74 Comments

I loved this it sounds like .along me say free AR last,thank God I'm free at last!

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Oops 6a.m. typing.Oh well.

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I learned how to make knishes from an old vegetarian cookbook, with bulgar wheat or mashed potato and onion fillings. I love them! My husband asked me to try making a batch stuffed with chili and cheddar - his version is even better! 😊

I never heard of "balloon juice" before - thank you for the new addition to my vocabulary! I'm looking forward to being able to say it sometime. 🎈

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I love that word list, will add a few more from Hindi and Gujarati.

Just in case you're bottling up that verve and spirit , may I have tiny bit of it please?

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I’ve talked to myself since childhood (I am 81 now). I started training my voice for ventriloquism work so when I talk to myself my lips don’t move. I even bought a Jerry Mahoney vent puppet thinking I could make a career of this, but being shy I could never bring myself to do any vent work in front of an audience so Jerry spent a lot of time in my bedroom closet. My only problem with talking with myself is sometimes when I start arguing with myself. That never works, but maybe if I do it in a park it will be ok. Thanks Garrison for letting me know you do it too.

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I’m glad others talk to themselves, too. I do it all of the time and thought I was odd. Makes me feel I’m not alone knowing others do, too.

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I do it too, you're not alone! Mr. Pettibone, when you argue, who wins?

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When one talks to themself they are never truly alone. :)

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I talk to myself, too, and out loud – it helps me remember things. I think I started doing it when I lived alone for 14 years between marriages. My husband annoys me by saying, "You're talking to yourself" but I have decided to ignore him when he says it and just keep talking.

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You sound just like my wife (in a good way).

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I’ve always talked to myself, mostly like a life coach with an agenda counter to my internal urges. That’s probably why, as I grew into my late 80s, my self-talk became even more vehement and used very bad language, because I knew that the person to whom I was talking wouldn’t get it unless I made it abundantly clear by dropping some strategic f-bombs and worse.

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A real New Yorker! Congratulations. Hurray for you.

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“Piffle” made me laugh at 6:30 this morning. That’s what my sister used to say when she was upset. She’s going to be 90 in a few days. She was graduating high school when I arrived on the scene. Yes, I was a “whoops” baby. She was class valedictorian and wouldn’t think of using four-letter words. I really thought “piffle” was a word she made up! So it made me chuckle to see it today.

Anyway, Garrison, thanks for the early morning laugh. Always love to read your column first thing because I know it’ll start my day with a smile.

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Between the clap trap and the twaddle perhaps we can find the ryme and reason that makes sense of this serious charade we define as life. As always, thank you for this perspective from a "surf tormented shore" of many seasons.

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As someone who is left behind in Minnesota I feel jealous. I can be cheerful here too and I can still walk around Lake Harriet.

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I forgot to mention that even in NYC, April is still the cruelest month

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Lake Harriet was named for a white woman setttler whose views of Ojibwe where not as enlightened as ours and so I expect the lake will be named Lake Truth, after Sojourner Truth. Henry Hudson was a bully and a headstrong fool but we'll leave his name on things because It Just Don't Matter.

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Just love your column today. I, too, am in 80’s..and agree with everything you say. Spent my youth in San Francisco…a completely different environment than Nebraska (where I now reside). I avoid all the negative stuff…and enjoy my beautiful garden, fun books..etc..

Thank you for saying, perfectly, how I feel about this time in my life.

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Think your column this morning was very unfair to people in Minnesota. I am happy that you are enjoying your new life in New York however there were many people who supported you during your years here and since you have moved and we do not think of ourselves in the way you projected in your recent post.

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Some people in Minnesota have a sense of humor, others don't. Same as anywhere else.

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Writer’s prerogative.😊

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I’m 39, can I start living like this now? 😆

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excellent

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Garrison, I'm another old shower-pee-er, and all I can say is pee at the start of the shower, not at the end. You don't want it to sit in the p-trap (hey that's what it's called!) overnight, or worse, for a week while you go out of town. Ask how I know this.

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The flow of the water loosens the urinary tract immediately. No problem.

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When my mother was toilet training my younger brothers, she used to run the faucet in the sink next to the toilet to give them a hint. It seemed to work. She had me trained before my first birthday because she was already pregnant again when I was 3 months old and she didn't want to have two babies in diapers at the same time. She had one of those wringer washing machines and it was a lot of work to launder all of those cloth diapers - no disposable ones in 1950.

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founding

Oh, how I'd like to "come up". Thanks Garrison. RRoeder

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