Wonderful column ! Always good to land without crashing, thank you to all the great pilots out there ! I have a friend who spent a lifetime on Wall Street and now he is becoming the Family Historian. Like you, most of his family is uninterested but a few are and for them he has traced ancestors back to the days of Moses- - or some such thing. At any rate, way back. And I’m amazed that coming from an exotic world of shorts and longs, puts and calls, tranches and derivatives ( sounds like testing flavors) that he is deeply interested in the mystery of why he can’t find who Mary Latham’s husband was in 1856 or some such thing.
Should add to the above that it really doesn’t matter if his family thinks it’s a crazy hobby, he loves it and that is what really matters ! To have passion and interest, to think and do. My friend is 81 and is active and thinking and doing every day- like you, an Energizer Bunny still going and going and going!
Oh we are glad you will do octogenarian stand-up. Then you can do nonagenarian sit-down, like George Burns did at the Carlton Celebrity Room in Bloomington. Mom and I smiled and laughed til our faces hurt. Get a stool.
Sounds like a plan, Mr. K. Someone needs to be the historian and story-teller and that's you. I remember us kids gathered round Aunt Hilda visiting from Saskatchewan, where many Scotch Irish came and we'd hear her stories and verses and songs. These memories still ring in my belfry, as do many of your tales, true or likely. Tom KING
I’m not sure how useful I am, but I continue to collect a paycheck, which is some evidence of self-worth. All but one of my five surviving siblings and I are past 70, a few beyond 80. We find ourselves taking turns as family historians. Last night’s text exchange focused on the manure pile behind the barn and a heated debate about who pushed the wheel barrow farthest. Several claimed the title, but as usual, we failed to reach a consensus.
I have never been able to explain adequately why I am still working way past “retirement age” but I’m not a writer. You explained it beautifully so now all I have to do is send someone this column!!! Thank you, Garrison Keillor! I have loved you since the first years of PHC but maybe never more than after reading this. Thank you. Happy Christmas!!!!
Thanks, I love your writings. I'm wondering if you've read Bob Dylan's new book The Philosophy of Modern Song. I'm enjoying it a lot. Would love your comments on it.
One of the dozen odd times I came home through SFO I was seated next to a beautiful college age Chinese girl who kept to herself, reading a book written in Chinese. Obviously her first time landing here, because - you or others here may be familiar with it - the runway I always get is the one that looks like they're setting the plane down into the water, I mean it really does. The poor dear panicked and bounced around a bit until the wheels hit the ground. I gently patted her on the forearm and asked if she was okay, she smiled, nodded and said yes and we shared a small giggle. That landing has over time become a source of amusement for me and I sometimes look around to see if I can spot anyone panicking in those few seconds.
Wonderful column ! Always good to land without crashing, thank you to all the great pilots out there ! I have a friend who spent a lifetime on Wall Street and now he is becoming the Family Historian. Like you, most of his family is uninterested but a few are and for them he has traced ancestors back to the days of Moses- - or some such thing. At any rate, way back. And I’m amazed that coming from an exotic world of shorts and longs, puts and calls, tranches and derivatives ( sounds like testing flavors) that he is deeply interested in the mystery of why he can’t find who Mary Latham’s husband was in 1856 or some such thing.
Should add to the above that it really doesn’t matter if his family thinks it’s a crazy hobby, he loves it and that is what really matters ! To have passion and interest, to think and do. My friend is 81 and is active and thinking and doing every day- like you, an Energizer Bunny still going and going and going!
You're talking to a man who cannot this morning open my investment account online because I can't get the name and password right. Oh well.
Happens to the best of us ! Shall we just say that the important thing is that you do have an investment account and that you tried to open it !
Just surviving is good, too. Beauty even in the storm.
ACCUMULATING SNOW WEDNESDAY FOLLOWED BY GROUND BLIZZARD AND
DANGEROUSLY COLD CONDITIONS THURSDAY AND FRIDAY... ...TRAVEL
THURSDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH FRIDAY NIGHT COULD BE IMPOSSIBLE AND
LIFE-THREATENING...
Snow will overspread the region 😊
Thanks. We're snug in our apt.
Your recent referral to "metal" music triggered this.
As a person on an ever accelerating run up/down toward age seventy, I find that elaborately wrought satire in the "young" can still give me joy.
Recent case in point: https://youtu.be/NmxFxBiCrL4
Meaningless, yet somehow delightful.
Possibly offensive, of course, but impossible to take seriously.
Be well. Carry on. Happy Yule. :)
Oh we are glad you will do octogenarian stand-up. Then you can do nonagenarian sit-down, like George Burns did at the Carlton Celebrity Room in Bloomington. Mom and I smiled and laughed til our faces hurt. Get a stool.
Thistle Missile: more, please. Don’t serve us the appetizer then kick us out of the restaurant!
Sounds like a plan, Mr. K. Someone needs to be the historian and story-teller and that's you. I remember us kids gathered round Aunt Hilda visiting from Saskatchewan, where many Scotch Irish came and we'd hear her stories and verses and songs. These memories still ring in my belfry, as do many of your tales, true or likely. Tom KING
I’m not sure how useful I am, but I continue to collect a paycheck, which is some evidence of self-worth. All but one of my five surviving siblings and I are past 70, a few beyond 80. We find ourselves taking turns as family historians. Last night’s text exchange focused on the manure pile behind the barn and a heated debate about who pushed the wheel barrow farthest. Several claimed the title, but as usual, we failed to reach a consensus.
Thanks Garrison.
I wonder when stand-up comedy will become sit-down comedy, for the comfort of veteran performers. Then lie-down comedy, then silence.
and it is in the telling that we receive. May the storied world continue to live on. Thank you
I have never been able to explain adequately why I am still working way past “retirement age” but I’m not a writer. You explained it beautifully so now all I have to do is send someone this column!!! Thank you, Garrison Keillor! I have loved you since the first years of PHC but maybe never more than after reading this. Thank you. Happy Christmas!!!!
Thanks, I love your writings. I'm wondering if you've read Bob Dylan's new book The Philosophy of Modern Song. I'm enjoying it a lot. Would love your comments on it.
I read a dismissive review of it and so haven't picked it up.
I am always worried about pets and the elderly to the point I do not much enjoy bad weather like I used to, nor the cold.
One of the dozen odd times I came home through SFO I was seated next to a beautiful college age Chinese girl who kept to herself, reading a book written in Chinese. Obviously her first time landing here, because - you or others here may be familiar with it - the runway I always get is the one that looks like they're setting the plane down into the water, I mean it really does. The poor dear panicked and bounced around a bit until the wheels hit the ground. I gently patted her on the forearm and asked if she was okay, she smiled, nodded and said yes and we shared a small giggle. That landing has over time become a source of amusement for me and I sometimes look around to see if I can spot anyone panicking in those few seconds.
Thanks for sharing what it is like to grow old and not give up.