Art makes our lives better. Art entertains us. Art heightens our self-awareness and our awareness of others. It helps us perceive complexity as pleasure and possibility not as irritating and uncertainty. Art records history and exemplifies past civilizations. Art has also been known to become a vice you can't let go of. I discovered this vice as a child and re-discovered it about 20-years ago doing decorative painting with acrylic paints and then falling in love with oil paints. Since then, I have been blessed to study with some of the finest artist in the United States.

Now that school has started, school lunches are in the spotlight again. If your kids carry their lunches, this is a good crisp cookie that won't break up before lunch.

Mincey’s Musings
Year One, Week Thirty-Four

I have been blessed with a wonderful family. I was born late in both my parents’ lives, so a great many of my relatives I only know about from stories as they died before I was born.

My job as a forester was a blessing to allow me to get out and enjoy the beauty of our woods and fields and get paid for it. But there were plants out there that would suck some of the joy of being outside. I’m talking about plants that can make you bleed because of their thorns; things like blackberry, escaped rose bushes, and my worst nemesis: sawbriars. I’ve come off wildfires with literally every square inch of my legs scratched from these painful vines.

Kyphosis is the forward curvature or “hunch” of the upper spine that sometimes occurs in older adults. Your chiropractor may use a type of spinal manipulation—also called a spinal adjustment—to improve joint motion. Spinal manipulation is an active, hands-on treatment, and there are multiple variations of this technique.

Tim likes to brag that we’ve never had a fight. That’s not entirely true. While we’ve never had a huge fight, it does seem that most of our spats and disagreements have been over cars.

(As part of a series entitled “Out of the Fire and Into the Skillet”)
Luke 7:34
“The Son of man is come eating and drinking; and ye say, Behold a gluttonous man, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners!”

Hum! Jesus, friend of sinners. When I consider the events surrounding Luke 7:34, which would include the entirety of the Gospel accounts, I am forced to ask myself the following question:

Are you looking for something different to serve at your next get-togther? Something that doesn't require taking out a loan on the car to afford? This is such a recipe. Everybody likes cheese. Everybody likes toast. Here you have it, a good party dish.

Put the pot of rabbit on the kitchen table. Add a pile of small plates, some paper napkins and long handled forks. Back in my drinking days I would have added cold beers, but today with my Christian lifestyle, it's iced tea for me. Enjoy.

Signature fireworks event Thunder in the Park will return to Wilson Park in Maynardville for the third year. The event is set for 5-10 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 1, with fireworks starting at 9:50 p.m.

Union County Historical Society was privileged to host Mr. Arthur Bohanan and Mrs. Bohanan at its August meeting. Mr. Bohanan spoke about “Who are Humans and How Did We Get Here?” He is descended from the Sevier County Bohanans and has three books to his credit–two of which are historical fiction with a vivid imagination of how he portrays his great grandfather, Henry Bohanan’s, life back in the late 1700s. Art is, among other things, a forensic scientist. By age 18, he had graduated from high school and had gone to work for the Federal Bureau of Investigation.