It's good to be a nice person--to say nice things, to do nice things, to write nice things--but I declare an end to the use of the word nice. Nice is what you say when you can't think of any other adjective. Someone shows you a picture of their back yard--that's nice. Someone tells you about their afternoon adventure--that's nice. Or someone describes their childhood in great detail and sometimes with painstaking effort--that's nice. It's a lazy word, and it's non-descriptive. Nice is like mashed potatoes with noodles and chicken gravy all in a big pile on one plate with some canned corn for garnish. Everything is the same color and texture and base substance--starch (this is a favorite Amish dish). Nice is like a partly cloudy day in April when outside feels like inside, and you can't tell a difference between the lighting and the temperature of your living room and the lighting and temperature of your front yard. Nice is a glass of lukewarm water. ...

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I can just picture him strolling between Daniel's bank and the coffee shop in Stillman, or down to the grill in Lake Wobegon.
Hey, the Prairie Home Companion movie opens here soon. I take it everyone over there has seen it already (usually the case). If so, what's it like?
Prairie Home Companion wasn't a big hit here, but I don't think it was intended to be one. It has a limited audience, and surprisingly, a lot of people have never even heard of Garrison Keillor. I just had this discussion with a friend yesterday--I loved the movie because I love the show, and all the characters are there. It has a slim plot and moves very slowly, like Keillor, but that's exactly what I liked about it.
The cowboys are lovely.
I've been a big fan ever since Lake Wobegon Days first came out and we could buy "best of" cassettes of the show over here.
Now of course, it's available online. Whoopee for the internet!
I also subscribe to their "Writer's Almanac" which sends me a daily poem and some literary anniversaries (I suspect you get that one, too) …