It's All for a Good Cause Weekly Link Round-Up

Last week saw me at the Abrazo Central Campus Hospital's lymphedema clinic for the first time. They took detailed measurements of both legs, talked to me about diet (no dairy...*whimper*), and the therapy session ended with my legs being put into a three-part machine, two parts of which look a bit like golf bags. The "golf bags" extended from my toes all the way to the tops of my legs, and when turned on, gradually increasing pressure began from the arches of my feet all the way to the tops of my legs. The pressure would end, then start at the arches and work its way up again. Over and over for forty-five minutes.

That severe case of cellulitis I had hoodwinked my body into retaining fluids, and gravity makes those fluids travel down into my legs. (This is one time when my long legs are more of a hindrance than a help.) This machine is used to force the fluids being retained in the lower extremities back up, up, up so my kidneys can take care of it. I'll probably be getting a different sort of compression bandage as well.

After only one treatment, my leg was even skinnier and the pain in my knees had lessened. Huzzah! The downside is that I have to go to the clinic twice a week for the next month, which cuts down on the time Denis and I are able to visit places like the Desert Botanical Garden--which we'd done the day before. (Photos to come!) Don't worry, I still have my priorities straight. Getting this leg back in shape is the most important thing right now, even though it is aggravating that something medical is-- once again-- cutting into our O & A (out and about) time. Besides... that forty-five minutes in the golf bags? Reading time!

Now let's check out those links!

►Books & Other Interesting Tidbits◄

• Dream Job Alert: Reese Witherspoon is hiring a librarian for her book club.
• "They know us better than we know ourselves": how Amazon tracked Kari Paul's last two years of reading.
• Wow!-- Yarn grown from human skin cells could be knitted into your body. (The whole science of skin grafts would be revolutionized...by knitting!) 
• How World War I planted the seeds of the Civil Rights Movement. 
• This presentation shows how quilts served as "Morse Code" for slaves seeking freedom.
• Nancy Drew and the mystery of why some dude writer though it would be a good idea to kill her.
• Take a look behind the "small doors to imaginary spaces" within bookshelves.
• In the U.S., library visits outpaced trips to the movies in 2019.

►Channeling My Inner Indiana Jones◄

• Europe's oldest intact book has been discovered inside the coffin of a saint.
• A rare Charlotte Brontë "little book" will be going on show at Haworth. (Exactly where it should be!)
• This 2,000-year-old skull may belong to Pliny the Elder. 
• A 14th-century steam bath has been found in Mexico City.
• Listen to the voice of a 3,000-year-old mummified Egyptian priest.
• An art historian has identified ten Nazi-looted paintings in the Louvre's collections.
• A shipwreck off Florida's coast pits archaeologists against treasure hunters. 
• Temple Ehécatl, an Aztec structure, remained hidden until the demolition of a supermarket exposed the lost temple.

►Channeling My Inner Elly Mae Clampett◄

• Watch an eager coyote encourage a slow-moving badger into a culvert so they can cross under a highway together.
• Can disease-sniffing dogs save the world's citrus? 
• Albatrosses outfitted with GPS trackers are detecting illegal fishing vessels. 
• A population of endangered ocelots has been discovered in Sonora near the Arizona border.
• The lyrebird may join threatened species as the scale of bird habitat lost to the Australian bushfires emerges.
• Australian rains bring relief from fires...and a surge in deadly spiders.
• A coyote disrupted flights at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport on a recent Monday morning. (Must've been Wile E. checking on a late shipment from ACME.) 
• Cows communicate with unique moos.

►The Happy Wanderer◄

• The book collection in Belgrade that survived war, fascism, and neglect.
• The crime novels of Beirut. 

►Fascinating Folk◄

• Raye Montague: the "Hidden Figure" who revolutionized naval ship design.

►I ♥ Lists◄

• Twenty-one memorable Virginia Woolf quotes. 
• Ten books where the setting is a character. 
• The creepiest families in fiction.
• Top ten books about the human cost of war.
• Top ten political travel books. 
• The top twelve mystery novels of 2019 according to Strand Magazine.
• In praise of the richly detailed historical crime novel.
• A brief history of strong women in mystery.

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!