Community Happenings

Dear Amy: My husband and I have two boys under the age of two. We operate a successful business from home, so we only need childcare for an occasional break or date night.

A new opening day process will be implemented this year for Wellington Lake camping. On March 1st, beginning at 10:00 a.m.

Cauliflower has moved from boring to fashionable as a substitute for carbs and meats in the last four years or so. h One cup of cooked cauliflower has about 25 calories (compared to 204 calories for the same serving of white rice and 216 for the brown variety). In addition, that one serving of cauliflower has 100% of the recommended daily allowance of vitamin C, plus other nutritional benefits.

My mother always said that every room needs a pop of red. The same can be said for a lot of foods. After a holiday of red overload, it’s time to reintroduce the color. Tasteless tomatoes don’t cut it, but those small jars of pimento peppers work magic.

One positive side effect of the coronavirus pandemic was a spike in participation in active, outdoor and fitness activities. According to a 2021 study by the Outdoor Industry Association, “Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, more Americans have turned to the outdoors, some for the first time and others for the first time in many years.” h More than 60% of those who started or resumed walking, bicycling, fishing or running/jogging intend to continue even after restrictions lift. Walking and hiking saw the biggest spike, followed by running, cycling and camping, but participation in just about every outdoor activity – from skiing to kayaking – grew. Meanwhile, purchases of home fitness equipment such as exercise bikes and treadmills saw 170% growth during the pandemic, according to a study by ResearchAndMarkets.com. h As the travel industry rebounds and Americans start vacationing again, there is increased interest in active trips. Companies specializing in active travel such as Butterfield & Robinson (butterfield.com), Backroads (backroads.com), DuVine (duvine.com) and G Adventures (gadventures.com) are reporting record bookings for 2022 and beyond.

Symbolically, the new year is the annual opportunity to kick-start good new habits and get rid of old bad ones. The reality, however, is that many people fail to stick with these resolutions for even a new week, let alone the entire new year. Why do so many fall short of the goals they set? It’s all in your brain. h Sigmund Freud first introduced the pleasure-pain principle back in 1895 and it still holds true today. The human brain is wired to pay attention to formally tried and tested, pleasing stimuli. This means that when people see something associated with a past reward, their brain flushes itself with dopamine – a happy hormone. This is the reason why old habits are hard to break and new habits are hard to establish.