A What Day Is It Weekly Link Round-Up

I thought I was bullet-proof as far as being stuck at home during this pandemic. Well... I thought wrong! Last week I had a book giveaway that ended this past Sunday at noon. Or it was supposed to. Seems like I forgot what day it was, had Denis choose the winning number, notified the winner, and got the book ready for the mail... on Saturday evening. Oops! I didn't even realize my error until Sunday morning, and was my face ever red! Then I was on tenterhooks, wondering what I was going to do if someone else entered the giveaway before the deadline. Fortunately, no one did. Whew! Now I've got all sorts of alerts set up to remind me of the correct date for my next giveaway. (Stay tuned for one on Monday.)

I shared a similar photo on Facebook. This shows the new additions to my side of the bedroom, mainly my lymphedema pump on the second shelf of my nightstand and the leg sleeves on the quilt rack. As an added bonus, you can also catch a glimpse of my lavender afghan, a big bolster for my knees, a small bolster for my neck... and I know that none of you started looking to see how many books I have on my nightstand. Why on earth would you want to do that?

If you want to get really technical, I have 368 books on my nightstand. Two physical ones and 366 on my kindle which is on top of the stack. I have to have reading material, not just for when I go to bed at night but also to keep myself occupied for an hour every afternoon when I'm laying across the bed having the pump s-q-u-e-e-z-e my legs to get all those sluggish fluids in my body moving in the right direction. It's a bit like getting into bed with a boa constrictor.

It's almost time to hook myself up to the infernal machine, so I'd better quickstep out to the link corral. Head 'em up! Moooove 'em out!

►Books & Other Interesting Tidbits◄

• I might just check these out. The Museum of Modern Art now offers free online classes.
• A mother's killer, found through the power of language and grief.
• These artists used clay to build their dream homes in miniature. 
• Stephen King is sorry you feel like you're stuck in a Stephen King novel.
• Memories, hauntings, and the meaning of home.
• The CIA's fake scrotum that hid a radio. (Youtube video)
• COVID-19's impact on libraries goes beyond books.
• Social media fakeness is bad for our psyches but great for crime writers.

►Channeling My Inner Indiana Jones◄

• Take a virtual tour of two recently excavated homes in Pompeii.
• Turkey's newest luxury hotel "floats" over 2,300-year-old ruins.
• A rare aerial photo of Stonehenge shows how the iconic monument was slotted together with holes "like early Lego."
• Two men were arrested after trying to steal stones from Notre-Dame.
• The movie poster for The Invisible Man sold for $182,400 at Heritage Auctions.
• The glamorous possessions of Doris Day raised $3 million at a charity auction. 
• Archaeologists have found the graves of high-status Romans in Somerset.
• The world's oldest illustrated book has been discovered in an Egyptian sarcophagus.

►Channeling My Inner Elly Mae Clampett◄

• In a first, researchers record penguins vocalizing under water.
• Seventeen photos prove capybara can befriend every other species.
• The amazing winners of the 2019 Bird Photographer of the Year contest. 
• This busy cockatoo removes anti-nesting spikes and throws them away.
• Humpback whales are back in the Columbia River.
• Meet the white-browed tit-warbler, the bird with a beautiful rainbow coloring.
• Hand-reared monarch butterflies are weaker than their wild cousins.
• Animals are taking adorable field trips during quarantine.

►Mother Nature Responds to COVID-19◄

• Satellite data show a 30% drop in air pollution over the northeastern United States.
• A herd of javelinas was spotted at a Scottsdale shopping mall.
• Yosemite National Park is closed to visitors. Now, bears are thriving. 
• Goats take over empty Welsh streets during the coronavirus lockdown.
• While India is on quarantine, thousands of undisturbed sea turtles laid an estimated 60 million eggs.
• How COVID-19 is affecting the United States' national parks.

►The Happy Wanderer◄

• Take a look inside the grandest rooms of Queen Elizabeth's palaces.
• The Rijksmuseum is open online.

►Fascinating Folk◄

• Megan Allen on crafting an animal rights thriller. 
• Donna Leon on Italian culture, environmentalism, and her long-running series.
• Susan Pringle Frost, the suffragist with a passion for saving Charleston's historic architecture.

►I ♥ Lists◄

• The best rain in literature.
• 7 fictional con artists and the communities they swindled.
• The new wave of California crime fiction.
• 36 of the best crime drama and thriller shows on Amazon Prime: 2020 edition. 
• 13 first-in-series mysteries to keep you entertained while under quarantine.
• 8 female novelists share their ultimate quarantine reading list. 
• Top ten books about Londoners.
• Librarian Picks: 10 books I would prescribe to cure the blues.

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.

Stay safe. Stay healthy. Practice social distancing by curling up with good books!