Friday, July 22, 2016

Strange Fruit for a Weekly Link Round-Up




My quiet summer continues. The monsoon season doesn't know if it wants to show up or not, although a microburst came through Monday night that made getting to work interesting for Denis. The street he usually takes into the airport was closed due to a large uprooted tree, and the alternate he took was under two feet of water, but that seemed to be the most interesting part of his shift. 

Strange cactus fruit
Me? I'm getting chores done so I can go out to the pool and read like a house afire. For the most part, I've chosen some choice books that you'll be hearing all about in the days to come. I'm not getting much knitting done because it's too hot to work on a large project (not the time of year to work on an afghan!), and I keep losing concentration on small projects if they're the least bit complicated. Planning menus is about as complicated as I'm getting lately.

I just had to share this photo I took at the Desert Botanical Garden. Some species of cactus look like they're from outer space, and-- as you can see-- so do their fruit. If these hadn't been so high up on the cactus (and out in an area where we're not supposed to walk), I'd go up and feel one of them. It looks as though they'd feel all soft and furry, don't they? I'd just love to put that to the test!

In the mean time, I hear complaints coming from the link corral, so I'll get down to business. Head 'em up! Mooooooooove 'em out!


 ►Books, Movies & Other Interesting Tidbits◄

►Channeling My Inner Indiana Jones◄
  • How the key to the Bastille ended up in George Washington's possession.
  • Siberian archaeologists found a 5,000-year-old skeleton couple holding hands
  • Twenty-three more wrecks have been found at a Greek hotspot for sunken ships
  • "Britain's Pompeii" was a Bronze Age "new build" site. 
  • A tomb in the Great Pyramid of Giza is protected by a primitive machine built by ancient Egyptians. 
  • How China is rewriting the book on human origins. 
  • In the first-ever Philistine cemetery to be discovered, archaeologists are wondering if they've found Goliath's burial site
  • A rare Noah's Ark mosaic has been uncovered in an ancient synagogue in Israel. 
  • A discovery that dates from the Stone Age could rewrite ancient history.

►Channeling My Inner Elly Mae Clampett◄
  • Ducklings are as clever as they are cute.
  • The island of Luzon has the world's highest concentration of unique mammals. 
  • An entire boar family came to watch one of its youngsters being freed from a fence.
  • New programs being set up in the American West will pay landowners to preserve animal habitat, but will they work?
  • Need a pick-me-up? Take a look at this baby beaver that can't even control its own tail. 
  • The secret life of urban hedgehogs
  • At the turn of the twentieth century, why did American cats get blamed for so many divorces? 
  • Dinosaurs may have been cooers and mumblers, not roarers.

►The Happy Wanderer◄

►Fascinating Folk◄
  • One of my favorite artists, American Master William Merritt Chase, is coming back into fashion. 
  • Seductress Betty Pack stole secrets that helped defeat the Nazis.
  • First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln gets a modern-day medical diagnosis. 
  • Maud Wagner, the first female tattoo artist in the United States.
  • Van Gogh cut off a lot more than his earlobe. 
  • The secret midnight paintings of Dr. Seuss

►I ♥ Lists & Quizzes◄


That's all for this week! Don't forget to stop by next Friday when I'll be sharing a freshly selected batch of links for your surfing pleasure.

Have a great weekend, and read something fabulous!


 

4 comments:

  1. You know, Cathy, sometimes, a quiet summer is a tonic. I don't blame you for wanting to drink it in. That 'photo is lovely, by the way. Now, if you'll excuse me, I've some sunken ships to explore in Greece...

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    1. You and I have a bit of the archaeologist in us, don't we? :-)

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  2. That cactus fruit does look soft and furry, and it is a lovely photo. I have to check out the potato battery, because it would make a great science project for my rocket scientist nephew! I saw the Philistine cemetery bones in the news this week and found it fascinating! Thanks for all those wonderful links!! :)

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