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Summer is right around the corner, and what better way to embrace the sunny season than by heading outside? But, as much as we love spending quality time with Mother Nature, the great outdoors isn’t all glowing tans and breathtaking photo-ops. Maybe you didn’t apply bug repellent, or perhaps you missed a spot, but getting a mosquito bite can make your time outside a less-than-sunny affair. What to Know Before You Buy But, if you’re looking for an easy way to keep those pesky mosquito bites to a minimum, picking up an outdoor citronella candle is a good place to start....

It’s an established fact that the hydrangea is the Queen of the Southern Garden. As long as they are protected from the blazing afternoon sun and given adequate shade, fertilizer, and water, hydrangeas will give you big, bouncy blossoms and deep-green foliage all summer long. Every queen needs her court, however, so increase the enchantment of these flowering bushes by carefully selecting companion plants that will enhance your garden. Read on for some tips on what to plant with hydrangeas....

Each gathering of family and friends comes with rules that most of us intuitively know. We assume there will be (some form of) a turkey at Thanksgiving dinner, and we can count on decorations specific to Christmas or Hanukkah placed around the kitchen and living room by mid-December at the latest. But there’s an entirely different category of get-togethers that merits its own set of ground rules: football parties. And the football party of all football parties is none other than the Super Bowl—in fact, a great Super Bowl party may have more rules than your average holiday celebration....

Chef David Bancroft’s restaurant owes much more than its name to the acre of land it sits on in downtown Auburn. The restaurant is wrapped with an edible landscape, where Bancroft and his team tend crops that thrive in the Deep South climate—fruit trees guard the entrance, while a patch of collard greens, rows of herbs, and a plot of flowers fill the gaps in between. There are heirloom radishes and beets, lettuces, corn, and carrots growing in a 75-foot raised bed; a section of watermelons rounds out the far end of the garden....

It’s so hot outside you could fry an egg, as they say. Which means two things for our Southern palates: Extra ice in our sweet tea, and bring on the peach cobbler. Here, here, y’all. While we’re not traveling these days amid the coronavirus crisis, we’ve discovered a food truck that we’re immediately adding to our must-visit list, NuNu’s Sweet Soul Food, courtesy of website It’s a Southern Thing. You can find the food truck at 708 Delaware Avenue in Fort Pierce, Florida, and the outlet reports that the peach cobbler is “so good diners are willing to drive hours for it....

New Orleans is full of architecturally diverse homes, but one building style is more common than most and forever linked with the Southern city’s history: the shotgun. Shotgun houses are charming, modest homes instantly recognizable for how narrow they are. Here’s more about this fascinatingly unique house layout and home it became popular in Louisiana. Where Did the Name “Shotgun House” Originate? So what about that name? The history behind the meaning of a shotgun isn’t crystal clear....

In Natchez, Mississippi, even the surrounding landscape beckons you toward a storied past, with roads cutting canyons through red-dirt forests, eventually arriving at the city’s famous bluffs. Oak limbs spread wide. Welcome to the oldest town along the Mississippi River. Today, Natchez is bursting with surprises, thanks in large part to a cohort of young natives who wandered away and then returned home with new ideas. Revived efforts to highlight the area’s African-American history, along with a rejuvenation of the downtown scene that includes a bevy of brand-new businesses, have brought the city into a new era....

A word of warning as we enter 2020. Earlier this week, a police department in Maine issued a bit of advice via their Facebook page about abbreviating 2020 in the new year. According to the East Millinocket Police Department, writing “20” instead of “2020” when signing legal and/or professional documents can allow scammers to easily modify the date to include a different year. “March 3rd, 2020 being written as 3/3/20 could be modified to 3/3/2017 or 3/3/2018,” the post (below) explains....

There’s no denying it: Texans love their H-E-B, their Buc-ee’s, and they definitely love their Whataburger. (They also love Willie Nelson, Matthew McConaughey, and George Strait, to name a few of the Lone Star State’s cherished celebrities.) So much do Texans love their Whataburger, in fact, that they braved the horrendous weather in the middle of this week’s snowstorm to get their fast food fix from the popular burger chain. We first caught wind of the news from SouthernThing....

Dreams come true, y’all! Musical icon Dionne Warwick announced on the Tamron Hall Show yesterday that she has teamed up with fellow living legend Dolly Parton on a duet. “My heart,” Hall squealed before sharing the exciting news. “This is how the New Year is supposed to be kicked off!” After the big reveal (and the cheers from the audience subsided), Warwick explained how the megawatt collaboration came to be....

Though just a short drive down Ponce del Leon from the Atlanta skyline, Decatur has always moved to its own beat. Technically, it paved the way before Atlanta even entered stage left—Decatur Square predates its counterpart by 20 years. Here, college professors, CDC researchers, and award-winning chefs live alongside NPR bumper sticker-bearing artists and authors who collectively keep the city’s tango of progress and preservation in tune. The historic neighborhood has never surrendered to Atlanta’s notorious sprawl, maintaining its independent charm and creative sensibility through decades of its own reinvention....

Do You Need To Clean Your Humidifier? Let’s start with an easy question: Do you need to clean your humidifier? Yes. If you don’t clean your humidifier thoroughly and regularly, you could be introducing additional mold and mildew spores into the air. Furthermore, if you don’t clean it often enough, your machine could also see decreased functionality and effectiveness due to mineral buildup, which could cause a blockage in your machine and result in a broken nebulizer or heating element....

These days, we’re all flooded with gratitude for the millions of essential workers in this country—nurses, doctors, janitors, pharmacists, grocery store employees, delivery workers, postal workers, truck drivers, policemen and women, firefighters, and so many more—who do so much to keep us safe and protected amid the coronavirus pandemic. The best way to show your gratitude? Stay at home as much as possible to slow the spread of the virus and relieve the overtaxed healthcare system....

Have you ever wanted to snuggle a turkey? If so, we have the event for you! This Thanksgiving, Gentle Barn facilities in California, Missouri, and Tennessee are inviting the public to a special pre-meal event where, in exchange for a modest donation, you can cuddle rescued turkeys, feed them treats and join staff and other visitors for pie, crafts, music, and games. “These animals are living their best lives, and anyone lucky enough to meet or spend time with them will discover they are highly affectionate, intelligent, social, protective towards their families, and gentle with humans,” a news release states....

We trust Julia Child on the subject of all things kitchen-related. That’s why, when we heard she had a secret for preparing perfectly poached eggs, we had to share. In her 1999 television series co-hosted with Jacques Pepin (called Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home), the two chefs offer two different strategies for poaching eggs. With her signature knack for making new culinary strategies approachable, Julia Child shares her go-to poaching method, which has since been adopted by beginners and seasoned chefs alike....

Julia Tatum never planned to run a one-woman cornmill. “I was a graphic design major at Ole Miss, so I took a job right out of college working at a marketing firm in Oxford,” says Julia. But sitting at a computer all day proved uninspiring, and she missed getting her hands dirty. Then, in 2016, her cousin decided to sell Delta Grind, a stone-ground grits and cornmeal operation based in nearby Water Valley....

Lawrence Brooks, the United States’ oldest living World War II veteran, died Wednesday morning at his home in New Orleans. He was 112 years old. His daughter and caregiver, Vanessa Brooks, told Army Times that his health had been declining and he had been “in and out” of the local veterans’ hospital several times in recent months. The National WWII Museum was the first to announce the sad news. “He was a beloved friend, a man of great faith and had a gentle spirit that inspired those around him....

We’re sad to report that Mac Davis, celebrated country music singer and songwriter, died on Tuesday, September 29, following complications from heart surgery at the age of 78. The artist, wrote the 1972 pop hit “Baby Don’t Get Hooked on Me,” and was widely known and respected for penning a slew of chart-toppers for Elvis Presley, including “A Little Less Conversation,” “Memories,” and “In the Ghetto.” He also was the host of NBC variety show The Mac Davis Show from 1974 to 1976....

Rikesh Patel owns and operates 25 McDonald’s in Louisiana, including eight in and around Lake Charles—the area hardest hit by Hurricane Laura. The day after the monster storm made landfall, Rikesh Patel was on the phone with McDonald’s corporate office, and within 24 hours a restaurant on wheels arrived in Lake Charles to feed those in need of a hot meal. Laura, the strongest hurricane to strike Louisiana since 1856, damaged countless homes and businesses and left six people dead....

Call it divine intervention or just plain old good luck, but members of Palm Beach Atlantic University women’s sailing club were in the right place at the right time when a juvenile green sea turtle found itself fighting for its life back in March. Freshman Aubrey Holloway and senior Corinna Lambright were out training in the intracoastal waterway in West Palm Beach, Florida, when they spotted the turtle struggling, reports WPBF....