Will you help the Union County Lions Club provide needed eye exams and glasses for residents and screening exams for all pre-school students? One way to contribute to the work that the Lions do in our community is to buy a Reverse Raffle ticket. Tickets are $10 each. The money raised goes directly to the Lion Charities. Tickets can be purchased from Union County Lions members Pastor Kathy Chesney (865) 566-3289; Ronnie Mincey (865) 278-6430; Debbie Sylvia-Gardner (865) 603-5081; or Shirlee Grabko (865) 310-6874.

Delicious food aromas hit you as you walked in the door of the American Legion Hall on June 3. If you thought you weren’t hungry before, the wonderful smells of the Chicken Alfredo dinner immediately changed your mind. And there was so much food – all expertly prepared by the cooks of the Veterans Volunteers. In addition to the huge pan of the Alfredo (see photos), there were pans of Caesar Salad and individual loaves of garlic bread that were baked to perfection.

Many of us spend a good portion of our workdays sitting at a desk. Too much sitting, of course, is not good for anyone. We are not meant to be sedentary creatures. And recent research has concluded that it’s important for anyone who needs to sit for extended periods of time to get up and walk around at least once every hour.

“Shaconage—Place of the Blue Smoke—the Cherokees called it, the long range of forested pinnacles and plunging valleys crowning the boundary between North Carolina and Tennessee. Eden was the description bestowed by early botanists on this virgin wilderness. But thickets of intertwined laurel and tough rhododendron were known to hunters and settlers as hells.”
Very few writers have captured the essence of the Great Smoky Mountains as accurately as these words written by Wilma Dykeman in her book Explorations, published in 1984.

“Guess what I just did,” my husband Tim asked as he bounded into the kitchen. As my Mamaw Jo would say: “He’s smilin’ from ear to ear.” It was obvious that he was happy about something.
But I went with what would make me happy: “You bought a large box of chocolates?” Hey, a girl can dream.

I went with my nephew to Subway for lunch yesterday. Subways have a distinctive smell that gets into my nostrils while I eat and seems to stay with me the rest of the day. I have been told this is the smell of the yeast in the bread.

A can of salmon on your pantry shelf is always a good beginning for a tasty meal. Drain salmon. Remove skin and bones. Flake salmon with a fork. Add softened cream cheese, lemon juice, onion, salt and liquid smoke. Stir well. chill mixture, covered, several hours or overnight. Then shape salmon mixture into a log. Combine pecans and parsley. Stir well. Roll salmon log in pecan mixture. Place on serving plate and chill for several hours. Makes a 10 inch log. Serve with assorted crackers.

By Steve Roark
Volunteer, Cumberland Gap Historical Park

Summer tends to up activity levels with most folks, such as hiking or working in a garden. Sometimes these activities lead to a blister, which is your body's way of telling you to ease off on what you're doing. They are of course the result of too much friction, possibly from poor-fitting shoes or not wearing work gloves. There are several opinions on how to treat them.

If you weren’t able to attend Sharps Chapel’s Fall Festival last September with the rest of the 3,000 visitors, rest assured that fun plans are already in the making for Saturday, September 28. We interviewed the festival’s co-presidents, Kelly Clarke and Miranda Sharp.

What can the community expect to see this year?

On June 29, the Joggin' for Jaelyn for MADD 5K will be held at Wilson Park in Maynardville. This annual event honors the memory of Jaelyn Collins and critically injured Ashton Bailey, two young women tragically struck by a drunk and distracted driver on June 27, 2021. The purpose of this 5K is to bring awareness to the devastating consequences of drunk and distracted driving. All proceeds from the event will go to Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) to support their efforts in awareness and prevention.