I just wanted to let folks know that over this last weekend Audible released the audiobook version of Garrison’s new book “Cheerfulness”.
(I’ve really been looking forward to this release.
To be clear, I’ve always been a fan of GK’s writing. I have (print) copies of, I believe, all of his books, and have always enjoyed reading them.
However, his last few books --“Serenity’s at 70, Gaiety at 80”, his memoir “That Time of Year”-- have had such a “personal” tone, that I’ve found that they are perfect for listening. In that so-familiar voice, it’s like listening to an old, dear friend tell you a story meant just for you.)
Jennifer who was known as Pearl, a jewel of an usher, I think nearly everyone who worked the front of the house at PHC in those days remembers it fondly. I certainly do, and remember you fondly as well.
A whole lot of shakin' loose what needs such shaking. Twain also said, "Commonsense ain't near as common as most folks think." So drop our fences, we need our neighbor's two cents too.
Dearest Garrison Keillor and Friends, I'm on limited budget, so I truly appreciate your kindness in providing some free content. I have enjoyed all of your books (from library) and radio content. Many wonderful soothing road trips were enhanced while singing along with you and your friends! Thank you so very much!
When I was a kid, every year, regardless of which relative’s home we were at that year, the centerpiece of Thanksgiving dinner was always the Relish Plate, invariably served on the large, cut-glass platter (which, so far as I recall, was never used for any other purpose).
In addition to all the standard appetizer-y items --carrot sticks, radishes, olives, small celery stalks, etc-- we also had my favorite: the little, green, sweet gherkin pickles.
For some reason, we never had them at any other time of the year, so from my earliest memories gherkins have been part of my hard-wiring as an essential ingredient of the warm wonder that is Thanksgiving dinner.
With the result that now, more than my three score and ten years later, it is the one thing, second only to being surrounded by family, that I insist on having each year.
Interesting what random childhood memories become part of us as adults.
You have “metamorphed” into a big city guy, reveling in the activities offered in the “Big Apple”, while retaining sufficient anonymity as an Octogenarian among the Young. Huzzah! However, you must miss the joys of small town Minnesota July festivals. I’m talking about the Anoka 4th of July parade, the Coon Rapids Carnival and Vendor Bazaar, Chanhassen’s American Bootleg and the “not to be missed” my former hometown’s Lakeville Pan-O-Prog (Short for panorama of progress, if you haven’t already guessed-which you did). This year’s events include: Junior Royalty, Pickleball, Miss Lakeville Scholarships, Baby Crawl-A-Thon, Euchre tournament, Ice Cream social, Pet show, Pedal Tractor Pull, Brats & Bingo and more! Sadly, my favorite event, the Cow Chip Distance Throwing contest is no longer held. Bovine protests? This event required great skill, not only the frisbee-like throwing of the chip but, most importantly, cow chip selection. Should you ever decide to enter, select a chip that is dry but with substance, sufficiently firm, easily grasped and as aerodynamically shaped as possible. That and a strong arm will win you the trophy … a plaque bearing your name embedded in a varnished, laminated cow chip. Perhaps that’s why the event was discontinued.
Oh, Dennis! And here I drove through Anoka a time or two, and never got to see the Cow Chip Distance Throwing contest! How Delightful!
We "city Folks" bought a ten-acre farm in Southern California. A work camp for migrant workers from Mexico was right down the hill. At the end of our workdays, we'd get together and play volleyball until it turned dark. "Pega-Le!" ("Spike It!") was the key expression from the opposing team. When I was in the front row, I'd make vigorous dives, tap the ball up to my Mexican fellow player, who would then return the ball over the net, "unearthed." The guys would joke a bit, that "Susanna plays volleyball from the ground!" Nevertheless, it kept the scores more-or-less equal, since our team didn't have anyone on it who could leap up nearly a yard to reach over the top of the net!
"Those who play together, stay together!" I think it's important for folks to find congenial ways to interact outside the working environment. I can just imagine prairie folks finding dry cow pies, and making a game of it! Thanks for broadening my horizons!
A few weeks or perhaps months back there was some commentary on books and writers. I'd like to suggest the fly-fishing writer John Gierach, whom you may have read. He did an o-mage to you in one of his books, a chapter something like "A quiet time in East Big fish." Mr. Gierach grew up in the midwest but has been living in Colorado for some time. His unusually long chapter, "The Fishing Car," in a book titled "The View From Rat Lake" is one of the funniest things I've ever read. If you haven't yet read him, then I recommend and hope you find him a joy as I continue to do.
JFL's granddaughter at 5 years old has a heart of gold! I would hope she maintains that innocence in a world that doesn't necessarily appreciate kindness. She brought tears to my eyes, as well, an effect I always associated with 'softies' but as I approached my 70's and having passed the 3/4 century mark I seem to have joined that crowd.
I just received, today, a set of cassettes,Winter Spring Summer and Fall and some kindly threw in a 'Humor from Lake Woebegon.' Now I have to hunt up a cassette player to listen to them, It would seem they've become obsolete...
I had an "OH, WOW! " reaction to "Big Head, D's" explanation that the desire to help others resides in the hypothalamus! When I worked in a scientific library, I used to soak up all I could find in biomedical journals about "Why we are the way we are," biochemical/neurobiology-type articles.
And here I thought It was all because I had been a Girl Scout! Every meeting began with this pledge:
"Upon My Honor, I will Try / To do my duty/ To God On High! / TO HELP ALL OTHER PEOLPE OUT/ and to live the life of a true Girl Scout.
Now, though, I wonder??? Are some of us born with enlarged hypothalamuses, or does "Practice Make Perfect!"? That is - if those of us who took our Scouting promises seriously began helping out our friends, neighbors, and "Little Old Ladies" we saw on the streets, did all the "Thank You's" and "God Bless Yous", etc. we received give us reinforcement for these beneficent activities?
As for the size of your magnificent head, "God Bless You!" Wherever your proactive humanitarian and congenial impulses came from, they certainly have made Our World a Better Place! And I'm not just talking about the US, or even "traditionally English-speaking countries" - but wherever around the globe that APHC has become available to listeners!
This comment focuses on the desire to help others. Beyond that, one of the great strengths of APHC is its inclusiveness! Class, gender, race, ethnicity, religious affiliation, national allegiance - I can't think of another program on the airwaves , visual or audio, that has been as inclusive as AHPC! And, here, it all began, perhaps, in a little cemetery in the prairie, with some immigrants who had come for a few years, and realigned their allegiances for their lifetime to their plots of Prairie earth!
A note to my fellow readers:
I just wanted to let folks know that over this last weekend Audible released the audiobook version of Garrison’s new book “Cheerfulness”.
(I’ve really been looking forward to this release.
To be clear, I’ve always been a fan of GK’s writing. I have (print) copies of, I believe, all of his books, and have always enjoyed reading them.
However, his last few books --“Serenity’s at 70, Gaiety at 80”, his memoir “That Time of Year”-- have had such a “personal” tone, that I’ve found that they are perfect for listening. In that so-familiar voice, it’s like listening to an old, dear friend tell you a story meant just for you.)
Jennifer who was known as Pearl, a jewel of an usher, I think nearly everyone who worked the front of the house at PHC in those days remembers it fondly. I certainly do, and remember you fondly as well.
A whole lot of shakin' loose what needs such shaking. Twain also said, "Commonsense ain't near as common as most folks think." So drop our fences, we need our neighbor's two cents too.
Dearest Garrison Keillor and Friends, I'm on limited budget, so I truly appreciate your kindness in providing some free content. I have enjoyed all of your books (from library) and radio content. Many wonderful soothing road trips were enhanced while singing along with you and your friends! Thank you so very much!
Good morning, Garrison
An additional note about “relish plates”.
When I was a kid, every year, regardless of which relative’s home we were at that year, the centerpiece of Thanksgiving dinner was always the Relish Plate, invariably served on the large, cut-glass platter (which, so far as I recall, was never used for any other purpose).
In addition to all the standard appetizer-y items --carrot sticks, radishes, olives, small celery stalks, etc-- we also had my favorite: the little, green, sweet gherkin pickles.
For some reason, we never had them at any other time of the year, so from my earliest memories gherkins have been part of my hard-wiring as an essential ingredient of the warm wonder that is Thanksgiving dinner.
With the result that now, more than my three score and ten years later, it is the one thing, second only to being surrounded by family, that I insist on having each year.
Interesting what random childhood memories become part of us as adults.
You have “metamorphed” into a big city guy, reveling in the activities offered in the “Big Apple”, while retaining sufficient anonymity as an Octogenarian among the Young. Huzzah! However, you must miss the joys of small town Minnesota July festivals. I’m talking about the Anoka 4th of July parade, the Coon Rapids Carnival and Vendor Bazaar, Chanhassen’s American Bootleg and the “not to be missed” my former hometown’s Lakeville Pan-O-Prog (Short for panorama of progress, if you haven’t already guessed-which you did). This year’s events include: Junior Royalty, Pickleball, Miss Lakeville Scholarships, Baby Crawl-A-Thon, Euchre tournament, Ice Cream social, Pet show, Pedal Tractor Pull, Brats & Bingo and more! Sadly, my favorite event, the Cow Chip Distance Throwing contest is no longer held. Bovine protests? This event required great skill, not only the frisbee-like throwing of the chip but, most importantly, cow chip selection. Should you ever decide to enter, select a chip that is dry but with substance, sufficiently firm, easily grasped and as aerodynamically shaped as possible. That and a strong arm will win you the trophy … a plaque bearing your name embedded in a varnished, laminated cow chip. Perhaps that’s why the event was discontinued.
Oh, Dennis! And here I drove through Anoka a time or two, and never got to see the Cow Chip Distance Throwing contest! How Delightful!
We "city Folks" bought a ten-acre farm in Southern California. A work camp for migrant workers from Mexico was right down the hill. At the end of our workdays, we'd get together and play volleyball until it turned dark. "Pega-Le!" ("Spike It!") was the key expression from the opposing team. When I was in the front row, I'd make vigorous dives, tap the ball up to my Mexican fellow player, who would then return the ball over the net, "unearthed." The guys would joke a bit, that "Susanna plays volleyball from the ground!" Nevertheless, it kept the scores more-or-less equal, since our team didn't have anyone on it who could leap up nearly a yard to reach over the top of the net!
"Those who play together, stay together!" I think it's important for folks to find congenial ways to interact outside the working environment. I can just imagine prairie folks finding dry cow pies, and making a game of it! Thanks for broadening my horizons!
A few weeks or perhaps months back there was some commentary on books and writers. I'd like to suggest the fly-fishing writer John Gierach, whom you may have read. He did an o-mage to you in one of his books, a chapter something like "A quiet time in East Big fish." Mr. Gierach grew up in the midwest but has been living in Colorado for some time. His unusually long chapter, "The Fishing Car," in a book titled "The View From Rat Lake" is one of the funniest things I've ever read. If you haven't yet read him, then I recommend and hope you find him a joy as I continue to do.
Regards, M. T. Lundholm
JFL's granddaughter at 5 years old has a heart of gold! I would hope she maintains that innocence in a world that doesn't necessarily appreciate kindness. She brought tears to my eyes, as well, an effect I always associated with 'softies' but as I approached my 70's and having passed the 3/4 century mark I seem to have joined that crowd.
I just received, today, a set of cassettes,Winter Spring Summer and Fall and some kindly threw in a 'Humor from Lake Woebegon.' Now I have to hunt up a cassette player to listen to them, It would seem they've become obsolete...
I had an "OH, WOW! " reaction to "Big Head, D's" explanation that the desire to help others resides in the hypothalamus! When I worked in a scientific library, I used to soak up all I could find in biomedical journals about "Why we are the way we are," biochemical/neurobiology-type articles.
And here I thought It was all because I had been a Girl Scout! Every meeting began with this pledge:
"Upon My Honor, I will Try / To do my duty/ To God On High! / TO HELP ALL OTHER PEOLPE OUT/ and to live the life of a true Girl Scout.
Now, though, I wonder??? Are some of us born with enlarged hypothalamuses, or does "Practice Make Perfect!"? That is - if those of us who took our Scouting promises seriously began helping out our friends, neighbors, and "Little Old Ladies" we saw on the streets, did all the "Thank You's" and "God Bless Yous", etc. we received give us reinforcement for these beneficent activities?
As for the size of your magnificent head, "God Bless You!" Wherever your proactive humanitarian and congenial impulses came from, they certainly have made Our World a Better Place! And I'm not just talking about the US, or even "traditionally English-speaking countries" - but wherever around the globe that APHC has become available to listeners!
This comment focuses on the desire to help others. Beyond that, one of the great strengths of APHC is its inclusiveness! Class, gender, race, ethnicity, religious affiliation, national allegiance - I can't think of another program on the airwaves , visual or audio, that has been as inclusive as AHPC! And, here, it all began, perhaps, in a little cemetery in the prairie, with some immigrants who had come for a few years, and realigned their allegiances for their lifetime to their plots of Prairie earth!