by Sarah Loudin Thomas | Jul 25, 2019 | Appalachian, dogs, folklore cures, Nature, superstition
You’ve almost certainly heard this time of year referred to as the “dog days” of summer. But do you know WHY it’s called that? I always thought it’s because this hot, muggy time of year isn’t hardly fit for a dog. And I had a...
by Sarah Loudin Thomas | Apr 25, 2019 | Appalachian, folklore cures, holidays, Miracles
I’ve always loved to bring wildflowers in the house. As kids we’d pick daffodils and forsythia, then wild azalea and lilacs, then daisies and black-eyed Susans. I even got in trouble for breaking off a branch from my mother’s redbud tree! But we...
by Sarah Loudin Thomas | Mar 22, 2018 | Appalachian, folklore cures, Food, Nature
It’s been a roller coaster leading up to the first few days of spring. We’ve had temperatures in the 70s and then . . . snow. Back and forth, spring has been a terrible tease this year. Of course, it’s not as bad as when folks had to wait for spring...
by Sarah Loudin Thomas | Mar 27, 2017 | Church, folklore cures, Food, Friends, Love
It’s day 19 of this ridiculous cold that has apparently morphed into something else. The paperwork from the urgent care clinic says, “Acute upper respiratory infection, unspecified.” I have antibiotics. I think the doctor may have given them to me to...
by Sarah Loudin Thomas | Mar 23, 2017 | Appalachian, folklore cures, Waiting
I’ve been doing battle with an awful, lingering cold. I pretended I was getting better for ten days, then succumbed and spent a day laying around drinking lots of tea and taking cold remedies in hopes of shaking it. Which got me thinking about what folks did in...
by Sarah Loudin Thomas | Mar 31, 2016 | Appalachian, Family, folklore cures, Food, Nature
Flowers are blooming, afternoons are warm, the sun moves more slowly across the sky . . . It’s the time of year when the old folks start shunning preserved foods for something fresh. Something green. Poke sallat. Fiddleheads. And ramps, which are somehow getting to be...
