Champion News

CHAMPION—October 5, 2009

        Champion is situated at the bottom of a long hill and a short one at the end of the pavement on a nice flat beside a creek.  It is a beautiful and quaint place with a similitude that smacks of heaven.  Moreover, Champion has wonderful neighbors, so if Champions must leave home, they do not have far to go to find fellowship and enjoyment.

        Neighbors, Betty and Dale Thomas, hosted their eighth annual Pioneer Descendants Gathering over at Yates on the weekend.  Dale is a descendent of the original settlers Tom Brown and John Burden.  During the course of the day on Saturday three thousand people enjoyed exhibits and demonstrations depicting life from the 1860’s to the 1960’s.  Betty’s hand quilted Wagon Wheel quilt was won by Mary Record of Mountain Grove.  Esther Wrinkles was impressed by the quality of the molasses this year.  Ray and Norma Stillings of over West of Ava make it every year.  Esther said that they really did a good job of skimming and though they were dark, they were very tasty.  (It is curious that molasses is often spoken of in the plural—‘those molasses.’)  Lula Lakey Dyer enjoyed them too.  She is one of those local Lakeys and looks forward to getting back in the neighborhood whenever she can.  Old Grandfather Weltanschauung was seen ambling about with his Rich brother and Lovely Linda.  They were enjoying the exhibits and demonstrations and visiting with old friends about harvesting green beans from the same plants from June to October!  It was a good gardening season for many this year.  The gathering was a good place to share those successes and to see again those seldom seen friends.

        Champion’s Skyline neighbor and Ladies’ Auxiliary President, Betty Dye, celebrated a birthday on the seventh of October.  She has done a great job with the Auxiliary, keeping things organized and efficient and fun.  She is a self-described magnet for mice and has some very entertaining stories about encounters with those critters.  Over the course years they have strolled over the foot of her bed, run up her pants legs, jumped up on her knee, walked on the bottom side of her book shelves, sat on her shoulder to watch Wheel of Fortune, and shared space with her toes on a sticky trap.  With all this interaction, one might think she likes them.  She does not.  Neither does Kalyssa’s Grammie.  Her fear of mice is legendary as is her sister Kaye’s fear of snakes.  Not much teasing is done regarding these phobias.  It is not safe.  They celebrated a special birthday together on Sunday.  Now they are as old as Harley!  They are older now than some of their Champion friends, who will, for a while, treat them with the deference due to elders.  There is a good rumor that Harley and Barbara will be home for a visit soon.  There will be a meeting at the little church, hopefully with much singing so that Harley’s fine voice can fill the space and drift out to enchant the Champion wildlife.

        There is some exciting talk about the possibility of a walking trail that might be in the planning stages.  It could be built around and through the Skyline Fire Department Picnic Grounds and the Skyline School.  A number of neighbors would like to participate in the work, as the possibility of having such a trail available is very enticing.  Some safe surface over which to walk off those pounds or get that heart to pumping could be a good thing for the community.

        A nice note came from a long time Champion concerning an item in the Mansfield Mirror a couple of weeks ago.  The article concerned the ancient dugout canoe found buried in the banks of Bryant Creek.  She had sent it to Carol Fitzmaurice, who use to live here and now is in Atlanta.  By return mail Ms. Fitzmaurice sent a clipping that she had saved from the Douglas County Herald’s 1983 article about the canoe.  So the old boat is still floating if just in the imaginations of Champions past and present and mail crossings of mysterious things keep the world an interesting place.

        News arrived that Art Nunn passed away on Sunday.  He was in the Veteran’s Hospital in Poplar Bluff and had been ill for a long time.  He leaves close family here.  All those survivors of U.S. Military Veterans know that the community of Veterans share a special Love and Gratitude for each other, no matter which war they fought or when or where they served.  It is something they have coming to them from the whole Nation.

        If gardeners have been organized enough to get their seed ordered, the sixth and seventh will be good days to get that fancy garlic in the ground for next year.  Linda’s Almanac from over at the Plant Place in Norwood indicates that the tenth through the twelfth will still be good for root crops.  They are having a nice end of the season sale over there.  Charlene has been making some very cute scarecrows.  She loaned a book to a Champion bridge player.  The Fun Way To Serious Bridge was written by Harry Lampert.  He has a comical way to reinforce the basic rules and strategies.  At this week’s Fortnight Bridge a player from Champion-South sat in for the Norwood Player who had a special game going on over in the Seven Springs community.  On the occasions when Champion and Champion—South partnered they managed to trump each other’s trick and to regale the group with grandchildren stories.  The Vera Cruz host and the Brushy Knob player were polite in their listening, though it must surely get old when Grandmothers vie for cutest decendant.  The game went on for six rubbers with four slams made that were not bid.  The Vera Cruz player won the $1.00 for high score and the Champion-South sit-in walked off with twenty nickels.  The whole thing was punctuated nicely with an apple crisp and ice cream.  The Seven Springs game results have not yet been reported, but that is reported to be a very fun loving bunch over there, so no doubt it was a pleasant evening.

        A delightful pair of chanteuses happened through Champion during the week.  Singer/ songwriters, Ginger Doss and Becka Kelso, on tour, made a stop with the family of their musical friend, Sam Moses.  They harvested the wild grapes, ate vegetarian Street Walker’s Pasta, and made beautiful music.  Their voices blend together in that way that causes the listener to hold his breath.  Sam’s folks were pleased to have some live music in the house again and there were many sweet stories told about Sam.  He is still off in Scotland and his last e-mail said, “I hope you are having as much fun as I am.”  Ginger left her new CD, This Cocoon.  The moon was getting full during their stay and her title track says, “..your full moon eyes in a midnight sky made a light of it.”  One of Becka’s songs on her new CD, Mud Blossom, says, “..But I smile when I think of the things that you say/ I just want to call you so I can say, ‘Hey, I love you when you’re gone.’”  With luck, Champion will be a regular stop on their future tours.  They Started out in Texas and will go to Florida, via St. Louis, Indianapolis, Nashville, Atlanta, etc., ending the tour in late December.

        Look for pictures of the Pioneer Descendant’s Gathering under “Pioneers” at www.championnews.us.  Drop a note to Champion Items, Rt. 2, Box 367, Norwood, MO 65717 or an email to Champion News, with any interesting information, especially if you know anything about the mysterious Lem and Ned.  Spill those beans on the porch at Henson’s Store in the bucolic similitude of pastoral paradise.  The picture postcard business is thriving there, as the place is so picturesque.  Up and down Lonnie Krider Memorial Drive the view is fine.  It’s Champion—Looking on the Bright Side!