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CHAMPION—January 11, 2010

        Entering Champion early on Sunday Morning it was a tranquil place.  Soon the churchyard filled with cars and the valley filled with music.”

        On Monday morning Champions were delighted to report temperatures a full twenty degrees warmer than the previous morning.  It was all the way up to ten degrees and the prospect of more sunshine had spirits lifted high.  A certain numerology aficionado said that on 01-10-10 it was ten below and on the binary palindrome of 01-11-10 it was ten above.  This Champion has clearly had too many inside days and ought to be out doing good for neighbors instead of playing with numbers.

        Good neighbor Harley reached out all the way from Illinois to ask Champion sister-in-law Karen to bake a ham for Betty and J.T., which she did and then she had son-in-law, Dustin, deliver it, which he did with good cheer.  Good Cheer is almost a second name for that guy, somewhere after Kid Prank.  Children love him though, so he can’t be too bad.  Betty is making a slow recovery from her broken arm and like many has been inside for more than a week.  She said that the ham and vegetables were very good and she really appreciated the thoughtfulness of her neighbors.

        Just up the hill a way, Wilburn was having a birthday on Monday.  He’s up the hill not over it at 76.  Well, a person who would rather stay home and stack wood on his birthday than to go to town for lunch might be getting close to over the hill.  Of course, with a cook like Louise, it is easy to stay home.  They have managed to stay warm and cozy with their nice Hardy furnace though it really goes through the wood on these extremely cold nights.  Fortunately, the furnace itself is under cover so it isn’t too bad to have to tend it.  Others have been up all through these long nights feeding the fires.  Champion North’s Sharon has been out busting ice on the ponds twice a day and distributing hay for the livestock.  It was -14° at her house on Saturday night.  She uses a splitting maul to break the ice because, she says, an ax is bad to glance off.  Maybe the weight of the maul helps.  She spreads ashes on part of her drive where a spring seeps and keeps freezing slick and she says she is glad not to have fallen.  That is an easy thing to do.  Foster’s Grammy took a tumble on Sunday morning and bruised her shoulder.  A person’s feet can get out from under them quickly.  Betty Dye up at Skyline has been being cautions, as well, and so far that family has fared well.  The Griswolds are all in fine fettle with no complaints.

        Wilburn shares his birthday with Bob Leibert, herbalist neighbor from over on Teeter Creek.  Jan had her birthday on the first day of the year.  Kyle Barker and his Dad, Tom, both have a birthday this month, as does Elizabeth Johnston who celebrated with her folks on Saturday.  There is to be a new Brixey in the mix as well.  Jenna Kateland Brixie is to have a sibling soon.  Jenna will be three in August so a brother or sister is showing up just at the right time.  Miss Rachael Evans of Leichester, England celebrated her birthday on the ninth of January up in Edinburgh with Champion Sam Moses.  She’s a charming girl, a flutist vocalist, who is described as looking like a Bottechelli painting.  It is quite cold in the United Kingdom too, but they have their Love to keep them warm!

        These cold days have given some Champion correspondents the opportunity to sit down to write those thank you notes and responses to all the Christmas letters, those late birthday cards, and get well cards.  One of those is going out to Jan Townsend, Champion friend in Mountain Grove, who is making a good recovery from some brain surgery and expected to be back at the bridge table soon, perhaps by the 22^nd, which will be the Fourth Thursday Bridge Club game in Mansfield.  All her bridge friends and other friends wish her well.  Champion’s ‘swift courier,’ Karen, travels 104 miles on her route daily bringing the mail and packages and taking the mail out into the big world.  Many Champions plan their day around the mail.  Grandparents waiting for those promised Christmas pictures sometimes slam the box shut in disgust, but that is not Karen’s fault.  Those old folks need to remember how busy they were when they were young and how annoying the needy old people could be—always wanting something.  The shoe is on the other foot now and sometimes it feels like it has a broken toe inside it, though Champions are not wont to complain.  On page 184 of Jill Bolte Taylor’s book, My Stroke of Insight, she says, “When I am simply grateful, life is simply great.”

        Love and Gratitude get a lot of lip service from people who imagine themselves to be good—good people, good neighbors, good friends, good citizens.  When the soldiers come home from their service to The Nation and need a helping hand or a sympathetic ear, then will be the proof of the pudding.  Those safe and warm at home with petulant winter complaints need but to cast an eye to the military serving in the dangerous parts of the world to put their own suffering in perspective.

        Lem and Ned would say, “Turnips should be planted in the waning or decreasing moon (from Full Moon to New Moon) preferably during the first week.”  So it is too late already this month to plant turnips—too early too, but Linda’s Almanac will be out soon to keep all the gardeners appraised of the best planting days, fishing days, harvest and pruning days and days to wean or transplant.  It’s good to have a guide.  Louise said that the freezing weather in Florida may have a real effect on grocery prices.  Gardeners might have to get serious about their hobby if they expect to eat fresh vegetables this year.

        A nice phone visit from Deward’s daughter revealed that she had received separate letters from sister and brother Eva and Kenneth Henson both telling about having seen a bear in the field in front of their house when they were kids.  Their dad, Ezra, and neighbor, John Bordner, shot at it and chased it into the woods west of the house.  That was in 1950.  In 1890 some of her folks down around Forsythe would hunt bears.  Now there are a few (very few) in this part of the country again and it is a pleasure to her, as well as the current occupants of the old Ezra Henson place, to know that there are still bear around as well as the wonderful bald eagles.  Champions have plenty to celebrate.

        A Champion stepped out the other morning to find Kalyssa’s footprints in the snow and it brought to her mind that song, “I traced her little footprints in the snow.  I found her little footprints in the snow.  Bless that happy day when Nelly lost her way and I found her when the snow was on the ground.”  Several have recorded it, but Bill Monroe’s version sets the standard.  This batch of snow will soon be gone and some Champions will say, “Good riddance!”  Others will miss the clean and tidy appearance of their yards as the clutter reappears in the melting.  Voice your opinion, state your case, sing your song at Champion Items, Rt. 2, Box 367, Norwood, MO. 65717 or at Champion News.  Unless you have a fine sonorous voice, finish your song up on the porch at Henson’s Store before you go on in.  It is the polite thing to do.  Champion—Looking on the Bright Side!

CHAMPION—January 4, 2010

        Bright moonlight on a deep clean snow is one of those extraordinary sights that some Champions appreciate as a mystical event, as in their solitude in the perfect quiet of a cold clear night their memories of this very experience through the course of their lifetime flood in, even as thoughts of distant dear ones rush out, ah! that they all could share this splendor!  Bright sunshine on that snow is also glorious and the blue shadows stretching out seem to be the repository of the cold.  From inside it is all quite lovely as the contours of the hills become more apparent and details of hidden topography become visible.  Wind whips snow from the frozen branches to swirl in a brief plume like whisps of floating smoke falling in a fringe.  Champion farmers and merchants who must be out in the elements take all the precautions necessary to stay safe.  They all remember to drink plenty of water when they come in from their exertions in the cold.  Emergency space blankets in every vehicle’s glove box is a Champion notion.  Complaint is relatively rare.  Most of it comes from one relative.  That relative’s relatives would like to make him feel better about winter, but he seems to like the grumbling.  Maybe it is his personal heat source.

        A passing motorist spotted the General at 7:30 on New Year’s morning standing out in front of Plumber’s with a cup of coffee in his hand….“speaking with another gentleman,” reported the Champion motorist who wondered if the General was finishing up his previous night’s frolic or starting out on another one.  As another year and decade stretches out before them Champions wonder what sorts of mischief and what kinds of shenanigans this neighboring rabble-rouser will incite.  He has already been caught sneaking around shoveling the snow off neighbor’s sidewalks and driveways.  One would think he was trying to become a Champion.  Before the snow a Champion from over in Champion East was talking about her little kitchen garden.  She raises it mostly in containers–all kinds of fragrant herbs, lettuces, table tomatoes and the like.  She would like to have all the grass removed from the area and replaced with sawdust because it is such a chore to mow and weed eat around the containers and it would be nice not to have the exhaust fumes from the lawnmower and weed eater floating around her tasty food.  Her visiting neighbor suggested to her that a couple of enthusiastic, energetic, self motivated, strapping young fellows with good attitudes and nothing else to do could probably accomplish that little chore for her in a trice.  The gardener said that she had heard about a couple of young guys just like that and that they would work for just a couple of turnips!  She, like many a Champion housewife, is In Search of Lem and Ned.  Maybe they have a notice posted on the door down at Henson’s Store.

        Eighty two year old Champion, Al Nance, has written a New Year’s letter from his home in Scott’s Valley, California.  He always has some interesting observations and he shared a poem that he had written twenty-five years ago called Facing the Year Ahead.  Its final line is, “Lord, give us victorious living, each day of the year ahead.”  Champions concur!

        A pleasant phone visit with Esther finds her well and with good reports of Ruby who had her granddaughter visiting, and of Sharon who was busy with her livestock.  She reminds the Skyline VFD Ladies’ Auxiliary that the next meeting is scheduled for Groundhog Day.  Esther is already getting excited about the music.  She is a real music fan and particularly of live music of the local bluegrass variety.  The Chili Supper is coming up the first Saturday night in March and Champions are looking forward to it already as a break from the cabin fever that will surely be rampant by then if the weather does not warm up!

        It is cold in the Middle East too.  U.S. Service personnel serving in distant dangerous places have not just the inconvenience of inclement weather to contend with, but that great empty longing for family and home particularly during times of traditional homecomings and family gatherings.  They have the Love and Gratitude of the Nation they serve.

        Host, Brushy Knob, was the clear winner of the first Fortnight Bridge game of the year.  Vera Cruz, who is rarely the low scorer, took home the nickels and once again Champion was next to the bottom with Norwood outscoring her by a good six hundred points.  The game broke up just as the snow began to fly and each of them enjoyed an exciting and uneventful trip home.  Those are the best kinds.  Bridge player, Charlene Dupre, has made a safe return from Florida where she enjoyed a fine holiday with granddaughter Olivia.  She will be having a good sale at the Gift Corner to start out the New Year.

        “I made myself a snowball just as perfect as could be.  I thought I’d keep it for a pet and let it sleep with me.  I gave it some pajamas and a pillow for its head.  Then last night it ran away, but first it wet the bed.”  Recite your favorite snow poem out on the porch at Henson’s Store.  Then go on in and get warm around the stove.  It is as if time is suspended there–very like walking into the past.  News of Champions is always welcome at Champion Items, Rt. 2, Box 367, Norwood, MO 65717 or at Champion News.  Look in on some old news at www.championnews.us.  Or stay warm and cozy around your own little hearth. “Since we’ve no place to go, let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!”  Dazzling light flashes through fancy icicles in Champion–Looking on the Bright Side!

CHAMPION—December 28, 2009

        ‘Out with the old and in with the new!’  Champions understand the sentiment and welcome the New but they are careful not to get rid of the good Old things.  When folks say, “They don’t make ‘em like they used to,” they are talking about Champion.  The official CPC (Champion Parade Committee) has announced that the New Year’s Day Parade of Champions will be postponed due to the cold, the alternate date to be announced at some random time in the future.  No word has come from Spotted Hog about the Hogmanay (pronounced hog-ma-NEY) scheduled to welcome the new decade.  Spotted Hog was settled by Scotsmen, they say.  The four-day festival will start on the thirtieth this year and end on the second of January.  The music and feasting and general celebrating will likely catch the interest of the Missouri State Trouper who lives on C Highway now, so revelers beware and behave responsibly.

        Christmas found Esther’s house full again—full of family and feasting.  It turned into a comedy of errors with a protracted hunt for car keys, which turned out to be in the jacket pocketed of a visiting son.  He had gone out to the freezer to get the desert that Esther had made from the receipt that Betty Henson had given her and he had pocked the keys without thinking.  Two hours later that set of keys was discovered and then another set materialized out of a little pocket in Esther’s purse.  It is good that bunch has a sense of humor.

        Champion Betty Shelton took a tumble on Saturday and spent the night in the hospital.  At first it was thought that she had dislocated her shoulder, but it turns out that she broke her arm.  It is her good right arm that she has broken the ball right off of up at the shoulder.  She said that it would be immobilized for at least a month.  There is no good time to have this kind of accident and Champions will be pitching in to be of some help to her and J.T.  Last summer Champion friend, Charlene Dupre, suffered an almost identical injury and she has made a good recovery so there is good reason to be optimistic.  Looking on the Bright Side can be a challenge to those injured or ill at any time.  Friends are Champion

        Tennessee boys are visiting their Grandmother on the Krider Farm with Foster and Kalyssa and assorted aunts and uncles and lots of good holiday spirit.  Those big boys chip right in on the farm chores and everybody has a good time.  Harley and Barbara have fled the deep snow of the North in time for the deep freeze of Champion.  Wherever they are good times roll.

        Ruby Proctor is happy to be home and has had some good company.  Her grandson, Bryan, and his family have been visiting from Virginia where he is stationed in the military.  It had been a long time since they were ‘home’ for Christmas and this one will long be remembered as a special time.  Service families separated from each other during the holidays struggle.  Champions wish them all the best with Love and Gratitude for their service.

        Some lucky old Champions are settling in with their seed catalogues and only glancing out at the thermometer every now and then.  They know that it will get colder before it gets warmer.  Garden planning is a favorite pastime and soon Linda will have her almanac out again and Champions will be getting their hands dirty.  The seasons go round and round and seed catalogues make good reading any time of the year.

        Another note came from Hovey.  He said, “As a little kid I was terrified of the swinging bridges.  Then, as I grew older, I began jumping up and down on them making them sway.  Here’s wishing all in and around Champion a Happy New Year!”  Good wishes also came from Betty and Darrell Haden over in Tennessee.  It is a sure bet that their house will be full of music through the holidays.  For many people the little chatter that goes on inside their head all the time is mostly music.  One Champion finds herself singing “Ya Who Dore`” from The Grinch That Stole Christmas.  Funny.  Soon all those versions of “Old Hank’s High” will be showing up again.  Robert Burns wrote “Auld Lang Syne” which salutes old acquaintances and times gone by.  It was already an old song when he wrote his version down in 1722.  He was born in Edinburgh, Scotland and the Edinburgh Hogmanay Street Party will feature 100,000 plus voices there all singing that song at that midnight hour on New Year’s Eve.  The hour will be six hours earlier in Champion, so anyone wishing to participate in the worldwide singing of that song can do it at six p.m. just for the joy of joining in and “We’ll drink a cup of kindness yet, for Auld Lang Syne.”  Champions will remember dear old friends and good times gone by.

        Sing that song or any other out on the porch at Henson’s Store in Downtown Champion.  It is on the North side of the Square on the Sunnyside.  Spend a moment around the stove thinking up those New Year’s Resolutions.  Declare them right there or mail them to Champion Items, Rt. 2, Box 367 Norwood, MO 65717.  Email any especially good ones to Champion News.  The best ones so far have been: “Be a better neighbor,” and “Lighten Up.”  The best one yet is truly Champion—“Look on the Bright Side!”

CHAMPION—December 21, 2009

        Champions welcomed Old Man Winter on the 21^st with good humor and the sure knowledge that the days will begin to lengthen once more and that the calendar will flop open to a new page and a new decade, if one subscribes to the notion that next year will begin the next decade as 2009 ends the current one—if one begins counting with zero, capisce?  (Italian for ‘understand,’ pronounced ‘capeesh’)  It does not take an Italian mathematician or weatherman to figure out that it is cold and may get colder.  Champions do not care—it is Winter after all.

        There is good news to report that Ruby Proctor is much improved and ready to come home!  While St. Johns is a good place, ‘home’ is better and Ruby’s family and friends are all smiles to know she may be back in her own nest soon and just in time to enjoy Bryan and his family who will be in for a week.  These particular days evoke images of home and family and smells of festive cooking and music, music, music.  It is an established fact that singing is good for the health of a person, physically and emotionally.  There is proof.  Ruby has a fine soprano voice that is as clear as a crystal bell and her Champions friends hope she sings often.  Several errors were noted in reporting the number of Proctor children allocated to each family in the last Champion column, but it has turned out that all those Proctor children know who they belong to and just how many of them there are…they are a Champion bunch!

        Champion is about to be overrun once more by those Tennessee boys and their folks!  Moreover, Harley and Barbara will be in town again and so the fun will begin!  All this visiting is contingent upon big snowstorms and Winter weather back east and up north.  Safety in their travels is the seasonal gift that all Champions wish for their loved ones out on the road.  The call of Home this time of year is strong and deep.  Many must be content with telephone calls and the wonderful U.S. Postal service.  Champions want to thank Postmaster Kirk Dooms and his charming staff for keeping Champion connected to the rest of the world for another year.  The Route 2 driver, Karen, is a particularly pleasant vision coming down (or up) the road–she always has a smile and a wave.  Champion!

        Astronomers and other Champions are getting ready to finish off the decade with a Blue Moon…Once in a very blue moon does the full moon occur on New Year’s Eve and a Blue one to boot!  Champions cannot remember a single incident.  A situation so rare as this can call for unusual preparation.  The Old Champion Girl who added, “More shrimp! More champagne!”  to her New Year’s resolve last year has had tremendous success.  As success fosters success, she has made good progress with any number of her other resolutions and is feeling altogether good about things in general.  It will be interesting to see what she has come up with for beginning the new decade.  It need be no more elaborate than:  “Be a better neighbor.”  That sounds like a good one even for a tea totaler with a shellfish allergy!

        Some Champions observe that once a person has decided for sure about how he feels about something, it is almost impossible to change his mind.  When this person decided that he is absolutely right about something, he became impervious to any other persuasion.  No amount of truth, information, fact or proof can penetrate the protective shield built around this belief, especially if a respected authority has reinforced it.  No accumulation of words or crafty string of syllables can move or dissuade the solid belief in the truth.  Well, that is good.  What is not good about that?  Strength of belief—how wonderful to know for an absolute certainty that you are right!  Such a gift!  It is thrilling to see it applied equally to opposing views on the issues of global warming and forestry management, war and peace, paper or plastic, etc.  So much of what the world has to offer is sham and superficial.  Clear site is Champion!

        An e-mail surfaced in Champion not long ago from a distant but dear Champion Friend.  It contained photographs taken by a Marine unit over in Iraq.  One shows a foxhole in the rain.  It is really just a ring of mud, like a big muddy piecrust dam to keep the water out while soldiers wrapped in tarps try to get some rest.  Another shows two long lines of vehicles flanking a double row of man-sized shallow holes dug in the sandy dirt where soldiers stretch out to sleep or to read and rest.  There is a picture of a row of soldiers laying on blankets on the concrete of an air strip, their shoes off and their heads covered with their shirts to keep the sun and sand off.  Then there is the picture of the soldier sitting up against his tank in a sandstorm.  The text of the e-mail is to say that those soldiers remember why they are there and that they remember those who have been lost.  Go to www.championnews.us and find a link to “Thank a Veteran Today” to see the whole thing.  It is worth the time.  Champions are happy to send Love and Gratitude to all those who serve at their Nation’s request, in uniform and out, past, present and future.

        What’s the best Christmas gift for a gardener?  A gift certificate for a seed catalogue!  What could be better?  Linda and Charlene have some lovely items over at the Plant Place and the Gift Corner too.  Soon Linda’s Almanac will be giving good planting advice.  The seasons move quickly!

        A lovely card came from Wayne and Doris Moore who said they visited Champion on May 6^th for their 64^th wedding anniversary with Wayne’s sister Angilee and Galen Neher.  They had a double wedding ceremony at the same church they still attend.  It is the Mountain Valley Church off Highway N.  Champions welcome them back any time!

        “It was Christmas in prison, and the food was real good.  We had turkey and pistols carved out of wood.  I dream of her always even when I don’t dream.  Her name’s on my tongue and her blood’s in my veins.  Wait a while Eternity, old Mother Nature’s got nothing on me.  Come to me, run to me, come to me now.  We’re rolling my Sweetheart, we’re flowing, by God!”  This song by John Prine is one of those that serves as a reminder that circumstances the world around are difficult for many and for many not of their own doing.  One hardly has to cast his glance far to find someone in less fortunate circumstances than one’s own.  Prine goes on to say, “She reminds me of a chess game with someone I admire, or a picnic in the rain after a prairie fire.”  He is quite the poet.

        Send your favorite poem to Champion Items, Rt. 2, Box 367, Norwood, MO 65717 or to Champion News.  Recite your poem out on the porch at Henson’s Store in beautiful downtown Champion.  Step on in for some peppermint candy, or chocolate covered cherries just like you got when you were a kid.  The talk around the stove will all be about the upcoming New Year’s Day Parade.  Will Spotted Hog send that disgusting pig float again this year?  Will the General ever cease with bugling?  Will Barbara finally designate the spots for the signs that designate Lonnie Krider Memorial Drive?  Will there ever again be such a sweet and lovely spot in the big world as Champion?  (“Schmaltz” is Yiddish for rendered goose or chicken fat used to fry or to spread on bread, but in this case it means the overly sentimental or florid style typical of this column.)  Merry Christmas!  It is Champion!—Looking on the Bright Side!

CHAMPION—December 14, 2009

        In Champion, as well as in all the other less fortunate places in the world, the only constant is change.  Champions embrace change and encourage it in the good ways.  The things that do not change in Champion are also quite good, i.e., friendliness, good neighboring, good humor, good music, good food, good grief and good intentions.  Good intentions are the pavement to places not so good, they say, but in Champion good intentions eventually play out—Champions meet the new neighbor and extend a hand of friendship, or they finally get that note written to the mail carrier and tied to the bag of cookies and stuffed in the mailbox for the holidays, and endlessly on and on.  Sometimes it takes a good long time for good intentions to play out, but in Champion they do.  “Good grief!”  It is what Oscar Krider called a “by-word,” meaning in this instance a term to express exasperation, surprise, incredulity or an expletive as in the case of a stubbed toe or knocked noggin.  In the Champion sense, good grief is the kind where the empty seats at the holiday table are filled with good memories.  All those departed Champions: mothers, fathers, wives, husbands, children and dear friends left Champions who remember them and honor them with love and good memories.  Much of the sadness of loss gets tempered with gratitude over time and sweet smiles flit across the faces of those momentarily lost in deep thought.  As to good food, even Champion kitchens with poor reputations (remember that sweet potato pie) are turning out some unexpectedly attractive and delicious dishes, breads and confections.  On the subject of confections, a long time ago Wilburn Hutchison and another kid were caught stealing the divinity candy stored in the springhouse of a certain lady on Cold Springs Road.  Wilburn’s punishment was to carry a hundred buckets of water, he didn’t say from where to where.  He probably sang, “Ninety nine buckets of water to haul, ninety eight more buckets to haul.”  Champions kept a song in their hearts even back then.

        It has been good news to Champion to hear that Ruby Proctor is feeling better.  She has been spending some time up at St. John’s Hospital in Springfield, but it is to be hoped that she will be back home again soon.  She lives in Mountain Grove, but she is a Champion thru and thru.  Her folks were John and Goldie Hicks.  They lived up on the side of the hill above Fox Creek just north east of Champion.  They had neighbors Jim and Elizabeth Shelton.  J.T. and Betty Shelton now live just about in downtown Champion.  Like Wilburn, J.T. has not strayed too far from his home.  There are a number of Champions in that particularly pleasant boat.  This whole part of the country was at one time much more populated than it is now and back then families all had lots of kids.  Ruby had eight or nine siblings, the George Proctors had ten kids, Howard Proctor, Basil’s Dad, had twelve children.  There were sixty students in the Champion School and there were a lot of little schools around the county.  The population has changed with a few of the old families well represented—the Hensons, Hutchisons, Kriders, Upshaws, Sheltons, Proctors, Hicks, Coonts, Brixies, Mallernees and others.  The new comers are filling in the holes nicely and it may be that change will eventually fill the countryside up again.  The roads have changed.  There are some new ones–paved and improved and some of the old ones are overgrown and lost.  Properties have changed hands and been split up and clear-cut and plowed up, but the heart of Champion is beating strong.  Everybody came from somewhere and Champion feels like home.

        Another Champion from just over in McMurtrey township sends seasons greetings to her Champion neighbors with the news that the bald eagles are back for the fourth year in a row.  She always has interesting information to share including her appreciation for the rich bounty of wildlife in her neighborhood.  A brief note from Bob Conrad said, “Just checking in—OK, Conrad Corner.”  Now that is brief! Who has not seen those amazing turnips?  A couple of weeks ago amid pictures of trophy deer and River’s Locks of Love was Darrell Hesterlee with two mammoth turnips.  This week comes Alvin Barnhart with some even more massive!  He says the Just Right variety has a sweet flavor, making them better to eat raw.  Earlier this season Barnhart shared some of these beauties with a Champion who found them to be excellent.  She was expecting a pithy quality and sharpness, due to the enormous size even then, but to her surprise they were crisp and bright tasting, very pleasant.  It looks like turnip lovers, Lem and Ned, must have found the Barnhart’s place because the tidy rock gardens and landscaping show a degree of perfectness and attention that could only occur as the result of the boundless energy and enthusiasm of true turnip lovers.

        When Pete Proctor wrote to inform Champion, Drury, and Vanzant about Ruby, he said, “She needs all of our prayers.  Also I want to say ‘Merry Christmas’ to all the Veterans that served and are still serving.  Bryan will be home for Christmas this time for the first time since 1993.”  Champions all join Pete in his good wishes for the troops.

        More good news is all about new trail through Skyline’s “Tiger Holler.”  Champions are excited to tour the trail and are pleased to learn that community support is welcome to lengthen the exiting trail and to prepare more garden areas.  Champions from anywhere can get more information about helping at the Skyline School, 683-4874.

        Fortnight Bridge turned out to be a pretty good game.  Good cards prompted a number of bid slams that were not made and three slams made but unbid.  Good cards and the pineapple upside down cake made by the Norwood host, made the drive through the dense fog well worth the trouble.  Vera Cruz had the high score and Brushy Knob was low.  The Champion player’s ranking was, as is frequently the case, next to the bottom.

        Champion children of every age are watching out and not crying against the chance that Santa really does know.  Hearts are light and dreary weather has no effect.  Prove it to yourself down at Henson’s Store in the heart of the Historic District.  It’s on the North side of the square and situated perfectly on the broad expanse of Lonnie Krider Memorial Drive.  Sometimes folks go to Champion on the pretext of buying some binder twine or pistachio pudding mix, but really they go just to stand around the stove and remember.  Sing your favorite song out on the porch or to yourself on your way home.  “Tra la la! tra la la! la la la!”  Share some memories at Champion Items, Rt. 2, Box 367, Norwood, MO 65717 or at Champion News.  Look in on www.championnews.us for some pictures of the past and some hope for the future.  In Champion–Looking on the Bright Side!

CHAMPION—December 7, 2009

        As the days continue to get shorter in Champion the nights are getting longer.  Farmers are busy getting as many of their chores done before dark as they can and are doing the rest after dark in the cold wind and drizzle.  They are farmers because they love the life and these Champions are fortunate to live close to the Earth, aware of the seasons and the swiftness of time.  Those long summer days are just around the corner.

        Whatever reasons Champions have for being out on the roads they are aware of the need to be safe drivers.  Twisty windy mountain roads with beautiful views around every sharp turn and just over every steep little hill that the two narrow lanes with no shoulders traverse are the only way to get from Champion to anywhere.  Familiarity with the scenic byways and thoughts wandering to destinations in advance can make Champions vulnerable to the recklessness of others.  One particular driver in a beige sedan has been seen on local pavement speeding and passing other vehicles and school buses in no passing zones, on hills and blind curves.  More than one Champion has had a close call and everyone is cautioned to be more alert.  It hardly matters how well a person can handle his own vehicle and how considerate he may be, if the oncoming traffic is erratic and unsafe.  So far no one has been able to get the license number of this offensive individual, but Champions are on the lookout knowing that forewarned is forearmed.

        Champion is not really the halfway point between Iowa and Oklahoma, but some are treating it that way.  Louise and Wilburn have been back and forth to Oklahoma City and have been hosting guests from Iowa on their way to other places.  Thanksgiving saw another fabulous feast come out of Louise’s kitchen.  No one leaves her table unsatisfied.  She had the good news to report that one of her Champion neighbors has donated seven fat hens to the Skyline Area Volunteer Fire Department to be used for chicken and noodles at the Skyline Chili Supper on the 6^th of March!  These are homegrown, healthy, wholesome hens—just right for a great community supper.  Music is already being lined up and some great things are showing up for the silent auction.  It is going to be another smashing affair!  The Ladies Auxiliary will be getting together on Groundhog Day to get things going.  What a social whirlwind is Champion!

        Teddy Roosevelt’s image adorns the masthead of the Organization for Competitive Markets together with the words “Honesty, Prosperity, Economic Liberty.”  This comes to mind concerning those seven fat healthy hens, homegrown and wholesome.  How fortunate is the Champion with a freezer full of good homegrown food and a pantry full of mason jars of tomatoes, green beans and pickles.  Most of all the food in the grocery stores comes through a very few large multinational companies:  Tyson, Cargill, Swift, National Farmers, the Archer Daniel Midland Corporation and a few others.  They serve a purpose and do a good job of making everything available everywhere.  Still the opportunity to support local food sources, the gardeners and growers that keep the local farmer’s markets going, are not lost on Champions.  Teddy Roosevelt would probably have been right at home in Champion, the old Rough Rider.

        An article in a national newspaper indicates that soldiers are being less likely to be open with mental health workers about their war experiences, as they are required to sign the waiver that states that the information is not privileged if it reveals bad acts.  The whole nature of war is ‘bad acts.’  If the soldiers cannot unburden themselves of the horrors they experienced, will they be able to resume a normal life at home again?  War changes everything and probably resuming a ‘normal’ life is a moot point, but these thousands of U.S. Service personnel are doing what their Nation has required of them.  A cousin was remarking the other day that back in World War II everyone participated.  Children brought newsprint to school one day, used cooking grease another day, and other things on other days all to support the war effort.  Women spent spare moments knitting socks and gloves for soldiers.  Scrap drives and rationing of all kinds of materials were common.  These current conflicts, however, are being borne primarily by the military and their families alone.  The civilian population can easily enough go through a day with hardly a reminder that these conflicts are claiming American lives.  Champions all over the Country will step up to listen when the soldiers need to talk.  On Pearl Harbor Day and every day let those returning be met with the Love and Gratitude they have coming.

        A charming Champion will celebrate a birthday on the tenth of the month.  She shares this anniversary with Morton Gould, prolific composer, Emily Dickinson, poet, Anton Mauve, Dutch painter, Chet Huntley, newscaster, and they are all in her good company.  This Champion is a geranium cultivator, par excellence!  She has appropriated one called “Happy Thought” to be the Champion Flower–the town flower, like the State bird, the bluebird; the State instrument, the fiddle; the State tree, the dogwood, etc.  About the Champion Geranium she says, “It has ruffled leaves, dark green around the edges with a splash of yellow in the middle.  It is a ‘zonal’ not a scented geranium with a very pretty single pink flower.”  Champions will be looking for it in the Spring!

        Linda’s Almanac from over at the Plant Place in Norwood says that December’s is called The Cold Moon.  The December birthstone is turquoise and the flower of the month is the Paper white.  These colder days give gardeners the time to review their successes or failures and to start planning now for next year’s garden.  Food and flowers make a nice mix for any garden.  “There is a bluebird on your windowsill.  There is a rainbow in your sky.  There are happy thoughts your heart to fill, near enough to make you cry.  And if perchance your heart grows sad, you still can smile again, and with every tear you’ve ever had comes the sunshine after the rain.  There is a bluebird on your windowsill.”  So sang Doris Day.

        Share happy thoughts about a gray day at Henson’s Store in downtown Champion.  The place has recovered nicely from the Black Friday frenzy and still the ice cream sells.  Winter or summer, people just like it.  Flowery descriptions of anything Champion are welcome at Champion Items, Rt. 2, Box 367, Norwood, MO. 65717 or at Champion News  Look in at www.championnews.us to find Linda’s Almanac or to find out about your favorite Champions.  (Go to the ‘Search’ box down at the bottom of the archives.)  They are there somewhere.  Champions!  Looking on the Bright Side.

CHAMPION—November 30, 2009

        Champions are generally of one mind having compassion for one another and love for their brothers, for the most part they are tenderhearted and courteous.  The opportunity to express Love and Gratitude comes every day in Champion.  While families and friends gathered to feast in the name of Gratitude, a number of old Champion couples reduced to just the two of them again, made a reduced version of their traditional festive meal just for the pleasure of the left-overs which was always their favorite part anyway—family and friends notwithstanding.  One group of revelers got up from their post feast poker extravaganza to view the Space Shuttle and the Space Station as they streaked across the darkened early evening sky northwest to southeast.  The lights were visible for about five minutes and the friends standing quiet and still all gazing at the same marvel were lost in their individual thoughts of space and time and distance and perspective.

        Old Fox continues to pique nostalgia.  Several, spurred on by Hovie Henson’s remarks, were talking about the old wire swinging bridges and the importance of schooling to the Champions of the day.  Students are back in their classrooms after the Thanksgiving break, ready to knuckle down and buckle down for that last push toward goodness just in time for Christmas.  Foster and Kalyssa Wiseman made a holiday journey to Tennessee to visit cousins Dillon and Dakota Watts.  It is exciting to see the dynamic between the older cousins and the younger ones.  The old folks smile remembering their own childhood relationships.  Meanwhile, four-year-old Eli and little sister Emerson Rose spent a few days with their Grammie down on the farm.  Harley was in the neighborhood too, so there was all manner of fun going on including an onslaught of Upshaws with everything that brings to mind.  The General has been staying pretty close to home, however, not venturing further than the Junction.  Until the furor dies down concerning his recent behavior, he’ll be laying low, hoping that pumpkin pie with whipped cream has the soothing quality to round off the sharp corners of the biting sarcasm that trips him up with an overdose of triptophan, which under normal circumstances releases the chemical seretonin in the brain that often helps to alleviate pain.  Normal circumstances do not seem to apply to General Contrarian, though he is the first to note that there is no excuse for rude behavior.  Contrition is an attractive quality that adds to the mystique of one of Denlow’s Favorite Sons.

        Another of Denlow’s Favorite Sons was Cletus Upshaw.  He was a good storyteller and a keen observer.  His enthusiasm for Denlow and Champion and the area was legendary and Champions are at a loss not to be able to run into him at Henson’s Store.  For years Champions could set their clocks by him and if there was an unkind word said, it did not come from Cletus, though he certainly knew all there was to be known about just about everything in the area.  He was proud to be a Veteran.  Most any Champion would love to roll back the clock and pry one more story out of him.  Older Veterans and younger ones now all have stories to tell and a compassionate, thoughtful, understanding listener is a Champion to them.

        Fortnight Bridge found the Champion bridge player (rather the bridge player from Champion) separated from first place by a mere 120 points! That spot belonged to the Brushy Knob player.  A lively game, hosted by Vera Cruz, was marked by a splendidly executed apple crisp and as many bid slams as unbid ones.  This indicates an effective conversation between partners in a game fraught with rules and conventions.  The Norwood player pocketed the nickels and will host the next game…in a fortnight.

        The cold weather that is on the way will be doing some good work in the garden.  It will help that nitrogen get fixed into the ground and will discourage some of those noxious pests both plant and insect types.  Still there will be a sunny day to get out there and get those okra stalks out of the ground and into the compost.  Seed catalogues are arriving in mailboxes already and the most exquisite time of planning is well underway.  Linda, over at the Plant Place in Norwood will have her work load reduced a little and always has time to visit about plants.  Charlene has been busy at area craft fairs lately displaying her many unusual handcrafted Christmas ornaments and gifts.  She adds to her repertory every year and it is always a delight to visit her at the Gift Corner.

        A cousin was remarking the other day about seeing her Uncle Al all by himself out in a big cotton field toward the end of the season.  Snow flurries were beginning as he was pulling those last boles.  He would have been 93 on his birthday which was either the 26th or 27th of November.  With a houseful of kids, it might have been easy to lose track of a birthday.  Uncle Albert had a twin brother named Gilbert, who died in infancy.  Like Elvis, there might have been some room for extra heart or extra soul when living for two.  He married an extraordinary young woman who also loved the farm.  If they had a choice between twenty short rows or two very long rows, they would take the long rows every time.  They were just that way.  Hard times, tragedy and disappointment separated them over time, but they maintained an abiding appreciation and understanding of each other and the farm.  Uncle Al sang, “Seven cent cotton and forty cent meat! How in the world can a poor man eat? Flour up high and cotton down low how in the world can we raise any dough?” Singing seems to make things easier.

        Make things a little easier with a song on the porch at Henson’s Store in downtown Champion.  Once it is out of your system go on in and stand around the stove.  It is a fixture that warms more than just the little wooden building.  It is a gathering place and a touchstone for people who long for that real feeling of home and community.  Even people who rarely go there, or have gone for the first time or who just remember being there as a child seem to feel an ownership in the experience of Champion.  Send a story about Cletus Upshaw to Champion Items, Rt.  2, Box 367, Norwood, MO 65717 or e-mail it to Champion News.  Read all the Champion news since August, 2006 at www.championnews.us.  Before that you’ll have to find a Champion to ask.  Look for them out strolling the broad and pleasant musical expanse of Lonnie Krider Memorial Drive.  They are in Champion and they are Looking on the Bright Side!

CHAMPION—November 23, 2009

        Champions just stay Grateful, so having a special day set aside for being thankful is something that the rest of the country does just to catch up.  Turkeys are native to this part of the world and pumpkin patches were prolific this year producing ponderous specimens that will be popping out of Champion ovens in the form of pie, pie, and more pie.  Even the now famous annual Champion Thanksgiving Day Parade had a pie theme this year with a pie train featuring “American as Apple Pie,” “Four and Twenty Blackbird Pie,” “Bebop a Rebop Rhubarb Pie,” and the prize winning “Giant Pumpkin Pie.”  Champions in the know came armed with their forks.  Champion appetites made for short work of the parade.

        A nice note came from Kenneth (Hovey) Henson regarding Old Fox.  “Old Fox sired two horses on our farm, Peggy and Joe, named after the Proctor children.  You said Fox Creek was recently flooded, reminding me of school days at Champion School.  You got a silver dollar if you didn’t miss a day of school, half a dollar if you missed because the creeks were up.  I still have mine.  They built swinging bridges so we didn’t miss school because of the creeks.  The swinging bridges were frightening to the little kids.  Older ones would jump up and down and make them sway, scaring the younger ones.”  Hovey did not say if he was an older one or a younger one.  There are still some Champions who remember how those bridges were made and there are still some remnants of them attached to some old trees.

        Esther Wrinkles reported having had a blast at Plumbers last Friday night.  One of her favorite groups, Backyard Bluegrass, played to a packed house.  She said that they played a lot of her favorite songs and that they have agreed to play at the Skyline VFD Chili Supper on the 6^th of March.  She said that about the time they got started the General came trailing in with his musical contraption barely concealed in a guitar case.  He insinuated himself into the band and did a fair job until about half way through the set when the band just stopped cold.  “You are out of tune,” one of them finally told him, whereupon he rummaged around until he came up with some kind of big old wrench and proceeded to twist around on the tuning pegs of his outfit.  Esther couldn’t tell if it was a pair of vice grips that he used or a regular monkey wrench.  Speculation says that he has had a firm grip on vice for a spell now so probably it was the latter around with which he was monkeying.  She did not mention seeing Lem around anywhere, but the music was good anyway and everybody had a nice time.

        Caleb James Barker was born November 17^th, 2009 to Deborah and Tom Barker and brother Kyle Alexander Barker.  Caleb weighed eight pounds six ounces and was quite tall for a newborn at twenty-two and a quarter inches!  His brother Kyle, who will be three in January, thinks Caleb is pretty nifty and the family is enjoying a good get acquainted period together.  Young Caleb joins the legion of four General grandchildren and the hope is that he will fare as well as the others have considering the influence.

        Those first holidays away from the family can be hard ones.  It can be a lonesome time full of sweet memories and regrets.  “It’s been ten long years since I left my home in the hollow where I was born where the cool fall nights makes the wood smoke rise and the fox hunter blows his horn.  What have they done to the old home place and why did they tear it down?  And why did I leave the plow in the field and look for a job in the town?” Some leave for a job in the town, some to join the service.  These days, closeness is not always about geography and families reach across oceans and continents to show their love and support for those serving the Nation in the dangerous parts of the world.  Love and Gratitude are appropriate year round and the world around.  When the soldiers do come back to their dear old home place, Champions all hope they will be met with the compassion and comfort and assistance they will need.

        Readers may remember that last week the Daydreaming Country Housewife while pinning clothes to the line overheard a conversation in which Ned asked Lem about the new derivatives.  It turns out that Lem is the smart one, but Ned does all the talking.  When she brought up the question later, Ned relayed his understanding that the new derivatives are conglomerated lumps of life insurance policies and “folks buys chunks of the lumps and if they don’t hold up the market falls apart.”  Dim as is Ned, he figured, “Reckon they ort to put some kind of a regulator on them life insurance derivatives?”

        Harley is back in the country, looking after his country interests.  No word has come about Barbara yet.  She may make her entrance later if Donald and Rita Krider decide to make the trip south for the great Turkey celebration.  The great jovial crowd will congregate at Vivian’s house again and the good times will roll!  They will roll up and down the hills anywhere old friends and families gather together to feast and frolic.  One invitation says, “Bring a side dish and All your poker money.”  Esther will have all her family around, so many that some will most likely be sleeping in the floor.  Everybody has done that as a young one and it makes for good memories.  The victuals are prime at Esther’s house!

        Winter will be here in a few weeks, but there will still be some mild and lovely days before the hard weather sets in.  There is yet time to get the garden cleaned up, some manure spread for next spring and those last shrubs and trees planted.  Linda’s Almanac from over at the Plant Place in Norwood says the 24^th, the 25^th, the 28^th and 29^th will all be good days to prune to discourage growth.  For encouragement, look to Jean Farbin.  She is celebrating her 75^th birthday!  A body couldn’t tell by looking at her!  Champions will hum “happy birthday to you” while shopping at Jean’s Healthway.

        Hum a tune while shopping for Champion picture postcards and other pertinences at Henson’s Store on the North side of the Square in the heart of the commercial district in Downtown Champion.  They make lovely Christmas gifts and come in gift packages of ten—the complete set.  Use one of those or any other to drop a note to Champion Items, Rt. 2, Box 367, Norwood, MO 65717 with any kind of news of interest or any thoughts about derivatives.  Look in on Champion at www.championnews.us just to see what a beautiful place it continues to be.  E-mail your suggestions for next year’s Thanksgiving Day Parade theme to Champion News.  This year they are still singing, “Saddle me up a big white goose, tie me on her and turn her loose!  Oh me! Oh my! Love that Country Pie!”  Champion!  Looking on the Bright Side!

CHAMPION—November 9, 2009

        It has been noted that the community of Champion is located just a little to the right of the exact center of Douglas County.  The question has been raised about whether this location is as it appears on the maps or is as it appears from the driver’s seat.  The concerned party suggested that looking at a photograph of himself finds his right thumb on his left shoulder.  Champions are sure of their place in the world, showing by good conduct that it is a patient and mild place, a seat of wisdom, always ready to comply with truth.  Therefore, the photo in question needs must be taken on (or from) the porch at Henson’s Store so that the Bright Side will reflect the correct side and lift the cloud of confusion.  Champions are compassionate.

        Tuesday found nieces Linda and Karen visiting with their Aunt Vivian Shannon who had enjoyed reading about Old Fox a couple of weeks ago.  They were reminded of a little horse that belonged to Harley Van Shannon.  Old Fox seems to have stirred up memories for a number of Champions.  The sisters nee Upshaw also visited with their Mother’s sister, Aunt Ruby Anderson, who has recently celebrated her 97^th birthday.  The General’s wife had her birthday celebrated vigorously on the 5^th of November in bash at Plumber’s Junction.  It was a Thursday.  Not since last year have disbelieving eyes flashed so rapidly between the General and his Better Half!  Overheard:  “What was she thinking?” “Cradle robber.”  “May and December.”  “General Lucky.”

        Louise and Wilburn, Champions on the move, enjoyed exceptional weather for their trip to Oklahoma to visit Louise’s sister Doris and her husband George Gillis.  Louise came home with a nice ceiling fan and two computer printers for the next Skyline Chili Supper silent auction, scheduled for March, 2010!  There will be time to gather all kinds of great items for the auction and that, together with all the pertinences connected with the fundraiser and the Auxiliary, will have been hashed out decidedly by the time these words are ink.  Champion!

        Champions living on the other side of Fox Creek were just up a creek from Thursday afternoon until Monday morning due to the four inches of rain that came down all day in a deluge.  Some traveling Champions had met that rain head on just south of the Ouachita Mountains in an adventure that otherwise proved delightful.  The peak of the fall colors through the Ozarks and Boston Mountains was a spectacular trail to travel for grandchild face time.  Runny noses on the little faces caused runny noses on the old faces by the time they returned to find the leaves all down and the colors changed to greens and mostly grays and browns.  The roads must have washed significantly and the returning Champions are once again impressed by the speed and efficiency of those fellows from the County Shed over in Drury.  Those nice guys do a wonderful job of keeping the beautiful roads in good condition.  Champion!

        These mild November days can be productive ones in the garden.  Linda from over at the Plant Place in Norwood says, “Plant trees, shrubs, bulbs and perennials before the really severe weather comes.”  It is a good time to complete garden clean up and to apply and turn under coarse organic materials.  Apply mulches, not to keep the ground warm but to maintain an even ground temperature.  Better late than early.  November’s moon is called The Beaver Moon.  It is a reminder to stay beaver busy while the weather permits.  Those short cold winter days and long cold winter nights will soon be providing opportunity to sit back and plan next year’s garden and read that book, and write those letters, and finish those quilts, and get all those photos organized.

        When Veteran’s Day comes around every year, patriotism swells again in the hearts of Champions and Citizens all over the Nation.  Concerns for National security, the economy, health care, influenza, safety of the food supply, clean water, and the politics of all of that and more can spin the head of the most informed and thoughtful individual.  Those who are on the front lines in the dramatic armed conflicts of the Nation, or who will be or have been on those lines are facing additional concerns that are overwhelming.  A Nation known around the world for its compassion must be compassionate to its Veterans, serving in and out of uniform.  The Love and Gratitude due them is nonnegotiable.

Tom Waits’ November song says, “Made of wet boots and rain and shiny black ravens on chimney smoke lanes, November seems odd..”  Duncan Sheik’s song says, “The past we seek some certainty, the seasons we remember, the light of May and darkest days, the month we call November.”  No words could be found for Sonny Boy Williamson’s song “November Boogie,” but it is thought to have been one of the first cross-over tunes from Boogie Woogie to Jug Band when it was taken up by the preeminent Jug Band of Pete, Ben, Lem and Clem who like many Champion antecedents came from Kentucky.  From Tennessee came Linda Watts and all her men folk for a good visit with Champion family over the last weekend.  News has not been released about the hunting expeditions, but it is easily imagined that excellent memories were made.

        Send any examples of confusion or its clearing to Champion Items, Rt. 2, Box 367, Norwood, MO 65717 or e-mail to Champion News.  Certainly any news about Lem and Ned would be welcome there.  Complete sets of all ten Champion Picture Post Cards are available at Henson’s Store in the central commercial district on the North side of the Square in picturesque Downtown Champion.  Step up on the porch to sing your own November song or to get your picture taken…smiling, in Champion—Looking on the Bright Side!