A Small Objects, Big Memories Weekly Link Round-Up

 

I don't know about you, but I feel like sitting back and relaxing after another dose of turkey and dressing. I hope you all had a good Thanksgiving Day yesterday, even if you were alone. Sometimes a day to yourself is just what you need. If being alone is the last thing you need, I wish I could give you a hug. I've been there.

Denis and I had a nice quiet day and intend to have another one today, and it's left me with not much left to say until I looked over at the top of my end table. There's an object on it that I rediscovered during the guest bath remodel, and just holding it in my hand brought back so many memories.

 

I brought him out so you could see him better. This little brontosaurus was given to me by my great-grandfather, James Elmer Brown. Pictures of Elmer (or "Dad Brown" as we called him) as a young man show a very handsome dark-haired man whose smile could light up a room. When I knew him, he was an old man with a shiny bald head fringed by a bit of snow white hair.

I was very young when Dad Brown gave me that brontosaurus, and he (and it) are the major reason why I've had a love of dinosaurs my whole life. I've had it tucked away for years, and for some reason, when I saw it in my mind's eye, my little bronto was made of green soapstone, or something like soapstone. However, when Denis handed it to me, I could see that it's made of brass.

Whatever it's made of, it's very simple and very tactile, and reminds me of a man who had a love of puzzles, jokes, and the great outdoors. 

Enjoy the links!

►Books & Other Interesting Tidbits◄

• Alice Henderson on how to use a novel's environment to enhance suspense (like she did in A Blizzard of Polar Bears).
• What Agatha Christie's novels-- and life-- have to teach today's crime writers.
• Bringing books to children that speak their language.
• Twitter is the worst reader.
• What created the American crisis of subminimum pay?
• Blind people won the right to break eBook DRM. In three years, they'll have to do it again.
• How gruesome penny dreadfuls got Victorian children reading.
• A portrait was discovered of the beauty who inspired a Pride and Prejudice character.

 

►Channeling My Inner Indiana Jones◄

• A lost Egyptian sun temple was unearthed in one of the most important discoveries in the last fifty years.
• A van Gogh watercolor seized by the Nazis sells for a record $35.8 million.
• A wooden falcon sold for $101 was originally owned by Anne Boleyn.
• What did Tudor England look, smell, and sound like?
• Take a look at the images of Roman slave quarters in Pompeii that were frozen in time by the volcanic eruption.
• See the largest trove of medieval gold coins ever found in England.
• For the first time, archaeologists are mapping the ruins of Karakorum, the capital of the Mongol Empire.
• A Chinese railroad worker's house has been unearthed in a Utah ghost town. More on the subject from Smithsonian Magazine.
  

 

►Channeling My Inner Elly Mae Clampett◄

• Once a global conservation success story, New Zealand's black robin is in trouble again.
• Watch a duck run in the New York City Marathon.
• Watch a man playing the banjo for a wild fox that comes back for an encore performance. (Hey, I like the banjo, too.)
• How scientists are using robotic animals to learn about real ones.
• River otters are returning to Texas waterways.
• Scientists and conservation groups say it's time to reintroduce jaguars to the American Southwest.
• Dolphins rescued a small dog that was drowning in a Florida canal.
• An orphaned elephant visited the keeper who raised her and brought her newborn calf along. (I had a rabbit do this with me once.)

 

►Fascinating Folk◄

• Chin Foin, the debonair restaurateur who inspired the first Chinese-American cookbook.
• Six Native artists and their works receive major recognition.
• Seventeen-year-old Mariella Satow created a free app that makes Disney+ films more accessible to deaf children.
• Harriet Martineau, the Victorian woman writer who refused to let doctors define her.
• Wil Wheaton gave a perfect explanation of how to separate problematic artists from their work.
• Helen Keller and the problem of "inspiration porn."

 

►I ♥ Lists◄

• Twelve chilling books behind your favorite thrillers.
• Nine political thrillers written by women.
• Eleven odd Victorian Christmas traditions.
• Soft-boiled mysteries for women over fifty.
• Seventeen of the most unusual heists in history.
• The top twenty-five signs you're truly an Arizonan. (Nineteen apply to me.)
• Seven mysteries and thrillers by Indigenous authors.
• The twelve most valuable movie posters.
• Five must-reads for Native American Heritage Month (and every month).
• Seven character-driven novels for fans of Olive Kitteridge.
• Nine powerful memoirs from veterans.
• New Christmas movies on Netflix.

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!