Out with the old - December 31, 2014

As published in the White River Current - Wednesday December 31, 2014

It should have occurred to me, when I signed off two weeks ago, that the Current would be available on Wednesday this week because of the New Year’s holiday tomorrow.  I was all set for a Ramblings article about resolutions, etc. and the year that is before us.  Instead I am offering some thoughts about the year that is just ending and am giving another look at Christmas, which isn’t really over until January 6^th (look up “epiphany”).  Remember the Ozarks version of The Twelve Days of Christmas:  “…and a possum up a gum tree?”  Many people skip this important part of the Christmas season.  They start putting up decorations soon after Thanksgiving and they come down right after December 25^th.  I feel certain that all you loyal readers have been nice and not naughty and that Santa was very generous when he visited your home a few days ago.  Our family will not be getting together until Friday, two days into the New Year, but still within the Christmas season.  When the children marry and have families of their own and are scattered, the logistics of finding a time for everyone to be together can be problematic to say the least.  As a philosopher once observed, “you just do what you have to do.”  The entire month of December has a lot of meaning for the Perryman family.  My sister was born on December 1^st.  She would have been 90 this year.  My mom and dad were married on December 23^rd and Dad’s birthday was on December 24^th.  I remember years ago when we would ring the church bell for several minutes, drivers would toot their car horns and the flooring mill whistle would all announce the arrival of the New Year.  Nowadays I do my best to stay awake until the ball drops at Times Square, then it’s off to dreamland.  PBS had several holiday specials again this year.  I particularly enjoyed the Bing Crosby, Tennessee Ernie and Mormon Tabernacle Choir specials.  I just remembered an exceptional New Year’s Eve, probably 1950, when the Ozarks Cavaliers orchestra played for the fireman’s ball in Harrison.  These outstanding  musicians were students at the College of the Ozarks, located in Clarksville, Arkansas.  Two of my roommates, Fred (trumpet) and Don (vocals), and I (piano) were members of this group.  Great times.  Anyway, one of my favorite TV programs is “CBS Sunday Morning” which was first aired on January 28, 1979, with Charles Kuralt as program host.  The weekly show has run continuously ever since, with Charles Osgood  replacing the retiring Kuralt in April, 1994.  A regular feature, usually run on the last Sunday of the year, is called “Hail, and Farewell,” in which attention is given to celebrities or other persons of national importance who have died during the year.  This feature was part of the program this past Sunday.  Among those highlighted were the following:  Tom Magliozzi, who, with brother, Ray, made up the team known as Click and Clack, the Tappet Brothers, on the NPR show, “Car Talk,” on which they dispensed humor and advice about repairing cars; Movie stars Lauren Bacall, Robin Williams, Polly Bergen and James Garner; Stars from my childhood Mickey Rooney and Shirley Temple; Comedian Sid Caesar; singer/composer/political activist Pete Seeger; Phil Everly of the Everly Brothers Duo; and Paul Revere, leader of the Raiders.  All passed away this year.  Hail and Farewell.  We continue to mourn for those friends, relatives and area citizens that departed during the last twelve months.  I still greatly miss my friend and mentor, Tom* Johns, whose column appeared in this publication on alternate weeks with the Ramblings.  Also of mention is the loss of another Calico Rock Landmark.  The Hamon’s building, located in Pettersauce Alley, burned last week.  Back in the forties and Fifties, there were three grocery stores on lower Main Street, Floyd’s, Estes Brothers and Harris.  Ray and Audra Hamon erected and operated their business, selling groceries, dry goods, cattle feed and other supplies until their retirement, enduring several devastating floods, never giving up.  Both have been gone for several years but not forgotten.  Their granddaughter, Cindy, is editor of this newspaper.          

Christmas Blessings - December 18, 2014

As published in the White River Current - Thursday December 18, 2014

 

“It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas” so goes the popular song that comes over the airways this time of year.  Decorations are up on many residences  as well as the Main Street area down town and other business locations.  The Living Windows presentations by the Peppersauce Players was another smash hit this year.  Looks like (hopefully) this will continue to be an attraction for community residents and visitors for many years to come.  A big thanks to Fredericka and all the participants for a job well done.  Susan had a good article in her “Not So Long Ago” column week before last about Christmases of days gone by.  She interviewed members of several area churches in preparing her article.  I remember a Christmas party at the old church about seventy years ago.  Actually the party was at the American Legion building next door.  We played games and bobbed for apples in a number 2 wash tub.  The highlight of the evening was a debate between the high school superintendent, Mr. Rollo, and Mr. Cheney, both church members.  Their subject was “Is there really a Santa Claus?”  The fun part was how the two debaters had to work to not reveal any important details to the youngsters present which might result in upsetting their parents.  I don’t know if I described this well enough but maybe you get the idea.  The OFC had their Christmas party a few days ago.  We only have six members now since Darrell, a charter member, died last year.  During this meeting we voted that the last survivor would pop a can of Dr. Pepper and toast those who have gone to their reward.  I think that would be a very fitting tribute.  Speaking of songs, there is a new one being played this year that I have a little trouble with.  The name is something like “Just say Merry Christmas.”  Kind of a cute little ditty with a catchy tune. Lyrics suggest that if you are out shopping and you  don’t see “Merry Christmas” in the store window, you don’t “go in.”  Plus, if you happen to be in a store and you don’t hear “Merry Christmas” you “walk right out the door.”  Like I said, I have a little trouble with this.  I wonder what Jesus would do?  Again, speaking of songs, some of you long-time Rambling readers may remember that at one time I was working on a Christmas song.  I keep putting it aside (a family trait), fully intending to have it ready for the season.  Looks like it won’t happen this year; maybe by December, 2015.  Of course, as I have explained before, it can’t be just any song.  It has to be the best Christmas song ever.  I remember a song that was written by Steve Goodman back in the seventies that he represented as the most perfect country/western composition ever created.  One of his friends, David Allan Coe, challenged him on this statement, informing him that it wasn’t perfect because it didn’t contain certain words that should be in a real CW song; words like “mama,” “prison,” “pickup truck” and, of course, “trains.”  Goodman wrote another verse to the song and sent it to Coe who, after reading it, realized that his friend had written the perfect country & western song and that he felt obliged to include it in his next album.  The song, “You Never Even Call Me By My Name,” has been a two-stepper favorite at VFW dances since Coe recorded it in 1975.  You may not believe this, but I thought of this song when I was trying to decide what special words I should include in my Christmas song in order to make it perfect.  The list I have started includes “star,” “stable,” “baby” and “angels,” but I think I should add a few others in order to make the song more enduring to the listeners, whoever they may be.  I am considering some secular words and phrases such as “peanuts roasting on an open fire” or “I’m hoping for a White Christmas” but this is still a work in progress.  Like I say, maybe next year.  I have ruled out “trains” as one of the words even though a train actually does have a Christmas relation to Calico Rock residents.  Way back in the fifties, Santa (Dr. Copp) was welcomed by a huge crowd of youngsters when he arrived on the noon train on Christmas Eve, a tradition that lasted for many years.  I wish all you dedicated readers a very, Merry Christmas.  Make lots of good resolutions because the next time I see you will be New Year’s Day, 2015       

Death and Taxes - December 4, 2014

As published in the White River Current - Thursday December 4, 2014

My deepest apologies to those faithful readers who were upset when the Ramblings did not appear as scheduled in the Current two weeks ago.  Lucille, for one, came up to me at the grocery store informing me that she had searched the paper from front to back several times looking for her favorite column, but it was missing.  I thought she had a tear in her eye and might even be having Ramblings withdrawal symptoms.  I got her settled down and explained that the Ramblings column had been bumped to make room for the six pages of  the Delinquent Personal Tax List for the year of 2013 and that the column would appear in the next issue and again one week later.  Ramblings did, in fact, run in last week’s Current and here we are on the biweekly schedule again today.  Thanks, Lucille, for the support you have given me as a loyal reader of the Ramblings column for several years.  I do not remember being bumped before so maybe it won’t happen again.  However, I understand that the publication of such a list represents a sizable amount of revenue for this publication.  I suppose this gentle reminder to those listed will result in adding enough revenue to at least cover the publication costs.  Hope so.  On to other things.  We celebrated the Thanksgiving holiday with all our family at the home of our granddaughter, Sara, in Ozark, Missouri.  We had a very delightful day, especially watching the antics of our great-grandchildren who we hadn’t seen for quite some time.  We have a lot to be thankful for.  With additions from most of the others, Sara had prepared a delicious meal of traditional Thanksgiving food that was eagerly consumed by all present.  When I say “traditional” of course I mean turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes and giblet gravy, which were served, plus a few extras, including desserts.  At choir rehearsal several days ago, one couple announced that they were forgoing the usual event of having all the family over to their house and were, instead, going out to the Chinese restaurant for Thanksgiving dinner.  “Unbelievable, unpatriotic, etc.” we countered.  I’m not sure if they were joking or not but I guess it doesn’t really matter what the meal consists of as long as it is consumed with the right attitude of being thankful for what the Lord provides for any and all of us.  Did you get up early on Black Friday morning in order to take advantage of all those “bargains” that were out there?  I slept in.  Saturday we helped decorate the sanctuary at church to be ready for the first Sunday of Advent.  The lighting of the Advent candle is always a large part of our Sunday worship for the four Sundays preceding Christmas.  The choir members are also working hard on their anthems for this period.  Are you ready for a little culture?  I saw Charles skipping up the aisle at church a couple of Sundays ago.  Watching his cadence of Ta Ta-Ta-Ta Ta Ta Ta Ta Ta, which I immediately recognized as the overture to the Nutcracker, Charles confessed that he and Janis had attended a performance of the North Arkansas Dance Theatre’s 10^th anniversary of this famous ballet by Russian composer, Tchaikovsky.  A front page article in the week before last Current announced this event.  Maybe you attended.  I wanted to go but didn’t make it. Charles said that he was “impressed.”  I was impressed that he was impressed.  I have been acquainted with the Nutcracker Suite since I was in high school and my piano teacher ordered me the piano music, which I still have.  I played one of my favorites, “Waltz of The Flowers” at a recital.  Another favorite is “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy.”  The Nutcracker ballet was first presented in 1892 and has enjoyed enormous popularity since 1960.  It is now performed by countless ballet companies primarily during the Christmas season, especially in the United States.  If you didn’t attend the Dance Theatre performance, you can still watch the ballet from the comfort of your living room.  There are several selections to choose from on YouTube.  And if you just can’t make yourself watch the performers tippy-toeing across the screen, kick back in your lounge chair, close your eyes, turn up the volume and treat yourself to a Christmas musical treasure.  Enjoy! 

Thanksgiving - November 20, 2014

AS published in the White River Current - Thursday November 20, 2014

Last week, old man winter made an early visit to the Ozarks and most of the continental United States. Several low-temperature-for-this-date records were set in several locations.  There was a small rush on the milk and bread counters at the grocery stores when the S-word (snow) was mentioned.  I do not like cold weather especially when the north wind is blowing through my polyesters as I am scurrying about doing the chores that require me to be out of doors.  The only good thing is that it gives us something new to complain about.  We can’t complain much about the Summer and early Fall.  I do not remember the foliage being more beautiful.  I hope that I am not infringing on Megan’s territory (Megan is the official poet of this publication, sort of) when I refer to another of my favorite poems, When the Frost is on the Punkin.  This delightful bit of rhyme was penned by Indiana native, James Whitcomb Riley (1853-1916), over one-hundred years ago.  In the four stanzas of this poem, Riley describes, in a first-person sort of Hoosier dialect, rural life in the mid-west at about this time of the year, leaving the house, bareheaded, to go out to feed the stock.  The author wrote several books and poems, many for children, most in dialect form.  One of his best-loved poems was “The Raggedy Man” which inspired the creation of the Raggedy Ann doll.  Riley was buried in Indianapolis.  Changing the subject, but we were treated to another beautiful sunrise a few days ago.  I gave this one a rating of (6).  Nice but nothing like the one I mentioned in the last Ramblings which was definitely a (10+).  However, the Lord made up for it by providing us with a great sunset the same day.  I enjoy the sunsets but I am more emotionally touched with the sunrises.  Maybe it’s because it is a new day; the beginning, not the end; the start, not the finish.  Better not get too philosophical here.  Also referring to the last column, I made a batch of split-pea soup.  I gave up trying to prepare my own split peas and used a bag of the dried variety.  Turned out “pretty good” but I doubt if I will make it again.  Chili, next time.  We have had an election since the last issue.  As usual, I won some and lost some.  I’m too cynical to comment on the outcome, but I’m glad it’s over.  Now we get a reprieve for a few months from the political TV ads and phone calls requesting a donation or participation in a poll.  I was hoping that the third and fourth class junk mail that clogs my post office box would slow down but I believe it has increased.  Every imaginable 501C-3 or 501C-4 organization in the United States is after my hard-earned dollar.  Their requests have increased dramatically, many on a monthly basis.  Many send an unrequested supply of greeting cards or holiday gift wrap.  At last count, I have received twenty 2015 wall calendars.  Enclosed in their donation letters have been, on occasion, a nickel, a dime, a quarter, a postage stamp or (on 5 occasions) a dollar bill, all intended to “prime-the-wallet” to get me to respond positively to their requests.  Over the last few years, I have accumulated a huge supply of enclosed gifts, mainly note pads and enough return address labels, which, if placed end to end, could possibly reach to the moon and back.  Now, my tax accountant will tell you that I do more than my share of contributing to charities.  I have to prioritize my giving, as I’m sure you do.  I hope I am not coming through as a “scrooge.”  With the holiday seasons coming soon, catalogs and advertising flyers are appearing in an increasing number in our mail box.  I imagine most of these will decrease after the first of the year.  Speaking of holidays, the annual harvest supper will be tomorrow evening.  Hope you have purchased your ticket.  Thanksgiving, one of my favorite holidays, is next Thursday.  For several years, starting when Steve and Brenda were pre-teens, we spent the holiday with Don and Maxine and their two daughters, Julie and Lisa, alternating from year to year from our home in Calico Rock and their home in Little Rock.  The memories of those times are contained in a special compartment in my brain (and heart).  I hope all you dear readers have a holiday this year that will make a lasting memory.  Happy Thanksgiving!!! (Note:  Check out all Riley’s poems on the internet).         

An Ordinary Day - November 6, 2014

As published in the White River Current - Thursday November 6, 2014

It started out just like any ordinary fall day.  My internal alarm clock had awakened me at about six fifteen, a little earlier that I usually arise.  I rolled over and lay on my back for a few seconds, wide awake now.  I slowly swung my legs over the edge of the bed and gingerly stood up.  Thank goodness!  No dizziness.  I had been having a mild case of vertigo for the last few days, but maybe it is over.  I remember filling hundreds of prescriptions for Meclizine, the drug of choice (at the time) for this sometimes debilitating ailment, which, on rare occasions, may result in a stay in the hospital.  I have an episode of this aggravating malady once or twice a year.  I believe my ailment is caused by a problem in my middle ear, a common occurrence with we members of the mature population (OK, old folks).  Anyway I was up, not staggering, and made my way to the kitchen to make coffee.  It was still dark, but there was a small sliver of light on the eastern horizon.  I doctored up my first cup of the hot liquid and headed for my chair where I kicked back and applied an eye drop in each eye then kept my eyes closed for several seconds as directed.  I guess I must have dozed off for a few minutes because when I opened my eyes and looked out the window, the entire landscape had a pinkish glow.  I stepped outside onto the back porch and observed one of the most amazing sunrises that I have ever witnessed.  The entire eastern sky was ablaze with a deep pink hue.  I wondered if Bernice saw this.  She enjoys the sunrises and even called me early one morning to inquire if I was witnessing a beauty (I was).    Anyway, after a Cheerios breakfast (good for your heart, you know), a second cup of coffee, the other eye drop application and checking Anita’s I-pad for any new pictures of Ruby (she’s our great-granddaughter, you know),  I checked my watch and decided that I had time to go to the post office and grocery store before Gene came by for coffee.  I met Billy Gene coming out of the post office.  When I inquired how he was doing, he said (Mah-va-lus, just mavalus).  When I ask this question to others, I get replies like “about as well as common” or “feeling fit as a fiddle” or some other old saying.  I drove over to the grocery store and was parking when Larry pulled up beside me.  He wanted to show me the walking canes he bought at the Salvation Army store.  Maybe he collects them, I don’t know.  Larry’s a friendly guy who wanted to talk and inform me about his son who had come in second at the Special Olympics bowling tournament at Harrison and was heading for the state tourney in Little Rock.  We visited a few minutes, then I had to hurry with my grocery purchase and get home where I saw Gene had already arrived.  Gene, who will be 90 next January (but he certainly doesn’t look it), and I have coffee most weekday mornings.  He and Reva moved here from Iowa in 1989 and quickly became close friends with Anita and I.  For over seven years, Reva has been a resident of the local nursing home where Gene goes by twice daily to assist with feeding her noon and evening meals.  Today I tell Gene about the recipe for Split-Pea Soup that I am going to try, emphasizing my trouble trying to split the canned green peas.  After much thought, he suggests using frozen peas.  I am elated and decide the pill splitter from the pharmacy will be the perfect tool to complete the task.  I rush Gene off to the nursing home and Anita and I leave to meet Kay and Jack for lunch.  They live in Mountain Home where Jack has retired from his medical practice.  Kay is my cousin.  We catch up on all the kids and grandkids activities, agree we should do this more often and go our separate ways.  Running late, I don’t make it home in time to take Helen to her hairdresser appointment because Martha came to get her.  I’ll apologize when I see her.  There is a phone message from Dr. Campbell requiring a trip to the church.  Anita is dozing when I return so I read a chapter in my book.  After waking up from what was supposed to have been a short nap, I make my way to the kitchen and warm up some leftovers for supper.  Afterwards, after watching a recorded TV show and checking the I-Pad, we are both yawning.  Another drop in each eye and I turn off the bedroom light.  All days in Calico Rock are good (some are better than others).   

      

The Election - October 23, 2014

As published in the White River Current - Thursday October 23, 2014

In less than two weeks, Arkansans will be going to the polls to vote in an important mid-term election.  As a matter of fact, early voting has already begun (last Monday).  Indications are that the turn-out will be very large.  If the polls are correct, most of the voting for the state and national candidates will go right down to the wire.  It looks like no candidate has a clear edge, at least at the time that I am writing this edition of the Ramblings.  May the best candidate win.  In addition to selecting their choice of the candidates, the voters of Arkansas are being asked to cast their choice, either for or against, a total of five “issues.”  Four of these issues are Constitutional Amendments, number one, two and three are being referred to the people by the Arkansas General Assembly.  Number four is proposed by a petition of the people.  Issue number five, also proposed by a petition, if passed, would increase the Arkansas minimum wage by $2.25 per hour when it becomes final on January 1, 2017.  When I was a boy growing up in Calico Rock, I remember on several occasions when there was a proposed Constitutional Amendment on the ballot at election time.  On at least one occasion, there was a proposal to hold a Constitutional Convention to re-write the Constitution (it failed).  My dad always, never wavering, voted against these issues, saying “the Constitution is just fine, has served us well for many years, and we do not need to change it.”  My dad had strong feelings about a lot of things and didn’t mind letting you know just how he felt about a subject.  I may not have always agreed with him on certain political matters when I reached voting age, but I always respected his opinions and he did mine.  I have tried my best to be an informed voter and have read each “issue” in its entirety. I also watched the debates last week on AETN.  Now, I do not intend to suggest in any manner about who you should vote for or how you should vote on the five issues, but I would like to make a few observations on Issues No. 3 and 4.  Issue No. 3 was printed in this newspaper a few weeks ago.  It took up almost two full pages.  That in itself might raise a red flag.  The state newspaper, the DG, caught it right away and editorialized against it in the next Sunday edition following the filing of this “issue.”  Some would say “hidden” in the middle of this long “issue” is a section “establishing term limits for members of the General Assembly.”  Excuse me, but didn’t we approve that in 1992 (60%) and reaffirm (70%) in 2004?”  In this case, “establishing” means doubling the current limits.  This smells a lot like the Mickey Mouse tactics that the group of yahoos in Washington do when they tack a pay raise amendment onto some obscure bill and try to send it through on late Friday, hoping no one would notice, but they always get caught.  I suspect these people think we voters are stupid.   There is an organized group travelling the State and are urging the people to vote against Issue 3.  Pulling a trailer that contained a ten-foot tall,  wooden Trojan Horse, they were in Calico Rock the last of September.   Check them out at  

www.SaveARTermLimits.org.  If passed, Issue No 4 would allow the sale of alcoholic beverages in all seventy five Arkansas counties regardless of previous conditions.  This issue is also widely opposed.  In an earlier edition of the Ramblings, I recalled a time when I accompanied my mother when she and others circulated a petition to place an issue on the ballot to make Izard County a “dry county.”  The issue passed, and  since 1939 it has been illegal to sell alcoholic drinks in Calico Rock and Izard County.  As I said in that earlier edition, there is no way that I am going to dishonor my mom by voting to change that decision.  I am of the opinion that everyone should vote because every vote counts.  In my lifetime I have seen a school election decided by one or two votes.  On one occasion when the vote had ended in a tie, the outcome was decided by the lone absentee vote.  The other was decided when the outcome was challenged and the four absentee votes were thrown out, making the two vote loser a two vote winner.  Recommendation:  Rent the 2008 Kevin Costner movie, “Swing Vote.”        

The Media - October 9, 2014

As published in the White River Current - Thursday October 9, 2014

I learned another good lesson:  Be careful what you say.  A couple of weeks ago, I had a severe attack of what is sometimes referred to as “the stomach flu” or 24-hour virus.  I think it was actually caused by something that I had eaten the previous evening.  Anyway, I was confined to the house, in close proximity to the bathroom for a couple of days.  I was scheduled to sing with the choir at the Sunday service of the community revival.   I reported to the choir director that I would not be able to lend my golden tenor voice for this production, that I was ill and that it might be Ebola because I felt so bad.  Now I have been accused of overstating the facts occasionally, and maybe I did leave the impression that I was pretty sick (at least too sick to sing) because she must have implied to the choir members and others that I was soon to receive my last rites or something like that.  Now, everyone I meet is inquiring about how I am feeling and “I heard you were sick” and “how long were you in the hospital?” etc.  Just to set the record straight, I am fully recovered and thank you one and all for your concern.  Now, on to something else.  I am a slow reader when it comes to a good book.  I like to take each word and carefully digest it in the proper recesses of my brain.  I have written before about my love of the printed word especially when it is a good mystery story, most often fiction.  Occasionally I will make an exception and stray into the non-fiction category.   I am currently reading “Ghost of the Ozarks” which is sub-titled “Murder and Memory in the Upland South.”  The author, Brooks Blevins, PhD,  is the Noel Boyd Professor of Ozarks Studies at Missouri State University in Springfield, Missouri, but calls Violet Hill, Arkansas, home.  Some of his other books are for sale at the Calico Rock Museum.  The book that I am reading is a detailed account of a “gruesome murder”  that may or may not have occurred (I’ll know when I get further along in this very entertaining story) in Stone County, Arkansas, in 1929.  Brooks is a very skilled historian and he leaves no stone unturned or no newspaper unquoted in his reporting of this event that occurred in our neighboring county some eighty-five years ago.  The bibliography that is listed at the end of the book is ten pages long.  Even though I have only muddled through the Prologue and the first three chapters, I can see that the story may be as much (or more) about the way the media representatives, from Kansas City and Chicago, and as far away as California, who descended on this remote part of the country and sent back reports of this grisly act of barbarism.  I can imagine that newspaper sales skyrocketed when portrayals of the local citizens as “illiterate hill people” reached readers across the country.  A few years after this incident, when I was a boy, I remember that our state was described as the “armpit of America” by our northern neighbors.  We had to endure the radio broadcasts of the like of Bob Burns who was described as “The Arkansas Traveler” and “The Arkansas Philosopher.”  Bob made an act out of “reporting” about the people back in Van Buren which he claimed was his home town (he was born in Greenwood).  My mother couldn’t stand him and she was always critical of his making fun of the good Arkansas people.  He played a home-made musical instrument that he called the Bazooka.  The WWII tank destroying piece of military artillery is named for this invention.  Another radio show that sort of pictures uneducated, backwoodsey  residents was “Lum and Abner.”  I liked this program because it was satirical and sometimes very funny.  Their Christmas program was outstanding and they repeated it every year.  It has only been in the last few decades that Arkansas has been able to shake off the mantle of being portrayed as a backwards, moonshine swigging population.  Thanks to Charles for loaning me this interesting account of another time.  Anita told me once about her niece from Detroit who came to visit every summer and who called her Arkansas relatives “dumb farmers.”  Beverly had a rough time as an adult but Anita married a handsome young man from the queen city of the Ozarks, became the mother of two above-average children and lived happily ever after.