Celebrations marked the beginning of May that shook off recent frosts with 80-degree sunshine at the end of last week in our hometown. The celebrations were at Knoxville by Bush Brothers folks and the annual Cosby Ruritan Ramp Festival.

While loading up on drinking water and snacks last Tuesday at Food City West, I happened to see John Waldoski, who you learned in a column last year feeds hundreds of hummingbirds. John was eating lunch when I asked him if the hummers had returned yet. "Yes, they arrived one day early on April 13," he said. His Trail Hollow home is the hummingbirds' vacation home.

You may have noticed a byline on stories appearing recently in the Plain Talk of a woman who is a teacher at Edgemont School. Angie Jones writes the Wellness articles for parents of school children and recently began featuring our Newspaper in Education teachers. One of these teachers will appear in each month after Angie visits them to see how the teachers and students use the Plain Talk to learn at school. I learned that she is married to Larry Jones, whose mother Betty Jones is a former Cosby School librarian. Larry works for the Greeneville school system as a technician and is also a pastor in Greene County where they live. When she visited our office, I got a chance to chat with her and was interested in her youth as a miner's daughter in eastern Kentucky. One of the places we both had visited was Grundy, Virginia, home of the founder of Food City, the late Jack Smith. You will be glad she is writing for us because she is a good conversationalist.

Last week, Kyker's service station owner Gary Kyker was in the office and I asked him how his mechanic, Vince Coggins, was doing since an auto accident on Highway 25/70 in late March. Vince has worked with Gary and before that his father, the late Bob Kyker, for more than 20 years. Vince suffered a broken bone in his arm, facial breaks, and multiple hip fractures that required steel pins. But while he was at Johnson City Medical Center, he also suffered mini strokes and was on a ventilator. Friday, I stopped at the service station and asked Bart Kyker, who is a new Dad by the way, how Vince was doing. He is able to get up and talk and is expected soon to begin rehabilitation at a center near Jefferson City.

I'll give you a brief update on my cataract surgery, not to tell you how great I can see now, but to express in a small way what a wonderful skill Dr. Charles Lindsey has. Our town is also fortunate to have the services of Mercy Health Partners. I saw several people at the former Baptist Hospital who have been with the facility many years. When I went to Foster & Steel optometrists office for a follow up with Dr. Lindsey on Tuesday, a woman seated next to me in the hall also had surgery on her right eye. Brenda Raines was also doing well. She is the widow of Kenneth Raines, who served as a deputy with sheriffs Tom O'Dell and Bobby Stinson. If you worked at Bush Brothers or ConAgra (Stokely's) before he died 11 years ago, you may have known him.

It seemed there was more sad news than usual last week. Our classified manager has been spending time at the hospital because her older brother, Sammy Fox, became seriously ill.  He suffers with cancer. No sooner than I heard this bad news, later, while covering the gas utility meeting, we learned that Jefferson-Cocke County Utility District Commission President Bobby Wilson was diagnosed with brain and lung cancer. It is a good thing that so many people around us are working so diligently to make the upcoming Relay for Life a success.

In plain talk, when adversities seem to abound, there are a lot of determined people ready to heal and help so that we may all celebrate one day.