting my routine.

My thoughts are with anyone else who's been experiencing fogbanks of their own. May you start having those sunny intervals and then full-blown sunshine. Virtual hugs to you all!

Enjoy the links!

►Books & Other Interesting Tidbits◄

• From The Guardian: How would-be authors were fooled by AI staff and virtual offices in a suspected global publishing scam.
• Quiz: If you can name all ten of these Thanksgiving movies, you're ready for the holidays.
• Why the Golden Age of Detective Fiction still influences mystery today.
• How Southern crime fiction became a publishing powerhouse.
• Florida public schools are banning these 55+ books without review.
• Theft or civil disobedience? 16 books go missing after a Kentucky church urges members to check out and never return library books about LGBTQ+ people.
• The biggest fails in license plate history.

►Channeling My Inner Indiana Jones◄

• Merit's wig: a 3,400-year-old Egyptian headpiece smoothed down with ancient homemade hair gel.
• Archaeologists have have found the lost Iron City of the Silk Road in the remote highlands of Uzbekistan.
• Ancient Pompeii's elite may have built lavish towers on top of their villas. Here's what they may have looked like.
• Fascinating animation reveals the inner workings of the Colosseum in ancient Rome.
• Archaeologists deciphered crumbling hieroglyphs to reveal the name of a forgotten Maya queen who ruled 1,400 years ago.
• A fire ravaged a historic 200-year-old tavern in Ohio. These are the artifacts archaeologists found in the wreckage.
• Three decades of research reveal a forgotten medieval castle on a Scottish island.

►Channeling My Inner Elly May Clampett◄

• Caught between empires: on the fate of the Amur tiger.
• Sperm whale speech has human-like "vowels."
• The comeback of California's gray wolves just took a tragic turn.
• 22 animals you don't want to mess with. (I've had my own experiences with a cassowary, ostriches, and a goose. I won't count numbers 3 and 4 on the list.)
• Witness an extraordinary wildlife restoration at Rwanda's Akagera National Park.
• This snail can regrow its eyes-- and understanding how may one day help humans with injuries.
• Scientists are using drones to unleash thousands of mosquitos in Hawaii in a bid to save native birds.

►The Wanderer◄

• The ancient art of harvesting fruit in the desert.
• 7 American ghost towns you can still walk through. (I've been to a lot of ghost towns in Utah and here in Arizona, but I was still surprised to see that I'd been to one on this list-- Bodie.)
• Miami Beach's newest art installation is underwater-- and it doubles as a habitat for fish and coral.
• In praise of old maps. (I love maps.)
• Underwater forests return to life off the coast of California, and that might be good news for the entire planet.
• Quiz: Can you name the country from its capital city?
• In 100 seconds, see the impact of humans on planet Earth.

►Fascinating Folk◄

• Artist Percy Lam immortalizes Hong Kong's neon signs, one stitch at a time.
• How Michael Connelly keeps The Lincoln Lawyer series fresh.
• Ship stewardess Ella Sheldon, the lonely diarist of the high seas.
• Who was Molly Pitcher? Exploring the Revolutionary War icon.
• Artist Edvard Munch was haunted by physical and mental illnesses, but he was also fascinated by them.
• At 107 years old, neuroscientist Brenda Milner is still unlocking the mysteries of the brain.
• The Coast Guard's most potent weapon during Prohibition? Codebreaker Elizebeth Friedman.

►I ♥ Lists◄

• Readworthy's Best of 2025 Award Winners.
• Six unsolved maritime mysteries.
• Nine Native American mysteries.
• Nine novels about secret societies.
• A nostalgic compilation of the most kitschy items from the 20th century.
• 2025's Words of the Year... so far.
• 12 famous quotes everyone misattributes.

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!

At Midnight Comes the Cry by Julia Spencer-Fleming

 

First Line: The trouble started, as it so often does, behind the manure spreader.

Reverend Clare Fergusson and her husband, Russ van Alstyne (newly resigned from his position as chief of police), have plans to celebrate the perfect Christmas with their baby boy, Ethan. Those plans come to a screeching halt when white supremacists crash a beloved holiday parade. In no time at all, they find themselves yanked into a world of militias and murder.

Others are also drawn into this mess, including single mother and police officer Hadley Knox. She's worrying about her former partner, Kevin Flynn, who's taken leave from the Syracuse Police Department and then disappeared. 

Add to this a novice lawyer on an off-the-books investigation and a missing park service ranger, and it's plain to see that it's going to take a lot of work to have a Christmas that's merry and bright in Millers Kill, New York.

~

It is so good to have Clare Fergusson and Russ van Alstyne back! I have really missed Julia Spencer-Fleming's series, and it's wonderful to see that At Midnight Comes the Cry brings these beloved characters roaring back at full strength.

Although I have to admit that I'm sick to death of white supremacists in the news and really don't want to have them taking center stage in my fiction, the storyline is strong, and with Clare Fergusson in charge, it's not going to be the "same old, same old." 

For longtime fans, there's plenty of catching up to do with the author's wonderful cast of characters. We get to see Clare and Russ with their baby, and Hadley worrying about Kevin Flynn. A novice lawyer is going off the reservation from the state Attorney General's Office, and a forest ranger is looking for his missing uncle. Clare and Russ work together like a well-oiled machine in the hair-raising climactic scenes, too. (Of course!)

I haven't read anything about the fate of this series, but there is something mentioned at the end that makes me wonder if this is the last time we'll see Clare and Russ. If so, they end on a high note... and I'll miss them. 

At Midnight Comes the Cry by Julia Spencer-Fleming

eISBN: 9781250022677

Minotaur Books © 2025

eBook, 320 pages

Police Procedural, #10 Fergusson/Van Alstyne

Rating: A+

Source: Net Galley

A Soaking Up the Sun Weekly Link Round-Up

 

The weather has been absolutely glorious here in Phoenix. Temperatures in the 70s and 80s, light breezes, plenty of sunshine. I'd been staying indoors most of the summer, not just because of the heat but because I've been busy with paperwork and doing a major reorganization of all my stuff. (You know how stuff accumulates no matter how hard you try, right?)

I've been replenishing my stores of Vitamin D, filling hummingbird feeders, keeping those birdbaths and fountains filled, and having someone come in to trim the shrubbery that threatened to take over the property after all the rain we got in September.

November in Phoenix

I even got some good/sad news. My doctor and his staff contacted a different home health company to help me with my leg, and I'm looking forward to meeting my new nurse tomorrow. (I'm writing this on Tuesday.) The sad news? I will no longer be seeing Alex, the wonderful nurse I've seen for the past two years. He's become family to me, and I'm going to miss him like crazy. Hopefully, we will keep in touch, but I know how hard he works, and how busy he is. We shall see. 

I hope you all are bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and well supplied with good books to read. Virtual hugs to everyone!

Enjoy the links!

►Books & Other Interesting Tidbits◄

• AI regulation is not enough. We need AI morals. (I am in total agreement, especially since these times have shown us how many people in positions of power seem to have very few morals.)
• "Human written." Why Sarah Hall put a maker's mark on her new novel.
• The term "67" is "impossible to define." It just became Dictionary.com's Word of the Year for 2025.
• Margaret Mizushima on training her dogs to track missing persons.
• Why did these authors have their school visit cancelled? They were talking about their book about book bans.
• What does the trend of sprayed edges and special editions say about the state of publishing?

►Channeling My Inner Indiana Jones◄

• Ancient Roman-Era statues were taken during a brazen museum heist in Damascus.
• Anomalies in a Giza pyramid may indicate an unknown entrance.
• Scientists may finally have an explanation for the centuries-old 5,200 mystery holes in the Peruvian Andes. (Okay, why does the term "mystery holes" make me smile?)
• A maritime mystery was solved after a shipwreck was discovered off the UK coast. 
• 109-year-old messages in a bottle written by soldiers heading to fight in World War I have been discovered on an Australian beach.
• A study claims that a massive 3,000-year-old Maya site in Mexico depicts the cosmos and the "order of the universe."

►Channeling My Inner Elly May Clampett◄

• Mr. Chow, the otter, loves being wrapped like a burrito after his bath.  Mr. Chow lives here in Phoenix, a place you normally wouldn't associate with these animals.
• While we're on the subject, meet another otter from here in the Phoenix metro area, Splash. Splash is the nation's first search and rescue otter.
• As record-breaking cold settles in across the southern U.S., Floridians are finding "frozen" iguanas. 
• Swedish musician Mattias Krantz is teaching a rescued octopus to play the piano.
• Charles Darwin couldn't find these legendary curly horses. Centuries later, they've reappeared.
• Colossal coconut crabs may hold the clue to Amelia Earhart's fate.

►The Wanderer◄

• 10 American towns that feel like they're in Europe.
• Crime and the City: County Kerry.
• Nobody knows what sank the Edmund Fitzgerald, but its doomed final voyage will always be America's defining shipwreck. (I love Gordon Lightfoot's song.)
• The world's most-visited castles and palaces.
• Ypsilanti, Michigan is fighting a $1.2 billion AI datacenter for America's nuclear weapon scientists.
• These 15 photographs capture the beautiful art of blown and stained glass.

►Fascinating Folk◄

• 72-year-old John William Boucher lied about his age to fight in World War I.
• Marion Pritchard, the Dutch resister who "lied, stole, and even killed" to save the lives of 150 Jewish children during World War II.
• William Merritt Chase, the accidental ally.
• Dr. Gladys West, the "hidden figure" who pioneered GPS technology.
• Thomas Stukeley, the swashbuckling Tudor mercenary who was killed in a battle that claimed the lives of three 16th-century kings.
• Minnie Murral, one woman's path to Jonestown.

►I ♥ Lists◄

• 10 songs based on historic events.
• Kirkus' Best Mysteries and Thrillers of 2025.
• Kirkus' Best Historical Fiction of 2025.
• 17 deadly and delicious Thanksgiving mysteries.
• 10 social media abbreviations that stump people the most.
• The 9 best French jewel theft films.

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!  

Mark Four More as Read

 

Here I go again, trying catch up on reviews of the books I've read. I am determined to get current, although this post isn't going to be the one to do it.

These are shorter reviews, mainly just my thoughts. If you'd like a synopsis or more information about a book, just click on the link in the book title to be taken to Amazon US.

It's time to get this show on the road!

The Lions of Fifth Avenue by Fiona Davis

Historical Fiction, 365 pages

eBook purchased from Amazon

Rating: A+

My Thoughts: I loved this dual timeline novel about the Lyons family. The 1913 timeline features the Lyons family, living in an apartment in the New York Public Library since Mr. Lyons is superintendent there. His wife, Laura, wants to be more than the traditional wife and mother, and while this creates tension, even more appears when valuable books are stolen from the library.

In 1993, Sadie Donovan is curator at the New York Public Library and the granddaughter of Laura Lyons, the famous essayist. Rare books, notes, and manuscripts for the exhibit she's running begin disappearing, causing her to team up with a private security expert. The investigation soon becomes personal. 

The inner workings of the library, the characters of Laura and Sadie, the mystery of the disappearing books and manuscripts, the dual timelines all combined to create a read that kept a stranglehold on my attention. A Best Read of 2025.

Artemis by Andy Weir

Science Fiction, 335 pages

eBook purchased from Amazon

Rating: A

My Thoughts: I absolutely loved Weir's previous novels, The Martian and Project Hail Mary, so I had to pick up this book about Earth's first and only lunar colony. We learn all about the ins and outs of the colony through the eyes of young Jazz Bashara, who's not above trying to commit the perfect crime in order to improve the quality of her life.

I liked the local cop's solution to a domestic violence case, and his use of a spray bottle made me laugh. I also enjoyed Jazz's voice. She drew me right into the story and kept me there. 

I do love the way Andy Weir's mind works, but he is a passionate technophile, and sometimes his descriptions of how things work in space can be a bit much. Fortunately, those parts are easy to skim through. I am definitely looking forward to what that mind of his cooks up next.

Carved in Blood by Michael Bennett

#3 Hana Westerman police procedural, 306 pages

eBook purchased from Amazon

Rating: A

My Thoughts: I continue to enjoy this series set in New Zealand. I'm learning a lot about the Maori culture through the strong plots and even stronger character of Hana Westerman. 

In this third book, Hana has been working with her father to help young locals to earn their driver's licenses-- those licenses being passports to their futures. When Hana's ex-husband is murdered, she's brought in to solve the case. 

This is an excellent series that I hope goes on for a good long time.

An Enemy in the Village by Martin Walker

#18 Bruno Chief of Police, 305 pages

Digital galley from Net Galley

Rating: B

My Thoughts: It's always a pleasure to visit with Bruno, the police chief of the small French town of St. Denis. (I always read these books with a French accent!) As Bruno works to solve the murder of a successful businesswoman, readers are treated to good food and good friends. And sparks fly between Bruno and Jilly, a woman who happens to have a basset hound just like he does. 

Will Bruno, who never has good luck in the romance department, finally find love? I'm looking forward to finding out.

There you go-- four more reviews that get me a bit closer to catching up. Have you read any of these? Which ones? What did you think? Of course, inquiring minds want to know!

The I've Been Dumped Weekly Link Round-Up

 

For quite awhile, someone at the agency responsible for sending a home health nurse to my house twice weekly to clean and bandage my leg has been wanting to get rid of me. I'm not quite sure why, other than having a leg that just does not want to heal completely, but that person had quite the bee in her bonnet. My home health nurse fought the good fight, but for every point he raised, she had a comeback. What kind of comeback? Let me tell you, she had some doozies. "She can either change the bandages herself [not limber enough] or she can pay someone to do it for her [when did I win the lottery?]." "She can sell her house and move into assisted living [not with a reverse mortgage, I can't]." 

See what I mean about doozies? Full of the milk of human kindness, she is. Of course, she's probably just trying to save the agency a penny or two, but...! Now I'm scrambling to find a replacement because she insisted on my discharge. Never fear, I shall persist and overcome. 😊

While this has been going on, the weather has been absolutely gorgeous, and I've been working on my Vitamin D levels... plus continuing my clear-out a shelf at a time. My mood is lighter, and I even have a bit of zip in my doodah. Nice, eh?

Now that I've got more zip, I'm thinking about how I want to decorate my house for the holidays. It's not going to be anything like the years when I had a forest of Christmas trees, but I'm finding that it can be fun to think small. And while I'm plotting, clearing out, knitting, and searching for a new home health nurse, I hope you're all doing well. Virtual hugs to you all!

Enjoy the links!

►Books & Other Interesting Tidbits◄

• The surprising endurance of Martha Stewart's Entertaining.
• The new Harry Potter audiobook has launched on Audible.
• In praise of librarians in dangerous times.
• Authors' class action lawsuit against OpenAI is moving ahead.
• What's with all the sheep on book covers?
• Grokipedia is the antithesis of everything that makes Wikipedia good.
• The election that defined what "real Americans" ate and drank.
• The forgotten medieval habit of "two sleeps."

►Channeling My Inner Indiana Jones◄

• French archaeologists have uncovered a "vast Roman burial area" with cremation graves "fed" by liquid offerings.
• Thieves stole more than 1,000 artifacts from a California museum's storage facility.
• A 5,000-year-old "cultic space" discovered in Iraq dates to the time of the world's first cities.
• Decapitator nose ornament: 1,500-year-old gold jewelry depicting a bloodthirsty South American god.
• This Inca building-- the only surviving structure of its kind-- might have been designed to amplify sound and music.
• Archaeologists in Pompeii discovered an ancient bench where hopeful clients waited to be seen by an elite Roman.
• An ancient Egyptian statue of "Messi" found at the Saqqara necropolis is the only known example of its kind from the Old Kingdom.
• Archaeologists found a 300-year-old shipwreck in what used to be "one of the baddest pirate lairs on Earth."

►Channeling My Inner Elly May Clampett◄

• How El Jefe, the lone Arizona jaguar who captivated a nation in 2016, became a rock star.
• Chimpanzees "think about thinking" in order to weigh evidence and plan their actions.
• A rare, out-of-place cuckoo sends birders flocking to Long Island in hopes of a once-in-a-lifetime sighting.
• These bats glow green under UV light, joining a growing list of photoluminescent mammals.
• Bowhead whales live long lives. Do they hold the key to human longevity?
• From playful otters to pint-size owls, these eight awesome animals call the Chesapeake Bay home.
• Celebrate man's best friend with these 15 photographs of good dogs.
• Aye-ayes: the strange nocturnal lemurs with long, creepy fingers.

►The Wanderer◄

• Crime and the City: the Falkland Islands.
• The skyline of Paris is filled with zinc rooftops, but can they survive climate change?
• New York, the city of 700 languages.
• Why Oklahoma's Route 66 is the ultimate American road trip for 2026. (I think any part of Route 66 is the ultimate road trip.)
• These 15 photographs illustrate the ancient beauty of Japan.
• An object in a satellite image defies explanation. Could it solve one of aviation's greatest mysteries?
• Aruba: black gold and boas.
• What it takes to tend the world's deadliest garden.

►Fascinating Folk◄

• Artist Marco Grassi crates hyperrealistic paintings teeming with microscopic details.
• Designer Vera West created iconic costumes for Bride of Frankenstein and other classic monster movies. Her mysterious life ended tragically.
• It's almost impossible for Tristan Gooley to get lost. That's one reason he has millions of followers.
• Sixteen-year-old Isaque Carvalho Borges invented an A.I. tool to help cool down the world's hottest cities.
• Jen Pawol became the first female umpire in major league baseball history.
• Maria Mitchell, America's first woman astronomer and mentor to women in science.
• See hundreds of garments that Elizabeth II wore throughout her seven-decade reign.
• Jim Lovell, the Apollo 13 commander who thrived under pressure, died in August at the age of 97.

►I ♥ Lists◄

• The Jewish cozy mystery series that will keep you turning pages.
• 20 non-fiction reads your book club will love.
• 21 twisty new thrillers.
• These atmospheric historical novels are spellbinding.
• Cozy mysteries featuring animals other than cats.
• 13 nature books perfect for Sy Montgomery readers.
• 7 intriguing mysteries set in British institutions.
• Librarians recommend 8 books that changed the shape of politics and reading in America.

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!  

October 2025 at the Desert Botanical Garden

I took a trip to one of my favorite places, the Desert Botanical Garden, the week before Halloween. The weather was glorious, and for once the place wasn't heaving with people. In many of my favorite spots, I felt as though I had the place all to myself, which was quite nice. 

Here are some of the photos I took. I hope you enjoy your virtual visit.

Purple was the color of choice, with Texas sage, Mexican petunias, asters, lavender, and other beauties blooming like crazy. No place else on earth shows its appreciation for rain faster than the desert.

I love how light often gives the cactus a halo.

It's been years since I've seen these cardon cacti (which have been here at the Garden since 1938) so happy and swollen with water. Those storms we got at the end of September were badly needed.

The honeysuckle was blooming like mad.

Two women standing in front of one of the installations of the latest "draw" to the Garden: Desert Pulse. I wasn't that impressed, but I do think this would be much more impressive at night.

A male and female Gambel's quail.

I had almost three dozen quail surrounding me at the Patio Cafe. I always bring raw sunflower kernels to feed them, but this time I had a new treat: dried mealy worms, and they were quite the hit. I'll be bringing them more in the future.

This lizard was basking in the sun in a spot where it thought no one would see it. It didn't anticipate ole Eagle Eye here with my zoom lens!

Part of the Garden's Halloween display.

The Butterfly Pavilion has become so popular that it now has a nursery.

Monarch butterfly

This feeder was very popular.

The Butterfly Pavilion will be closing in a few days, but it will return in the spring.

It was nice to be outside in glorious weather and at one of my very favorite places, but I have to admit that I did miss Denis. Very much.