I thought your description of “DeSantis’s anti-woke campaign" was perfect. I'd never heard the term "stupidity on toast" before but it's a wonderfully funny insult.
I loved Pat McC's note about the photo find while cleaning out the house. I had the opportunity to make some of the same finds myself a few years back while cleaning out the house my grandparents and then my aunt had lived in since the mid-50s--beautiful old cards with sweet notes from my Pop-pop to my Grandma, high school yearbooks and report cards, photos galore... While the reasons for doing the clean-out were not happy, there was still much about the task to be grateful for and little moments of unexpected joy to be found in it. Thanks for the reminder!
I was hoping we could take Prairie Home back to Tanglewood, there being such vivid wonderful memories of the crowd on the hill singing acapella, sometimes for an hour or so after the show. But apparently they don't want us back, so we'll need to find another venue. We're working on it.
A nice way of staying in contact with people in your home town or neighborhood is to join its Facebook group, and/or that of your high school graduating class. I often get the opportunity to tell people things I remember about their relatives and friends, or even post pictures that they may not have seen. The group for my part of town is the son of two of my late parents' closest friends. The father, who was a mailman, wrote a column in the weekly town newspaper and the mother was an elementary school teacher who took over writing the column after her husband died. They saved copies of all the columns and the son posts almost daily scans of them on the anniversaries of when they appeared.
My husband isn't a Facebook fan, but he does belong to the group for his small home town in northern PA and has seen many meaningful posts, including pictures of himself when he was young and of his father, who was the only biology teacher in the town's high school for many years. Biology was a state requirement so everyone who went to the school during that era had to take his class. Many of the people in the group remember him as their teacher and my husband loves to read about their memories of him and of his classes.
In going through our family's archives I found an album of sweet snapshots from my maternal grandmother's honeymoon in the Poconos in 1906, but also an original "bill of sale for a Negro boy" from 1784. Family histories are not always entirely happy.
Interestingly, neither my parents nor my grandparents ever mentioned the 1784 document. Either they did not know it was there, or they were embarrassed. I will never know. I intend to give it to the Halsey museum in Southampton, Long Island.
It would be a ratther exclusive cruise and not easy to arrange, making stops and seeing sites along the way. A handful of loyalists are still running Prairie Home and we're all getting older and this particular project seems beyond us. We're still capable of putting on a terrific show but that's about it.
The 1980 picture of you in a flowered shirt, straw hat, and full beard is a look that you may want to revive. Your downward gaze might transform from “Botox avalanche” toward “Cheshire Cat” (In garden with Hat).
Thank you for letting me know that I am still on the free list.
My friends must subscribe to the likes of the New Yorker, the Washington Post, the West Central Tribune, etc as they seem to like to "share" certain articles from those publications.
Of course, the minute I click on the source, a page appears to inform me for just $5 a day, I, too, can be privileged to read their missive.
I married wrong; when he left with his high school sweetheart, he hid or took all the money.
Re: Lee Proctor’s churlishess - Lee: The Good Lord gifted me with a crotchety “Couch Surfer” who had come to America “For FREEDOM!” by paying a marriage broker and marrying a recent immigrant from his country. (She had just gotten her citizenship, and was tired of being seen as an “Old Maid.”) It didn’t work out – her kids and their boyfriends didn’t like his “bossiness.” Once he got his “green card”, a pillowcase full of his belongings showed up on my fireplace. They had kicked him out. He was alone and friendless – what could I do but let him move into the empty rooms upstairs?
You’d be fascinated with him, Lee! He has some sort of mental impairment that permits him to speak only in a crotchety growl. I’ve never been in this situation before. You have no idea how difficult it is for habituated neurons to sort out “This is FYI, only,” from “I’m really, really, really RED HOT DISGUSTED about this!” Several times, I’ve replied: “This is a Free country. If you don’t like this, you’re Free To Leave!” At which point, he recalls that this is also a Capitalist country, and that the average one-room apartment around here runs at about $500/month. He might make $400/month if he’s lucky. He’s badly in need of a full set of dentures – he has only two lower incisors in his jaws. So, his idea of “Striking It Rich” is to religiously attend the BINGO sessions at a nearby casino. Result? The BINGO parlor siphons off probably 2/3 of the cash he does manage to earn.
Lee – you may be financially well-enough off that you can consider your “Testiness Plan.” However, as far as writing a book to recommend that verbal posture to others – I’d ask you to consider that some of your readers might end up “On the Street”, “In the Poor House”, or even in the nearest “Insane Asylum” if they follow your guidance.
If you’re really looking for a crotchety colleague, I could send you a “Couch Surfer” who would bless you with eternal shouting and yelling for the rest of your days! What do you say?
Addenda A slice of life with the Couch Surfer: Last night, in the wee hours, after BINGO, he came into the kitchen and left a take-out dish of Beef and Broccoli on my table. In the morning, I discovered it and put it in the refrigerator. When we met, I reminded him that it’s unsanitary to leave food unrefrigerated. “Next time, please put it in the fridge.” “Oh, the refrigerator light’s out. I didn’t want to wake you…” “Well, then, Mr. Fixit, please replace the refrigerator light…” He didn’t like the ball being bounced back into his court. “Well! The refrigerator is so full, it can’t have proper circulation to even reach the bottom shelf.” He didn’t check, or he would have seen I cleaned some of it out yesterday. We weren’t getting anywhere, so I just shrugged. I’m just using this as an example, but it reminds me of an Appalachian folk song I learned in G.S. Camp:
“There’s a HOLE in the bucket, Dear Liza, Dear Liza, There’s a HOLE in the bucket, Dear Liza, a HOLE.”
“Then FIX IT, Dear Henry, Dear Henry. Then FIX IT Dear Henry, FIX IT!”
“With what shall I fix it, Dear Liza, Dear Liza? With what shall I fix it, Dear Liza, with what?”
“With STRAW, Dear Henry, Dear Henry. With STRAW, Dear Henry, with STRAW.”
“With what shall I cut it, Dear Liza, Dear Liza? With what shall I cut it, Dear Liza, with what?”
“With an AXE, Dewar Henry, Dear Henry. With an AXE, Dear Henry, with an AXE.”
“The axe is too dull, Dear Liza, Dear Liza. The Axe is too dull, Dear Liza, too dull”.
Dear Tim deGavre: I take it you recently arrived from the Planet Pluto, or some such distant place. Obviously, you haven’t been a long-time GK FRIEND! If you had ever been on an APHC/HAL cruise, you’d know that 95% of the passengers onboard were Democrats.. The remaining 5% might be forlorn spouses, who kept their opinions mostly to themselves to avoid being trapped in an elevator with some Democrat dissident! I live in an overwhelmingly Republican area, and one of the chief joys of being on GK cruises was the chance to be among “Like-Minded Folks” for a change. In terms of suggestions: I’d suggest to you that you find some Republican Echo Chamber to howl into! WE LOVE GK & FRIENDS, JUST AS IT IS!
We've got a Wisconsin tour in September, Madison, Milwaukee, Eau Claire and somewhere else, with Rich Dworsky and Heather Masse.
I thought your description of “DeSantis’s anti-woke campaign" was perfect. I'd never heard the term "stupidity on toast" before but it's a wonderfully funny insult.
It seems a whole bunch of us are ingesting quite a bit of such toast in these days. Boggles the mind......
AND SO IT GOES....
I loved Pat McC's note about the photo find while cleaning out the house. I had the opportunity to make some of the same finds myself a few years back while cleaning out the house my grandparents and then my aunt had lived in since the mid-50s--beautiful old cards with sweet notes from my Pop-pop to my Grandma, high school yearbooks and report cards, photos galore... While the reasons for doing the clean-out were not happy, there was still much about the task to be grateful for and little moments of unexpected joy to be found in it. Thanks for the reminder!
Elizabeth
Can you tell us when the show might come to Boston? We love Town hall too, but finding a place to spend the night in NYC is a challenge.
I was hoping we could take Prairie Home back to Tanglewood, there being such vivid wonderful memories of the crowd on the hill singing acapella, sometimes for an hour or so after the show. But apparently they don't want us back, so we'll need to find another venue. We're working on it.
A nice way of staying in contact with people in your home town or neighborhood is to join its Facebook group, and/or that of your high school graduating class. I often get the opportunity to tell people things I remember about their relatives and friends, or even post pictures that they may not have seen. The group for my part of town is the son of two of my late parents' closest friends. The father, who was a mailman, wrote a column in the weekly town newspaper and the mother was an elementary school teacher who took over writing the column after her husband died. They saved copies of all the columns and the son posts almost daily scans of them on the anniversaries of when they appeared.
My husband isn't a Facebook fan, but he does belong to the group for his small home town in northern PA and has seen many meaningful posts, including pictures of himself when he was young and of his father, who was the only biology teacher in the town's high school for many years. Biology was a state requirement so everyone who went to the school during that era had to take his class. Many of the people in the group remember him as their teacher and my husband loves to read about their memories of him and of his classes.
In going through our family's archives I found an album of sweet snapshots from my maternal grandmother's honeymoon in the Poconos in 1906, but also an original "bill of sale for a Negro boy" from 1784. Family histories are not always entirely happy.
Interestingly, neither my parents nor my grandparents ever mentioned the 1784 document. Either they did not know it was there, or they were embarrassed. I will never know. I intend to give it to the Halsey museum in Southampton, Long Island.
I enjoy reading Posts to the Host very much. How about a "train cruise?"
It would be a ratther exclusive cruise and not easy to arrange, making stops and seeing sites along the way. A handful of loyalists are still running Prairie Home and we're all getting older and this particular project seems beyond us. We're still capable of putting on a terrific show but that's about it.
while you are out and about check out the action on some of the city's many HANDBALL COURTS.
basic, primal sports activity at it's best!
The 1980 picture of you in a flowered shirt, straw hat, and full beard is a look that you may want to revive. Your downward gaze might transform from “Botox avalanche” toward “Cheshire Cat” (In garden with Hat).
My true love has made it clear that the beard will not return. It's good to have these matters settled quickly and firmly. I'm too old to argue.
"When the train goes, so can you"
Regarding one's final instructions, Here are mine:
Oh bury me not, in the cold, cold ground, and look down on me in pity,
Just load me up into a giant red cannon, and shoot me over into Phenix City*
*town across the Chattahoochee River (from my book "Brain Biscuits" Steve Scott
We'll be there if you find a spot!
Thank you for letting me know that I am still on the free list.
My friends must subscribe to the likes of the New Yorker, the Washington Post, the West Central Tribune, etc as they seem to like to "share" certain articles from those publications.
Of course, the minute I click on the source, a page appears to inform me for just $5 a day, I, too, can be privileged to read their missive.
I married wrong; when he left with his high school sweetheart, he hid or took all the money.
I love free🩵🌟🩵
Re: Lee Proctor’s churlishess - Lee: The Good Lord gifted me with a crotchety “Couch Surfer” who had come to America “For FREEDOM!” by paying a marriage broker and marrying a recent immigrant from his country. (She had just gotten her citizenship, and was tired of being seen as an “Old Maid.”) It didn’t work out – her kids and their boyfriends didn’t like his “bossiness.” Once he got his “green card”, a pillowcase full of his belongings showed up on my fireplace. They had kicked him out. He was alone and friendless – what could I do but let him move into the empty rooms upstairs?
You’d be fascinated with him, Lee! He has some sort of mental impairment that permits him to speak only in a crotchety growl. I’ve never been in this situation before. You have no idea how difficult it is for habituated neurons to sort out “This is FYI, only,” from “I’m really, really, really RED HOT DISGUSTED about this!” Several times, I’ve replied: “This is a Free country. If you don’t like this, you’re Free To Leave!” At which point, he recalls that this is also a Capitalist country, and that the average one-room apartment around here runs at about $500/month. He might make $400/month if he’s lucky. He’s badly in need of a full set of dentures – he has only two lower incisors in his jaws. So, his idea of “Striking It Rich” is to religiously attend the BINGO sessions at a nearby casino. Result? The BINGO parlor siphons off probably 2/3 of the cash he does manage to earn.
Lee – you may be financially well-enough off that you can consider your “Testiness Plan.” However, as far as writing a book to recommend that verbal posture to others – I’d ask you to consider that some of your readers might end up “On the Street”, “In the Poor House”, or even in the nearest “Insane Asylum” if they follow your guidance.
If you’re really looking for a crotchety colleague, I could send you a “Couch Surfer” who would bless you with eternal shouting and yelling for the rest of your days! What do you say?
Addenda A slice of life with the Couch Surfer: Last night, in the wee hours, after BINGO, he came into the kitchen and left a take-out dish of Beef and Broccoli on my table. In the morning, I discovered it and put it in the refrigerator. When we met, I reminded him that it’s unsanitary to leave food unrefrigerated. “Next time, please put it in the fridge.” “Oh, the refrigerator light’s out. I didn’t want to wake you…” “Well, then, Mr. Fixit, please replace the refrigerator light…” He didn’t like the ball being bounced back into his court. “Well! The refrigerator is so full, it can’t have proper circulation to even reach the bottom shelf.” He didn’t check, or he would have seen I cleaned some of it out yesterday. We weren’t getting anywhere, so I just shrugged. I’m just using this as an example, but it reminds me of an Appalachian folk song I learned in G.S. Camp:
“There’s a HOLE in the bucket, Dear Liza, Dear Liza, There’s a HOLE in the bucket, Dear Liza, a HOLE.”
“Then FIX IT, Dear Henry, Dear Henry. Then FIX IT Dear Henry, FIX IT!”
“With what shall I fix it, Dear Liza, Dear Liza? With what shall I fix it, Dear Liza, with what?”
“With STRAW, Dear Henry, Dear Henry. With STRAW, Dear Henry, with STRAW.”
“With what shall I cut it, Dear Liza, Dear Liza? With what shall I cut it, Dear Liza, with what?”
“With an AXE, Dewar Henry, Dear Henry. With an AXE, Dear Henry, with an AXE.”
“The axe is too dull, Dear Liza, Dear Liza. The Axe is too dull, Dear Liza, too dull”.
“Then SHARPEN IT, Dear Henry, Dear Henry. Then Sharpen it, Dear Henry, Sharpen it!”
“With what shall I sharpen it, Dear Liza, Dear Liza, with what shall I sharpen it, Dear Liza, with what?”
“With a stone, Dear Henry, Dear Henry. Then sharpen it, with a stone.”
“With what shall I wet it, Dear Liza? With what shall I wet it, Dear Liza, with what?”
“With WATER, Dear Henry, Dear Henry. With water to wet it, Dear Henry, with water.”
“In what shall I fetch it, Dear Liza, Dear Liza?”
“IN A BUCKET! Dear Henry, Dear Henry. In a BUCKET, Dear Henry, a BUCKET!”
“There’s a HOLE in the bucket, Dear Liza, Dear Liza, There’s a HOLE in the bucket, Dear Liza, a HOLE.”
Dear Tim deGavre: I take it you recently arrived from the Planet Pluto, or some such distant place. Obviously, you haven’t been a long-time GK FRIEND! If you had ever been on an APHC/HAL cruise, you’d know that 95% of the passengers onboard were Democrats.. The remaining 5% might be forlorn spouses, who kept their opinions mostly to themselves to avoid being trapped in an elevator with some Democrat dissident! I live in an overwhelmingly Republican area, and one of the chief joys of being on GK cruises was the chance to be among “Like-Minded Folks” for a change. In terms of suggestions: I’d suggest to you that you find some Republican Echo Chamber to howl into! WE LOVE GK & FRIENDS, JUST AS IT IS!