From the photographic tweets the Desert Botanical Garden has made, Denis and I should make another trip there soon because the bloom season for the cacti has begun. We definitely don't want to miss that!
I've set up a mental cleaning schedule that will hopefully let me have the house ready for Daisy and allow me time to read. That can be tricky, and you'd understand if you could see the "protective coating" on most things here in the house.
It's also a dangerous time of year to sit outside under my big umbrella, in my comfy white rattan chair with its high back and brand-new cushion. Why? Because there are so many butterflies floating through. The one in the photo to the left is either a Queen or a Viceroy butterfly at the Desert Botanical Garden's Butterfly Pavilion, and with names like that, you have to know that they're both related to the best-known butterfly in the world, the Monarch.
But butterflies aren't the only things clamoring for my attention. There are hummingbirds trying to drain all the feeders dry to feed their chicks. They like to see how close to my head they can get when they buzz by. There are Abert's towhees playing on the inflatable rings in the swimming pool. There is so much cheeping going on all around me that I know our back garden will be filled with fuzzy-feathered youngsters soon, demanding to be fed and trying to avoid the lessons their parents are trying to teach them.
Isn't spring glorious? If only it wasn't throwing a monkey wrench into my plans. I have reading I must get done! Oh... and I've got these links that want to get out of the corral. Head 'em up! Mooooooooove 'em out!
►Books & Other Interesting Tidbits◄
- I've loved Brad Parks' stories about the writing life at his local Hardee's. I'm glad they finally paid him the recognition he deserves.
- Sylvia Plath, Nella Larsen, and Charlotte Brontë finally get obituaries in the New York Times.
- The original ladies of crime who paved the way for Agatha Christie.
- A group here in Arizona is seeking to overturn new rules restricting who can send books to specific inmates.
- Tom Gauld's cartoon on the archaeology of the book tower.
- Take a look at the Libro Verticale bookcase.
- Your book may be infested with bedbugs, and here's how to tell.
- There's a new book coming from Book Thief author Markus Zusak.
►Channeling My Inner Indiana Jones◄
- Pointy-headed medieval skulls in Germany may have been Bulgarian "treaty brides."
- Turin, Italy's Museo Egizio (Egyptian Museum) displays the parity of women in ancient Egypt.
- They found seven baseball cards worth a fortune in a crumpled bag. Then they found this.
- A medieval "pot o' gold" was discovered by workers in Holland.
- Explorers have found the 119-year-old shipwreck of the Margaret Olwill at the bottom of Lake Erie.
- Artifacts stolen in a massive archaeological theft have been recovered in Canterbury, England.
►Channeling My Inner Elly Mae Clampett◄
- A study has found that dogs obey women more, and the reason may give you a genuine "Aha!" moment.
- Watch as a couple captures on video two mountain lions playing on their patio.
- Foxes and coyotes are natural enemies...or are they?
- What hummingbirds want.
►I ♥ Lists◄
- Seven great author cameos in movies and television.
- Nine irrational fears we can blame on books.
- Eleven cozy mystery books set in bookstores.
- Ten fictional homes we want to live in.
- One hundred must-read medieval historical fiction novels.
- What your book storage habits say about you.
- I joined two other book bloggers on Jungle Red Writers recently, and we all talked about the new mysteries in 2018 that we were looking forward to the most.
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!
That's the thing about having a lot going on at once, Cathy. Add to that that it's spring, with all of that beauty, and it's hard to focus on reading... Thanks as always for the links. Off now to check out that shipwreck!
ReplyDeleteDon't get your feet wet! ;-)
DeleteI'm still stuck on the 'your book might have bedbugs'....seriously????
ReplyDeleteYeah...don't that just frost the cake?!?
DeleteIrrational fears to blame on books:
ReplyDeleteAnd I'll add movies here as some overlap:
Fear of heights associated with "Vertigo," the movie.
Fear of birds which an ex-partner has and was quite exacerbated by the film "The Birds."
But I will say that I got a fear of seeing eyeballs after reading a mystery where someone opens a freezer and a pair of eyeballs stared out at him. Done. I closed the book and will avoid any book with that particular aspect.
And Snow White: I was taken to this at the age of four. My mother had to take me home as I crawled under the seat, terrified at the wicked queen with the poisoned apple.
I don't have a fear of apples, eat them daily. But I do fear wicked queens in movies who look like she did.
The things that frighten us always interest me.
DeleteWell, ever since my former partner saw The Birds, he was afraid of birds. If we were walking down a big city street and a group of pigeons were walking around, looking for food, we'd have to cross the street. He was afraid they'd attack.
ReplyDeleteSee what Hitchcock could do to people?
I forgot about Psycho, the movie. I did not even see this movie, but at 15, my cousin, 16, saw it and told me on the telephone all about the shower scene.
ReplyDeleteResult: I did not take a shower for a week and never saw nor wanted to see the movie.
This is why I avoid horror movies and scary books.