Champion News

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!