The Seven-Year Itch Weekly Link Round-Up

 

I know that some of you probably read the title of this post and mentally pictured Marilyn Monroe standing over a subway grate. (I had a dress like that once, only it was a blue and white print.) However, this time, the seven years has more to do with the weather here in the desert than it does subway grates.

Last week, Phoenix got the most rain it's had in one day in seven years. 1.64 inches of badly needed water fell at Sky Harbor Airport on September 26. (Hey, when your average yearly rainfall total is 7 inches, that 1.64 is a lot of rain!) There was quite a bit of flooding, and I have to admit that I was chewing my fingernails for awhile as the yard became more and more saturated, the water kept running over the curb onto the property, and the levels kept creeping up. Fortunately, Mother Nature smiled on me-- the water came within a gnat's whisker of turning the pool into a mud hole-- but I didn't have to deal with that mess. Whew!

I've told you that I've been decluttering, clearing out, and reorganizing, so I thought I'd share an example. I got the wild idea of finding a shelving unit for the shower stall in the third bathroom that's accessed through the craft room. (It's really more of a "powder room"/"cloak room.") Denis was the primary user of this space, so I included it on my "hit list." Here are Before and After photos of that shelving unit. I can be dangerous when I'm in a Clear Out Mood!

I hope you're all doing fine and well-stocked with good books to read. Virtual hugs to you all. Enjoy the links!

►Books & Other Interesting Tidbits◄

• Are we entering a new Golden Age of Biography?
• Book banners are everywhere. These lawyers are playing offense.
• Denmark scraps a book tax to fight a "reading crisis."
• Growing up in a library is as magical as you'd imagine.
• The more advanced AI models get, the better they are at deceiving us-- they even know when they're being tested.
• People are trying to "deprogram" their MAGA parents through book clubs.
• The joys of reading a book containing multiple languages.
• How the 2025 government shutdown will impact libraries.

►Channeling My Inner Indiana Jones◄

• Archaeologists found both a medieval dungeon and a Roman burial beneath a market square in England.
• Rare wampum beads were discovered at a 17th-century colony in Newfoundland.
• Did ancient Egyptians really booby-trap the pyramids?
• A new study found that a 7-year-old Maya child had a green jade "tooth gem."
• The Titanic's sister ship, the Britannic, sank in 1916. For the first time, divers have recovered artifacts from its wreck.
• The mystery of the small dog in Rembrandt's monumental masterpiece The Night Watch has officially been solved.
• You can buy these Gilded Age jewels that once belonged to the Vanderbilt family.

►Channeling My Inner Elly May Clampett◄

• What are cats saying when they reach out to touch their humans with their paws?
• Why do big dogs die young?
• This invasive vampire fish is helping researchers understand the human nervous system.
• Chimpanzees consume the equivalent of 2.5 alcoholic drinks per day by eating fermented fruit.
• A rare  blue-and-green hybrid jay spotted in Texas is the offspring of birds whose lineages split 7 million years ago.
• The curious case of "Old Thom," an orca traveling alone in the North Atlantic.
• 15 photographs of bears.

►The Wanderer◄

• 9 unexpected places to see fall foliage in the U.S. (and none of them are in New England).
• A year by year accounting of every country name change within the first quarter of the 21st century.
• Inside China's new wave of conceptually innovative bookstores.
• The states with the most and least national park land.
• Why so many old British homes have bricked-up windows.
• More than 300 hats have been pulled from Yellowstone's geothermal features so far this year.
• Explore 15 classic castles.

►Fascinating Folk◄

• Jane Goodall, legendary primatologist and anthropologist, has died at age 91. National Geographic's most iconic Jane Goodall photos.
• 17th-century artist Johanna Koerten was once a bigger star than Rembrandt. Why did history forget about her and her peers?
• How Davy Crockett, the rugged frontiersman killed at the Alamo, became an unlikely American hero.
• In 1909, Theodore Roosevelt embarked on an ambitious expedition to East Africa. Here's why his trip still matters today.
• What Jane Austen's possessions reveal about her literary ethos.
• Breaking barriers and soaring into history: Pittsburgh's "Three Helens" during the Gold Age of Aviation.
• When Picasso saved Matisse's paintings from the Nazis.

►I ♥ Lists◄

• 20 of the best books to read in October.
• Visit Big Sky Country in these mysteries and thrillers.
• 15 whodunits offering a fresh spin on the country house murder mystery.
• 10 Agatha Christie movie adaptions that hit the mark.
• Cool down with these seven frozen desserts found around the world.
• Here are the 596 books being banned by Defense Department schools.
• 8  unexpected mystery writers you didn't know dabbled in crime fiction.

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!