A Where's My Long Johns Weekly Link Round-Up

 

This week has been a bit busier than last, mainly due to doctor's appointments. Arizona has been experiencing a series of leftovers from hurricanes and tropical storms. That probably sounds odd... the desert being affected by hurricanes... but it happens. Thankfully, all my friends on the East Coast are safe from the latest one that rampaged through.

Another effect the weather has had is the banishment of triple-digit temperatures. In fact, we've had a couple of days with temperatures in the 70°F (23 °C) range. It's made me think about getting out a sweater, but so far, I've resisted. 

The dragonflies are still busy darting back and forth over the pool, and I've switched from needlepoint to knitting. What I really need to do is put up my ofrenda for Día de los Muertos, but so far, my enthusiasm for decorating is lacking.

I love the colors and the embroidery on this "Plum Blossom" robe in the Musical Instrument Museum!

Since I've memorized most of the dialogue on all things Timothy Dalton, I've turned my attention to Alain Delon, an actor who caught my eye as a teenager. The added bonus of watching Delon's films is that it's knocking some rust off my French. (A long time ago, I used to dream in French.)

Virtual hugs to you all! Enjoy the links!

►Books & Other Interesting Tidbits◄

• How newspapers helped democratize knowledge and civic participation.
• The real pet cemetery that inspired Stephen King's most personal horror novel.
• Sorry, but Jane Eyre isn't the romance you want it to be.
• Quiz: Can you complete these John Steinbeck book titles?
• How TikTok is transforming the English language.
• The premiere date of Pride and Prejudice is set at Netflix, and full cast photos have been unveiled.

►Channeling My Inner Indiana Jones◄

• An urn with jaguars and skulls: A 1,400-year-old burial container depicting a deceased ruler's arrival to the Maya underworld.
• AI has decoded a 217-year-old secret letter ordered by Napoleon.
• A new trick could reveal text on 2,000-year-old scrolls charred by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius.
• A 1,000-year-old "snake amulet" featuring a Christian saint and "Medusa" has been discovered in Russia.
• A nearly 2,400-year-old school where Aristotle taught Alexander the Great has been discovered in Greece.
• A missing Celtic fort annihilated by Julius Caesar has finally been found under a Paris hospital.

►Channeling My Inner Elly May Clampett◄

• A family of barn owls has moved into New York City's Upper West Side, perhaps the first to nest in Manhattan in modern history.
• Watch five newborn cheetah cubs grow on a Livestream from the Smithsonian's Conservation Biology Institute.
• One of the world's largest chinstrap penguin colonies is shrinking fast.
• South American bare-throated bellbirds and red-legged seriemas can match a jackhammer's ear-splitting volume, making them some of the world's loudest known avians.
• The Tasmanian tiger was branded a livestock killer. New research challenges that myth.
• An otter just returned to New York City's Bronx River for the first time in a century.

►The Wanderer◄

• A sunlight trick transformed the lost "heart" of the Colorado River into a giant silver serpent.
• 7 extraordinary Indigenous sites in the US, from Chaco Canyon to Chimney Rock.
• The happiest-- and least happy-- states in 2026, ranked.
• How kudzu was supposed to save the South.
• Meet the retirees turning their Virginia farms into wildlife corridors.
• New research shows that dams around the world hold so much water they've shifted the Earth's poles.

►Fascinating Folk◄

• Bonnie Garmus on writing a coming-of-age novel of poets and poetry.
• Meet Biddy Mason, the Black matriarch who helped build Los Angeles.
• Frances Benjamin Johnston, the photographer who preserved everyday architecture.
• Raised in apartheid South Africa, 2026 Nobel Peace Prize winner Navi Pillay is one of the world's leading human rights jurists.
• Freddy Mercury's boundary-pushing costumes take center stage at the Victoria and Albert Museum to mark the 80th anniversary of his birth.
• College student Manasi Desai has developed a clear polish that turns your fingernail into a touch-screen stylus.

►I ♥ Lists◄

• 20 books to read before they hit the screen.
• 10 Halloween traditions that don't exist anymore.
• The best biographies and memoirs of Fall 2026.
• This year's must-read books by Indigenous authors.
• The ultimate Fall 2026 reading list.
• 5 experiences kids don't have anymore because of streaming.

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!