As I write this article, I wonder how many of my readers have made New Year resolutions. Also, I remember how some folks are superstitious about the first day of a New Year. Mama always said if our first visitor was a man then someone in our family would have a boy baby. And the same applied to a woman visitor; a baby girl would be born in our family soon after New Year’s Day.

Mama always had a superstition about washing clothes on the first day of January. She said that someone in our family would die early in the New Year if she washed clothes. There were many more; most I cannot remember at this time.

Most of us have heard superstitions such a black cat crossing a person’s path. Then you are to make an "X" in the air to mark the cat out of your future; the idea being that the person who did not mark out the cat would have bad luck.

Then there is the superstition about breaking a mirror and the person would have seven years of bad luck. I wonder who came up with all of those sayings. I personally don’t believe in luck but find it interesting how many people do.

When my son Ralph was a youngster, he would have many nose bleeds. My Uncle Claud White was a great storyteller and a little superstitious. He believed if a person’s nose was bleeding, that person should take a pocket knife, let a drop of blood fall on the blade, and then stick the knife blade into the ground. According to Uncle Claud that would stop the nose bleed. Ralph said he tried it one time but had no success. His nose kept bleeding.

My recommendation would be to take a cold, wet cloth and press it again the nose which should cause the blood to clot.

As you are reading this article, think about some superstitions or old wives’ tales that you have heard over the years. I think you will have some interesting thoughts.

Steve and Susan Walls from Mississippi spent a week with his mother, Marie Walls, and some other relatives for Christmas.

Well, some of my recent visitors included Jean Love, Glenda Stanley, Clara Murphy, Christine Arnold, Anna Parker, Lincoln Sanders, Diane Kirby, Cindy Vaughn, Randy, Natasha and Ellie Vaughn along with Ralph and June Vaughn, Douglas and Barbara Ann Ervin, Rebecca Ervin, Faye Adkins, Gracie Bratcher, Donald Lawson, Peggy Fuson, Reed Miller and Peggy Colwell.