“Miss Brooke! Miss Brooke!” I felt the tug on the back of my blouse.

I turned around and looked down into the wide blue eyes of a little boy in my Sunday school class. “Did you know an angel argued with Satan over Moses’ body and the angel didn’t use any bad words?”

At that time, I taught 2nd grade Sunday school. On this particular Sunday, the other teacher and I had talked to the children about not using bad words. We used examples of when we are upset or get into an argument.

Are you looking for a holistic way to take the edge off of those painful joints? Chiropractic medicine may be for you, as long as you remember to listen to your body.

Unlike what you see on TV, most of what chiropractors do today is more gentle than cracking backs or popping necks into place. In fact, there are more than 150 techniques that chiropractors use to manually adjust the spine, joints and muscles with varying degrees of force.

It was in the fall of 1942 when my brother, Rod, approached me with an offer to take me hunting. “I will teach you how to hunt squirrel,” he said. Wait a minute! Where did he get off using such a big word? Rod could take school or leave it. He wasn't an educator. Not at all. I did figure I was teachable, however.

Mincey’s Musings
Year Two, Week Nine

I was part of a conversation last week that revolved on horrible motel experiences. It seems that anyone who has traveled much at all has a horror story or two to tell about overnight travel accommodations.

I had a nephew who was graduating from Marine basic training at Paris Island, South Carolina. There is much I could tell you about that trip, and I believe I will share that experience with you next week. But for now, the only part I’ll share is about the hotel.

In our area Spring seems to be a crap shoot with all the cold snaps in between warm ups. And when I looked into it, I found that there is more than one opinion of when Spring begins, and so here is a rundown of the possibilities.

I had the pleasure of visiting your beautiful county in November of last year. Many of my ancestors have their final resting place in old cemeteries in Chuck Swan State Forest. I was able to find several of them. I'm sharing a photo I took from Highway 33 a few miles east of Maynardville, shortly after dawn of November 18, 2018 as the fog was lifting. My mother, Retha Shelby Elrod, told stories of her visits there and how proud she was of the place where her mother and father were born. I was happy to find that her pride was well founded.

When I was glued to my TV set last year watching the rescue of those soccer boys trapped in a cave in Thailand, I thought about times I had been in caves. Most of those experiences were in Tennessee. Caves in Tennessee are fascinating. One of my encounters was in a primitive cave near South Pittsburgh. Usually a primitive cave is one that is undeveloped, with no pathways, no paid guides, and no admission fees. Those types of caves are on private property. Of course, all of the well-known caves were once primitive, until someone saw the opportunity to make a little money.

TreesI was having lunch with a friend the other day. We had finished our deliveries for the FISH food pantry and were waiting for our burgers to arrive. The conversation turned to the problems older people (like the two of us) have with technology, and Don described a conversation he had recently had with tech support. “I could follow him down the tree,” he said, “as long as he didn’t go too fast.” Don is a retired chemist, and he was talking about a decision tree.

Moving from Idaho to Tennessee brought many surprises after I transported Frankie, our rescued barn cat, to my lakeside home in Tennessee. Following is a part of the Sixth Chapter:

Autumn leaves covered the driveway and a slight chill filled the air. The moving men had now delivered our possessions to our home in Tellico Village. After they left and all the cardboard boxes were deposited in specific rooms, Larry, my husband, and I began unpacking. Frankie explored his new surroundings, and, as an indoor cat, he was amazed by an open door from the kitchen to the deck on the second floor.

Do you like strawberries? Do you like rhubarb? I say yes to both questions. I learned how to make Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie just a few years ago. Previously, when I thought of Strawberry Pie it was the one with fresh strawberries in a baked crust, cover with strawberry glaze and piled high with Cool Whip. There was a serious gap in my pie repertoire.