Things are going well here at Casa Kittling. No one has doctor's appointments. Nothing's broken and needs to be serviced or repaired. (Knock wood.) Denis and I are making plans to check out the Musical Instrument Museum in Scottsdale. Evidently, it's one of the top-rated museums in the country and we've never been there, so we have to remedy that. Naturally, we'll share our visit whenever we do go.
I'm also digging through a bunch of older photos on my computer in order to put together a blog post, all because of a book I read recently. Preston and Child's second Nora Kelly mystery The Scorpion's Tail really got me thinking (and reliving) some of the trails Denis and I have been on. Trails that took us well off the beaten path to show us so many things that make Arizona special. Trails that were even a bit scary. So that will be coming up soon.
While I'm talking about upcoming events, I might as well give you a heads up about Monday. Monday will be the first day of a Four Book Giveaway that will give you an opportunity to win an autographed book written by a favorite author... or to sample a book from one you've never read before. That's one of the things I like so much about giveaways-- you have the chance to sample new authors at absolutely no cost to you.
Enjoy the links!
►Books & Other Interesting Tidbits◄
- How TikTok makes backlist books into bestsellers.
- What the color of the tag on your bread bag really means.
- Christopher Fowler on why Bryant and May haven't made it to TV.
- The bookish rituals that keep Laura Sackton grounded.
- Why authors are turning down lucrative deals in favor of Substack.
- Video: How to properly pronounce the names of English towns.
- The only way out is through: on reading slumps.
- The evolution of the college dorm chronicles how colleges became less white and male.
- Classrooms without walls: a forgotten age of open-air schools.
►Channeling My Inner Indiana Jones◄
- See the scrap of cloth believed to be from Elizabeth I's only surviving dress.
- A trove of 239 rare gold coins have been found in the walls of a French mansion.
- Hong Kong is previewing a newly discovered Napoleon hat, complete with DNA.
- Missing ancient Mesopotamian artifacts have been seized in Norway.
- How the Louvre is protecting its cultural treasures against extreme weather.
- Artistic giant Michelangelo was actually quite short.
- The remains of 9,000-year-old beer have been found in China.
- The Maya's ingenious secret to survival.
- A lost monastery run by an early medieval queen has been discovered in England.
►Channeling My Inner Elly Mae Clampett◄
- In a stunning photo, cheetahs are seen battling a raging river in Kenya. Did they survive?
- This thrifty squirrel stored its stash of walnuts inside a car hood.
- This tiny endangered fish stopped the construction of a Federal dam in 1975. Now the species has finally recovered.
- Animals are changing shape to cope with rising temperatures.
- Why is the color blue so rare in nature?
- The finalists in the 2021 Comedy Wildlife Photo Awards are all here to make us smile.
- Listen as millions of Monarch butterflies make one of the rarest sounds on earth.
- In Yellowstone National Park, watch as a wolf bites a grizzly bear in the butt.
- Armies of "sniffer puppies" are being recruited by the police to overcome the shortage of adult dogs.
►The Wanderer◄
- The first museum dedicated to the American Arts and Crafts movement has opened in Florida.
- The only bookstore on Najafi Street.
- A 22-acre Scottish island is on sale for $70,000, and it's filled with wildlife and completely devoid of people. (Where's my bag and bank loan?)
- Hurricane Ida damaged the Whitney Plantation, the only Louisiana museum to focus on the enslaved.
►Craftsmanship & Artistry◄
- Using nothing but everyday newspaper, expert paper artist Chie Hitotsuyama crafts realistic, exquisitely detailed sculptures of the animal kingdom.
►Fascinating Folk◄
- How the U.S. government deployed Grandma Moses overseas during the Cold War.
- Keith Roysdon: All I really need to know I learned covering homicides.
- McIlvanney and Me: Ian Rankin remembers the man who created Tartan Noir.
- Calvin Graham, the tragic teen hero of World War II.
- Richard Osman: "No one's born a crime writer. I write crime because I read it."
- Seventeen-year-old Ku Stevens recently honored his great-grandfather by retracing his boarding school escape.
►I ♥ Lists◄
- The highest-earning Jeopardy! winners of all time.
- Ten crime novels about the cutthroat business of culture.
- Twenty-one of the best books coming out this fall.
- Six Sci-Fi movies coming to Amazon Prime in September 2021.
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. And don't forget to curl up with a good book!
Glad everything's going smoothly right now, Cathy. That lull can be so nice! I'll be really interested in hearing about your visit to the musical instrument museum; it sounds fascinating and I'll bet there are some beautiful instruments to see. I'm off to check out those Mesopotamian artifacts and that monastery!
ReplyDeleteWe've been to the museum, and it's absolutely fabulous! The problem is, I took so many photos that it's going to be difficult to sort through them all to decide which ones to share.
DeleteSo nice to have a quiet week for a change and a museum visit to look forward to! Lots of interesting links this week, I better get busy.
ReplyDeleteHave a good weekend!
Enjoy your weekend, Gretchen!
DeleteI've just crawled back out of the wormhole created by all these fun links...time flies in there. LOL
ReplyDeleteYou just made me think of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine! LOL
DeleteAnother great Link Roundup!
ReplyDeleteThanks! Glad you're enjoying them.
DeleteWhen did you put in a link about octopi? I can't find it.
ReplyDeleteI know that I've included more than one link to octopi in the past, but I can't remember exactly when. If I've got time in the near future (and can remember), I'll go through some of the past round-ups to see if I can find what you're talking about.
DeleteI found it and was laughing at the female octopi throwing stuff at males that were harassing them. So these creatures think!
ReplyDeleteNeed a Mee Too Movement for sea creatures!
Yes. It's good to see that some of them have found ways to retaliate.
DeleteThat's Me Too Movement. (I'm tired today)
ReplyDeleteSo am I.
Delete