I was only around 4th or 5th grade when a group of boys and I thought it would be funny to throw paint we had found on the side of Alice Bell Elementary School in the early 1990s. I vividly remember splashes of blue dripping down the brick like graffiti art gone wrong. The laughter died quickly when we found ourselves sitting before Dr. LeCoultre, the principal, with blue hands and a guilty look. I expected the worst and remembered feeling my heart beat through the wall of that thin 10-year-old chest wall.

Several years ago, a memoir writing class was offered at the Senior Citizen Center at Halls Crossroads. I had been trying to write about my past and needed someone to critique my efforts. I figured this would be a good place to start. I had no idea how much it would help. The classes met the first and third Tuesday of the month. Bob Farmer was the moderator. They ended when the class reduced in size because of deaths, relocations and other interests.

This is an impressive dessert to serve at your next big get-together.

Punch Bowl Trifle
2 cans (20 oz each) crushed pineapple
18 1/4 oz yellow cake mix
5.1 oz pkg instant vanilla pudding
2 cans (21 oz each) cherry pie filling
4 medium ripe bananas, sliced
2 cans (15 14 oz each) fruit cocktail, drained
2 cans (11 oz each) mandarin oranges, drained
16 oz carton Cool whip, thawed
7 oz pkg flaked coconut, toasted

He awakens from a deep sleep to the alarm of his Little Ben alarm clock. His foggy brain realizes it is time to get up and start his day. He realizes it is four a.m. which he has been arising at for the last thirty years during his six-day work week of Monday through Saturday. He then remembers that today is Tuesday April 25th 1950. He turns on the radio which is always set onto WNOX in Knoxville, Tennessee. Today ‘s weather calls for highs of 72 degrees with tonight’s low down to 36-degree temps.

What in your opinion would be an awesome place for a vacation getaway with your most significant other?
Once upon a time (yesterday, in fact) I visited a local organization to conduct business for another organization. While there I had an enjoyable conversation with two long-standing friends.
A story that emerged from our visit concerned a gentleman who had been married several years. After his wife died, he lived “in sin” with a woman for around a decade. He and this lady were on vacation to Florida.

Sumac is very common in our area, most often found in overgrown fields and forest edges. While considered a weed by many, it does have the virtues of providing cover and food for wildlife, and nice fall coloration for human enjoyment.

Sumac, or “shumate” in mountain speech, is a woody shrub that grows as multi-stem clumps with fairly smooth brownish bark spattered with small lines or dots. They average 7-10 feet tall but can reach 20 feet. The leaves are compound (more than one leaf) and configured like a feather with 10 to 30 leaflets. They are among the first to change color in the fall and are a brilliant red. Their flowers bloom in horn-like clumps at the tops of the branches, and around September those clumps form showy, bright red fruit that is quite striking. The shrubs are underutilized as a landscape plant for color and interesting form.

The Union County Farmers Market is hosting a Giant Pumpkin, Giant Watermelon and Ugliest Vegetable Contests as part of the Heritage Festival on October 4. Pumpkins and watermelons will be weighed on the market scale at 115 Durham Drive from 8 to 9 a.m. on festival morning. The Ugliest Vegetable will be judged on appearance only.

Learn to make cornbread at a free workshop on September 24, hosted by Union County 4H. Agent Abigail Thomas will teach you all you need to know to stir up and bake some warm buttery cornbread.

Attendees will demonstrate their skills at the October 4 Union County Heritage Festival.

Call 865-992-8038 or email athomas@utk.edu to sign up and reserve your spot for either cornbread making or demonstrating. Better hurry. Spaces will fill up fast!

New to this year’s upcoming Union County Heritage Festival is the Cake Baking Contest. The UC FCE Club will coordinate the contest and provide the judges. Participants may enter one cake that is totally homemade in each of three categories: Layered, Sheet and Bundt. A recipe card and a registration form must be submitted with the cake.

Cakes must be delivered to the UC Extension Office at 2721 Maynardville Highway on Thursday, October 2, from 4 to 5 p.m. or on Friday, October 3, from 8 to 11 a.m.

You might become an Olympian at the 21st Union County Heritage Festival on October 4. All ages can compete in the nail driving, so hunt up a piece of 2 x 4 and some 10-penny nails and start swinging that hammer.
Females have a chance to become an Olympian by tossing an iron skillet. So start practicing in the backyard now.
The Heritage Festival Olympics will be held from noon to 2:30 p.m. behind the 4-H cornbread concession stand. Sign up at the Information Booth on festival day.