February 12, 2007
CHAMPION – February 12, 2007
The very good news in Champion this week is the beautiful weather! Sunday was so lovely with such blue skies. People felt good about being out and about. Raymond and Esther Howard were visitors in Champion and Eva Powell enjoyed the company of three of her four children and their spouses. Grandson Brian is always a welcome guest. They all enjoyed lunch at the North and South and had some food and good conversation. One thing that came out was that when it is all said and done Springfield is going to have produced what amounts to a brush pile covering forty acres three stories high. Many Champions have not yet been up to the big town to look it over. They should be ready for a shock. Mrs. Wrinkles said it looks pretty shaggy. A number of folks from around Champion are lending their hand in the clean up. Good neighbors are a gift. Bad weather can happen anywhere.
Roses are red and violets are blue, Champion is Sweet and so are you! (Champions!) The original poem may be “May All the Flowers” written in 1590 by Sir Edmund Spenser for his epic “The Faerie Queene.”
She bathed with roses red,
And violets blue
And all the sweetest flowers
That in the forest grew.
As it was published in 1596, the epic presented the following virtues: Book I: Holiness, Book II: Temperance, Book III: Chastity , Book IV: Friendship, Book V: Justice , Book VI: Courtesy. It sounds like a pretty wholesome read. Perhaps a review of “The Faerie Queen” will be appropriate for next Valentine’s Day. Meanwhile Gratitude for Love is appropriate in Champion and everywhere.
When Abraham Lincoln became President, the U.S. Population was 31,443,321. There were thirty six stars on the flag when he left office. Happy Birthday, Mr. President!
As of February 13, 2007 Greenwich Mean Time, at 3:16 a.m. The U.S. population was 301,160,400 and the population of the World was estimated to be six billion, five hundred seventy-five million, nine hundred seventy-nine thousand, four hundred and eighty five people. That’s 6,575,979,485. Champion has a lot of neighbors.
Looking for Missouri songs, Red Foley who touched the whole country with the Ozark Jubilee used to end the show with “May The Good Lord Bless and Keep You.” It turns out that that is the work of Meredith Wilson who wrote the songs for “The Music Man” and many other great songs. He wrote it in 1951. Wilson was from Iowa. Champion has a solid connection with Iowa (Wilburn and Louise among others) and everyone has sung this song, from Perry Como, Roy Acuff, The Mormon Tabernacle Choir, as well as Red Foley. Until there is an oversight committee to say otherwise “May The Good Lord Bless and Keep You” will be included on the list of Missouri songs just because Champions have a lot of sweet connections out there in the big world including soldiers and sailors serving in harm’s way. During the week that ended February 10th, twenty more Service People lost their lives in Iraq. Here are the words to the song:
May the good Lord bless and keep you,
Whether near or far away.
May you find that long awaited,
Golden day today . . .
May your troubles all be small ones,
And your fortune ten times ten,
May the good lord bless and keep you,
‘Til we meet again . . .
May you walk with the sunlight shining,
And a blue bird in every tree.
May there be silver lining,
Back of every cloud you see . . .
Fill your dreams with sweet tomorrows,
Never mind what might have been.
May the good Lord bless and keep you,
‘Till we meet again . . .
May the good Lord bless and keep you,
“Till we meet again. . .
Somebody always has something to say about maudlin sentimentality. Too bad. So here is the updated Missouri Song List. Words for “My Missouri Home” are still being sought.
- The Missouri Waltz
- Meet Me in St. Louie, Louie
- I’m Goin Back to Whur I come From
- The Wesphalia Waltz
- The West Plains Explosion
- My Missouri Home
- Kansas City, Here I Come
- May The Good Lord Bless and Keep You
Aw Shoot! The Second Annual Invitational Shoot-Out of the Ladies Auxiliary of the Skyline Area Volunteer Fire Department has had to be postponed again! For one reason and another, i.e. weather, illness, schedule conflicts and requirements to go off and meet new grandchildren, the fracas will have to be put off. Last year there were about twenty people and about a hundred guns in attendance. It may happen that it will have to be held in two “heats” in order to get all the shooters in. (Most everybody would like some kind of heat for sure.) Anyway, it gives the ladies more time to work on their costumes. Some will have hats with feathers and some long skirts that look good with holsters strapped across them. It’s a fashionable affair, though marksmanship has not much to do with wardrobe. They are shooting at alarm clocks and wrist watches among other things. There is likely to be a pile of shot up stuff on display at the Skyline Chili Supper. Those Auxiliary women are a wild bunch and they make good chili, ham and beans and chicken and noodles. The Membership is responsible for all the beautiful pies. It’s coming around pretty soon. Excitement is building!
Farel Sikes is making a good recovery. He’s got some good weather this week for recuperating. On a dreary rainy day the gardens are getting just what they will need. On the cold days it may be that the ticks and chiggers are loosing ground. Persevering through a hard season in hopes of better days ahead, Champions plug along. Some of them are more careful about having an ‘emergency’ blanket in their cars during times like these. These little pieces of reflective plastic just cost a couple of dollars. They are folded up small so they can easily be carried in a purse or a glove compartment. A moment to be safe and well prepared is a moment well spent. Send your admonitions for prudent and safe behavior to Champion Items, Rt. 2, Box 367, Norwood, MO 65717, drop them off at Henson’s Store in downtown Champion, or e-mail them to Champion News. Valentine or other poetry, songs, statistics, observations and any other pertinences are welcome. There were many eloquent elegies written about Molly Ivins. Her most popular book is Molly Ivins Can’t Say That, Can She?
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