It's a Bloomin' Weekly Link Round-Up

Did you know that Phoenix, Arizona used to get a lot of referrals from doctors? They figured this dry, desert air would be ideal for folks with lung ailments-- like asthma, allergies, and tuberculosis. But there's one "figure" they didn't add to their equations, and that's the fact that something is always in bloom here. (Just ask my sinuses!)

One of the ways we celebrated my birthday and our wedding anniversary this week was by wandering through the Water Ranch, and as you can see to the right, the brittlebush is in bloom, and so is the globemallow, and the rabbitbrush, and the... You get the picture! I can't wait to see what things look like in the next few weeks when spring is officially here. (Yes, it does arrive here before many other places in the U.S.)

When doctors got wise to the pollen counts, they stopped referring their "lung patients" here but by then it didn't matter. The valley rocks and rolls at this time of year when all the winter visitors are here.

Denis and I saw quite a few critters on our wanderings, although we didn't manage to photograph them all. I'll be sharing a few photos in the near future. In the meantime, I need to head out to the link corral before I do any more celebratory strolls. Head 'em up! Moooooove 'em out!

►Books & Other Interesting Tidbits◄

• See the world's most spoken languages in one eye-opening infographic.
• Horse-riding librarians were the Great Depression's bookmobiles.
• How a dubious forensic science spread like a virus.
• Poisoned Pen Press will become Sourcebooks' mystery imprint.
• Instagram is helping save the indie bookstore.
• Have bad handwriting? The U.S. Postal Service has your back. 
• This couple has a personal library of 10,000 books, and we want them to adopt us.
• How Hollywood gets the publishing industry wrong.

►Channeling My Inner Indiana Jones◄

• Kintsugi: the centuries-old art of repairing broken pottery with gold.
• Alba amicorum: the original Facebook for Renaissance teens?
• A preserved horse-- saddled, harnessed, and ready to flee-- was found in a villa outside Pompeii.
• An Israeli woman stumbled upon Roman busts. (Wish I could do something like that. I only trip over my own feet!) 
• A Christmas card addressed to the Bletchley codebreakers has been rediscovered.
• Pablita Velarde's paintings of traditional Pueblo culture. (I've seen a few, and they're marvelous.)
• London archaeologists have unearthed a subterranean Georgian-Era ice store. 
• Could these fossils push back the history of flowers?

►Channeling My Inner Elly Mae Clampett◄

• California's Monarch butterfly population is down 86% in one year.
• Twenty-one Madagascar pochards-- one of the world's rarest birds-- have been reintroduced to the wild.
• These new beetle species are named after the Game of Thrones dragons.
• The first right whale calf in two years has been spotted off the Florida coast.
• Swamp cancer has killed seven of Chincoteague's beloved wild ponies. 
• This lobster trap aims to protect endangered whales and fishers' livelihoods. 
• Oysters open and close their shells as the moon wanes and waxes.
• When choosing a mate, these female birds prefer brains over beauty or brawn.

►Fascinating Folk◄

• Remembering Nancy Grace Roman, a trail-blazing astronomer known as the Mother of the Hubble.
• Jeffrey Lendrum, the egg thief.

►The Happy Wanderer◄

• Cecil Court, a charming 17th-century alley lined with secondhand bookstores and antiquarian shops in London.

►I ♥ Lists & Quizzes◄

• Which Dewey Decimal number are you? My Answer? "550s: weather and geology. You're volatile and fiery, yet constant and stable. Small children and umbrella manufacturers know they always can count on you."
• Check yourself for these five common grammatical mistakes.
• Crime fiction's best and worst meals (written by Martin Walker).
• 2018: A year in Sherlockiana.
• The most anticipated crime shows of 2019. 
• Twenty covers for Dashiell Hammett's Red Harvest.
• Twenty-seven forgotten book covers from your childhood that you'll immediately remember on sight.
• Thirty of the best historical fiction novels coming in 2019.

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!