A Let's Get This Show on the Road Weekly Link Round-Up

Tuesday, I had a follow-up appointment with my ophthalmologist who said that my left eye healed "perfectly" from that superficial keratectomy. (If anything, this business with my eyes gives my spelling accuracy a workout!) I also learned that the haziness in that eye is normal and just a sign of healing. I wish it would hurry up because it's driving me nuts. All you fellow visual folk will understand.

Now I have a date set for the second corneal procedure: October 19. I also have a tentative date for the first cataract surgery. The doctor is staggering procedures so there is as little time as possible for me to have "wonky eyes," i.e. one that's fixed and one that's not. Perhaps I should find that old pirate eyepatch of mine. It could help with wonky eye syndrome. What do you think?

Now that I know what that keratectomy is all about, I've lost almost all the fear I had before. Now I want everything to be over and done with as quickly as possible.

In the meantime, I've been reading some excellent books and finishing up small knitting projects in preparation for cooler weather. Now that my wrist seems to have healed, I want to finish (finally!) an afghan I'm making. It's knit with a double strand of bulky yarn, done in one piece, and is going to be eight feet long when completed, so it's quite a weight to hoist up and down and back and forth when one wrist doesn't work!

Since it's still over 100° here in the Valley of the Sun, I'll mosey on out to the corral to check on those links. They've been awfully noisy today. Head 'em up! Mooooooooove 'em out!

►Books & Other Interesting Tidbits◄

• If you could add one book to the high school curriculum, what would it be?
• InstaNovels: Bringing classic literature to Instagram stories. 
• How iconic cookbooks reflect the politics of the world around them.
• Have we ever had enough time to read?
• Crime fiction, banned books, and the prison-industrial complex.
• How to talk about policing in crime fiction. 
• Is social media influencing book cover design? 
• The new thirst for Australian crime reads.

►Channeling My Inner Indiana Jones◄

• A hidden medieval door leading to smugglers' caves has been discovered underneath a castle in Scotland.
• Why Brazil's National Museum fire was a devastating blow to South America's cultural heritage. 
• Hundreds of Roman gold coins were found in the basement of an old theater in northern Italy.
• Was Mona Lisa's enigmatic smile caused by a thyroid condition?
• Artificial intelligence can now decipher medieval graffiti.
• What was "eye cream" doing in a 2,200-year-old tomb in west Turkey?

►Channeling My Inner Elly Mae Clampett◄

• A study found that nesting house finches added cigarette butts to their nests in order to repel parasitic ticks.
• 113 sea turtles have been found dead on a beach in Mexico.
• Like humans, some birds blush to communicate.
• Do animals experience grief? 
• Harley the dog's incredible story of survival after falling overboard in a storm.
• Sniffer dogs represent the latest weapon in the fight against the illegal ivory trade.

►The Happy Wanderer◄

• Crime and the City visits Norway's (Noir) capital.
• The elusive "unicorn" plant has been spotted in Maine for the first time in 131 years.
• A drone has captured the first images of an uncontacted Amazon tribe. 
• Crime and the City: Phoenix.

►I ♥ Lists◄

• What do astronauts read on the International Space Station?
• Five mystery movies that inspired Alfred Hitchcock.
• Ten unforgettable novels inspired by real crimes.
• These are the twenty books travelers are always leaving behind at their hotels. 
• Twenty-five of the new words Merriam-Webster is adding to the dictionary in 2018.
• Nine novels in which houses have a life of their own.
• Nine South African thrillers that will leave you reeling.
• Ten hard-boiled crime novels for George Pelecanos fans.

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!