A Reaching for the Bengay Weekly Link Round-Up

 

Since it hasn't quite cooled down enough to head to the Desert Botanical Garden, I've continued my quest to clear out all unwanted/unneeded "stuff" here at Casa Kittling. I'm happy to say that I've managed to take care of all the major areas, and the only things left are minor and easily taken care of. Here's a photo of the latest batch of stuff that was taken away this past Monday. (There are many items behind this front pile that you can't see.)

Most of these items will be donated or recycled. 

I had help with three big items, but the rest I managed to haul outside with many trips back and forth on my scooter. 

Although I'm very pleased with what I've managed to get done, there has been a downside: my right arm and shoulder let me know the error of my ways by becoming extremely sore. I'd never tried it before, but I remembered those TV commercials about Bengay and decided to see if it worked. It does-- and I even like the smell. An added bonus is that it also works on my arthritic hands better than the much more expensive ointment that my doctor recommended. It's not often-- at least in this house-- that cheaper is better. 

Next week looks much more promising for a visit to the Garden. Keep your fingers crossed, and enjoy the links!

►Books & Other Interesting Tidbits◄

• Books in North Carolina school libraries are being targeted by some parents groups.
• The Thursday Murder Club and the resurgence of cozy crime.
• How American tech cartels use apps to break the law.
• Can you guess the movie title based on a synonym?
• Why were medieval Europeans so obsessed with long, pointy shoes?
• AI is making reading books feel obsolete-- and students have a lot to lose.
• Long Beach (California) will open up its eBook library so teens from other states can read banned books.
• After almost twenty years, Goodreads has a new logo fit for BookTok.

►Channeling My Inner Indiana Jones◄

• 1,500-year-old eagle brooches filled with dazzling gems and glass were worn by powerful Visigoth women.
• Divers recover more than $1 million worth of gold and silver coins from 310-year-old "treasure fleet shipwrecks.
• A rare medieval hair-styling tool was found at Scotland's Eilean Donan castle. (Wish I'd found it during my visits there!)
• A metal detectorist unearthed Bronze Age jewelry in a Swiss carrot field. (Eh... what's up doc?)
• For centuries, Indigenous people lived in these desert canyons. Now, new technology reveals extraordinary details about this sacred site. (One of the best things Denis and I ever did was take an all-day tour of Canyon de Chelly.)
• Archaeologists discovered a 5,000-year-old tomb in southern Spain.

►Channeling My Inner Elly May Clampett◄

• Five incredible dinosaurs you've probably never heard about. (I have my great-grandfather, Elmer Brown, to thank for my interest in dinosaurs... and my love of the Jurassic Park movies.)
• Watch these shy, adorable, nocturnal creatures (pine martens) explore their new home after being reintroduced in southwest England. (I love pine martens! Denis and I had one stop by our beach bothy every morning when we were staying in northwest Scotland.)
• Generations of bearded vultures stashed humans' treasures, including a 650-year-old sandal, in their nests.
• What energized this Arctic hare to keep going and going and going?
• The surprising imperial history of the Pekingese dog.
• A lonely cheetah cub at an Australian zoo now has an unlikely "best friend"-- a puppy.

►The Wanderer◄

• An Art Deco lover's guide to Paris.
• For the first time ever, you can see stunning, centuries-old murals at England's oldest hospital.
• Frida Kahlo's family home and artistic retreat has opened as a museum.
• Crime and the City: Capri.
• The highest bridge in the world just opened in China at more than 2,000 feet above the ground.
• The rambunctious, elitist chocolate houses of 18th-century London.
• Glacial melting in Alaska has created a new island.

►Fascinating Folk◄

• The strange case of Henrietta Wiley, a wealthy New York heiress and socialite.
• The Dionne quintuplets captivated the world during the Great Depression, but their fame came at a cost.
• Two years after Cormac McCarthy's death, rare access to his personal library reveals the man behind the myth.
• Nathan Hale, the doomed patriot spy, probably never said, "I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country" before his execution.
• Did enslaved chocolatier Cato help Hercules Mulligan foil a plot to assassinate George Washington?
• Read the dramatic 17th-century memoirs of Alice Thornton, who wrote four versions of her life story.

►I ♥ Lists◄

• Winners of the 2025 Kirkus Prize.
• Twelve failed constitutional amendments that could have reshaped American history.
• If you've never read Agatha Christie, start with one of these books.
• 25 new and upcoming heartwarming books.
• 13 things made collectible thanks to spelling errors.
• Visit the British seaside in these fifteen novels.
• The best naval fiction of all time.

That's all for this week! No matter how busy you may be, don't forget that quality Me Time curled up with a good book!