It's odd how spring can turn my thoughts to reorganization. (Notice how I didn't say deep cleaning.) Things that have quite happily been the status quo for years suddenly need to be redone. Moved around. Made better. That's what happened to the kitchen countertops and some of the cupboards this past week.
I don't cook as much as I did in years past while Denis keeps upgrading his coffee machine-- to the point where all his coffee paraphernalia no longer fit the countertop to which I'd assigned it. A change was definitely in order.
The first thing we did was empty out the cupboards in the new area, throw out/recycle what was no longer needed, and move all his coffee makings down to the emptied and cleaned big corner cupboard. (We cleaned out two, but I commandeered the smaller one.) Then it was on to moving everything on the countertops, giving them a good clean, and turning the old coffee station into the new sandwich-making station and vice versa. Looks good, even if I do say so myself-- and it might help me in one regard.
Ever since I was a small child, the smell of percolating coffee has made me nauseous. Don't know why; it just does. But my mother loved her coffee, so I got used to being sick every morning. I did have a few years' respite, but what did I go and do? Marry another coffee lover-- an even bigger one than the first. Ah well. He's more than worth the daily queasy stomach-- even though I did manage to move his coffee station further away from where I sit in the family room...
I think it's time for sneaky little ole me to go out and check those links. Head 'em up! Mooooooooove 'em out!
►Books & Other Interesting Tidbits◄
- The Library of Congress will ditch the subject heading "Illegal Aliens."
- In an era when everything is recorded, researchers and authors face new challenges-- and new opportunities to find the truth.
- Washington Department of Corrections quietly banned book donations to prisoners from nonprofits. Then they wisely reversed their decision.
- When a laundromat becomes a library.
- A Canadian couple found a $1 million winning lotto ticket in a book a year later.
- Kids whose parents read to them hear up to 1.4 million more words.
- For centuries, know-it-alls carried beautiful miniature almanacs wherever they went.
- Ice cream was an invaluable part of the American arsenal.
►Channeling My Inner Indiana Jones◄
- A revelatory cache of papers has been found in Vincent van Gogh's former London home.
- Archeologists believe a find in Norway is a rare Viking ship burial.
- After thirty years of doubt, a painting of poppies has been authenticated as a van Gogh.
- An 819-year-old royal charter issued by King John has been found in a university archive.
- A newly discovered stash of Aztec relics may lead to a long lost royal tomb.
- A fake Botticelli Madonna turns out to be authentic.
- A 14-year-old schoolboy in Scotland discovered the lost Govan stone.
- A rare Harry Potter book sold for nearly $100,000.
►Channeling My Inner Elly Mae Clampett◄
- Meet Mini mum, Mini scule, and Mini ature, three new frog species among the world's smallest.
- The world's deadliest pathogen on record devastates more than 500 amphibian species-- and we don't know how to stop it.
- A frisky little puppy acts as a personal seeing eye dog for his older canine brother.
- Great white sharks thrive despite heavy metals coursing through their veins.
- Indonesia considers closing Komodo Island because poachers keep stealing the dragons.
- Why did flamingos flock to Mumbai in record numbers this winter?
- Yes, giant technicolor squirrels actually roam the forests of southern India.
- A poacher hunting rhinos was trampled to death by an elephant and his body eaten by lions.
►The Happy Wanderer◄
- These beautiful maps capture the rivers that pulse through our world.
- The world's oldest housing complex where rent hasn't gone up for 500 years.
- This ancient Roman bathhouse in Algeria is still in use today.
- Bucharest: From decades of hardline dictatorship, Romanian crime fiction is emerging.
- Solved: The 35-year-old mystery of the Garfield phones on a French beach.
- Found: The largest river delta the Earth has ever seen, and another article about it from the Smithsonian.
- Melting glaciers on Denali will unleash tons of human poop. (Too bad all those climbers couldn't carry the stuff back out with them.)
- Take in the scene of Washington's cherry blossoms at peak bloom.
►Fascinating Folk◄
- Vincent van Gogh, a literary life and the writers who influenced him.
- James McClure: A crime reader's guide to the classics. He wrote an unflinching series about an unlikely pair in apartheid South Africa.
- Arthur Brand, the "Indiana Jones of the art world," found a Picasso stolen twenty years ago from a Saudi billionaire.
- Norman Lloyd, at 104, the oldest actor in Hollywood.
- Internet sleuths were on the case to name the women archaeologists in these excavation photos.
►I ♥ Lists & Quizzes◄
- Amid the decluttering craze, the Washington Post asked famous bibliophiles how they live with their collections.
- Thirteen Game of Thrones-themed tours you can take around the world.
- Nine facts about librarians you probably didn't know.
- Twenty-five of the best covers for Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man.
- Twenty-three killer crime movies of the 21st century.
- Eight places to celebrate American poets.
- Who Said It: Teddy Roosevelt or a Game of Thrones character?
- Merriam-Webster's Name That Thing: Animal Edition.
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!
It's interesting, isn't it, Cathy, how different smells impact us in different ways. Now, me, I love the smell of coffee. But there are other smells that make me nauseous that other people love. So I know what you mean. Your kitchen cleanup sounds great, and at least you don't have to smell the coffee from your family room... Now, off to check out those Aztec relics.
ReplyDeleteThe sense of smell can be a wonderful thing. I still remember the smell of something cooking in Pleasant Hill, Kentucky when I visited in 1972! And on a walk home from work years ago, I smelled lilacs and used my nose to track them down. The poor woman who owned them came to her patio door thinking that the strange woman on the other side of her fence didn't look like the typical burglar! LOL
DeleteI used to get the urge to reorganize in the spring, but now I lie down and let it pass.
ReplyDeleteI do start planning to order things I need and began thinking about planting window boxes. I don't reorganize anymore.
And today on my block I saw trees starting to bloom. It's getting greener, the life cyrcle regenerates. It brings life and hope, a lovely season.
I'm happy to hear that spring is finally arriving in your neck of the woods.
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