I like almost any sweet pie. This is not a sweet pie. It's a ripe tomato pie, a great luncheon dish. Or you could take it to a potluck. It will be a big hit there. Be sure to take copies of the recipe. You certainly will be asked for it.

Every tomato pie I have seen in the past had slices of ripe tomatoes arranged in a pastry crust. This one does, too, but they are used as a garnish. Very pretty. It is a delicious tomato pie. With fresh tomatoes in season, this will be a treat.

On Wednesday, August 14, the new Maynardville business FirstBank invited guests, customers and fellow businesses to a Ribbon Cutting and Open House with refreshments, door prizes, and promotional products. Many guests stopped in for a meet and greet with the new business, its employees, and stakeholders.

In many cases, children who have been sexually or physically abused must visit several agencies at multiple locations in order to get the support they need. Children’s Centers were created to assist in providing a safe haven for then youths. They provide a place where the children can, instead of visiting multiple agencies, come to one location where specially trained professionals collaborate to facilitate a child friendly environment where the child knows he or she will be safe.

The pantry is empty and the refrigerator is bare, time to shop for groceries. As you drive to your favorite grocery store, you know the routine. Enter the store, grab a buggy, and browse aisles upon aisles of products. After your cart is full and all items are checked off your list, you will head for the front to pay, hoping of course, to find the shortest and fastest checkout.

Union County Business & Professional Association held its regular Member Meeting on Tuesday, August 13, 2019, at Hardee's in Maynardville. President Martin Shafer called the meeting to order and quickly dispensed with the routine business of the minutes and treasurer's report. The treasurer's report was presented by Gail Corum and as of July 31, 2019, the balance was $5,543.24.

Big Ridge State Park’s 35th Annual Music Festival was held on August 16, 2019 from 4pm-9:30 pm.

If you ask me, Big Ridge State Park is an excellent place to host a Bluegrass Music Festival. It lies somewhere between Rocky Top and the Great Smoky Mountains inside of Union County, Tennessee.

Our Union County Heritage: A Historical and Biographical Album of Union County—People, Places, Events by Kathleen George Graves and Winnie Palmer McDonald (© 1978 Josten’s) relates the following information pertaining to the establishment for Wood Dale School:

WOOD DALE—June 16, 1898, (P-350). Jackson Boruff and wife to the School Directors of District 3, for love and affection, a lot for a public school, so long as it is used for a school—if abandoned, it falls back to the Boruff heirs. (p. 180)

My father was a whistler. You seldom hear a man whistle these days. Maybe to call a dog or to get someone's attention, but not to whistle a melody. There was a time when cell phones, CDs and DVDs were not available. Whistling was a way to amuse or comfort yourself with a familiar song or hymn.

How do you whistle? It takes some practice and can be either harsh or harmonious. Just put your lips together and say “two.” Now blow. It will take some practice but eventually you will get it right. It will take a while to make enough variety of sounds to whistle a tune.

A major contributor to kids’ back pain is the backpacks they use to tote their stuff, researchers in a new study said. Those who used one strap to carry their packs reported significantly more back pain than did those who used both straps. Those who used rolling backpacks reported back pain the most often. It wasn’t clear whether pain prompted their use of the rolling packs or whether the rolling packs contributed to their pain.

Humans are apparently hard-wired to love seeing rainbows, as proven by all the Facebook photo postings that pop up whenever one appears in our area. But have you ever wondered if, say your dog sitting beside you, sees the same rainbow you do? Or how about other animals? Let us delve into color vision by various residents of our planet.