seems I remember reading how Walter Cronkite liked to take a card table out to his corn patch with a long extension cord and a pot of salted water so he could pick a few ears and plunge them into the briny stream while almost still growing.
Classic piece, GK! My Irish and Scottish ancestors moved to Canada too. Saskatchewan, to be precise. They then moved to the prairie of western MN and NE South Dakota, where many different crops of corn, wheat and now soybeans filled many a truck on the way to a silo or railroad car.
It never made them rich, though, and it reminds me of that scene from "Gone with the Wind," where Scarlett's father Gerald O'Hara says, "Do you mean to tell me, Katie Scarlett O'Hara, that Tara, that land doesn't mean anything to you? Why, land is the only thing in the world worth workin' for, worth fightin' for, worth dyin' for, because it's the only thing that lasts."
And later Gerald adds before he passes on: "It will come to you, this love of the land. There's no gettin' away from it if you're Irish."
Irish (and later German, too) we were, and some of that land once the Stewarts and the Stapletons, is now the Stillsons.
Forget the big buildings and yachts. It's the land, Garrison. It's the land. No matter the lineage.
Well, here we go again - your "pandemic writing". I wrote before about you writing too much about...wait for it...YOU. Why all the "I" every sentence? "I" this, "I" that?? Write about what you see/observe. Describe. Otherwise, we're back to reading your diary. Frankly, I don't care that much about your personal life, your relationship with your wife, how old you feel. I've been listening/reading since...well, not quite '74, but soon after. And the enjoyment that came from all that writing/performing for all those years, was wise metaphorical descriptions of...again, wait for it...WHAT YOU OBSERVED in others. Maybe when this pandemic crap is under control you can return to what got you here in the 1st place.
GK - I'm just another geezer in Bellevue, WA. We even sang a duet (Beatles, "Here, There & Everywhere", as I recall?) in Marymoor Park on one of your visits out into the audience. I didn't mean to sound cranky - I just miss the writing that used to make so many people want to read it. These weekly diary entries are not that. In fact, they sometimes read like a sermon from from a pulpit, somewhere? If that is cranky, well...as Pope said "the jaundiced eye sees only yellow"? So, no joke - I just hope you can snap out of it. OK, that was smart-allecky. I was gonna erase it, but hey, you used to write smart-allecky stuff too? And it was FUNNY!! Really. No joke...
When you say that you "miss the writing that used to make so many people want to read it," you're claiming authority you don't have, not even close. I wish you well, have a good life.
Not an authoritative claim, just a personal assessment of what a portion of your long-time appreciators feel about these current missives. The folks that respond are likely responding only because your name is on it? A sentimental history for them that creates the illusion for you that what ever you write is as good as whatever you have written. Yet, it just reads like Mr. Blue? How did that work out for you? Some people think that the most important thing about what they're saying is not what they're saying, but the fact that it is they who are saying it. I bet you have encountered people like that?
Well, then I'll stop trying. I probably never should have started? But, as I think I said earlier, I got all yer stuff, bout 1/2 of which you've signed, and I continue to re-read some ("Love Me', "Pilgrims", lately) but mostly re-listen to the radio shows. I have enjoyed - been entertained by - your work @ 40 years, and I hope, I expect, to be able to continue enjoying it in the future. Have a good life, I wish you well.
Have enjoyed your stories as long as you have published them. There's a fine-edged focus in your writings that sharpens the good in our lives, and only a nick or two about the bad or disappointing. Keep focusing the focus.
Garrison, if I may call you that, I've been wanting to tell you for years how I love your columns. I read it in the newspaper for years. Looked forward to it. I like your blogs very much. I write also at maryannpetersen.com, which I don't expect you to look at but it's real. You inspire me like a good writing teacher. I write poetry sometimes and once won 3rd place in the state poetry contest, which feels more fun than first or second. Oh and also I've loved every single political statement you've made. Thank you for speaking up and writing it down. It is courageous and needed and a good example. Thank you for sharing your talent and good work. Oh, and for laugh out loud material, which is hard to find.
seems I remember reading how Walter Cronkite liked to take a card table out to his corn patch with a long extension cord and a pot of salted water so he could pick a few ears and plunge them into the briny stream while almost still growing.
It’s true. Corn sugars start breaking down as soon as it’s picked. It’s better when it’s only seconds from the cook pot.
Kermit Lynch likes corn with a Chablis. He also pairs it with popcorn made with dried thyme, salt and olive oil.
Laughter is so valuable to me. You win the prize for shaking free my rusty giggles.
It's such fun to read your mental rambles!
I think I dated Sister (she wasn’t anyone’s sister then) Faith years ago when she was a little faithless. Good times, good times.
Hi... just curious... I thought Van Morrison wrote “Have I Told You Lately That I Love You”... ?
Same title. Two different songs.
Classic piece, GK! My Irish and Scottish ancestors moved to Canada too. Saskatchewan, to be precise. They then moved to the prairie of western MN and NE South Dakota, where many different crops of corn, wheat and now soybeans filled many a truck on the way to a silo or railroad car.
It never made them rich, though, and it reminds me of that scene from "Gone with the Wind," where Scarlett's father Gerald O'Hara says, "Do you mean to tell me, Katie Scarlett O'Hara, that Tara, that land doesn't mean anything to you? Why, land is the only thing in the world worth workin' for, worth fightin' for, worth dyin' for, because it's the only thing that lasts."
And later Gerald adds before he passes on: "It will come to you, this love of the land. There's no gettin' away from it if you're Irish."
Irish (and later German, too) we were, and some of that land once the Stewarts and the Stapletons, is now the Stillsons.
Forget the big buildings and yachts. It's the land, Garrison. It's the land. No matter the lineage.
Love the harmony!
David, Pat, another tasty pairing is a Pinot Noir with a spreadable blue cheese on a Speculoos, a Belgium cookie.
So many grins elicited while reading this piece aloud! Thank you, GK
With all best wishes to you, every day!
And by the way, thoughts of you always...at Chautauqua...you and Tom Keith together in dramas and special moments...your books...
Well, here we go again - your "pandemic writing". I wrote before about you writing too much about...wait for it...YOU. Why all the "I" every sentence? "I" this, "I" that?? Write about what you see/observe. Describe. Otherwise, we're back to reading your diary. Frankly, I don't care that much about your personal life, your relationship with your wife, how old you feel. I've been listening/reading since...well, not quite '74, but soon after. And the enjoyment that came from all that writing/performing for all those years, was wise metaphorical descriptions of...again, wait for it...WHAT YOU OBSERVED in others. Maybe when this pandemic crap is under control you can return to what got you here in the 1st place.
This makes me curious: who are you? Where do you live? What made you so cranky? Is this a joke?
GK - I'm just another geezer in Bellevue, WA. We even sang a duet (Beatles, "Here, There & Everywhere", as I recall?) in Marymoor Park on one of your visits out into the audience. I didn't mean to sound cranky - I just miss the writing that used to make so many people want to read it. These weekly diary entries are not that. In fact, they sometimes read like a sermon from from a pulpit, somewhere? If that is cranky, well...as Pope said "the jaundiced eye sees only yellow"? So, no joke - I just hope you can snap out of it. OK, that was smart-allecky. I was gonna erase it, but hey, you used to write smart-allecky stuff too? And it was FUNNY!! Really. No joke...
When you say that you "miss the writing that used to make so many people want to read it," you're claiming authority you don't have, not even close. I wish you well, have a good life.
Not an authoritative claim, just a personal assessment of what a portion of your long-time appreciators feel about these current missives. The folks that respond are likely responding only because your name is on it? A sentimental history for them that creates the illusion for you that what ever you write is as good as whatever you have written. Yet, it just reads like Mr. Blue? How did that work out for you? Some people think that the most important thing about what they're saying is not what they're saying, but the fact that it is they who are saying it. I bet you have encountered people like that?
I'm sorry, sir, but the more you write the less you make sense.
Well, then I'll stop trying. I probably never should have started? But, as I think I said earlier, I got all yer stuff, bout 1/2 of which you've signed, and I continue to re-read some ("Love Me', "Pilgrims", lately) but mostly re-listen to the radio shows. I have enjoyed - been entertained by - your work @ 40 years, and I hope, I expect, to be able to continue enjoying it in the future. Have a good life, I wish you well.
Have enjoyed your stories as long as you have published them. There's a fine-edged focus in your writings that sharpens the good in our lives, and only a nick or two about the bad or disappointing. Keep focusing the focus.
Garrison, if I may call you that, I've been wanting to tell you for years how I love your columns. I read it in the newspaper for years. Looked forward to it. I like your blogs very much. I write also at maryannpetersen.com, which I don't expect you to look at but it's real. You inspire me like a good writing teacher. I write poetry sometimes and once won 3rd place in the state poetry contest, which feels more fun than first or second. Oh and also I've loved every single political statement you've made. Thank you for speaking up and writing it down. It is courageous and needed and a good example. Thank you for sharing your talent and good work. Oh, and for laugh out loud material, which is hard to find.