A Would You Like to Ride in My Beautiful Balloon Weekly Link Round-Up

 

Another week here at Casa Kittling where everything has gone well. Denis likes his new "physioterrorist" (physiotherapist) and will be going to see him three times a week. We've repositioned hummingbird feeders. I've watched a great-tailed grackle figure out how to take a bath and a shower all at the same time in one of our solar fountains. We've moved soaker hoses around to give our Tombstone roses and other plants a good drink. Speaking of which, I just found out that we may have a chance for some rain this weekend, so maybe moving the hoses around had something to do with that. (You know... on the same level as washing and polishing your car and then it pours down rain the next day.)

I've been going through my photos for a post that I intend to schedule for next week, and I came across ones that Denis and I took in 2003. For my birthday and our wedding anniversary, Denis gave me a hot air balloon ride. It was fabulous! The gondola even had a big sign on it saying "Happy Birthday  Happy Anniversary."

Notice the sign-- it's all for me!

Looking like a big exclamation mark in the sky mirrored how I felt.

That was definitely one of the absolute best birthday presents ever.

Have a good weekend, and enjoy the links!

►Books & Other Interesting Tidbits◄

• Secrets in the stacks.
• Close reading is for everyone.
• "Super-vision" contact lenses let wearers see in the dark-- even with their eyes closed.
• The clues, the clueless, and the critics: appreciating Clue.
• Museums are cautiously optimistic as some federal grants are reinstated.
• As culture wars flare at libraries, a Nevada lawmaker seeks to move book ban decisions to the courts.
• Most of the books pulled from the Naval Academy library are back on the shelves in the latest DEI turn.
• Here's how social media is influencing how authors promote their books.
• The “Heat Index” summer guide newspaper insert published by the Chicago Sun-Times and the Philadelphia Inquirer that contained AI-generated misinformation and reading lists full of books that don’t exist was created by a subsidiary of the magazine giant Hearst.
• Anthony Horowitz: Children can't read long books any more.

►Channeling My Inner Indiana Jones◄

• The Oseberg tapestry: Viking Age artwork from a boat burial that may depict the Norse tree of life.
• Hikers stumble across treasure hidden on a mountain trail in the Czech Republic, sparking an investigation into its origin.
• Anglo-Saxons buried a mysterious vessel over a millennium ago. Archaeologists have discovered the contents of the Bromeswell bucket at Sutton Hoo. More from Live Science.
• The Smithsonian has transferred rare 2,300-year-old silk manuscripts to China.
• A 2,300-year-old gold ring found in Israel was probably buried by a betrothed girl.
• An ancient Roman wooden water pipe made from hollow tree trunks have been unearthed beneath a street in Belgium.
• A King Arthur site in England is actually 4,000 years older than archaeologists originally thought.
• See the rare medieval boat discovered over 18 feet below sea level in Barcelona.

►Channeling My Inner Elly May Clampett◄

• A young Cooper's hawk learned to use a crosswalk signal to launch surprise attacks on other birds. (For about three years, we had a young Cooper's hawk stopping by to take a bath in a birdbath in our back garden. Never heard a peep from any other bird while it was here.)
• Here's a compilation of submitted cat videos that benefit cat shelters across the U.S.
• A new study suggests that clownfish shrink down their bodies to survive ocean heat waves.
• A new, shape-shifting "flapjack" octopus has been discovered in the deep sea off the coast of Australia.
• A 33-inch-long "woolly" mountain rat was caught on camera for the first time ever.
• Humpback whales can't see as well as scientists thought, and it might explain why they keep getting tangled in fishing gear.
• Ostriches, home dyeing, and the global plume trade.
• A devoted roadrunner named Chappy returns home every day to bring gifts to his human rescuer.

►The Wanderer◄

• How the largest volcanic eruption in human history changed the world.
• Where was soccer invented? A new archaeological discovery suggests Scotland, not England, was the sport's birthplace.
• Arizona's Petrified Forest is changing what we know about the dawn of the dinosaurs.
• British Laurence Brown compares the grocery stores in the United States to those he grew up with in England.
• Jim Morrison's stolen gravesite statue has finally been found.
• A trove of Ice Age fossils buried in a Wyoming cave is rewriting our understanding of prehistoric animals.
• Two men have been convicted of chopping down England's beloved Sycamore Gap tree in an act of "mindless thuggery."
• A first-of-its-kind video captured the terrifying moment the ground tore apart during a major Myanmar earthquake.

►Fascinating Folk◄

• Charles Robert Jenkins, the American soldier whose fear of fighting in Vietnam led him to defect to North Korea. He stayed there for forty years.
• Freedom House Ambulance Service, the trailblazing Black paramedics, are the reason you don't have to ride a hearse or a police van to the hospital.
• Clara Adams, the woman who taught the world how to fly.
• Pioneering teenage parachuter Georgia "Tiny" Broadwick showed that courage isn't counted in pounds.
• Meet Ginevra de' Benci, the mysterious Renaissance muse immortalized in the only Leonardo da Vinci painting in the Americas.
• See the forgotten paintings made by Jane Austen's older sister, Cassandra.
• The bouquinistes of Paris.
• Monet's stepdaughter, Blanche Hoschedé-Monet, painted breathtaking Impressionist masterpieces. They're finally getting the attention they deserve.

►I ♥ Lists◄

• Seven historical novels that explore the underbelly of the art world.
• Eight cold case mystery books to keep you up at night.
• Nine mind bending psychological thriller movies from the 1990s.
• Twenty-five riveting books for readers who are obsessed with Dan Brown.
• Eight modern twists on locked room mysteries.
• Fifteen must-read books about women in their 40s and 50s.
• Travel to France and Italy with these novels.
• The most anticipated crime fiction of Summer 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!

Visiting Caipora at the Phoenix Zoo

Two weeks ago, Denis and I scheduled a trip to the Phoenix Zoo specifically to see their new Big Cats of Arizona exhibit. Unfortunately, Dial-a-Ride was extremely late, and the loud woman complaining about how bad the driver was only made him drive slower. By the time we finally arrived at the zoo, we barely had an hour to explore, but what we did manage to see was choice. Come join us!

There's usually at least one egret hanging out here. Thursday was no exception.

These three javalinas found some shade. That one definitely looks like it's thinking, "What are you lookin' at?"

I went zipping around a corner and almost flattened this gopher squirrel. Didn't seem to bother it a bit because it barely moved.

Denis and I went to the zoo specifically to see its new Big Cats of Arizona Exhibit. It was rather fitting that the first time I saw Caipora the jaguar was when she was pacing overhead.

Caipora was very restless.

She was also very vocal-- and gorgeous!

Canyon Spotted Whiptail lizard

Daisies always make me smile.

I found a very informative YouTube video about the new Big Cats of Arizona exhibit. I couldn't get it to embed properly in this post, so I'm sharing a link to it instead. It's well worth the watch.

I hope you enjoyed your whirlwind visit!

Meet the Kellys by Chris Enss

 

First Line: When the outlaw duo of George "Machine Gun" Kelly and his wife, Kathryn Thorne, kidnapped Charles Urschel in July 1933, the couple, and their accomplices, made history.

George Kelly was a small-time bootlegger until he met Kathryn Thorne. Thorne was charming, strong-minded, and pretty. She was already an experienced criminal, divorced twice, and ready to marry a man who could give her the lavish lifestyle she'd always wanted. Put Kathyrn Thorne and George Kelly together, and the country got "Machine Gun" Kelly, one of the most notorious American gangsters during the Depression.

With Kathryn's connections and intelligence, the two were soon living large, but it wasn't enough. The couple plotted to kidnap an oil tycoon, and it worked. They collected the ransom and the attention of the country-- even the world-- and the FBI.

~

Going to see Bonnie and Clyde at a local drive-in was the start of my interest in the Great Depression and that era's gangsters. Bonnie and Clyde. Pretty Boy Floyd. John Dillinger. Ma Barker. Bugs Moran. I'm not quite sure why I found these gangsters to be so fascinating. I didn't think they were romantic. I certainly didn't want to emulate them. I think it probably had something to do with how people reacted to and survived the Great Depression. So, it's no wonder that when I heard about Meet the Kellys that I wanted to read it.

I was familiar with other books written by Chris Enss, so I was expecting a well-researched history of Kelly and Thorne. That's exactly what I got. Kathryn Thorne saw the potential in small-time bootlegger George Kelly to give her the lifestyle she had always craved. And with her gift of a machine gun to Kelly, history was made. The couple's endless road trips not only had me hearing some of the music from Bonnie and Clyde, but they almost made me carsick.

I learned quite a bit from this book. I'd forgotten how kidnapping had taken center stage for several of these gangsters, so much so that the government passed the Federal Kidnapping Act in an attempt to put an end to it. In true diva style, when everything disintegrated, Kathryn Thorne tried her best to keep herself and her parents out of jail. She was definitely what my family would refer to as a "piece of work." If you have any interest at all in this time period, Meet the Kellys is well worth a read. 

Meet the Kellys: The True Story of Machine Gun Kelly and His Moll Kathryn Thorne

by Chris Enss

eISBN: 9780806543079

Citadel Press © 2025

eBook, 272 pages

Non-Fiction

Rating: B+

Source: Net Galley

One of Those "Who Says?" Weekly Link Round-Ups

 

Things are going well here at Casa Kittling, although Denis is a bit grumpy. I don't blame him. One of his doctors was running so late that Denis had to leave without seeing him so he wouldn't miss his return trip on Dial-a-Ride. I do understand how some medical appointments can run over scheduled times, but it's still a pain in the neck.

I've heard and read many times that people are supposed to become more conservative as they age. Who says? If anything, I'm becoming even more liberal.

One of the television series Denis and I like to watch is The Rookie; however, as I was watching the latest episode the other night, it dawned on me why I prefer watching UK crime dramas. UK crime dramas don't have the bad guys whip out assault rifles and spray endless rounds of bullets everywhere, not caring who or what they harm. I swear, every time I watch those assault rifles come out, I want to wade right in the middle, grab the guns, and use them to bash the bad guys into outer space. Fortunately, this is all in my mind and I'd never do such a thing, but I am so sick of violence. Give me a good old-fashioned Midsomer Murders death-by-pitchfork any day. *wink* 

Evidently, as a person ages, their focus is supposed to turn inward, toward themselves and what directly affects them. I'm finding that I am continuing to look outward to things that affect us all...  I'm not quite sure how I got off on that tangent, so here are some cheerful daisies I saw at the Phoenix Zoo last week. 

Have a great weekend, and enjoy the links!

►Books & Other Interesting Tidbits◄

• Russian authorities arrested employees of the largest publishing house in the country over alleged "LGBT propaganda" in books.
• Climate change is threatening eye health in disturbing ways.
• When singing was a crime.
• Jane Austen's legacy lives on in Rom-Coms.
• An Ohio man is accused of burning 100 books on Black, Jewish, and LGBTQ history.
• Tribal communities risk losing local libraries and the history they hold amid DOGE cuts.
• A roadmap for restoring school librarians.
• Netflix is adapting S.A. Cosby's All the Sinners Bleed for TV, and had ordered the Quinn Shephard drama The Body.

►Channeling My Inner Indiana Jones◄

• "Very rare" African ebony figurines were found in 1,500-year-old Christian burials in the Israeli desert.
• This lamp just became the most expensive object designed by Frank Lloyd Wright ever sold at auction.
• Harvard bought this stained copy of the Magna Carta for $27.50. It turned out to be an original.
• Four people sought shelter from the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius-- and sealed their own fates.
• The joys of discovering the Roman underground, from the Colosseum to what's beneath the Trevi foundation.
• A 4,000-year-old stone-lined burial has been discovered in Morocco.
• Step into a painstakingly recreated 3D model of the Parthenon, now restored to its ancient glory.
• A study has found that the famous tomb said to hold Alexander the Great's father actually contains a younger man, a woman, and six babies.

►Channeling My Inner Elly May Clampett◄

• Capuchins have started abducting newborn howler monkeys in a bizarre and deadly fad. More from Smithsonian Magazine.
• Salmon in the Pacific Northwest are facing a new threat: booming populations of seals and sea lions.
• Meet the bat-eared fox, an unusual animal that can hear insects burrowing underground. (Don't tell anyone, but Denis calls me "Bat Ears.")
• This eye-catching rattlesnake found in (Scottsdale) Arizona has unusual "leopard spots," likely from a genetic mutation.
• Birds are dying mysterious, violent deaths in this northern California neighborhood-- and no one can explain why.
• A study has found that chimpanzees perform first aid on each other, and it may shed light on the evolution of human health care.
• A robotic spy bowerbird observes sneaky juveniles pretending they're female to steal offered trinkets. (I think I could watch bowerbirds all day.)
• Eleven dog breeds that no longer exist.

►The Wanderer◄

• The boiling river of the Amazon in Peru, was thought to be a myth. Not so!
• North America's "broken heart": the billion-year-old scar from when the continent nearly ripped apart.
• Research suggests that Yosemite's ultra-deep canyon may have been carved in part by a ghost volcano and river.
• Why the United Kingdom has so many different accents in such a relatively small geographic area.
• The Czech factory where Oskar Schindler saved 1,200 Jews is now a museum in their honor.
• To truly experience these five cities, wake before sunrise.
• The secret passages of Mont Sainte-Odile, France.
• Crime and the City: Aspen, Colorado.

►Fascinating Folk◄

• Time's 100 Most Influential People in Philanthropy.
• 40 famous artists everyone should know, from Michelangelo to Frida Kahlo.
• Watch an interview with 100-year-old Roland Reisley, the last original owner of a Frank Lloyd Wright house.
• The woman with the axe: Fu Hao, ancient China's warrior queen.
• Sophie Scholl, the German student activist executed at the age of 21 for her anti-Nazi resistance.
• How a group of fearless American women defied convention to defeat the Nazis.
• Remembering the unacknowledged sacrifices of the Red Army's female snipers.
• How indomitable environmental activist Carolista Baum saved the Outer Banks from impending development.

►I ♥ Lists◄

• Six mysteries set in international destinations.
• Eleven eye-opening books that reveal little-known stories from history.
• Twenty-one books about seamstresses and dressmakers.
• Thirty-three new books to read by the pool.
• Murder, mischief, and mayhem: the best campy and humorous thriller series.
• Four novels in which death comes calling at museums.
• Twenty-one great international books for U.S. readers.
• Nine of the best women detectives of the mystery genre.

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!

At the Heard Museum with Karen

Our niece, Karen, came for a long overdue holiday from the UK in March. In between visits to the hospital to see Denis while he was recuperating from major back surgery, we did manage outings to a few favorite places. Karen had never been to the Heard Museum, so I made sure that was one of the places on our limited itinerary.

Come along with us!

There are so many eye-catching exhibits in the museum, and photography can be tricky because of all the glass.

Of course, there are many wonderful examples of pottery. The artist who made this is Lucy Lewis of the Acoma Pueblo in New Mexico.

If jewelry making and silversmithing is more your thing, this is a Zuni bow guard, 1900-1930.

Sample turkey feather blanket, 1981. Artist: Ramona Sakiestewa, Hopi. Ramona rediscovered the process ancestral weavers used to create a feather blanket. She learned that a 2.5-foot by 3-foot feather blanket required 180 yards of yucca cord and 3,000 feathers. It may not be pretty, but it does look warm!

The Heard had several cradleboards on display. Paiute cradleboard, c. 1920. Diamond-shaped designs are placed on Paiute cradleboards for newborn girls. A boy's cradleboard would have crosses on it, according to Brenda Drye, Kaibab Paiute.

Yuraryaraq hood, 1980s. Muskrat fur, calf skin, furs of Kuskokwim mink, seal, wolf, wolverine, Arctic hare, and beaver. Made by Augilnguq (Minnie Parker), Yupik, Alaska. It's a warm day here in Phoenix, and I can break out in a sweat just looking at this!

There is plenty of art outside in the courtyards. Left: Crane Woman, c. 2005. Artist: John Hoover, Unangan. Right: Heron and Turtle, 1990. Artist: John Hoover, Unangan.

Heading Home, 1979. Artist: Allan Houser, Chiricahua Apache.

You can almost forget that you're in the middle of one of the largest cities in the United States-- until you look up.

Basket weaving has always fascinated me. I can't imagine any place having a better collection of the basket weaving art than the Heard Museum. This is just one of many exhibits.

There are also many paintings to be seen. This is Rose and Coyote Dressed Up for the Heard Show, 1981. Artist: Harry Fonseca, Nisenan Maidu/Native Hawaiian/Portuguese.

Away From Home: American Indian Boarding School Stories. This is a sobering section of the museum that tells a very important part of Native American history. That barber chair with the shorn hair on the floor always brings tears to my eyes. The second the children arrived at the schools, their identities were stripped from them.

See the next photo for the description. These handcuffs are tiny.

You can always click on any photo to magnify it.

The Beginning of the End, 2019. Artist: Susan Hudson (Traditional Woman), Navajo. This quilt honors family and close friends who attended Toadlena Boarding School in Newcomb, New Mexico.

"My people are a race of designers. I look for the day when the Indian shall make beautiful things for all the world." --Angel DeCora (Winnebago), 1909.

This photo comes nowhere close to doing these art pieces justice. "Moondance" jar. Artist: Russell Sanchez, San Ildefonso. This was the one Karen and I chose as our favorite in the Museum Shop. Unfortunately, we didn't have a spare $55,000 to buy it. I believe the day Angel DeCora spoke of is here.

Afterwards, a snack out in the courtyard. My prickly pear lemonade was very tasty, and the sparrows managed to con bits of crackers from Karen.

I hope you enjoyed your virtual visit. If you ever come to Phoenix, I'd be more than happy to take you to the Heard Museum. It's a Must-See!

Nightshade by Michael Connelly

 

First Line: The marine layer was as thick as cotton and had formed a thousand-foot wall that shrouded the entrance to the harbor.

Department politics exiled Los Angeles County Sheriff's Detective Stilwell to a low-key post on Catalina Island. Now used to dealing with the usual drunk-and-disorderlies and petty thefts in his new territory, Stilwell gets a report of a body found weighted down at the bottom of the harbor. 

Jane Doe is only initially identifiable by a streak of purple dye in her hair. Stilwell is determined to work the case even though it means sharing the investigation with two extremely hostile LA homicide detectives he used to work with.

As Stilwell digs deeper, he begins to uncover closely guarded secrets and a dark inner core to the tranquil island that was supposed to be his escape from the big city.

~

Sheriff's Detective Stilwell is a welcome addition to the Harry Bosch School of Policing. A former sheriff's dive team member, he's a good fit for the quieter pace of Catalina Island in Michael Connelly's Nightshade. 

A new addition to the Connelly canon calls for a new setting, and I really enjoyed getting to know Catalina Island, which-- in Stilwell's world-- is known as "the Island of Misfit Toys" because police officers with blotches on their records are sent there if they can't be fired outright. Naturally, boating plays a big part in life on the island. Stilwell has gotten to know his fellow officers, their strengths and weaknesses, and he's in a relationship with a woman who's always lived on Catalina. Her very different perspective means that they don't always see eye-to-eye.

The investigations are what we've come to expect from Michael Connelly-- intriguing, engrossing, and filled with interesting factoids (like Prada's RFI chips). I'm definitely looking forward to learning more about Stilwell in the next book. Bring it on!

Nightshade by Michael Connelly

eISBN: 9780316588492

Little, Brown and Company © 2025

eBook, 352 pages

Police Procedural, #1 Detective Stilwell

Rating: A

Source: Net Galley

A Compliments All Round Weekly Link Round-Up

 

It's a slightly overcast day here in Phoenix. I'm sitting at my computer while the cleaning woman who comes twice a month mops the floors. Denis and I are contemplating a visit to the Phoenix Zoo to visit a new exhibit (The Big Cats of Arizona) and to check up on other favorite critters. A few minutes ago, Michelle (the cleaning woman) told me how much she liked the new pull-out drawers in the bottom cabinets in the kitchen. I thanked her and said that I would have to pass along her compliment to the person who installed them, our niece, Karen.

Karen the installer

One of the installed pull-out drawers

I know that "Karen's drawers" have certainly made my life easier, and I'm glad Michelle likes them, too.

Back in March, I shared a couple of photos of the afghan I made for Karen. Here is another photo showing it in its new home in the UK. As you can see, Karen isn't the only one who likes it!

While I'm sharing compliments, I'd like to thank the book-giving friend who knows that I like mysteries with strong Native American themes. I am so lucky to have the family and friends that I do. I love them to bits all year round, but they make all the difference in the world when things unravel a bit. 

A virtual hug to you all. Enjoy the links!

►Books & Other Interesting Tidbits◄

• Want some good news? School board races across Texas deal losses for many conservatives.
• On the rise of older women amateur sleuths.
• An author responds: Why is sex so scary to book banners?
• South Carolina leads the nation in school book bans after votes to remove more titles.
• How reality television warps our understanding of political and economic realities.
• A dictionary of Victorian slang.
• "A mystery novel like no other before." On Josephine Tey's The Daughter of Time.
• Mississippi has ordered the deletion of race and gender databases in state libraries.
• DOGE's latest cuts will hit local culture hard.

►Channeling My Inner Indiana Jones◄

• "If it was a man, we would say that's a warrior's grave": Weapon-filled burials are shaking up what we know about women's roles in Viking society.
• The Hårby Valkyrie: A 1,200-year-old gold Viking Age woman sporting a sword, shield, and ponytail.
• A medieval tale of Merlin and King Arthur has been found hiding as a book cover.
• A 3D scan created from 25,000 high-resolution images reveals incredible details of Shackleton's Endurance shipwreck.
• Locals thought these shipwrecks had belonged to pirates. They turned out to be 300-year-old Danish slave ships.
• Metal detectorists unearthed a dazzling Anglo-Saxon gold-and-garnet raven head and ring.
• The ornate sword that Napoleon commissioned during his rise to power is heading to auction.
• Archaeologists unearthed a tree-lined walkway that led to an ancient Egyptian fortress in the Sinai Desert.

►Channeling My Inner Elly May Clampett◄

• The bone collector caterpillar: the very hungry caterpillar of your nightmares.
• A study suggests that colorful superb starlings form long-term "friendships" by helping out with babysitting.
• Fifteen images of beautiful butterflies.
• Welcome to the weird and wondrous world of sea cucumbers.
• Dogs of the Moscow Metro.
• Threatened greater sage grouse are trying to mate near a hazardous airport in Wyoming. Can papier-mâché decoys lure them to safety?
• The London Zoo discovered hundreds of old film reels featuring "zoo oddities" and animal celebrities.
• A Spanish shipwreck has revealed evidence of the earliest known pet cats to arrive in the United States.

►The Wanderer◄

• Wat Arun, a Buddhist temple in Bangkok, Thailand, was constructed from over one million ceramic tiles salvaged from a British shipwreck.
• The Biblioteca Palafoxiana in Puebla, Mexico, is the first public library in the Americas.
• Official paintings from Charles III's world tours are going on public display for the first time.
• See the portrait that made Henry VIII fall in love with Anne of Cleves, newly restored to its former glory. (This portrait was what first interested me in fashion.)
• How elaborate Victorian houses in San Francisco were carefully picked up and moved to new locations.
• Opulent period costumes and murals lead you on a journey through fashion history at the Gewandhaus Museum Inneringen in Germany.
• See the newly renovated Castle Howard, made famous by Bridgerton and Brideshead Revisited.
• The end of roadside attractions.

►Fascinating Folk◄

• Belle Starr: The Wild West's forgotten outlaw queen.
• Anthony Horowitz on mystery, metafiction, and a new Susan Ryeland novel (and show).
• Eleanor Roosevelt is being honored on a new U.S. quarter.
• Trailblazing filmmaker Ava DuVernay has received the Smithsonian's Great Americans medal.
• Eugenie Clark: the marine biologist who fought sharks' "bad rap" as "gangsters of the deep."
• Witold Pilecki, the Polish resistance fighter who volunteered to be sent to Auschwitz so he could sabotage the Nazi death camp from the inside.

►I ♥ Lists◄

• Exciting new mystery and thriller adaptations to watch in May 2025.
• Eight cruise ship cozy mystery books that make for a chilling summer.
• Nine thrillers set in secluded homes and estates.
• Eleven literary award winners that stand the test of time.
• A gift guide for lovers of classic detective fiction.
• Banned historical fiction books.

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!