Patricia Cornwell’s ‘Postmortem’
This week I picked up the first novel in Patricia Cornwell’s Dr. Kay Scarpetta series, Postmortem. This novel differs from most “detective” novels I read, as it is really one of the first CSI novels to hit genre fiction. The story revolves around the brutal murder of a young woman, and the forensic investigation of […]
A Michael Myers Costume
This weekend, I had another one of those surreal moments where reality and the opposite of reality, let’s call that Hollywood just for convenience, collide. This time, it was more frightening than Donald Trump’s hair and left me with that same uneasy feeling I got when I saw Renee Zellweger’s ‘new look’. It happened at […]
Too Soon To Decorate?
Now that Halloween is over, I was thinking about doing a little Christmas decorating. My friend says that I should hold out and not decorate until after Thanksgiving. Not only do I love Christmas, I am also out of town for the week following Thanksgiving. Is it too soon to decorate? When to decorate for […]
Creepy Crawlers
Forget the vampires! What about those creepy crawling things that could be lurking inside? Ranging from barely visible to easily seen by the naked eye, parasites could be sucking your energy out of you. Sound scary? Protozoa are microscopic one cell organisms that can cause inflammation of the small intestines and interfere with the absorption […]
Halloween Fun with Your Children
Have a little Halloween fun with these science experiments! Frankenstein worms (a spooky experiment): Worms should start to float and move as the vinegar (acetic acid) reacts with the baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) to form carbon dioxide gas bubbles on the worms. They appear to be alive and will wriggle until the chemical reaction stops! […]
The True Spirit of Halloween
With Halloween on the doorstep, I’d like to take a pause to point out a simple truth. These are the moments that make life worth living. Nothing takes a back seat to holding your little zombie’s hand as they march about in a frenzy of sugary desire. To be clear, I’m not talking about Halloween […]
Lev Grossman’s ‘The Magician King’
This week I finally had time to pick up the second book in a trilogy I started a little over two years ago: Lev Grossman’s The Magician King. In this installment, Quentin Coldwater, our depressed, bored protagonist, has ruled the magical land of Fillory for centuries. True to his nature, Quentin eventually bores of even […]
Too Old to Trick-or-Treat?
My daughter is in middle school and she and her friends want to go trick or treating on Halloween. I told her that she is a little old to go door to door but she says that a lot of the kids her age still go out. Do you think that it is appropriate for […]
Trick or Treat!
For many of you, Halloween candy will find its way into your grocery cart soon. But how do you choose the lesser of evils when it comes to your health? Two of the biggest villains to look for are partially hydrogenated oils and high fructose corn syrup. If you read the words partially hydrogenated oil […]
A New Fashion Icon
Darlings, it seems that a new fashion icon has arrived upon the scene, following the fairy tale wedding of Amal and George Clooney. Amal’s fashion choices are being reported with great detail and I absolutely love this! Her wedding gown, an elegant romantic vision in white lace and Cathedral veil was designed by Oscar de […]
Sunday Lunch
I don’t know about you, but I love to create things to remember. One of my created memories involve the traditional home cooked Sunday lunch when my children come home for the feast and family bonding. When they were little this tradition was observed by my mother. She was quite the fantastic cook, thus the […]
Visual and Olfactory Sensory Integration
Sensory integration refers to the brain’s ability to process sensory input from multiple sensory modalities, the five senses (sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste), vestibular sense (balance and movement) and proprioception (knowing one’s position in space). The visual sense receives input from the eyes. It processes and interprets images seen in the environment. A child […]
Will There be Trick-or-Treating in Downtown Dandridge?
I was wondering if there will be trick or treating in downtown Dandridge this year? While the Town is not sponsoring anything specific, many of the local businesses are planning to have candy and activities. Particularly, there will be activities at the Vance Building, which hosts the Jefferson County Post, as well as Campus Cargo […]
Apples and Enzymes
When was the last time you ate raw food? I’m talking about fresh, uncooked enzyme rich fruits, vegetables and fermented foods such as sauerkraut and yogurt. What are enzymes and why are they important to our health? Enzymes are proteins, composed of amino acids produced in the human body and all animals and plants. Our […]
Child Sensory Integration: Proprioception
Sensory integration refers to the brain’s ability to process sensory input from multiple sensory modalities, the five senses (sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste), vestibular sense (balance and movement) and proprioception (knowing one’s position in space). The proprioceptive sense receives input from the muscles and joints about body position, weight, pressure, stretch, movement, and changes […]
Raymond Chandler’s ‘The Big Sleep’
Lately I have been tearing through multiple detective novels, and one of my favorites has been Raymond Chandler’s The Big Sleep. Written in 1939, The Big Sleep follows private investigator Philip Marlowe, a man who isn’t afraid to get his hands dirty on the job, and who is becoming increasingly tired with the persistence of […]
