The English language is said by those who are not native speakers to be one of the hardest languages to learn. I don’t find that hard to believe for a couple of reasons.
I know what a hard time I have with foreign languages. I took a year of Spanish in high school but I couldn’t order an egg in a Spanish restaurant. If I ever had a window of opportunity to learn foreign languages, it closed very early in life.

January can be a great time to fish Norris Lake. In the heart of the winter the average weight of your catch can be larger. Plus, fish often form large schools in deep water and you may catch a lot of big fish in a small area.
Another advantage of January fishing is that all the pleasure boaters are gone and fishermen will have the lake all to themselves. If it is extremely cold or nasty weather, there may not be many other fishermen on the lake either.

I’m writing this during the cold months in East Tennessee. There are no dragonflies zipping about. They tend to be more active during the warmer months.
I’ve noticed that, in addition to warm weather, dragonflies like water. As a young kid, I learned that if you go out into your yard on a hot, dry, summer day and spray water from a garden hose up into the air to form a mist, you just might attract a dragonfly or two. Try it some hot and dusty afternoon this coming August. Maybe a shimmering visitor will appear.

I don’t know the stats for our area, but on a national level, Americans are overstressed, and everyone knows this is unhealthy. The causes are familiar: fast pace of life, multi-tasking … you know the sound bites.
I’ve written in the past about studies that show that immersing yourself in natural settings can reduce stress, so I revisited the topic and found some new twists on natural stress reduction. Here are some recommendations that surfaced.

We were living in west Knoxville the year the city recorded the coldest temperature in the lower 48. That was January 21/22, 1985. It had snowed on Sunday morning—hard. So hard that church was cancelled. My husband, being the adventurous soul that he was, went out and checked on some of our church’s shut-ins. He barely made it back home and he swears it was because he was driving an old VW Beetle. I was just glad when he was safely home.

I have often wondered if this tradition is a southern thing.
When I was growing up, New Year’s Day was rather frustrating. All day long, I would be warned: “If you do that today, you’ll be doing it all year long!”
Mamaw Jo was so adamant about it, that doing laundry was almost forbidden on New Year’s Day.
One time I was brave and asked Mamaw, “Why are you so convinced about not doing laundry on that day?”
Her answer wasn’t what I expected. “I had a friend who washed clothes on New Year’s Day. Her husband got sick and she washed his clothes all year long!”

I have always admired those who step up to bring children they’ve never met into their homes and families via adoption, but I never truly understood the sacrifice it takes to make that happen. I still don’t. At least, not firsthand. This is the Reader's Digest Condensed version of a much longer story that is still unfolding.

The Boy and His Mountain, by multi-published author Jim Hartsell, has just been released in both English and Spanish. Hartsell’s other children’s titles, The Box of Toys and Father and Sister Radish and the Rose-Colored Glasses, are also now available in both languages. The three books deal with the topics of friendship, generosity, and a child’s view of the world, and are written to help initiate conversations between young children and the adults who care for them.

The American Chiropractic Association (ACA) and chiropractors nationwide are encouraging the public to take simple steps toward better musculoskeletal (MSK) health. The MSK system is comprised of the spine as well as all the muscles, bones and joints of the body.

You may wonder why this article is about the Wise Men now that Christmas is over. While it is a popular Christmas card manger scene to put wise men in the picture along with shepherds and angels, they actually showed up at an unknown time and place after Jesus’ birth, so the topic is still timely.