This is odd...making a comment on comments. This past week you celebrated your 81st birthday, which makes you younger that Bob Dylan, the same age as Paul McCartney and just a year older than Mick Jagger. They are still touring occasionally too. I am glad you and your contemporaries are still on the road entertaining people of all ages.
"...making a comment on comments." I'd never thought about that and it cracked me up. Now I'm making a comment to a comment that made a comment on comments! Might you have an additional comment on my comment to your comment on comments? I might add, in this comment, that I'm retired and have way too much slack time in my days.
I feel obliged to the surgeons who extended my life to make the surplus amount to something. All that incredible skill and science shouldn't wind up permitting me to sit and watch golf tournaments.
Absolutely. I retired in early 2019, sat for 18 months during Covid, and returned to the workforce when I finally couldn’t stand the inertia any longer. I make a small contribution to the greater good and receive some compensation in return. Seems like a fair deal.
It's like I take all of these meds, thankfully provided by the VA, to keep me alive a little longer so I can complain about all of these meds I must take.
A few weeks ago you mentioned your most recent book didn’t sell well. I immediately got it, read it (finished it yesterday) and loved it. However, I got it from the library so it won’t show up in sales numbers. Just remember there are many of us out there who still read your books.
Me, Too! I think of all those discarded books, and wish I had just one to tuck away and read, and reread at will! Too bad you didn't set aside a few hundred for those of us who didn't know what we were missing!
Thank you so much for that video clip of Mary Oliver reading her work! My husband and I have a ritual (almost daily) of choosing a heart from the velvet bag - each one stamped with a positive word - and then taking turns reading an Oliver poem. It's a great way to begin the day!
Steven Cornwell: Recently, I'm getting more than my fill of experience with the "Gambling Industry!" By a long, tenuous thread of introductions, I ended up with a "couch surfer" from the Former Soviet Union. He had paid $5,000 to marry a (former Ukrainian) American, who paid equally just to not be seen as an "Old Maid." That didn't work out. He had done yard work for me, so when she kicked him out, he moved into what used to be my brother's room upstairs. He has a bit of a low-paying job, but two immediate needs. One, he's hooked on nicotine, so he drives out to an Indian reservation periodically to by cigarettes by the carton. Two, He has two lower front teeth, Just Two! He has to eat soft foods, smoothies, etc., because he has no ability whatsoever to chew his food.
He makes about $400 /week. With free lodging, and a limited appetite, he could get along nicely on that. However, he has a "Good Luck Charm!", he thinks, in the large image of a wolf that sits above our fireplace. He keeps thinking that one of these days, he's going to hit The Jackpot at the local Gambling Palace with some Lucky BINGO Card! HAH! The fact of the matter is that he probably spends $100 or more a week just driving back and forth to the Casino. Added to that, he has to pay $200 for a BINGO card, which lasts him for the length of a particular session - say, 5-10 pm.
I'm pretty sure, if he kept an account book: Cards Bought per months, WInnings per month - he'd quickly observe that it's the Casion that's "The Big Winner!" But I'm being "cool-headed" and "Rational" about this. As part of our agreement - I'm currently without transportation, so he takes me to our local library and picks me up a couple of hours later. If something happens, and I'm a little late, and this bites into his BINGO time, My GOSH! "THIS IS AN ADDICT!" Hs whole behavior shouts at me!
The thing is, folks like my upstairs "couch surfer" are often kept out of the public limelight. There, off on some Native American Reservation, folks at the grocery store, or on a public bus, rarely see that "I GOTTA GO!" panic in an habituated gambler's eyes, if they're not "At Their Lucky Seat At A Lucky Time!" This fellow needs false teeth. He'd have to give up a couple of months of BINGO, at least, to have the ability to chew once again. If he could kick the nicotine habit, that might be a little more "Cash on Hand," but once again, it's not a solution. He took a gamble in coming to the US - signing a marriage certificate with a woman he knew nothing about - one with grown daughters/ cum boyfriends - and coming to a place where he has had to pick up the language as he goes along. Sometimes, thinking about it, t almost seems like "Jumping Off A Cliff Without A Parachute!"
Well, I know! The world is full of many different kinds of people. But I don't have much respect for those who prey on other people's addictions! The world is complicated enough as it is, just filling in the "Necessary Blanks!"
(And, as to those folks, Good Democrats who provide us with firm leadership, such as Our Qualified and Intelligent Host, are certainly among the "GOOD GUYS"! )
My brother won $1,000,000 ($410,000 after taxes) on a Massachusetts scratch ticket last summer and my brother-in-law's parents did also, about 30 years ago. I have never bought a lottery ticket myself, but I have been given some as gifts and won $10.00 once.
If I subscribe, do I start getting the audio thought for the day with a poem? I miss the sound of GK’s voice every day at breakfast. I have saved scores of the morning talk, metered out when my wife and I can enjoy GK together.
Thank you for the Mary Oliver clip! That was my mother's favorite poem in her later years. We read Wild Geese many times together. Now in my retired years, I get the comforting feeling from her poem that I think my mom felt. I wish my mom could have seen Mary Oliver's reading.
Dear Garrison, recently you wrote "Betrayal is poisonous and I see it in the lives of people I once was angry at. But 81 is too old for anger. The prevailing mood is gratitude." I am 67 and moved into the "un-angry" phase when I turned 65. Now nothing seems to bother me except an occasional physical issue related to still playing ice hockey three times per week. What I'm trying to say besides, thank you for your spirit and guidance is it is so much better to leave the grief out of your life then to fight it on a daily basis. Keep the powder dry!
I'm a 75-year-old widower planning to marry again after 5 years alone. We both want a small, simple ceremony. So I seek the wisdom of a fellow senior. Do I need to tell siblings, or anyone, in advance, or may we just spring it on everyone after the fact? My two siblings aren't close enough to attend without about a week's notice, and we will certainly visit them eventually. Maybe they wouldn't want to come, and would see an invitation as a gift request. May I exclude them with a clear conscience?
It's not exclusion. You're 75. This ceremony belongs to you and her and if small and simple is what you want, bravo, it's yours. Family is complicated. Do the ceremony exactly as you wish and that same day drop a line to the siblings to announce the happy fact.
Are used to have great respect for Garrison Keillor. I enjoy his writing but after seeing the prices he gets for his show at Madison Wisconsin $1000 for a seat that money can go to feeding a lot in children so I wonder he says he’s not a Republican but he’s a Democrat but I really wonder if he’s in Reno for me I don’t know
I have known your choices for musicians who tour with you is dependent on many factors. I would like to suggest a remarkable finger-picker who came to Nashville a number of years ago to learn how to play the guitar. He figured he should move from his native England to the mecca of finger-picking: Nashville. Here he is in an informal performance in a guitar store at the 2018 Chet Atkins Appreciation Society. He is super-human...and still maintains a modest perspective on his gifts. https://youtu.be/RCGGG9piAGY
OK confession time I missed out I’m buying a ticket to see you in Brookfield, so I went right away to see about Madison and I seen the prices I sort of became i in mature Even though I’m 71 and here’s the bad part I am a socialist. I try to be more like Bernie 0 yea we met about 20 years ago at a political fund raiser in Madison Wis the great Northern Woods we are the guys that provide the wood to make the boats to put on lake Wobegon have a good day. GK.
Prospects and the goal of treatment is exactly what we should all be asking our doctors after 80 years or so. I'll be asking my 88 year-old mother's doctors the same thing.
This is odd...making a comment on comments. This past week you celebrated your 81st birthday, which makes you younger that Bob Dylan, the same age as Paul McCartney and just a year older than Mick Jagger. They are still touring occasionally too. I am glad you and your contemporaries are still on the road entertaining people of all ages.
"...making a comment on comments." I'd never thought about that and it cracked me up. Now I'm making a comment to a comment that made a comment on comments! Might you have an additional comment on my comment to your comment on comments? I might add, in this comment, that I'm retired and have way too much slack time in my days.
And so ad infinitum!
I feel obliged to the surgeons who extended my life to make the surplus amount to something. All that incredible skill and science shouldn't wind up permitting me to sit and watch golf tournaments.
Absolutely. I retired in early 2019, sat for 18 months during Covid, and returned to the workforce when I finally couldn’t stand the inertia any longer. I make a small contribution to the greater good and receive some compensation in return. Seems like a fair deal.
It's like I take all of these meds, thankfully provided by the VA, to keep me alive a little longer so I can complain about all of these meds I must take.
Are there moose in Maine
Or is that the gopher state
If there are moose in Maine
Then I’ll gladly eat my plate
A few weeks ago you mentioned your most recent book didn’t sell well. I immediately got it, read it (finished it yesterday) and loved it. However, I got it from the library so it won’t show up in sales numbers. Just remember there are many of us out there who still read your books.
Me, Too! I think of all those discarded books, and wish I had just one to tuck away and read, and reread at will! Too bad you didn't set aside a few hundred for those of us who didn't know what we were missing!
You might be able to get used ones on Amazon.
Regarding monarchical singing, might I suggest the version we were taught as kids:
King George he had a date,
He got home very late,
We heard him sing.
Queen Mary was very sore,
And at a half past four,
She met him at the door...
God Save the King!
Hey, we learned that too! But we learned it from bad kids, not in school.
Thank you so much for that video clip of Mary Oliver reading her work! My husband and I have a ritual (almost daily) of choosing a heart from the velvet bag - each one stamped with a positive word - and then taking turns reading an Oliver poem. It's a great way to begin the day!
Steven Cornwell: Recently, I'm getting more than my fill of experience with the "Gambling Industry!" By a long, tenuous thread of introductions, I ended up with a "couch surfer" from the Former Soviet Union. He had paid $5,000 to marry a (former Ukrainian) American, who paid equally just to not be seen as an "Old Maid." That didn't work out. He had done yard work for me, so when she kicked him out, he moved into what used to be my brother's room upstairs. He has a bit of a low-paying job, but two immediate needs. One, he's hooked on nicotine, so he drives out to an Indian reservation periodically to by cigarettes by the carton. Two, He has two lower front teeth, Just Two! He has to eat soft foods, smoothies, etc., because he has no ability whatsoever to chew his food.
He makes about $400 /week. With free lodging, and a limited appetite, he could get along nicely on that. However, he has a "Good Luck Charm!", he thinks, in the large image of a wolf that sits above our fireplace. He keeps thinking that one of these days, he's going to hit The Jackpot at the local Gambling Palace with some Lucky BINGO Card! HAH! The fact of the matter is that he probably spends $100 or more a week just driving back and forth to the Casino. Added to that, he has to pay $200 for a BINGO card, which lasts him for the length of a particular session - say, 5-10 pm.
I'm pretty sure, if he kept an account book: Cards Bought per months, WInnings per month - he'd quickly observe that it's the Casion that's "The Big Winner!" But I'm being "cool-headed" and "Rational" about this. As part of our agreement - I'm currently without transportation, so he takes me to our local library and picks me up a couple of hours later. If something happens, and I'm a little late, and this bites into his BINGO time, My GOSH! "THIS IS AN ADDICT!" Hs whole behavior shouts at me!
The thing is, folks like my upstairs "couch surfer" are often kept out of the public limelight. There, off on some Native American Reservation, folks at the grocery store, or on a public bus, rarely see that "I GOTTA GO!" panic in an habituated gambler's eyes, if they're not "At Their Lucky Seat At A Lucky Time!" This fellow needs false teeth. He'd have to give up a couple of months of BINGO, at least, to have the ability to chew once again. If he could kick the nicotine habit, that might be a little more "Cash on Hand," but once again, it's not a solution. He took a gamble in coming to the US - signing a marriage certificate with a woman he knew nothing about - one with grown daughters/ cum boyfriends - and coming to a place where he has had to pick up the language as he goes along. Sometimes, thinking about it, t almost seems like "Jumping Off A Cliff Without A Parachute!"
Well, I know! The world is full of many different kinds of people. But I don't have much respect for those who prey on other people's addictions! The world is complicated enough as it is, just filling in the "Necessary Blanks!"
(And, as to those folks, Good Democrats who provide us with firm leadership, such as Our Qualified and Intelligent Host, are certainly among the "GOOD GUYS"! )
My brother won $1,000,000 ($410,000 after taxes) on a Massachusetts scratch ticket last summer and my brother-in-law's parents did also, about 30 years ago. I have never bought a lottery ticket myself, but I have been given some as gifts and won $10.00 once.
If I subscribe, do I start getting the audio thought for the day with a poem? I miss the sound of GK’s voice every day at breakfast. I have saved scores of the morning talk, metered out when my wife and I can enjoy GK together.
Thank you for the Mary Oliver clip! That was my mother's favorite poem in her later years. We read Wild Geese many times together. Now in my retired years, I get the comforting feeling from her poem that I think my mom felt. I wish my mom could have seen Mary Oliver's reading.
Dear Garrison, recently you wrote "Betrayal is poisonous and I see it in the lives of people I once was angry at. But 81 is too old for anger. The prevailing mood is gratitude." I am 67 and moved into the "un-angry" phase when I turned 65. Now nothing seems to bother me except an occasional physical issue related to still playing ice hockey three times per week. What I'm trying to say besides, thank you for your spirit and guidance is it is so much better to leave the grief out of your life then to fight it on a daily basis. Keep the powder dry!
Just curious, why do many MDs incorporate it into their names? Why do you want me to know this? Best wishes.
Garrison, thank you for such an empathetic and wise response to Calista. Very gracious and caring.
Glen Bengson
Powell, OH
I'm a 75-year-old widower planning to marry again after 5 years alone. We both want a small, simple ceremony. So I seek the wisdom of a fellow senior. Do I need to tell siblings, or anyone, in advance, or may we just spring it on everyone after the fact? My two siblings aren't close enough to attend without about a week's notice, and we will certainly visit them eventually. Maybe they wouldn't want to come, and would see an invitation as a gift request. May I exclude them with a clear conscience?
It's not exclusion. You're 75. This ceremony belongs to you and her and if small and simple is what you want, bravo, it's yours. Family is complicated. Do the ceremony exactly as you wish and that same day drop a line to the siblings to announce the happy fact.
Are used to have great respect for Garrison Keillor. I enjoy his writing but after seeing the prices he gets for his show at Madison Wisconsin $1000 for a seat that money can go to feeding a lot in children so I wonder he says he’s not a Republican but he’s a Democrat but I really wonder if he’s in Reno for me I don’t know
That may not be all there is to it! Perhaps this is a "donation for a charity" sort of thing that is wrapped up in the asking price???
Go online and you'll see that the top price is $79. Nobody in their right mind would pay $1000 and I do shows for people in their right minds.
Just delineating myself from anyone else that bears my name.
Dear Garrison,
I have known your choices for musicians who tour with you is dependent on many factors. I would like to suggest a remarkable finger-picker who came to Nashville a number of years ago to learn how to play the guitar. He figured he should move from his native England to the mecca of finger-picking: Nashville. Here he is in an informal performance in a guitar store at the 2018 Chet Atkins Appreciation Society. He is super-human...and still maintains a modest perspective on his gifts. https://youtu.be/RCGGG9piAGY
OK confession time I missed out I’m buying a ticket to see you in Brookfield, so I went right away to see about Madison and I seen the prices I sort of became i in mature Even though I’m 71 and here’s the bad part I am a socialist. I try to be more like Bernie 0 yea we met about 20 years ago at a political fund raiser in Madison Wis the great Northern Woods we are the guys that provide the wood to make the boats to put on lake Wobegon have a good day. GK.
Prospects and the goal of treatment is exactly what we should all be asking our doctors after 80 years or so. I'll be asking my 88 year-old mother's doctors the same thing.