I hear from a Texas friend that northern Minnesota is becoming a haven for climate refugees after the infernal heat they endured last summer. Granted, there are occasional instances of leaking ceilings and squirrel invasions, at least we can manage a few weeks of subzero weather without catastrophes like the one Texas endured a couple years ago.
You're a "trooper", Mr. K. Heading back to Minnesota in January...
Me? I'm a coward. I'm heading to the Philippines.
That is, if they'll let me in.
If there are any problems with passports, Visas and the like, I'll just tell them the one about Ole and Lena: She was in the kitchen, don't ya know... Old Ole dragged himself out of his death bed, crawled to the stairs, went down the stairs, crawled on all fours into the kitchen a cut himself a piece of rhubarb pie. Lena, who was sitting at the kitchen table quietly weeping, turned and saw Ole. "Ole!" she said, "that's for AFTER the funeral..."
While the Philippine immigration authorities are trying to figure that one out I'll make my way down to the beach. Minnesota! In January! Mr. K, are you sure you know what you're doing?!
Winter is hard on homes and arthritic joints and also the graves of Minnesotans. On my most recent visit I saw that parents, grandparents, and children who died in epidemics all need new concrete slabs under their stones. I take these things seriously but my siblings don't; they think when you're dead you're dead and won't notice if your granite stone sinks into the turf. The cost is not insignificant to shore them all up, especially in New Zealand dollars, for that is where I live. The cemetery maintenance people don't take credit cards or international transfers, only checks. I don't have a US checking account and in NZ we no longer use checks. The most interesting thing about this exercise is not how to pay for upkeep for ancestors' graves but that for many when you're dead you're dead and it doesn't matter. Am I wrong - I think it matters.
In Cheerfulness (p. 84) you write: “I am astonished … to walk into a men’s lavatory and pee in a urinal and step back and it automatically flushes.” We can thank none other than Dr. Albert Einstein for this modern convenience. Auto-flushing is one example of the photoelectric effect – a discovery for which Einstein received the Nobel Prize in 1921. So: Next time you visit the loo and experience auto-flush, give a nod to that frizzy-haired physicist.
I reside in the lower Hudson Valley. I am not comparing but our winters aren't as severe as Monroe, Monticello, or not even close as the Adirondacks. I know some Minnesotans who survive the brutal extremes. It's a balmy 68 degrees in the family room. Sports are on tv while I type out this letter to thee. btw Are you familiar with Mary Fahl? She used to front a folk group called October Project. Mary is performing in Beacon at the Town Crier Cafe. I used to own a music cd of her band. All this sweet nostalgia blooms like green algebra. ha.
Arkansas! Perhaps things have changed since my family went through there. My cousin Sudy (Susan Dale) had spent her summer vacation with her parents in Oklahoma and was headed back to her classes at the American University in Washington, DC. My Dad was a “48-er” - gung ho to drive anywhere where he could be in a “new state” for his list. That trip through the “Solid South” nearly clinched it for him - leaving Florida, Alaska and Hawaii on his “To Do” list. We drove through the rural backbone of Arkansas – and kept discovering “quaintness” around the corner. We stopped at a tiny diner in an old, old building on a hillside. When we had to use “the facilities” – they directed us downhill to a “One seater” – a wooden outhouse that wasn’t attended to any too regularly. That was “the talk of the trip” for the next few hours.
When we got to the main north-south highway, there was an “All You Can Eat/ Home of the Throwed Rolls” truck stop that advertised on giant billboards - I suppose all the way up the Mississippi River’s west bank! Their buffet was really something! We consumed a normal two meal’s worth and skipped supper that day. And as for the “Throwed Rolls” – the waitresses really, truly pitched them! From our point of view at the time, rural Arkansas was so poverty-stricken, that attracting any possible Interstate business away from more urban areas such as St. Louis, Missouri, would be something that could ameliorate the lifestyle for Arkansas residents living for miles around! Of course, in our travels, our family ate in restaurants and diners whenever we decided not to “picnic” - at least half the time. But the “range” of quality in public eating houses in Arkansas, back then, seemed to be broader than anywhere else in the 48!
At this point, with all the versions of crazy, if you can’t find humor in it, you can’t live without at least quiet chuckles …I like the idea of the 100 laughters who travel around and just laugh at the ridiculously funny, maybe not at some people…it would be cruel, but I’d let the 100 decide. They show up in the House and when one of the evil eight speak they laugh, out loud! And do till they stop talking. Might not change anything but we’d all feel better. Ridicule comes from ridiculous, so they have earned the praise/prize. So who else needs a good joke?
I’m sitting in Florida loving and laughing at the jokes that never age and I will always remember listening to GK on the radio all those years ago. Given the political and social climate, I vote for laughter wherever I can get it.
Down to Earth, Old School, normal down-to-earth folks, no celebs, and best of all no politics. I was born & raised in Chicago, but I've been living in Southern California for over 5 decades. Winter is not quite the same here. Speaking of 'on the phone,' last year I was able to reconnect with a dear friend of mine after fifty years of being out-of-touch. Life is great!
I hear from a Texas friend that northern Minnesota is becoming a haven for climate refugees after the infernal heat they endured last summer. Granted, there are occasional instances of leaking ceilings and squirrel invasions, at least we can manage a few weeks of subzero weather without catastrophes like the one Texas endured a couple years ago.
"How about Friday than". We laughed and we laughed. Such simple and rewarding humor. Thanks Garrison. RRoeder
You're a "trooper", Mr. K. Heading back to Minnesota in January...
Me? I'm a coward. I'm heading to the Philippines.
That is, if they'll let me in.
If there are any problems with passports, Visas and the like, I'll just tell them the one about Ole and Lena: She was in the kitchen, don't ya know... Old Ole dragged himself out of his death bed, crawled to the stairs, went down the stairs, crawled on all fours into the kitchen a cut himself a piece of rhubarb pie. Lena, who was sitting at the kitchen table quietly weeping, turned and saw Ole. "Ole!" she said, "that's for AFTER the funeral..."
While the Philippine immigration authorities are trying to figure that one out I'll make my way down to the beach. Minnesota! In January! Mr. K, are you sure you know what you're doing?!
Winter is hard on homes and arthritic joints and also the graves of Minnesotans. On my most recent visit I saw that parents, grandparents, and children who died in epidemics all need new concrete slabs under their stones. I take these things seriously but my siblings don't; they think when you're dead you're dead and won't notice if your granite stone sinks into the turf. The cost is not insignificant to shore them all up, especially in New Zealand dollars, for that is where I live. The cemetery maintenance people don't take credit cards or international transfers, only checks. I don't have a US checking account and in NZ we no longer use checks. The most interesting thing about this exercise is not how to pay for upkeep for ancestors' graves but that for many when you're dead you're dead and it doesn't matter. Am I wrong - I think it matters.
Dear GK:
In Cheerfulness (p. 84) you write: “I am astonished … to walk into a men’s lavatory and pee in a urinal and step back and it automatically flushes.” We can thank none other than Dr. Albert Einstein for this modern convenience. Auto-flushing is one example of the photoelectric effect – a discovery for which Einstein received the Nobel Prize in 1921. So: Next time you visit the loo and experience auto-flush, give a nod to that frizzy-haired physicist.
Dave J., Overland Park KS
I reside in the lower Hudson Valley. I am not comparing but our winters aren't as severe as Monroe, Monticello, or not even close as the Adirondacks. I know some Minnesotans who survive the brutal extremes. It's a balmy 68 degrees in the family room. Sports are on tv while I type out this letter to thee. btw Are you familiar with Mary Fahl? She used to front a folk group called October Project. Mary is performing in Beacon at the Town Crier Cafe. I used to own a music cd of her band. All this sweet nostalgia blooms like green algebra. ha.
Arkansas! Perhaps things have changed since my family went through there. My cousin Sudy (Susan Dale) had spent her summer vacation with her parents in Oklahoma and was headed back to her classes at the American University in Washington, DC. My Dad was a “48-er” - gung ho to drive anywhere where he could be in a “new state” for his list. That trip through the “Solid South” nearly clinched it for him - leaving Florida, Alaska and Hawaii on his “To Do” list. We drove through the rural backbone of Arkansas – and kept discovering “quaintness” around the corner. We stopped at a tiny diner in an old, old building on a hillside. When we had to use “the facilities” – they directed us downhill to a “One seater” – a wooden outhouse that wasn’t attended to any too regularly. That was “the talk of the trip” for the next few hours.
When we got to the main north-south highway, there was an “All You Can Eat/ Home of the Throwed Rolls” truck stop that advertised on giant billboards - I suppose all the way up the Mississippi River’s west bank! Their buffet was really something! We consumed a normal two meal’s worth and skipped supper that day. And as for the “Throwed Rolls” – the waitresses really, truly pitched them! From our point of view at the time, rural Arkansas was so poverty-stricken, that attracting any possible Interstate business away from more urban areas such as St. Louis, Missouri, would be something that could ameliorate the lifestyle for Arkansas residents living for miles around! Of course, in our travels, our family ate in restaurants and diners whenever we decided not to “picnic” - at least half the time. But the “range” of quality in public eating houses in Arkansas, back then, seemed to be broader than anywhere else in the 48!
At this point, with all the versions of crazy, if you can’t find humor in it, you can’t live without at least quiet chuckles …I like the idea of the 100 laughters who travel around and just laugh at the ridiculously funny, maybe not at some people…it would be cruel, but I’d let the 100 decide. They show up in the House and when one of the evil eight speak they laugh, out loud! And do till they stop talking. Might not change anything but we’d all feel better. Ridicule comes from ridiculous, so they have earned the praise/prize. So who else needs a good joke?
Thanks for making me laugh this morning as I sit in a drafty room in Columbus, waiting to be called for cataract surgery.
I loved every of this. And laughed out loud at those old jokes. Thank you so much
I’m sitting in Florida loving and laughing at the jokes that never age and I will always remember listening to GK on the radio all those years ago. Given the political and social climate, I vote for laughter wherever I can get it.
Mr Keillor can you bring your show to Hawaii please I’ll let you stay at the house, beautiful view of the ocean
Brad
The best ever and timely. The winter isn't as hard, but we could sure use a couple hours of Garrison in Southwest MO.
Down to Earth, Old School, normal down-to-earth folks, no celebs, and best of all no politics. I was born & raised in Chicago, but I've been living in Southern California for over 5 decades. Winter is not quite the same here. Speaking of 'on the phone,' last year I was able to reconnect with a dear friend of mine after fifty years of being out-of-touch. Life is great!
We have dear friends in Alexandria and Fergus Falls. Have a good trip!
Uphill. Both ways...