“Cornbread, buttermilk and good old turnip greens” starts a lively song familiar to some country people. Turnips planted as a cover crop in summer’s spent garden beds promise good, nutritious eating and optimism for cooler days ahead. Champions are optimistic that these folks will have had very happy birthdays. Skyline prekindergarten student Preslee Trujillo parties on the 8th along with first alert Theresa Toast that same day. The 10th is for Madelyn Ward, born in 2006, and the 11th for a newcomer who is blessed with an unflinching certainty in his beliefs. Janet Chapin celebrates on the 12th, now known as Indigenous People’s Day. Cathy Baldwin will be partying on the 13th. Chuck will see to that. Eva Clark’s big happy family will let her know on the 14th that she is loved and appreciated. Leslee Krider will enjoy that kind of reception that day too. He has Upshaw kinfolks coming from far and wide for an Owsley family reunion, so he will be celebrated by distant cousins as well as local family, friends, and neighbors. The 14th is also the birthday of Skyline second grade student Tinsleigh Miller. These birthday acknowledgements give children the chance to see their names in print in newspapers. Older folks just know they are appreciated by their communities–Champions all. Have you saved every birthday card that ever came to you in the mail? Can you throw them away? Could you send them back where they came from when those people have their birthdays?

Sharry and Jack Lovan sponsored the excellent youth talent show at the Pioneer Heritage Festival of the Ozarks this year. They came to the Vanzant Jam last week with their delightful granddaughter, somewhere around the age of three. Jack proved himself to be a doting, happy grandpa while Sharry’s sweet voice blended, soothed, and sweetened the evening. She reported that Gene Collins, who is recovering well from his cardiac episode, admonishes us to be sure our nitroglycerine is not five years old. The Lovans went on to have a fantastic weekend at the Willow Springs fall festival and big time show at the Star Theatre. Sharry’s band, Stringed Union, is rescheduling a day of fun at the Skyline School. They spend a music day there every year and really inspire the budding musicians. Lee Richardson, of ‘Lee’s Bees Honey,’ is planning a fun day at Skyline too. He is looking forward to meeting Cheyenne McIntosh and offering his luthier services to get a couple of the school’s guitars playable. Cheyenne said they have issues with the tuners. Lee also has two guitars to donate. One is his own very nice Ovation with a case, and the other is a ‘cool little Daisy Rock guitar. There is a third, which he calls a ‘beater,’ but it is easy and ok to play. He will be impressed with Cheyenne’s guitar students. They are making real progress.

Meanwhile friends who remember fondly the last time Darcy Upshaw Cecil and Loni Upshaw were in the neighborhood, have been following their epic road trip online. Their first night stop was in Provo, Utah. Then they wound up on a long, long route through Colorado and finally made it to Vanzant after a thirteen hour, eight hundred mile push. They are looking forward to family visits, games, music, and a family reunion on Saturday. Already they have feasted in the Cattlemen’s Steakhouse in Mountain Grove with The General and The Gypsie. They rejoiced in Monday morning’s sunrise and the week stretches out before them with fun at every turn. Hopefully, on Wednesday they will turn into Champion—Looking on the Bright Side!

Facebook