September 27, 2010
CHAMPION—September 27, 2010
Champions are always happy to say that there is no place like home. This is especially true when, for whatever reason, they find themselves out in the big Elsewhere. Frequent phone calls back Home keep distant Champions informed: The flooring is down on the new porch on the Replica of the Historic Emporium on the North Side of the Square in downtown Champion. The sill is up to accept the roof and the porch posts are cut off at the appropriate height. By the time the roof is on the porch, perhaps all the wandering Champions will have clicked their ruby slippers and will be there to see it. “Home is where the heart is,” they say. They say “Why did I leave my home on the farm to look for a job in the town?” It is good fortune that does not currently require a job in the town and it will be better fortune to see the dear old place again.
Dale and Betty Thomas will be hosting their wonderful Pioneer Descendents Gathering on the week end. There will be flint knapping, archery demonstrations, blacksmithing, soap making, molasses making, and apple butter. The horse drawn cycle mower is always a crowd pleaser and the wagon rides down along the Bryant are a chance to get lost in the wonderful past. Those buckskin people will be there as well as the Civil War reinactors and black-powder folks. There will be lots of live music and great food to go along with Dale’s wheel-right demonstrations. Probably the Older Iron Club will have some interesting exhibitions and, of course, Bob Berry will have his beautiful Studebaker in the antique car show. The whole thing is well worth the trip down past the Edge of the Earth, just past the Yates Cemetery. New vehicles do not have any trouble in negotiating the road. It only makes a person wonder how it must have been when those pioneers first got started down there. Betty will have a quilt to raffle and the work that the two of them do all year to get ready for this wonderful event will be clearly evident.
Linda’s Almanac is available on the world wide web at www.championnews.us. It would seem that there is cool weather ahead for a while so some collard greens or spinach could probably still make. Some gardeners have had good luck this season and some have not. Every year is different and, of course, that is the way Champions like it. Some investigating into the relative merits of hard neck garlic and soft neck garlic is a timely endeavor for Champions looking for a good harvest of the ‘stinky rose.’
It turns out that the world is a very connected place. Some people in the big towns cannot go anywhere without their phones. They use them to read books, send e-mail, to text, to look at pictures, to take pictures and video, to listen to music and even every once-in-a-while to talk to each other. It is easy to forget a time when the neighbors were the people with the only telephone around. It is easier yet to forget about those pioneers getting on the wagon train and leaving family and friends with the prospect of never seeing them again. These are different times. Now, when connections get missed, it is easy to imagine all kinds of things. Champions in distant places will just figure their Champion friends at home are out in the garden working, or are over at the neighbors having supper or gone to town for groceries. A couple of missed phone calls is no reason to worry. Someone said that worry is just a negative prayer. Champions do not do that. Parents and spouses and children of the U.S. Military Service people off in the dangerous parts of the world have that anxiety as a constant companion. Love and Gratitude is due them and their loved ones who are so far away for such a long time.
Champions do sing, “Show me the way to go home. I’m tired and I want to go to bed. I had a little drink about an hour ago and it went right to my head. Wherever I may roam-over the land or the sea’s bright foam, you can always hear me singing this song-Show me the way to go home.” This turns out to be the bedtime song of a certain little Champion granddaughter. She said that when it rains while the sun is shining, there is always a rainbow. So far she has been proven right. Step on down to the Loafing Shed on the West Side of the Square in downtown Champion and postulate any worthwhile theory. Defend it or be proven wrong. Sing it right out loud and send your favorite bedtime song to Champion Items, Rt. 2, Box 367, Norwood, MO 65717 or to Champion News. The Loafing Shed has proven to be a valuable accommodation to Champions while things have been flux. Soon enough it will be redundant and then it will be a garage! Change is one of those things that is always very well done in Champion—Looking on the Bright Side!
