The Best Laid Plans Weekly Link Round-Up

 

We had another storm roar through the Phoenix metro area, and for the first time in over a century, we received five straight days of rain. Fortunately for Casa Kittling, we received five straight days of rain (that flooded the yard, not the pool) but very little wind. Southeast Phoenix wasn't so lucky. There was a microburst in the Tempe/Scottsdale area accompanied by winds in excess of 70 MPH. I've experienced three microbursts here, and, let me tell you, they are very scary and can cause quite a lot of damage. 

I was planning to go to the Desert Botanical Garden this week, but after viewing videos of the damage in the Phoenix Zoo (which had to close for three days for cleanup and repair), I began to wonder if it was wise to go. The Phoenix Zoo is next-door to the Desert Botanical Garden. Then I read that many of the trails in the garden had been flooded. Not wanting to bog down on my scooter, I decided to let everything dry out and go next week.

Some of the damage at the Phoenix Zoo.

As I watched videos of the storm damage, I saw that many of the downed/uprooted trees were either palo verdes or eucalyptus. The eucalyptus trees caused the most damage because of their size. Thinking about those trees at the zoo jogged my memory. When I read Adrian Hyland's The Wiregrass, I learned that Australians called eucalyptus trees "widow makers." Seeing all the damage they've caused in the latest storm here, once again, I am glad that I don't have any of those trees here on the property!

So while I wait for everything to dry out, I continue to work on my clear-out, a shelf and a drawer at a time. I hope you are all safe and well. Virtual hugs to you all!

Enjoy the links!

►Books & Other Interesting Tidbits◄

• Exploring the use of illustrations and artwork in horror novels.
• The future of technology makes it harder to solve fictional crimes.
• A new law will make New Hampshire library records available to parents.
• The AI industry is horrified to face the largest copyright class action ever certified. (Then don't steal other people's hard work without even a by-your-leave.)
• The semi-fictional book that transformed the culinary world.
• Bookshelves to Bylines: When libraries and journalists join forces.
• Halloween used to be a lot more romantic.
• Why independent bookstores will save us from censorship.

►Channeling My Inner Indiana Jones◄

• A married couple in New Orleans found a stone in their backyard. It turned out to be an ancient Roman soldier's gravestone. Mystery solved.
• You can now walk through the Colosseum's secret tunnel once used by ancient Roman emperors.
• A skeleton-filled well in Croatia likely holds the remains of Roman soldiers.
• Up to 20,000 coins from the early Middle Ages were discovered by a man digging for worms near Stockholm.
• An anthropologist claims the hand positions on a 1,300-year-old Maya altar have a deeper meaning.
• Psychedelic beer may have helped a pre-Inca empire in Peru schmooze elite outsiders and consolidate power.

►Channeling My Inner Elly May Clampett◄

• See 15 winning images from the 2025 Wildlife Photographer of the Year Awards.
• A maternal lynx who was rescued from a fur farm helps to raise kittens, puppies, and bear cubs.
• Once smuggled animals are rescued, law enforcement officers call Mandy Fischer.
• Colorado is building the "world's largest" wildlife overpass, giving elk and other big creatures a safe path to cross a busy freeway.
• Why Fire Island has seen an explosion of feral cats.
• Leafcutter ants have blind spots, just like truck drivers.

►The Wanderer◄

• Six supposedly haunted libraries.
• Claude Monet's beautiful paintings of Venice are headlining an exhibition for the first time in more than a century.
• Where was Karen Pirie shot? Revisiting key filming locations of the Britbox crime series.
• The Coral Triangle: the giant hidden "Amazon" beneath the sea that appears somewhat resilient to climate change.
• A secret room of Michelangelo's drawings will open to the public for the first time ever. 
• Crime and the City: Western China's Chengdu.

►Fascinating Folk◄

• A legal loophole allowed New Jersey women called the "petticoat band" to vote a century before suffrage.
• Maria Corina Machado, Venezuela's "Iron Lady," has won the Nobel Peace Prize.
• This Hungarian author once wrote a 400-page book with a single period. Now, László Krasznahorkai is a Nobel Prize winner. (Sorry, but I won't be adding that particular 400-page book to my Need to Read list...)
• My first thriller Isabella Maldonado.
• How legendary artist Robert Rauschenberg's obsession with flight led him to create stunning imagery featuring spacecraft, birds, and insects.
• Visionary African American politician Edward P. McCabe dreamed of creating an all-Black state in Oklahoma Territory.

►I ♥ Lists◄

• 65 essential children's books.
• The Millions' Great Fall 2025 Book Preview.
• Eleven uniquely structured mysteries and thrillers.
• 18 must-read books by Indigenous authors.
• 15 new books set in haunted houses.
• 22 highly anticipated book-to-screen adaptations coming later in 2025.

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!