A Something to Look Forward to Weekly Link Round-Up

 

Another quiet week here, although it was exciting that we had a couple of days of rain. Arizona is like a tinderbox. At one point, twenty wildfires were raging here. I can't help but think with the timing of this past week's rains that Mother Nature was trying to wet everything down before everyone started shooting off fireworks.

 

I never know which way Denis is going to jump, but I'm beginning to think that he's wanting to get out and about so badly that he'd go anywhere. I approached him about going to the Immersive Van Gogh Exhibit in Scottsdale, and his approval of the idea came so quickly my head spun. If you want to know more about it, just click on the link.

I'm really looking forward to going, and the date on our tickets made me smile-- my grandmother's birthday. 

While I'm daydreaming about Van Gogh, enjoy the links!

►Books & Other Interesting Tidbits◄

• Authors of long-running series face a difficult question: how should their characters age?
• The P.I. of color: when it's about more than the crime. 
• Donations flood in to restore a Gaza bookshop destroyed by Israeli airstrikes.
• How the Santa Fe Railroad changed America forever.
• Why does every American graduation play Pomp and Circumstance?
• The enduring nostalgia of American Girl dolls.
• Why more public libraries are doubling as food distribution hubs.
• British phrases explained in an amusing four-part series.

 

►Channeling My Inner Indiana Jones◄

• Archaeologists have uncovered a 3,000-year-old shark attack victim.
• A metal detectorist has discovered coins dating from the period of the Black Death. More on this from Live Science.
  
• Archivists have found Vincent van Gogh sketches used as a bookmark.
• Unesco is weighing changes to Stonehenge's cultural heritage status.
• The lost edges of Rembrandt's Night Watch are restored using artificial intelligence.
• The mystery of Easter Island's statues is becoming clearer as scientists investigate a quarry.
• Workers at the Alamo discovered three bodies during restoration efforts at the historic Spanish mission.
• Bet you can't guess what a 1,700-year-old rotten egg smells like.

 

►Channeling My Inner Elly Mae Clampett◄

• An Australian mouse presumed to be extinct for over a century has been found alive on an island in Western Australia. 
• A man set out an ice cube for a parched squirrel to drink from during the record-breaking heat wave in Portland.
• Elusive Chinese mountain cats aren't domestic cats' ancestors.
• This gecko named Mr. Frosty and his 900 babies may inspire human skin cancer treatments.
• A drone timelapse of sheep being herded. (That'll do, Pig. That'll do.)
• An imaginative photographer built an entire Hobbit village for the mice who live in his back garden.
• Watch a hungry elephant crash through a kitchen wall in Thailand while searching for salty snacks. (I wonder if State Farm will cover that claim...)
• Watch a pair of kittens intensely watch a Tom & Jerry cartoon on their humans' computer.
• The cardiovascular secrets of giraffes.
• Watch a tiny wolf pup try howling for the very first time.

 

►The Happy Wanderer◄

• This haunted, abandoned village in Scotland can be yours for $173,000.
• In a 345-million-year-old cave that's 200 feet below ground in Peach Springs, Arizona, the Caverns Grotto Restaurant is waiting to serve you. (This is a cave system that links up with the nearby Grand Canyon.)
• Eighteen beautiful beaches that have secrets.
• Listen to more than one million hours of sounds from the Republic of Congo's rainforests.
• "Disrespect for our national treasures: hundreds of feet of grafitti  and sewage were found in Antelope Canyon in northern Arizona.
• I think I'll add the ghost town of Ardmore, South Dakota to my road trip list.

►I ♥ Lists◄ 

• Five great movies based on Patricia Highsmith novels (that aren't the Ripley adaptations).
• Seven mystery novels where the crimes are motivated by books.
• Cozy mysteries for gardeners.
• The seven essential elements for fishing-related crime fiction.
• The crime books top authors read twice because they're just that good.
• The eight best beach reads for lovers of the literary novel.
• Eight real murder cases that inspired classic mystery novels.
• The early careers of twelve famous novelists.
• Top writers choose their perfect crime.
• Eighteen non-fiction books recommended by authors.

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.

Don't forget to spend some time curled up with a good book!