I have been a little short on reader mail lately, but this week makes up for the slow weeks. I say "good job" to those that sent in recipes to pass along. Keep the mail coming.

"When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things."

CalendarTodayn La Leche League: 10 a.m. The league is a community breast-feeding support group. Meeting locations vary. For more information, call Amy Kiehne at 573-579-4196.n Sibling class: 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at Saint Francis Medical Center.

God was willing and the creeks didn't rise, so all was a "go" for my recent trip to Southeast Missouri to attend my nephew Henley's nuptials. The weather was beautiful as were the newlyweds, and the mighty Mississippi hadn't overtaken our town.

You can run it, walk it or crawl it, but when it comes to the health benefits, a mile is just a mile.That's the main message the government is likely to include in recommended exercise guidelines it will issue later this year as a complement to its famous food pyramid.

Les Grah is appropriately dressed in a Cardinals shirt and ball cap, hardly leaning on his walker as he offers me a seat in his Scott City livingroom. His daughter and great-great-grandson stand nearby, and we're quickly joined by Les' granddaughter and great-granddaughter.

Smashing someone else's lunch in the refrigerator to make way for your own. Leaving your dishes in the sink. Letting your lunch bubble over in the microwave.

Callie and I like to think of ourselves as Word People.

A circular blacktop drive leads to the four-columned front entrance of this stately four-bedroom, three-bathroom home.

CAIRO, Ill. — "Bring people to the cross, then duck."

Area churches offer vacation Bible school

Summer is one of my favorite seasons of the year (although I don't think there is any particular season I dislike). Summer bears witness to her own distinct sounds and smells. The smell of sunblock and swimming pools as children slowly turn golden brown.

Everyone has wished they were somewhere else, performing a different job or had more time to do what they "really wanted to do." Although it may sound like you're complaining, that isn't necessarily true. You know you are doing what you need to be doing right now.

This article appeared in the 2008 Healthwatch magazine, a publication of the Southeast Missourian. Copies are available at the Missourian's Jackson and Cape Girardeau offices during normal business hours.

From Hollywood stars to first-graders, it seems everyone is knitting. But it's crocheting that's generating the buzz right now on crafting Web sites, blogs and even the fashion runways.

Last week I wrote about a new cookbook I had received as a gift, and it seemed to be a popular column. When I went to church Sunday, one woman said two people where she works ordered copies, and another woman said she already owned the book and keeps it on her coffee table as a conversation piece.

CalendarTodayn Preparation for childbirth class: 5:30 to 9 p.m. at Saint Francis Medical Center. Comprehensive guide to expected bodily changes, labor signs and stages, pain control techniques and basic infant care.

One of the first acts of love that can be done in the name of a newborn is to donate the infant's umbilical cord blood.

NEW YORK — Making cannoli is serious business in New York. It's a dessert so tempting that even a hit man in the "Godfather" couldn't leave a box behind.

Four bedrooms and four-and-a-half baths on more than an acre allows plenty of room for a growing family. The home is in the Jackson School District with easy access to Interstate 55.

Julie Langenfeld has been planning this trip for seven years. The car has been waiting longer.

Up and down the main drives there are red, white, blue and the occasional yellow signs of independence and freedom. Not memorials to war veterans. Not flags bearing 50 stars and 13 stripes. Not tributes to the steps taken by those who risked all and sacrificed much in our revolution.

Pastor installed at Concordia Lutheran

Amid the fireworks and picnics celebrating the birth of the United States, some churches will also offer prayer and thanks to God during the Independence Day weekend.

"There used to be a saying: 'One more Christian is one less Chinese.' Today, nobody says that anymore."