A Love Is in the Air Weekly Link Round-Up

One thing that I noticed when Denis and I went to the Water Ranch at the end of January is that love was in the air. Or sometimes on the rocks beneath our feet.

Some afternoon delight for two Variegated Meadowhawk dragonflies.

Amidst all the dozing mallards, fishing egrets, paddling pelicans, and swooping ospreys, there were dragonflies darting everywhere. Usually in pairs. Like the two in the photo above who enjoyed quite a bit of afternoon delight regardless of how many were around to watch. I know. Shame on Denis and me for photographing them. Let's give them some privacy. I'll head out to the link corral and leave them alone.  Shhhh...

Head 'em up! Mooooooooooove 'em out!

►Books & Other Interesting Tidbits◄

• Rocking isn't just for babies. It helps adults-- and mice-- fall asleep, too.
• A Japanese architect has designed a home with an earthquake-proof climbable bookshelf.
• The unadaptable me in Hollywood.
• Smithsonian staffers scramble to make up time lost during the government shutdown. 
• What is wind chill, and how does it affect the human body?
• Dr. Seuss's letters to the friend who launched his career are for sale.
• Jane Harper: As a reporter, she wrote about business. As a novelist, she writes about murder.
• Why do French readers love American noir?

►Channeling My Inner Indiana Jones◄

• One of Oxford's greatest treasures likely belonged to the legendary King Alfred the Great. 
• Canadian archives have acquired the book that would have guided the North American Holocaust.
• Road workers in Florida sent out to repair a sinkhole got a surprise when they discovered it was caused by a tunnel leading to a nearby bank.
• Fragments of an early Arthurian legend have been found in a 16th-century book. 
• Egypt has unveiled an ancient burial site at Tuna el-Gebel that's home to fifty mummies.

►Channeling My Inner Elly Mae Clampett◄

• A new study showcases the three-toed sloth's unsung adaptability.
• Nearly 35,000 sandhill cranes migrate to the Sulphur Springs Valley each winter.
• A gemologist has found an insect entombed in opal instead of amber.
• The newly discovered leaf-tailed gecko from Madagascar is already threatened by the pet trade.
• Joshua Tree National Park may feel the effects of the government shutdown for up to 300 years. (Why was this behavior necessary?)
• The CDC cautions against kissing pet hedgehogs.
• Chickens might lay your future prescriptions.
• These are the best practices for underwater photographers hoping to protect marine life.

►The Happy Wanderer◄

• That weird San Francisco mansion in Hitchcock's Vertigo had a history.
• How to explore literary Yorkshire. 
• Remembering the forgotten female artists of Vienna.

►Fascinating Folk◄

• Leonardo da Vinci: 500 years after his death his genius shines as bright as ever. 
• Meet Candice Payne, the Chicago woman who rented hotel rooms for the homeless during the deep freeze.
• Robert McGinnis: a life in paperback art.
• The real ice queens: women who conquered the cold wearing corsets.

►I ♥ Lists & Quizzes◄

• Eight thrillers featuring scandals, secrets, and not-so-nice people. 
• Top ten musical novels. 
• Pop Quiz: Did Mark Twain Really Say That?
• Twenty-four children's stories that still give us the creeps.
• Twelve books we should stop making high schoolers read. 
• The biggest World War II novels hitting the shelves this year.
• Fifty great short stories, chosen by Hilary Mantel, George Saunders, and others.

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!