The joke was that Friday the 13th was going to happen on Saturday this month.  Perhaps it was an April Fool’s joke.  In any event, the Second Saturday Skyline Swap-Meet came off beautifully on Saturday the 13th.  There were chicks and eggs and little baby ducks, jewelry, jam, popcorn, cookies, cinnamon rolls, puppies, bunnies, kitties, creeping phlox, aloe vera, baby goats, and much more.  Ten vendors set up for the first of these events, but the community response was such that we can look forward to May 11th with the expectation of lots more support and fun.  It is great to see this kind of thing happening again and lovely to meet up with friends and neighbors on a beautiful spring day.  We can look forward to hearing more about it on the radio on KKOZ.

Another good thing coming up is a benefit for the Crews family who lost all their possessions in a tragic fire back on March 30th.  It will take place on Saturday, April 20, at the Skyline School starting at noon.  There will be a silent auction from 12:00 to 2:00 with pies and desserts and a variety of other things that the community will donate.  Enjoy a lunch buffet of hamburgers and hotdogs, sides, and drinks.  Volleyball tournaments and prize drawings will add to the fun. Contact Talisa Harvey at (417) 259-0154 or talisaharvey1989@gmail.com for more information or for what you might be able to do help.  We are reminded that everything can change in a second.

Income Tax Day hits some heavy and others not so much.  If Elon, Jeff, Mark, and others of their income bracket paid their fair share along with monstrously huge corporations, imagine the good that could be done.  Meanwhile beautiful things can happen on any day.  Down in Louisiana a Champion great, great niece made her way into the world.  Her brother Georg calls her Bertie, but she will get another name.  Other good things come with the memory of a good friend, George Gary Jones, whose birthday was the 15th of April.  He passed away a few years ago but is often in the good thoughts of many friends whose lives he touched.  Back in the 70s he had a big truck he called ‘Coming-at-cha.’  He had a big personality, a great laugh and was competent in every endeavor.  We miss you, Mr. Jones.

The warm days have gardeners trying not to be too early in their planting.  The chance of a freeze persists.  A good weather forecast and a trip to one of the great garden centers in the area will keep their enthusiasm up despite the ticks which are already being a nuisance for some.  They seem to attract and gather them just stepping out to the garden or to the clothesline.  They are the little crawling dark spots in an otherwise beautiful time of the year in a beautiful place.  Maybe some itching musician will write a song about them.  Music is good medicine.

Interesting quotes this week include one from Kurt Vonnegut who said, “You meet saints everywhere.  They can be anywhere.  They are people behaving decently in an indecent society.”  Another guy, Paul Hawken, said, “What I see in the world are ordinary people willing to confront despair, power, and incalculable odds in order to restore grace, justice, and beauty to the world.”  A favorite one comes from a peanut farmer who said, “I have one life and one chance to make it count for something.  My faith demands that I do whatever I can, wherever I am, whenever I can, for as long as I can with whatever I have to try to make a difference.”  He sounds like a guy who would be willing to pull you out of a mud hole—a real Champion—Looking on the Bright Side!

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