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CHAMPION—MAY 19, 2014

        Champions are pleased to see the smiling faces of the Skyline R-2 School Honor Graduates in the paper.  Valedictorian Skyla Boyd and Salutatorian William Crawford are moving on now to a new and exciting learning environment.  Their Champion friends wish them well and wish all the Skyline students a wonderful summer and another great school year to come.  The Skyline staff posts on the internet, “It’s not too late to sign up for a month of fun and learning in June.  There will be art, music, basketball, reading, science activities, math, trips to the pool, along with free breakfast and lunch.  If you can’t find the signup sheet around the house, just call and ask for a summer school form. 683-4874.”  Skyline second grader Heidi Strong has her birthday on May 22nd.  One of Esther’s favorite daughter-in-laws, Teresa Wrinkles, makes merry that day as well.  Kindergarten student Joseph Kennedy parties on May 29th.  Celebrate! Celebrate Rachel Cohen and Jackie Green in opposite ends of the country, both dynamic, exciting productive citizens.  The world is a lucky place to have you both in it—Champions.

        Memorial Day is said to have many separate beginnings.  Every planned or spontaneous gathering of people to honor the Civil War dead in the 1860’s tapped into the general human need to honor our dead.  When the official proclamation came down in 1868, General Logan said that Memorial Day is not about division.  “It is about reconciliation; it is about coming together to honor those who gave their all.”  The years pass by so quickly.  150 years is not so long in the big picture.  A person born in 1913 has a 100th birthday this year.  Exer Hector was born May 18, 1913, and died January 25, 1975.  Bluebonnets are blooming over her now out on a hillside in Palava, Texas in sight of the Double Mountains and of fields she used to plow.  Her children miss her still.  Recent or distant, loss is loss.  So it is across the Nation and around the world as people venerate those whose sacrifices paved the way for them in a day of remembrance.

        Wednesday in Champion is as lovely as any other day.  “What is in a name?  A rose (or a Wednesday) by any other name…” etc.  This past one found the mid-day confab at the Historic Emporium well attended either because of the weather or in spite of it.  A nice cold spitting rain and a lashing wind added but little to the subject matter of the day which ranged from pranks and hunting stories (the viability of antique ammunition) to gardening and wild life observation.  Lee Ray said he saw an eagle dive bomb a hawk and take a fish away from it.  Ethel Leach said those baby goats are up on Highway ZZ not 76.  In addition to the Prominent Citizen, Ethel’s Bob was there, and Mr. Stone, who had chores and left early, but not as early as Chad and Glen.  Don Bishop and Wes Lambert were there to greet Alvie Dooms and others came and went.  Elmer Banks came and described a marvelous nap that he had on the steps coming down from his deck.  It was the most peaceful and restful nap he can remember and as he awoke to the inquiries of family as to his status he had only pleasant things to report.  The next day he had a call from the nurse that monitors his pacemaker who said, “Mr. Banks, you had quite a shock yesterday.”  It was a surprise to him.  He is a gregarious and curious fellow.  He is of Scots descent and a fan of the bagpipe, and asked if the recent traveler to Scotland had seen men in kilts.  “Indeed!  There were some strikingly handsome kilted Highland gentlemen to be seen, especially on Sundays.”  Elmer said he was thinking about getting a kilt, but friends actively discourage him.

        Thursdays are delightful over in Vanzant.  The potluck jam session is a weekly pleasure when friends gather around to celebrate community, good food and good music.  They are a generous bunch not just with the grins and the groceries, but they will let anyone play.  Skilled, accomplished musicians open their circle to the novice and old timers encourage beginners.  The “Eight of January” was followed by “Where the Roses Never Fade” and “Five Pounds of Possum,” which Sherry Bennett delivers as if on a silver platter.  There was a poignant ballad about 32 acres of bottom land, “bought and paid for by my own hand–worth a fortune to a working man.”  One wants to hear the song again.  It seems that the 32 acres were in the path of a four lane highway.  Sad songs are some of the sweetest ones.  “Why did I leave the plow in the field and look for a job in the town?”

        “The 28th annual Denlow School reunion is Saturday, 24 May 2014, at the Denlow Church and cemetery.  Former students, friends, feuding relatives, and everyone is welcome to attend.  Pot luck lunch at 12:00, an auction to follow, then music in the afternoon (bring your instruments and join in).  Around 5:00, Ed Williams will fry fish and chicken, assisted by his beautiful daughter… (a recent graduate of Seymour HS).  I would like to see some of those Iowa, Kentucky, and Arkansas people there, along with a lot of the local hillbillies.”  This press release comes from The General, himself, who by popular request will forgo a ‘program’ this year in favor of hanging around in the cemetery visiting with friends.  There is to be no hanging in the traditional sense, just some harmless loitering.

        “The End Came in Spring” is a play written by Mike Upshaw.  His aunt Fae Krider joined her sister-in-law, Vivian Floyd, for a trip up to the Stained Glass Theater for a production last week.  Her Facebook response to Mike was that it was very good and she enjoyed it very much.  Shellie Gossett Folts said, “Completely different and a fun little walk down memory lane for me (high school graduation May, 1986).  It was nice to see a cast of some new college-age faces on stage.  I particularly appreciated the understated way you handled the central message of the show and really liked the ending.  I thought it was a bold way to end it.”  Now Champions are much intrigued but not at all surprised at such talent finding its way through an Upshaw.

        Linda’s Almanac from over at The Plant Place in Norwood says the 22nd and 23rd will be favorable for planting late root crops.  Also these days are good for vine crops and for setting strawberry plants and for transplanting.  The 24th and 25th are both poor planting days.  They are fine for killing plant pests, cultivating or spraying.  The 26th and 27th are good for planting root crops, also for transplanting.  For the 28th and 30th the almanac says that any seed planted during that time will tend to rot in the ground.  The 31st is most favorable for planting corn, cotton, okra, beans, peppers, eggplants and other above-ground crops.  Plant seed beds and flower gardens that day too.  It is best not to wait for Lem and Ned to come along to do the hard work.  Get a look at Linda’s Almanac on the bulletin board at Henson’s Downtown G&G where loitering is encouraged.  Champion—Looking on the Bright Side!

CHAMPION—May 12, 2014

        Mothers’ Day swept through Champion and the internet with all the grace of the dear ladies themselves.  The nurturing, kindness, guidance, support, insight, wisdom, humor, compassion, admonition and pure love that go along with their distinctive personas were acknowledged, applauded, and celebrated.  Favorite photos of Mothers and precious memories going all the way back were the order of a Champion kind of day.  The weather was perfect as well.

        Champions excited for the pictures of Bud Hutchison’s Trail ride will have to wait until Wilma gets her film developed and takes the pictures into the newspaper office.  Someone said that the riders were going to make a six hour ride this time and they had just left a little while earlier and so local photographers were called away to home chores and did not get to see their triumphant return.  Wilma is a great reporter, though, and her Champion friends are willing to wait.  There are, no doubt, many adventures ahead this summer for the intrepid Fox Trotting tail riders.

        Meanwhile, back at the Recreation of the Historic Emporium over on the North Side of the Square, the regular Wednesday bunch, spread out among the tables in the conversation lounge, had stories to tell.  A certain Mr. Stone was talking about goats and indicated that he could see no good reason to ever have such as that on a place.  Ethel Leach mentioned that some neighbors up on 76 Highway have miniature goats and that they are as cute as they can be.  The babies are just about ‘this’ big and they can run right through the fence.  She says they seem to stay out of the road, though, and scamper back through when a car comes along.  Stone said that when Paul Ullman was a boy he had four goats that had huge horns.  (He stretched his arms out to indicate how big the horns were.  They were big.)  A beau came to call on one of Paul’s sisters and while he was visiting the goats got up under his car and got stuck.  It took two hours to get them out.  They would jack the car up and the goats would try to stand up and they would get their horns caught up the frame of the car.  It was a mess.  He went on to say which sister it was who received the caller and who she later went on to marry.  Mr. Ray came in about that time with a dower expression because his sister had soundly trounced him again in their regular scrabble game.  He claims that she cheats and when he caught her she blamed it on her vision.”  “Does she have cataracts?” asked Ms. Leach.  “No, she drives a Buick,” he responded.  He went on to say that he reckons women are smarter because they have more time to study.  It went on like that including some protracted dog feeding ritual that is clearly headed toward becoming a legend of its own, though a person will not read about it here.  Jim the Wonder Dog came up in conversation.  He was an English Setter who was alleged to have a variety of remarkable abilities which included picking the winner of the Kentucky Derby six years in a row.  Jim died in 1937, and is buried in Marshall, Missouri, up east of Kansas City in Jim the Wonder Dog Memorial Park.  By this time Cowboy Jack had joined the idlers and they moved out to the veranda.  Chores at home called.  Wednesdays are wonderful in Champion.

        The Vanzant Community had a great yard sale on Saturday.  The Community building is proving to be just that and Champion neighbors are looking forward to a good potluck bluegrass jam there on Thursday.  The auction at the Drury store was well attended and neighbors are optimistic that something good will become of the place.

        Miss Elizabeth Heffern will have her birthday on May 15^th.  She is a Champion granddaughter. Champion grandmother, Linda Cooley, also has her birthday on Thursday.  On Friday Karen Griswold will be celebrated by her children and grandchildren and that day is special for a Champion mother who remembers her first born son with his bright blue eyes and his bright red hair.  Forty four years later he is still a joy!  It was a joy to get back to the bridge table on Friday.  There were adventures on the way that have worked out well and bird watchers in the group were able to get an early start on their birding activities Saturday.  How many species?  This is an amazing time of the year for birthdays, bridge and bird watching.

Recent travels brought one across the 1.6 mile Forth Bridge built between 1883 and 1890. It is a cantilever railway bridge that has daily traffic of 190 to 200 trains. It was the first major structure in Britain to be constructed of steel. Its contemporary, the Eiffel Tower, was built of wrought iron. From North Queensferry in Fife a person can look all the way across the inlet of the North Sea (the Firth) joining the Forth River to see the very inn, The Queensferry Inn, there in South Queensferry, Inchgarvie where the treacherous betrayal occurred that was so masterfully described in Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson.

        Linda’s Almanac from up at The Plant Place in Norwood says that the 17^th and 18^th will be good days for planting root crops.  Then again on the 22^nd and 23^rd plant root crops and do transplanting.  Those ‘barren’ days in between are good ones for weeding, working up garden plots, mulching, housecleaning, cooking, laundry, or for reminiscing and reading.  Recent travels brought one across the 1.6 mile Forth Bridge built between 1883 and 1890.  It is a cantilever railway bridge that has daily traffic of 190 to 200 trains.  It was the first major structure in Britain to be constructed of steel.  Its contemporary, the Eiffel Tower, was built of wrought iron.  From North Queensferry in Fife a person can look all the way across the inlet of the North Sea (the Firth) joining the Forth River to see the very inn, The Queensferry Inn, there in South Queensferry, Inchgarvie where the treacherous betrayal occurred that was so masterfully described in Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson.  A good book on the front porch resting up between garden chores is just what the doctor ordered.  For other ailments he recommends music.  “I had a home out in Texas.  Out where the bluebonnets grew.  I had the kindest old Mother.  How happy we were just we two.  Til one day the angels called her—that debt we all have to pay.  She called me close to her bedside, these last few words to say.”  What do you think she said?

        Bring the best advice your Mother ever gave you, your observations,  stories and good listening skills down to the broad inviting banks of Old Fox Creek and sit a spell in one of the world’s truly beautiful places—Champion!  Looking on the Bright Side!

EDINBURGH—May 5, 2014

        There are things about the beautiful old city that will linger in the heart of a rambler who will soon rest again in the tranquility of home.  In the last few days, the last few hours as the time for parting approaches a rising swell of emotion is almost too near the surface.  The plan is to stave it off and stay merry until the transatlantic flight has left the ground and then to let it go quietly in the privacy afforded by strangers.  The charm of the place is in its physical beauty and its deep history, but the real joy, apart from the precious family tie, has been the great number of kind, good people whose paths have crossed with those of Champions.

        Giovanni Caiaiti is a young Roman in his late twenties who was in “The Athens of the North” for the first time.  He took a turn in the open session at The Royal Oak and sang “Irene Goodnight” in a medley of familiar songs that fit well together.  (He graciously extended his sympathies to America for having lost one of its treasures in the person of the late Pete Seeger.)  It turns out that young Romans started coming to Scotland in the year AD 71.  They named the place Caledonia and it was beyond the frontier of the empire.  They departed in 213 leaving various aqueducts, Hadrian’s Wall and the gift of literacy.  Scotland had been inhabited for thousands of years before the Romans arrived but its first written history seems to have come as a result of the association.  (There are yet some marvelous Italian Restaurants in the city.)  Chances are pretty good that when Giovanni’s predecessors were touring Caledonia they were met by the predecessors of Mr. Stefano Aitkenhead.  Aitkenhead is a Scots language surname of medieval Scottish origin.  Its oldest public record dates it back to 1372.  Anyway, “Stef” is a great fan of Texas music and goes often to spend time there in Bandera, Texas.  “Celtexmusic” is his moniker.  He looks the part of a well-heeled country/western musician in his fine Stetson hat, but when he opens his mouth, he is all Scots and charming.

        Champion grandchildren, Seamus, Elizabeth, and Zac have a great Aunt Linda who lives in Waldo.  She has her birthday on the 6^th of May and most likely has had some nice cards and messages sent her way.  Gracie Nava is a kindergarten student at Skyline with a birthday on the 7^th.  Skyline bookkeeper, Dixie Pierson, celebrates the next day on the 8^th and preschooler Conner Jonas will have his party on the 12^th of May.  Jay and Alex Williams have their birthdays on the 7^th and the 12^th and they have Champion grandparents.

        Lannie Hinote keeps her facebook friends and neighbors up to date with much of what is going on at Skyline.  On May 2^nd she posted, “Congratulations to the Skyline Archery Team today at taking 2nd Place.  We had 27 archers competing.  Morgan Whitacre placed 1st in Middle School Female Division; Madison Shearer placed 2nd in Elementary Female Division;  Shaelyn Sarginson placed 3rd in the Elementary Female Division and Isaam Creed placed 2nd in the Elementary Male Division.  I am so proud of all 27 archers.”  She was also appreciative of Rachael Brown, Debra Shearer, Morgan Whitacre, Skyla Boyd and Waylin Moon for running the archery range.  She said they made the tournament a success.  Lannie also posted a great picture of herself holding up a good size fish (probably five pounds!)  She was out in Warsaw.  Some nice Ozark creek was the scene of some “perpetual series of occasions for hope” (John Buchanan) when Dean Brixey and Richard Johnston dangled their hooks in the water.  Elizabeth says they did not catch anything, but that they had a great day out together anyway.  It is easy to have a great day in a beautiful place.  Linda’s Almanac from up at The Plant Place in Norwood says the 6^th to the 10^th will be barren days.  The 11^th,  12^th and 13^th will be an excellent time for planting tomatoes, beans, peppers, corn, cotton and other above-ground crops.  The 14^th will be god for carrots, beets, onions, turnips and other root crops.  All the good planting days are good for transplanting.  The garden is out there waiting for watering and weeding.  The sun is shining and food is growing.  Champion!

Bobby’s statue is not very imposing as it sits on the street in front of Greyfriar’s Kirk, though it gets many visitors every day. A replica of the statue together with Bobby’s collar and license can be found at the Museum of Edinburgh down on the Royal Mile.

       One of the best known stories in recent Scots history has to do with a little Skye terrier named Bobby.  He was a shaggy little dog that belonged to John Gray.  Mr. Gray worked for the Edinburgh City Police as a night watchman.  When he died he was buried in Grayfriar’s Kirkyard in the Old Town of Edinburgh.  Bobby then became known locally, spending the rest of his life sitting on his master’s grave.  In 1867, Lord Provost of Edinburgh, Sir William Chambers, who was also a director of the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, paid for Bobby’s license and gave the dog a collar, now in the Museum of Edinburgh.  Bobby is said to have sat by the grave for 14 years.  He was fed by a kindly inn keeper.  He died in 1872 and was buried just inside the gate not far from John Gray’s grave.  Some say this is a ‘shaggy dog’ story that was concocted as a Victorian publicity stunt.  A bronze statue of Bobby is outside the church yard gate and passersby often stop to rub Bobby’s nose for good luck.  This is a fairly recent ‘tradition’ probably associated with touching the philosopher Hume’s toe up on the Royal Mile.  Last year the City Council of Edinburgh had the statue restored and repainted since Bobby’s nose was showing up shiny brass from under the black paint.  Soon after the restoration was complete some vandal came in the middle of the night with and abrasive of some sort and took the paint off the nose.  People are anxious to maintain traditions no matter how new they may be.

        Toby was Ed Henson’s dog.  It is widely recalled that George Tom Proctor would go down to the store most days and while visiting there would enjoy a box of chocolate milk.  Toby would sit down beside George Tom and wait to get to finish the milk from the bottom of the carton.  Bring your own set of recollections down to the Historic Emporium over on the North Side of the Square on the broad banks of Old Fox Creek.  New traditions are being invented every day.  Dorothy, herself, in the” Wizard of Oz” was talking to her little dog, Toto, when she said; “There’s no place like home!”  The sights and sounds of faraway lands are truly grand, but home is Champion—Looking on the Bright Side!

EDINBURGH—April 28, 2014

EDINBURGH—A seagull enjoys a perch on the observation deck at the National Museum in downtown Edinburgh, Scotland. He is looking out over chimney pots, church steeples, new construction cranes and the Pentland Hills in the distance.

        The seasons lag a little behind in Champion’s Sister-City, Edinburgh.  The countless cherry trees are just coming into their pink and white near perfection out on The Meadows.  It is reported that the dogwoods and redbuds are glorious out on CR 234 and 243, on Cold Springs and Fox Creek Roads.  Most likely the little blue and purple wildflowers are lining the roads there now with mushroom and turkey surprises around every turn.  So it is in Scotia’s fair city.  Around every turn is a new wonder, a delight, a mystery or a startling piece of history.  New friends say that it is blistering hot in the south of Spain now while a warm raincoat is still the order of the day on the wide, wild and wooly banks of the Fourth River.  Severe weather reports for the Ozarks reach across the broad Atlantic and hopes are that the hail and wind will leave a few blossoms for returning Champions to enjoy.  The best hopes are for the safety of all the friends, family members and their dear ones in the area.  While power outages are making things difficult in parts of Douglas County, some not too far away are having a much harder time of it and Champions everywhere wish them well.

        As soon as early civilizations developed calendars that made an organized reckoning of birthdates possible, birthday celebrations took hold and traditions evolved.  Everyone has his own idea about just what is the perfect birthday.  Dovie Dooms had lots of good wishes directed her way on Sunday.  Ida Mae and Bob down in the Valley share their birthday on May Day with Silvana Sherrill who is a first grade student at Skyline.  Mrs. Ryan is a teacher at Skyline and Beth Caudill drives a school bus.  They have their birthdays on May Day as well.  Skyline librarian, Mrs. Sleep, and 5th grade student Madison Shearer have the second of May for their celebration.  Lee Mastin up in Springfield will roundly be celebrated that day (or one convenient) by her birthday bunch, Carol, Sue, and Jan.  Next Sunday will be Star Wars Day as people around the world say, “May the fourth be with you!”

        May Day is a familiar celebration in the United States though it is not as popular as it is in other parts of the world where it has been used to organize and recognize labor (Workers of the World Unite!) and political groups as well.  The ancient Druids of the British Isles divided the year into halves marked by May 1^st–Beltane, and November 1st–Samhain.  The May Day custom in the old days was the setting of new fire.  It was one of those ancient New Year rites performed throughout the world.  The fire itself was thought to lend life to the burgeoning springtime sun.  Cattle were driven through the fire to purify them.  Men, with their sweethearts, passed through the smoke for good luck.  Up on Calton Hill, surrounded by the great city, on Wednesday night the fire will be extinguished ceremoniously and rekindled.  Blue painted people will be drumming and singing and carrying their torches.  Up on Arthur’s Seat sweethearts celebrate in the usual ways.  The dew of May Day is thought to have powers of rejuvenation and ladies wash their faces in it to maintain their youth.  The May Day dew up on Mount Champion certainly could do no harm.  At the very least some faces could get a layer of grime removed.  There seems to be no holiday for washing the back of the neck.

        Linda’s Almanac from up at The Plant Place in Norwood says that the 3^rd through the 5^th will be favorable for planting beans, corn, cotton, okra, peppers, eggplant and other above-ground crops.  The 6^th to the 10^th will be barren days during which time any number of chores can be finished up around the place.  The 8^th, 9^th, and 10^th are all good days to prune to discourage growth.  That means weeding and lawn mowing too.  There is never a shortage of work to do around the farm.  If a person lays off for a while and does not get much done he can be sure that it will be waiting for him.  People who are waiting for someone to come along to help out better just plod along and accomplish what they can.  Help is probably not on the way.  Lem and Ned may have their own gardens to make.  Meanwhile, over at Skyline the first graders are enjoying watching their turkey eggs hatch.  Young farmers are learning about nature.  Champion!

        One of the nice things about Tuesdays is that Laine Sutherland’s videos of the McClurg Jam show up on the internet.  It is sweet to see familiar faces and to hear Ragtime Annie and all those other great tunes.  Music is a marvelous glue holding peoples, their culture and traditions together and it is one of the best ways to share those things with others.  Alvie Dooms is legendary now in Auld Reeke, Edina, the Athens of the North, for having put the family fiddle back into play.  Generations to come will enjoy its bright clear tone.  It will stand alone and will join in harmony with other instruments to thrill, delight, comfort and soothe, as music is a great healer.  The Flowers of Edinburg, The Westphalia Waltz and many dozens of other tunes will be given their lovely due.  Thank you, Mr. Dooms.

        No place on Earth is significantly older than any other place.  No place is significantly nearer or farther from the center of the Earth than any other, or significantly closer to the sun.  Every place has history that goes all the way back.  Some places do, however, seem to have more of it written down and remembered.  The reason for remembering is to avoid making the same mistakes again and again.  A new acquaintance remarked the other day that no amount of guilt can solve the past and no amount of anxiety can change the future.  He said in an r rolling brogue, “A lot of bad things are going to happen to you.  First off, you’re ‘gain to dee.’  So, that said, there’s not much to worry about…No matter what else happens, you have only two options:  you can either handle things well and be happy, or you can handle them poorly and be miserable.”  He sounds like he would fit in pretty well out on the Veranda of the Historic Emporium over on the North Side of the Square.  A person would be able to tell right off that he is from the great elsewhere on account of his accent and his clothes, but Fearghas would feel at home and enjoy the hospitality and the novelty of being in another of the world’s truly beautiful places—Champion!  Looking on the Bright Side!

EDINBURGH—April 21, 2014

        Seeing the sights in Champion could take just a few minutes, all day, or a life-time depending upon the way a body goes about it.  Robert Louis Stevenson said that the journey is better than the arrival.  The journey is full of optimism and these days Champion is all about optimism.

        First there were mushrooms, now there are hummingbirds, and now some people are topping off the refrigerant in their air conditioners.  Linda says potato planting is still good on the 24th and 25th.  Add the glorious flowering trees and shrubs to this list and the ‘spring-deniers’ are sure to be enlightened.  Get Linda’s Almanac at The Plant Place in Norwood, look at it on the bulletin board at Henson’s Downtown G&G or look at the top of the page at www.championnews.us.  Get out and enjoy spring like the birders do.  A bunch of them including Mary Beth and Clark Shannon, Janet and Sandy Chapin, Paul Clark, Carol Tharp, Shelby Squirrel, Rick Brischetto and a number of others took a birding trip to Welch Springs, Devil’s Well (sinkhole), the Current River State Park and Round Spring.  Reports are that they saw 58 bird species, including a bald eagle, a red shouldered hawk on nest, a black vulture on nest in a pocket on the cliff wall, and a lone coot on the lake at the state park.  It sounds like a wonderful adventure and certainly the pictures on the internet were of some smiling people doing what they enjoy–Champions.

        News out of Denlow indicates that Wayne Anderson was quite the hero during the Denlow Cemetery spring-cleaning last week.  Working on the theory that the absence of anything bad is indeed the same as something good, he maneuvered his mowing machine with deft accuracy and made short work of the task at hand, knocking over no walls or monuments, and going through no fences or down any steep grades to the highway.  Bravo!  (Thank you, General, for the report.)  Wayne has kinfolks in Scotland whom he has yet to meet.  One could very well be Nicola Anderson.  She is the only woman gardener on the Princes Street Garden staff.  After taking her degree twenty-seven years ago, she worked her way up into various high profile gardens in sports stadiums and for some while with the Glasgow municipality.  She has been in the Royal Gardens here in Edinburgh for six years now.  At the Gardener’s Cottage she took time from applying bone meal to the roses to open a gardening book to identify for passers by the “Fritillaria—frillary.”  It is an Alpine bulb with a striking configuration.  It is to be divided every four years and must be kept in certain conditions when it is out of the ground owing to its unpleasant odor.  Nicola comes from an academic family.  Her mother is a pediatrician and her father a world renowned professor of languages.  He speaks fifteen languages, some ancient, and writes comparative texts.  He lives in Rome.  Her sisters are both in Edinburgh—one a professor of English at The University and the other, a noted psychologist.  Nicola says that of the bunch she is the happy one–working outside and seeing things grow.  She is planning a trip to the States in a couple of years looking to go to New England and New Orleans.  Champion would be a good stopover in between where she could become acquainted with some other charming Andersons.

        The quaint Gardener’s Cottage looks very much like the cottage that Taegan Krider received as an early birthday present.  She will probably plant some flowers around it.  Taegan is in prekindergarten at Skyline.  Other students enjoying their birthday soon will be Haley Wilson, a fifth grader, celebrating on the 23rd.  Kindergartener Shelby Wilson has hers on the 24th.  Eli Johnson is also in pre-kindergarten and his birthday is on the 28th.  Isaam Creed is in the fourth grade and has the 29th for his birthday.  Taegan shares her birthday with Ryan Sandberg a seventh grader on the 30th.  Chante Michaud visits Champion occasionally on a Sunday.  She is about ten now and has her birthday on the 27th.  To back up a little bit, Ms. Myrtle Harris had her 85th birthday on April 17th.  She has a much younger sister named Kathy, and they are both big fans of the bluegrass and can be found most Thursday evenings over at Vanzant.  A new friend has promised to sing a song for her there one day.  It is novelty song from the 1950’s that says, “I took my gal to the picture show.  She promised me a kiss when we got home.  To take her in my arms I just couldn’t wait, but when we got home her pappy was awake.  ‘Is that your, Myrtle?’ ‘Yes, Papa.’  ‘Is that you, Myrtle?’  ‘Well just a minute!’  ‘Is that you, Myrtle?  Is that you, Myrtle?  I guess you better send that scalawag home!  I guess you better send that scalawag home!’”  The song goes on with other verses but the outcome is the same—the scalawag has to go home.  All the live music in the big city reminds a wanderer of her country home.

        J.C. Owsley has a big white mule on loan from some good friend.  He claims that in his younger cowboy days common sense took a back seat to excitement.  ‘Dot’ is a large mule—large enough to make J.C. look like an ordinary size person.  It’s only when you are inside a building with him that you realize that he must be going on seven foot tall.  Anyway, with good luck he will trailer Dot down to Champion from Cross Timbers for one of the trail rides or wagon train outings.  Diane Wilbanks has shared the Schedule of Rides of the West Plains Wagon Club.  She said that there would be a plowing event down in Arkansas during April and then April 28th-May 3rd Jim and Judy Cantrell of Mansfield will host a ride.  For more information about it call 417—924-3702.  Bud Hutchison’s Spring trail ride is set for May 7th.  They will take out of Champion and go somewhere and then come back.  For more information call Bud at 683-4864.

        Good fortune sometimes puts people together with friends in high places.  These friends actually had tickets to the high places which happened to be for the Public Astronomy Evening at the Royal Observatory.  It is atop Blackford Hill in the south east part of the city where it has been since 1896.  Three miles away, its previous location on Calton Hill is now called The City Observatory.  It was established there in 1785 by The University of Edinburgh and moved when the city lights and smog became an impediment.  The air has been cleaned up since homes are no longer heated with coal, and though the light pollution is an issue, the work goes on.  A tall, handsome young Dutchman, an astronomer, gave a lecture and Power Point demonstration of the night skies identifying the constellations that can be seen in the Northern hemisphere.  A lovely young Glaswegian (from Glasgow), an astrophysicist, spoke of the nature of heavenly bodies and their composition.  She had small chunks of meteorites to examine.  They are the oldest things around, she said.  The tour included a close up look at the 30” telescope that was put in place in 1926, together with the ingenious workings of the great copper domes that rotate and open.  This part of the tour was conducted by a gentleman named Randall Scot who led the group up the 90 steps to the dome where he explained how starlight is reflected in the 30” mirror, then how it is reduced, concentrated, and spectrographed to make it visible.  It is eye opening to consider the technology of the day when he first entered the field of astronomy and that of today.  He has kept up with it and is every bit as excited about it as when he first began.  On May 24th he will celebrate fifty years of employment at The Royal Observatory.  Those 90 steps daily have kept the gentleman spry.  Star gazing has kept him smiling.

        Come to down to the bottom of several hills, where country lanes meet and the pavement ends (or begins) on the wide, wild and wooly banks of Old Fox Creek.  Sit out on the spacious veranda and enjoy one of the world’s truly beautiful places—Champion—Looking on the Bright Side!

EDINBURGH—April 14, 2014

        Travelers coming into Champion from distant places are met with hospitality and veiled curiosity.  One does not wish to be nosy or rude but it is interesting to know what brings a wanderer through the village.  It is a tribute to a beautiful place and good people that someone from the great outside can be so easily enticed to stay a while.  “Out goers and in comers made, make every land.”  These words appear on a tapestry which was taken from a design by Alasdair Gray.  The tapestry is a square about seven feet to the side.  It features thistles (the National flower) at every corner and in the center with arrows going in and out signifying lands and nations.  It is actually a ‘gun tufted’ rug tufted at Dovecot Studios by a gentleman named Jonathan Cleaver.  The studio is housed in the building that was the first heated indoor swimming pool in Edinburgh back in the time of Queen Victoria.  The pool has been covered over by a gleaming floor where the massive wooden looms stand.  The Weaving Floor Viewing Balcony is open to the public to view the weaving studio below.  Go to www.dovecotstudios.com for an amazing virtual tour.  It is easy to ‘google up’ Alasdair Gray as well.  The world seems to be quite at one’s fingertips now days.  It is sure that old Champion out goers will be happy incomers once more just as the Upshaws came home again to roost after their great family visit to Dalton, Arkansas.

        The General said, “I went on a trip today to Dalton, Arkansas (first time farther than eight miles from home in many moons).  A hand written sign taped to a window at the only business in town, ‘FREE to a good home, speckled roosters.  Do Not Eat.’  I lost interest in the bargain after reading the last three words.”  Highlights of the clan adventure were The Grand Canyon and the Rice-Upshaw Homestead.  The Rice-Upshaw House was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2004 as an excellent example of an early nineteenth century log dwelling.  It was built in 1826 and is now the oldest standing building remaining in Arkansas, and a rare surviving example of a building from Arkansas’s territorial period.  Reuben Rice came to Arkansas from Hawkins County , Tennessee, in 1812.  His granddaughter Lydia married Andrew Jackson Upshaw and continued to live in the home which had become known as “Old Monarch.”  The house, owned by Rice and Upshaw family members for almost 180 years, was donated to the Black River Technical College.  The home has been restored and is open for tours by appointment.  This trip was clearly well planed and the Upshaws all looked like they were having a wonderful time.  Some of that might just be that they really enjoy each other’s company.

        Dylan Watts would have had a good time on that family jaunt.  He is over in Tennessee where they all came from to start with and when he is not motocross mud jumping motorcycles he is picking the banjo in with a bunch of guitar playing cousins.  He just had his birthday on the 12 of April and it is a fairly sure bet that he had a good time.  Bob Berry celebrates his birthday on the 14^th of April.  Champions miss him and Mary Goolsby of in their new situation.  It would sure be nice to see them pulling into Champion in the beautiful old Studebaker again.  Maybe summer travels will find them coming ‘home’ again.  Champions would like that.  Bob shares his day with Skyline first grader Coby Wallace and with 7^th grader Morgan Whitacre.  Prekindergarten student Wyatt Lakey has his birthday on April 15^th so people will always be able to remember that something special is going on that day.  Dusty Mike might be out on the road on his special birthday, the 15^th.  Drayson will be glad to see his old Papa when he makes it home.  Vivian Krider Floyd will be enjoying her birthday that day too.  Cards and phone calls and cyber messages from family and friends will let her know that she is much loved.  Then the inimitable George G. Jones over in Stockton can stroll by the mirror and figure he is still looking pretty good all things considered.  Olivia Trig Mastin will have her birthday on the 16^th.  She lives up in Springfield near her grandmother and is therefore a lucky young lady.  Toby Marceaux is in the 8^th grade at Skyline.  His birthday is on the 17^th so he might get to do a little partying in school.  Next week a whole new group of preschoolers can get their start at Skyline.  Helen says that preschool screenings will be held during the week of April 21-25.  She says to make an appointment with the office and bring birth certificates, shot records, social security number and proof of residency.  It is a real asset to the community to have this wonderful little school getting the future voters, doctors, farmers, musicians and adventurers off to a good start.  Champions all!

        Linda says that people are not quite ready to get their gardens in since there is another hard freeze on the way and the possibility of more before the weather gets really settled for Spring.  She has been selling lots of hostas and peonies and perennials of that nature.  Her cole crops and other vegetables and flowers are coming along nicely.  Her Almanac says that the 16^th and 17^th will be good days for planting beets, carrots, radishes, turnips, peanuts and other root crops.  Also good for cabbage, cauliflower, lettuce, kale, celery, and other leafy vegetables.  They will be good days for starting seedbeds and for transplanting.  Get a copy of the Almanac there at The Plant Place in Norwood or consult it on the bulletin board at Henson’s Downtown G & G or on the website at www.championnews.us.

        Over in Edinburgh Champions have been busy enjoying the National Gallery where there are real Rembrants, Van Goughs and Reubens.  They have seen some of the many treasures of the National Museum and have climbed almost to the top of the extinct volcano that is Arthur’s Seat in the middle of town.  They have seen great tapestries in the making and bird sanctuaries and narrow mysterious streets winding up and down steep hills.  And music!  Bluegrass is as sweet in Edinburgh as it is in Vanzant or McClurg.  A monthly gathering at the Revarie finds friends meeting who have been playing together for thirty years.  Gordon is a guitar virtuoso, also a fine fiddler and autoharp enthusiast.  Bill plays banjo but his main instrument is the dobro.  Graham plays a fiddle, a guitar, or a mandolin all of which he made from a single salvaged slab of American black walnut when an old bank building was being refurbished.  Ian is a banjo expert.  He is playful and generous and brilliant.  How lovely it would be to get him and Wayne Anderson together!  The young bass player never misses this jam session and on this particular Friday the group was enhanced by a young Englishman carrying the Gibson mandolin he inherited from his great grandfather and a little Romanian guitar with its face scarred from his rowdy and passionate playing.  Add then a lovely young Canadian lady with her cello.  When it was her turn to kick off a tune she went for “Ode to Joy” which all the fellows joined in with great enthusiasm and somewhere along the line let it morph into “Yankee Doodle” then back again with all the lovely smiles and camaraderie that musicians are known for.  The world over they seem to be looking at the bottom of the clouds when they are searching for a melody or a lyric.  What ever may be the object of your search, if it is pleasant and convivial it is likely to be found in Champion—Looking on the Bright Side!

EDINBURGH—April 7, 2014

        One of the marvelous aspects of travel is the opportunity to compare the known with the unknown.  Busy streets, old and cobbled, have large numbers of people walking quickly toward you and rapidly approaching footsteps behind you and cars whizzing by closely from unexpected directions down long canyons of four and five story buildings with the sounds echoing and bouncing off the walls.  A country person, used to the quiet, might take some time to become accustomed to the swift pace of life.  Though it is ever so much more tranquil, even on the broad and beautiful banks of Old Fox Creek life seems to be whizzing away quickly for folks who see how little there is of it left to waste.  Champions live it as it happens.

        J.C. Owlsey has a fifty year old son!  Jesse just had his birthday and now J.C. says he can no longer tell his friends that he is only 59.  He is young at heart and, after a certain point, that is all that counts.  Raylee and Rylee are twins who have just celebrated their first birthday.  They have Buzz and Sharon for grandparents so they are already geared for fun and excitement.  Most likely they will be musical as well since they have it sprinkled so liberally through their family.  Dylan Watts has changed his profile picture on Facebook to reflect his love of fishing.  He is holding up a couple of nice looking crappie and has a grin on his face that is now the confident grin of a young man.  It seems like yesterday that he was three years old and on the stage with his Granddad at the Skyline Picnic singing “I’ll Fly Away.”  Now he is picking the banjo in a way that would satisfy his Granddad that the gift has been passed on.  Sherry Bennett and Laine Sutherland keep local jam sessions and news of what is going on in the music community posted on the internet for the benefit of the wayside wanderer.

        Probably every place in the world has its own version of the Historic Emporium on the North Side of the Square in Downtown Champion.  One such place is called The Royal Oak where people gather to visit, to tell stories and to hear music and to take their dreuth.  A great story teller and music appreciator is Ms. Violet Piago.  She is in her early eighties and has retired back to her hometown of Edinburgh (Edinburra) after having had an exciting life working all over the world.  Most of her career was in the waxworks.  Many have heard of Madam Tussaud’s Wax Museum which is exclusive to London.  Violet worked for a competing firm that serves museums and entertainment venues from Australia to Canada and every which way.  Her specialty is hair.  One strand at a time, she gave Elvis his coiffure.  She is a funny, generous and kind lady with a mischievous twinkle in her eye and a clear vision to see right to the heart of a matter—whatever the matter may be.  “There’s nothing new under the sun,” quoted she.

        Great news has come from Tim Scrivner about the Skyline RII School Foundation.  “On the subject of the DPIL (Dolly Parton Imagination Library), so far we have provided a total of 707 books for our local preschoolers with 28 currently receiving monthly books and 13 who have graduated the program.”  Anyone in Douglas County with a child new-born to five years of age can sign up to get a new, age-appropriate book sent to the child each month at no cost to the family.  Everyone is eligible regardless of income or any other consideration.  Find applications at the Skyline School or at Henson’s Grocery & Gas in Downtown Champion.  There will be another meeting of the Foundation before school is out.  Look for an announcement to that effect and consider attending.  Meetings are open to the public.  Among the ideas currently being considered for the Foundation in the future is possibly replacing the drinking fountains in the school.  Any idea that would serve the children, particularly in the academics, is most welcome.  Any inventive ideas for fund raising would also be appreciated.  Watch for the meeting date or email your idea to Champion @ championnews.us, Attention:  Skyline R2 School Foundation.

        Lannie Hinote has been fishing too.  She takes her camera with her to prove her catches to some competitive fishermen friends.  She has been shepherding students through science at Skyline for a long time and has stirred some exciting successes.  The Douglas County Museum and Historical Society has posted a great picture of the Black Oak Flat School.  The picture was made in 1956, and must have been some time in the winter because the kids were all bundled up.  There were about 25 of them.  That was the last year before the schools were consolidated into Skyline.  It was over in the Boone Township north east of the Crystal Lake Fisheries.  Eighth grade students in 1956 may have had a more thorough education than kids get today.  Perhaps that is true or just that they really had to know how to multiply and divide and find the square root.  Technology has changed things.  Carl Sagan, a great American scientist died seventeen years ago.  He said then that we have arranged a society based on science and technology in which nobody knows anything about science and technology.  He said that it is this combustible mixture of ignorance and power that sooner or later will blow up in our faces.  He asked who is running the science and technology in a democracy if the people don’t know anything about science, or technology, or democracy.  He said science is more than a body of knowledge.  It is a way of thinking, a way of skeptically interrogating the universe with a fine understanding of human fallibility.  If we are not able to ask skeptical questions of people who tell us what is true, to be skeptical of those in authority, then we are up a creek and vulnerable to the next charlatan—political or religious—who comes along.  It is something that Thomas Jefferson placed great stress on.  Jefferson figured that it was not enough that we enshrine some rights in the Constitution or the Bill of Rights; the people had to be educated and to practice their skepticism and their education.  Otherwise we do not run the government.  The government runs us.  Deep Champion thoughts like these may be discussed at will around the round table in the conversation conservatory at the Champion Store.  Check it out.

        Things are burgeoning and blooming and budding on both sides of the wide Atlantic.  It is striking to observe the great similarities in topography and the springing season.  People are planting and are therefore optimistic.  As the deadline has passed, all hope of any news from Vanzant has vanished.  The ‘stringer’ must have misunderstood the nature of the position and has gone fishing.  It is pretty well figured that Wednesday will have a mid-day caucus of cleverness in Champion and the Thursday evening will be potluck and bluegrass in Vanzant.  Friday is bluegrass night in Edinburgh so excitement is building on either end of a 4,134 mile string.  Tune that string to “C” for Champion—Looking on the Bright Side!

CHAMPION—March 31, 2014

        It would seem that people have finally worn themselves out with complaining about the weather.  They have whined and moaned since three days before Thanksgiving (according to Elmer) and have just about used up every applicable lament.  They ran out of gripes just in time.  The days are glorious in Champion.

        Raymond and Esther Howard were in town last week.  They live over in Marshfield but get down to Champion on a Sunday every now and then.  Raymond has just bought a new truck.  It is a used truck, but just used by a little old lady to do her grocery shopping since she bought it new in 1999.  It is a hot little Ford and redder than red with some fancy accent painting on the doors and tail gate.  It is pristine and it has a standard transmission and a wild man behind the wheel.  Nineteen or ninety one?  Esther says he is enjoying his ‘toy.’  He delivers Meals on Wheels in his neighborhood and has a chrome plated tool box in the truck bed that works well for the purpose.  Raymond is a good driver and a good neighbor.

        Friends were talking about Neil Schudy the other night.  Miley Schober’s grandmother says that Neil was about the best neighbor a person could have.  He would help you do anything.  If you were broke down in the hay field or had some fence down he was right there to help.  She said that the kids (meaning Miley’s Mom and folks of that generation) all loved Neil.  He was a big kid himself and loved to play tag on the road with the kids on the four wheelers and to ride horses and rope and do all that cowboy stuff.  He particularly liked paint horses and he said that he spent most of his time on a horse and the rest of the time was just wasted.  He and his sweet smile are sorely missed.  The family of Russell Upshaw gathered at Denlow on Sunday to give him a send-off.  Another celebration of his life will happen about April 27^th.  Details have not yet been finalized, but every Vanzant bluegrass jam will be a celebration of Russell and Sue.

    The Wellness Night up at Skyline last week was a great event.  Jenna and Jacob Brixey were romping with their Champion chums being rowdy and noisy and having a wonderful time.  Taegan Krider was right in there with them doing some very exciting activities with parachutes and bouncing balls.  Her Dad said she did not want to leave.  The Skyline students will have Muffins with Mom on April 4^th.  That afternoon at 2:00 they will have the BACA (Bikers Against Child Abuse) assembly.  On Sunday the 6^th students and their families are being encouraged to wear blue as a way to promote child abuse awareness.  This little school is doing a terrific job of taking care of the future movers and shakers of the area.  You never can tell what these great kids are going to do.  Judson Wall was the Valedictorian of Skyline School in 2001.  He went from one good school to another and is now a respected attorney who has announced his intentions to seek the office of associate circuit judge in Douglas County.  Elizabeth Bock currently holds that office.  She made a big impression at the Skyline VFD Chili Supper visiting and bidding in a big supportive way on silent auction items.  The primary election will be in August, so there will be some time to get acquainted with all the candidates for public office.  How exciting to be part of the electorate!  Champion!  It all gets started in school.  The Dolly Parton Imagination Library gets them ready to read and kindergarten takes over from there.

        “Good, better, best—never let it rest—‘till your good is better and your better is best!”  That is a real Champion notion taught to the esteemed musician, Bobby Nicholson, in 1976, when he was just a lad in another quality little school up in Kircaldy, Scotland.  It is about the size of Skyline in a town about the size of Norwood.  One of Bobbie’s good friends, Morag Edward, will be having her birthday on March 31^st.  There will be music and chocolate and much good merriment.  Meanwhile, back in Champion, Teagan’s year old Blue Healer, Banjo, is going to stock dog school.  He started off being afraid of the sheep and then decided he might like to eat one.  He about has it figured out now and it looks like he is going to be a big help on the farm.

        On the subject of banjos, Linda Clark posted an interesting story on line with pictures.  Her folks live out on 14 Highway and their yard is high up on a steep bank along the side of the road.  Linda’s story had to do with her dad having accidently taken his riding lawnmower on a fast, wild trip down that bank all the way to the highway.  She said that this was when she heard her favorite quote of the day.  Wayne said, “It’s not too bad when you don’t have time to really think about it.”  The next time he comes to Champion perhaps he will share the story as he recalls it.  After last week, it might be advisable to let folks embellish their own stories.  (There was some speculation that one might be getting paid by the word as the tale droned on and on.)

        Champion’s other friend Linda is up at The Plant Place in Norwood busy transplanting tiny plants from her seed starting station into the four-packs of flowers and vegetables that will make Champion gardens lush and lovely this summer.  Gardeners with the time, space and know-how can get seeds started for above the ground crops on the first and second and then on the sixth and seventh of April.  Linda’s Almanac says that the third through the fifth will be barren days.  She says her Cole crops are looking good.  Get a good look at that almanac there at The Plant Place and on the bulletin board at Henson’s Downtown Grocery & Gas and at the very top of the page at www.championnews.us.

        Bonnie Raitt said “Life gets mighty precious when there’s less of it to waste.” She is an American blues singer-songwriter and slide guitar player.  One of her great songs is “Let’s give them something to talk about.”  Come down to the broad beautiful banks of Old Fox Creek and enjoy the conversations around the stove on these chilly mornings.  You’ll be there with the movers and shakers (whittlers and spitters and yarn spinners) of Champion—Looking on the Bright Side!

CHAMPION—March 24, 2014

        Spring has arrived with great fanfare, with warm winds, a dearth of daffodils and the assurance that as seasons change, the heart of Champion remains very much the same.   Part of the sameness is the shared loss of dear friends and neighbors.  Added to that long list now are Neil Schudy and Russell Upshaw.  They welcomed strangers with their friendly smiles and good humor.  With their warm hearts they embraced their precious families with the kind of specialized love that endures long past their own passing–true Champions who never strayed long far from home.

        In recent days Russell was back around the stove in Henson’s Store enjoying the stories and reminiscences of the whittle and spit crowd.  (They don’t really spit in the store.)  With Dean and Dailey by his side, he was present at every major event in Champion—every wagon train, trail ride, jam session or get together of any kind.  He loved the place and the place loved him.  He would have liked what happened the other day.  Almarth’s bard came sauntering in with an arm load of stove wood and about an equal measure of charm.  He said there is nothing colder than an east wind.   He says turkeys will not gobble in an east wind.  And when it comes to fishing he says, “Wind out of the east, fish bite the least.  Out of the west, they bite the best.”  Texas Phyllis would interject her favorite quote here from John Buchanan that fishing is the “perpetual series of occasions for hope.” Phyllis has two pairs of earrings—one in the shape of the great state of Texas and the other a matched set of fishing lures.  Hopes are that she will make it up to the beautiful Ozarks and dip her line in the Bryant.  She can hold her own around the stove as well and would have loved to have been able to put her spin on this yarn as it unfolded Wednesday.  Russell would have liked it too:

        A prominent citizen had a large dead tree next to one of his stock ponds and engaged a neighbor to help take it down.  He wanted it to fall just so, but it was leaning well out over the water and every twig pointed to the probability that the humongous ranking of wood would empty the pond with its enormous splash.  With every drop vital in these dry times and more winter on the way, the judicious farmer knew he was treading a delicate line.  He had clean fresh water and a mountain of fire wood on one hand and on the other– a gurgling quagmire of sucking mud slowly seeping into every fiber of the ancient behemoth oak rendering it useless as well as a great liability.  The plan was set.  The position of the notch and the kerf were discussed, debated and decided upon and at last the big honking, roaring, growling chain went screaming around the bar and into the bark of that big old tree and tore with relentless vengeance into its primordial heart.   It stood.  It stood.  And continued to stand as the smoke filled the air and the saw whined and moaned and droned on and on through centuries of growth.  The farmer’s dear cowered near, safe in the cab of her truck.  She had planned to film the entire the affair but she lost her concentration just at the crucial moment, just as the die was cast, just as the balance was tipped –the wrong way.  Instantly alert to the danger and quick as a wild Ozark panther flash the nimble footed farmer scaled to the highest of the main branches and flung more than the weight of his body—the weight of his very will—against the fulcrum to over edge the tree’s desire just by a feather’s weight.  As it hesitated in its new course the farmer seized the second and lunged to the limb below.  On his way down he grabbed the limb upon which he had been standing and gave it a powerful jerk then let go to land his sure footed might on the limb below.  The force was like that of a dead-fall hammer and the double blows continued and the tree succumbed.  The farmer rode that skyscraper of a tree down like an escalator, stepping off on to his own firm ground with all the panache of a well healed, big time, up-town CEO in high polished Florsheim shoes and a custom made three pieced suit.  The events did not all make it to the video as the farmer’s dear abandoned her desire to record it in favor of relishing the moment live in rapt admiration.  “My hero!” she sighed.  The diameter of the downed tree was just about the same how high as that young lady–something to remember.

        Russell Upshaw was the hero of the Vanzant bluegrass jam.  Folks had gone to Mansfield for a long time to hear and play music, but that venue became unavailable.  Then they took to Plummer’s Junction and had a good go of it there for a while until it changed hands and the new owner did not prove to be a great appreciator of the local music.  About that time the Vanzant community put some good energy into the old school house to make it a meeting place, a party and event center for folks living in the middle of nowhere.   The next thing you know the Vanzant Thursday night pot-luck jam became a tradition there.  It happened because at every step along the way Russell and Sue were there to encourage and make the way open and do what needed to be done so that the music could go on.   Thank you, Russell.    Last Thursday night was a good one with two dobros and all the regulars plus a novice fiddler who sat in for the first time and did a good job with the “Irish Washerwoman” and “Danny Boy.”  The dobros were swinging with “The Rose of San Antone” and then Jerry Wagner did one of those old time pieces that can bring tears to your eyes.  Norris will laugh at you if he catches you crying, but that’s ok.  He smiles most all the time anyway.

        Birthdays bring smiles to young and old alike.  March 27^th Jazmine Baker will have her birthday.  She is a second grader at the Skyline School.  Ted Storie is one of the bus drivers for Skyline and his birthday is that day too.  They are lucky to be affiliated with such a vital school.  Thursday evening they had their “Wellness Night.”  Attendance was good and the wellness coordinator, Joy Beeler, and the rest of the staff made a great presentation.  One of the most impressive parts was a display of a variety of sodas, juices and drinks with a bag under each containing the exact amount of sugar that is in each beverage.  It was an eye opener.  The kids had a wonderful time with the many activities and prizes.  The Missouri Ozarks Community Health Department was well represented and had a great deal of pertinent health information available.  They make a trip to Skyline on the first Tuesday of each month to do blood pressure checks as well as a number of other screenings.  They go to Big Ed’s Store on East 76 on the second Friday of each month.  In both cases they are there from 8:00 to 10:00 a.m.  It is a great service for people who live a long way from town.

        Go to the March 10^th post at www.championnews.us to see that exquisite black and white photo of Frances and Wayne Sutherland when their love was new.  Share your tall tales and your love of music and your reminiscences of dear old friends at The Champion News, Rt. 72 Box 367, Norwood, MO 65717 or Champion @ championnews.us.  Come down to the wide and wooly banks of Old Fox Creek for a dose of tranquility in one of the world’s beautiful places Champion—Looking on the Bright Side!

CHAMPION—March 17, 2014

        On a sunny St. Patrick’s Day a friend says, “May your troubles be less and your blessings be more and nothing but happiness come through your door.”  Another says, “May you always have walls for the wind, a roof for the rain, tea beside the fire, laughter to cheer you, those you love near you, and all your heart might desire.”  One of the ancient names for Ireland is “Island of Woods.”  When the Irish and Scots made it over this way from Kentucky and Tennessee way back when, it must have seemed like going home.  Many a glad heart has found its way to Champion since then—some born here and some migrated in from the great elsewhere.  It is a beautiful place to be.

        The Champion News made a Facebook posting of a picture which hangs in the Champion Store of George T. Proctor, Willie Freeman, Manford Smith and Deward Henson made in March of 1978.  Thirty-six years later it brings good memories to friends and family.  Benny Thomas said, “This is a good picture of Champion’s spit and whittle gang of days gone by.”  Vicky Czapla said, “George T. Proctor was my uncle and we sure miss him.”  Jewell Hall Elliott:  “I knew all these fellows and enjoyed drinking pop on the porch of the store when we went there to play softball a few years ago–fun times.”  Kim Linder Kelley loves the picture of her Granddad and all his buddies and has it hanging on her wall.  Jessica Puangnak-Glossip said, “Seems like forever since I have seen my Uncle Manford.  Great picture!”  From time to time a new old picture will appear on the wall in the Historic Emporium so that the trip for a loaf of bread, some bacon or calf starter or fencing staples and plumbing supplies turns into a nice nostalgic sojourn.  That is particularly true on a Wednesday in the late morning when the story tellers settle in and start to jaw.  It is well worth the trip.

        Elva Upshaw will have her birthday on March 23^rd.  The big news in her life is not her birthday, but her engagement.  David Brott is the lucky man.  They are often seen together and those smiles of young love are infectious.  Old people married forty or fifty years remember that smile and put it on again when they see this happy couple.  They smile for the joy of having a loving partner through life’s uneven journeys.  As to unevenness, David has his work cut out for him.  Of course, he will have the most adorable mother-in-law and grandmother-in-law that a man could ask for, but then there is The General.  To his credit, he has not only not alienated his first son-in-law, but has stepped up to be a rousing good Grandpa, unlike his foray into meteorology.  Say what you will about him, he is a curious fellow.  As the subject of the shivaree has been being bandied about, a close eye will be kept upon the father of the bride.

        Troy Powell was a Champion.  He was born March 26, 1926, and passed away on his birthday in 2001.  He moved up to this part of the country from down around Bertha when he was about sixteen.  He farmed and raised a family and drove a school bus for many years.  He knew everyone and had a friendly welcoming personality.  Gospel music was his favorite.  He liked “Paradise Valley.”  “As I travel through life with its trouble and strive I’ve a glorious hope to give cheer on the way.  Soon my toil will be o’er and I’ll rest on that shore where the night has been turned into day.”

        That lovely Jigsaw Puzzle quilt from the Skyline VFD Chili Supper was won by Betty Geidd of Mansfield.  She bought her ticket at the Old Biddies Third Thursday Bridge Club meeting at the Community Center in Mansfield.  She will take possession of it at that meeting on the 27^th of March and is most excited to do so.  Betty grew up in Vermont and this time of the year reminds her of home.  It is “the season of mud,” she calls it.  She and her husband are retired and live down a long dirt driveway to the pavement.  He likes to do the driving and hopes are that she will have no trouble getting to her game, though she admits we really need the rain.  So congratulations Ms. Geidd!  Thanks for supporting the great Skyline VFD.

        On the way into Ava from Champion on Highway 14 is a curious construction.  It is just west of County Road 313 on the North side of the road.  It looks for all the world like a staircase going pretty much straight up the steep bank.  Over the years, driving by, there was always the temptation to stop and climb it to see just where it goes and to discover what mystery it hides.  There is a good size cave right beside it with mysteries of its own, but the staircase seemed to have a secret exposed to the sun but still unknown.  There is no shoulder on the road there which makes stopping to investigate difficult and chores in town or at home always took president over the exploration.  Glimpsed from the road, the risers on the stairs seemed unusually high.  There must have been a giant who lived up there looking down on a peaceful valley with a pretty stream running through it.  A visit with Alvie Dooms last week solved the mystery.  He said that when the road was paved in the 1950’s the road’s crew built that staircase as a water handling device.  Now days they would pour concrete in a trough configuration to move the rain water down the hill into a ditch or through a tin horn under the road, but the technology of the time together with the availability of so much stone produced this interesting structure.  Now one is thinking to head that way in a rain to see if it is still handling water and if that water comes down in a cascade.

        The reports of the square dance at Marriott Music in Ava came with a video of dance lessons where Bill Connelly was featured together with a couple of other dancing dudes and a number of young people who were learning the steps and where to go when.  It was most entertaining.  The music was provided by David Scrivner, Alvie Dooms and Nathan McAlister.  There is a hint that another dance will be coming up there in the near future.  There is an idea that an Arts Festival might be in the works for the end of May.  Champions will be looking forward to some Spring excitement.  Meanwhile, the Thursday night pot-luck jam session at Vanzant will carry music lovers along and keep toes tapping.  The pot luck is at 6 and the music goes round and round.

        A full moon on a clean fresh snow was a sight not to have missed.  It may have been the last time for such a glorious vision in this beautiful valley until winter is new again.  Share visions, explain mysteries, share music, tell tall tales and remember old times and old friends at Champion @ championnews.us or down the Historic Emporium over on the North Side of the Square.  Look in on www.championnews.us if you are too busy planting potatoes to get down to Champion—Looking on the Bright Side!