A Cool & Happy Weekly Link Round-Up

 

The photo I'm sharing with you this week makes me so happy I could cry. 

 

It's been a long, long, long time since Denis has looked so good... so well... so happy. Recently, he's shown more mobility almost daily. In fact, some days once he gets going, I feel like I'm trying to herd cats. It's annoying... until I think about how long it's been and what he's had to endure-- and then I smile. 

 

While his mobility has improved, his level of pain had not. He went to see his spine surgeon Monday, and after talking with him, the surgeon said that Denis had arthritis in the same area as the site of the infection and the surgery and that he would prescribe an anti-inflammatory to see if that would help. The very next day, this photo shows the look on his face. The new prescription did the trick. (And a call to his daughter Kelly on Wednesday put an extra sparkle in his eyes.)

 

All this AND a 25-degree drop in temperature makes the Barlow B&B a happy place indeed! It's been a long time since I've had to wear a sweater. (Hey... when you've lived with 100°+ temperatures for four months, temperatures in the 70s feel positively arctic.)

Two thumbs up!

 

Have a great weekend, and enjoy the links!

►Books & Other Interesting Tidbits◄

• The world's most valuable novel will be going on display next year.
• How to find the best Kindle book deals.
• Art researchers have discovered that one of Dutch artist Vermeer's paintings is not actually his.
• The feminist history of science fiction.
• How crime novels use Point of View (POV) to reveal their true mysteries.
• What counts as a bestseller?
• Historical mysteries: pure escape or open field?
• Why we root for the adaptations of our favorite book series even when they disappoint us.
• Magpie Murders is a brisk, dexterous murder mystery about the fun of reading.
  

 

►Book Banning & Censorship◄

• This Liberty (Missouri) book club only reads the titles other parents want banned from schools.
• Banning books is a threat to public education. 
• You can join the Read-sistance by establishing a Book Sanctuary.
• A school board meeting in Michigan was closed by the fire marshal when a large group showed up to speak against books. 
• A school district in Pennsylvania has returned banned books to the shelves.
• The superintendent is retiring after a Colorado school board president urged parents to "search schools for objectionable material". 
• The right-wing money and influence behind Moms for Liberty. 
• The former Boundary County (Idaho) library director details what led up to her resignation and the dangers of censorship. 
• An Idaho student won a school board seat. He has a message for students everywhere. 
• A "rogue" employee recently replaced pro-choice book orders with Christian books.
  

 

►Channeling My Inner Indiana Jones◄

• A World War I German U-boat has been discovered off the U.S. coast one hundred years after it sank.
• A 3,500-year-old Babylonian tablet may contain the earliest known depiction of a ghost.
• Archaeologists in Northumberland (England) have begun their search for a Viking Great Army camp.
• Archaeologists dig up a 1,400-year-old Native American canal in Alabama.
• Why art was such a powerful tool for England's Tudor monarchs.
• A massive rare ancient Roman mosaic has been unearthed in Syria. More from Live Science and Smithsonian Magazine.
  
• A fire has irreversibly damaged statues on Easter Island.
• Archaeologists have unearthed eight colonial-era mummies in Peru.

 

►Channeling My Inner Elly May Clampett◄

• Meet Blue, an urban apartment-dwelling green iguana.
• In "bizarre behavior", New Zealand penguins lay one egg, reject it, and then lay another. Now, scientists know why. 
• Chernobyl radiation triggered a surge of black frogs while the green frogs "croaked". Evolution explains why. 
• More than half of the U.S. bird populations are shrinking. Is it any wonder? Just ONE neighborhood here in Phoenix has a feral cat colony numbering FIFTY cats. 
• Bear 747 overcomes scandal to win Fat Bear Week. 
• Eclipse, known for riding the bus to the dog park alone, has died. 
• Six endangered gray wolves were poisoned in Washington. 
• Thousands of cannonball jellyfish wash ashore after swarming North Carolina's Outer Banks. 

 

►The Wanderer◄

• See the vivid colors of a rainbow eucalyptus tree.
• How would van Gogh have painted the Faroe Islands?
• Images from the 2022 Weather Photographer of the Year contest.
• Alexandria: a center of ancient crime writing.
• This beautiful Italian region will reimburse your train ticket.
• The allure of Georgia's golden isles.

 

►Fascinating Folk◄

• Meet the four women who will run Antarctica's Penguin Post Office.
• Nicole Mann becomes the first Native American woman in space. 
• Mary Vaux Walcott, the trailblazing illustrator and mountaineer who explored the wild North. 
• How Colleen Hoover's normcore thrillers made her America's bestselling author. More from Time Magazine.
• The bookish life of Angela Lansbury. 

 

►I Want One!◄

• This sleek new personal submarine has lounge chairs and its own mini bar.

 

►I ♥ Lists◄

• Seven mysteries set in the Midwestern winter.
• Crime sub-genres to add to your TBR. 
• The ten best hats in crime movies. 
• Eleven books for fans of P.G. Wodehouse. 
• The best books that give an unexpected twist to a familiar situation. 
• Thirteen detective series books to jumpstart your next obsession. 

 

 

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 healthy. Stay safe. And don't forget to curl up with a good book!