July 13, 2015
CHAMPION—July 13, 2015
The rain stopped and the sizzle started. Ninety degrees and 90% humidity is a summertime prescription for picnic fun. The Vanzant Picnic filled the bill. Attendance has been higher in the past, according to some who think raging high water may still have had some trapped behind creeks or that deferred chores at home kept some there, trying to get caught up. On Sunday evening water was still flowing over the Bryant Creek Bridge on 95 Highway. Those who did go to the picnic had a wonderful time. The General said there were “more than one, less than 10,000, or maybe 700 plus (Strictly a guess), for sure not as many as last year.” The Vanzant Picnic got started back in 1967. They will soon be coming up on a 50th anniversary. The General said, “These picnics have been going on for many years. The first ones I remember going to were at Drury and Banner. The one at Drury was near where the Champion Road starts at V Highway. Banner was south of Skyline where a school house was once located.” It may be that there are little gatherings like this all across the country keeping community spirit alive in America. Proceeds from the picnic go to maintain the grounds and fine facilities in downtown Vanzant. It is always joyful to see old friends and to get caught up with what has been happening in their lives. There were many good reports on Joe Shannon’s fish and Steve Moody’s pulled pork as well as on all the other food and the great spirit of voluntarism. Many of the regular Thursday Night Jam musicians were there and bands from all around the area provided non-stop entertainment. Champion! (Vanzant, actually.)
Upshaw nieces, Loni Upshaw from Alaska, and Darcy Cecil from Idaho, and Darcy’s husband all met up in Seattle and flew to London. Uncle Robert says they were in Scotland on the week end. They had been to Edinburgh and said it was “awesome.” It is an old town, founded in the early 12th century. When the Romans arrived at the end of the first century, there were people living there already. No place on earth is significantly more old than any other, but written history makes it seem so. This week it is in the mid-sixties in Edinburgh with 81% humidity. Those cousins will be having a glorious time touring the countryside on the island which is about six hundred miles long north to south and about 300 miles at its widest point. There is much to see. While we, here in Champion, are finding our own surroundings glorious to look at thanks to all the wonderful rain and to the geological formations that make this area unique, it is pleasing to know that there are other magnificent places in the world where locals are as pleased with their home as are we. Happy trails you distant wanderers.
 Jacob Coon, a Champion kid! |
Champion great niece, Sophia Zappler, celebrates her birthday on July 13th. She will soon be visiting with family in the Ozarks again. She will get a chance to drive on the country roads again as she can now see well over the steering wheel. She and Penelope will get cold at the Mill Pond again and go back to Texas with good country memories. Zack’s big brother, Ethan Alexander, shares his birthday with his uncle Zee Heffern. That is the 19th of July. Have some fun, you guys. Jacob Coon was 12 on his last birthday, which was January 3rd. He will be in the 7th grade this year. The fun has been taken out of his summer since he has become seriously ill and is currently in Mercy Hospital in Springfield. Birthday cards are nice, but it is very nice to know people are thinking about you when you are ill. Send Jacob a card at Mercy Hospital, 1235 East Cherokee, Springfield, MO 65804. He is in ICU and they say he can have visitors, a few at a time. He will be there for a while, but his friends and family hope he will be ready for school when it starts on August 12th. He is a live-wire, enthusiastic, bright, happy kid and his Champion friends and neighbors wish him a speedy good recovery.
Some gardens are doing well and some are not doing well at all. Some are having mixed results of their earlier hard work. Some are getting ready for the fall garden and making vows to do a better job with the spring plantings next year, assuming that the weather will be more ‘normal’ then. That may be a wild assumption. It may be that the new normal is peculiar. Songs of the day can be anything from “I’m singing in the rain, just singing in the rain. What a wonderful feeling, I’m happy again” to “All day I faced the barren waste without a taste of water; cool, clear water.” Linda’s Almanac from The Plant Place in Norwood says that the 14th through the 16th will be good planting days for above the ground crops. The 22nd through the 26th will be especially good for above ground crops and for fall plantings of leafy vegetables. Whatever stray cucumber or zucchini comes your way, enjoy it. The First Ripe Tomato in Champion Contest was won back before the summer solstice, though the gardener was too amazed at her own luck to brag and then too hungry for fresh tomatoes to share. Now she is watching her plants get more ugly by the day. It seems the foliage does not like to stay wet for a long time and they want some sunshine to bloom. There may be a crop yet. Gardeners are optimistic.
In Texas there is a concerted effort being made to keep people from voting. Veterans particularly are having difficulties as courts say their government Veteran’s Administration identification is not sufficient to vote. With national voter participation already at an alarmingly poor rate, to actively discourage voting is not understandable. If the point is to keep people ignorant and afraid and to undersell the value of their participation in the process, then the Lone Star State is leading the way, followed closely by other states that rail against voter fraud, which the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law says is largely a myth. “It is important to protect the integrity of our elections. But we must be careful not to undermine free and fair access to the ballot in the name of preventing voter fraud.” One, interested in the process and thinking about the election of 2000, thinks the ownership of the voting machines should be examined carefully as should their vulnerability to hacking. George Orwell could not write it better. He said something to the effect that in a time when everyone lies, the truth teller is the rebel. These are interesting times. It is extraordinarily difficult to set your own prejudices aside to examine the merit in the differing prejudices of people you like. It is hard not to say, “My prejudices are better than your prejudices.“ Civility is fragile when emotions run high. When this crisis is over, there will be another one and we will still have the same neighbors. Get along.
Come out to the very wide and very wooly banks of Old Fox Creek and have a local point out to you from the vantage point of the high, wide veranda just how high the water got this time and how far it reached the last time. Sit out there to eat your ice cream or to admire the Colossus of Champion Bee Tree fairly buzzing with activity. Get in out of the heat and enjoy the social whirl in the meeting room of the Historic Emporium, situated where country roads meet when you can get across the creek—Champion!—Looking on the Bright Side~
