And the worst part about missing missing the MN blizzard is that you can't brag about it if you weren't there. Sure, you can still tell stories about your youth and going uphill both ways to and from the top of huge drifts and buckled-up for wicked temps. After all, if you werent there how would you know we were stretching the truth, Lord forbid! And Mr. Keillor would tell the truth, just as he did about wearing winter jacket in FL when the AC was on. That said, we here in MN will tolerate a truth-stretching as long as he does, and he knows because once he was here.
Pretty much fits with my Florida experience. As a kid in the 60's, I got to see the last of the last of the last of untamed Florida, the barrier islands absent rich peoples homes, when there were still a few docks in the small towns where the dwindling fishing fleets came in and you could buy fish off the dock... and now, it's something else. Kinda depressing, albeit in nice sunshine. BTW, been to Bemidji, stayed at Stump Lake, notable for its stumps and chain of lakes. Swimming in the lake, which is actually part of the Mississippi River (I guess) made me fantasize swimming down to New Orleans or thereabouts.
And, as an aside, this is sadly too true: "There is background music everywhere. Every lobby has a television on that nobody’s watching, music that nobody’s listening to, an environmental drug to keep people from thinking."
I believe you. Flirted with the idea of visiting FL all winter, but you helped me decide. I wish you had filed your report from somewhere in the Keys...
Cheesehead here who now lives in wild and wonderful Maryland, a state I highly recommend to all.
The thing I distinctly remember about my Wisconsin childhood is that my parents and other adults I knew never, ever mentioned the weather. Twenty degrees below 0 Fahrenheit? Well, it's winter. What would we expect? 3 feet of the white stuff on the ground? Yeah, that happens too. Time to walk to school. Have fun. Never a word. It was what it was - winter in Wisconsin.
We've lived in Florida for six years, down from northern Illinois. Your observations are spot-on. The sun bakes the brain. People no longer make sense. And though I no longer slip on ice, I quickly learned that the tile on our pool steps can be equally perilous. Suicide takes many forms. Wasting away due to inactivity is one of them.
Writing this from a Florida campground on an unspoiled barrier island. We missed 14" in central Wisconsin yesterday (or was it the day before? Time has gotten fuzzy...) Deeply embarrassed to have missed a soul-stretching storm. But not sorry.
Joking about cutting back on Social Security and Medicare isn’t funny. America is full of elderly folks who are one step from homelessness. You want to push them out onto the sidewalk to live in cardboard boxes? Even if the weather is nice that’s not good. Or funny.
Excellent observations from a North Dakotan with a home in Fl.
And the worst part about missing missing the MN blizzard is that you can't brag about it if you weren't there. Sure, you can still tell stories about your youth and going uphill both ways to and from the top of huge drifts and buckled-up for wicked temps. After all, if you werent there how would you know we were stretching the truth, Lord forbid! And Mr. Keillor would tell the truth, just as he did about wearing winter jacket in FL when the AC was on. That said, we here in MN will tolerate a truth-stretching as long as he does, and he knows because once he was here.
Pretty much fits with my Florida experience. As a kid in the 60's, I got to see the last of the last of the last of untamed Florida, the barrier islands absent rich peoples homes, when there were still a few docks in the small towns where the dwindling fishing fleets came in and you could buy fish off the dock... and now, it's something else. Kinda depressing, albeit in nice sunshine. BTW, been to Bemidji, stayed at Stump Lake, notable for its stumps and chain of lakes. Swimming in the lake, which is actually part of the Mississippi River (I guess) made me fantasize swimming down to New Orleans or thereabouts.
LOVE it.. :-)
And, as an aside, this is sadly too true: "There is background music everywhere. Every lobby has a television on that nobody’s watching, music that nobody’s listening to, an environmental drug to keep people from thinking."
I believe you. Flirted with the idea of visiting FL all winter, but you helped me decide. I wish you had filed your report from somewhere in the Keys...
Great slice of life in the northern climes. Makes you proud to freeze your fingers off shoveling. Who needs all those toes anyway?
I love this post! Something to offend everyone!
We are South at this time and have dubbed the northern storm back home as Schadenfreude Weather.
Cheesehead here who now lives in wild and wonderful Maryland, a state I highly recommend to all.
The thing I distinctly remember about my Wisconsin childhood is that my parents and other adults I knew never, ever mentioned the weather. Twenty degrees below 0 Fahrenheit? Well, it's winter. What would we expect? 3 feet of the white stuff on the ground? Yeah, that happens too. Time to walk to school. Have fun. Never a word. It was what it was - winter in Wisconsin.
yeah, I always loved that damn polaroid joke too, thanks
I’m a 76 year old woman stuck in Florida and thinking of starting a Go-Fund-Me to help me get back to RI.
We've lived in Florida for six years, down from northern Illinois. Your observations are spot-on. The sun bakes the brain. People no longer make sense. And though I no longer slip on ice, I quickly learned that the tile on our pool steps can be equally perilous. Suicide takes many forms. Wasting away due to inactivity is one of them.
You do have a way with words, Mr. Keillor
Writing this from a Florida campground on an unspoiled barrier island. We missed 14" in central Wisconsin yesterday (or was it the day before? Time has gotten fuzzy...) Deeply embarrassed to have missed a soul-stretching storm. But not sorry.
Good observations about life in perpetual warm temps:
Vast amounts of electricity use could be saved if the South--and most cities in the country--would keep their AC temps in the low-mid 70's.
It's very expensive, and unnecessary to keep it at frigid temps.
Joking about cutting back on Social Security and Medicare isn’t funny. America is full of elderly folks who are one step from homelessness. You want to push them out onto the sidewalk to live in cardboard boxes? Even if the weather is nice that’s not good. Or funny.