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Dearest Mr. Keillor, I was

January 23, 2006 |

Dearest Mr. Keillor,
I was just sitting at my computer, trying to be productive and thought that, instead, I should write and thank you for hosting "A Prairie Home Companion" all these years. I am a northern-Minnesotan living in Ohio after a stint in northern Ghana. Listening to your show has enabled me to take a little piece of home wherever I go. While I was in Ghana, it was reassuring to hear your midwestern voice talking about my home through the months of trying to teach trigonometry, optics or balancing chemical equations to 200 students with mediocre English skills in 140-degree heat. (It was a dry heat.) Thank you.

Warmly, and with fond thoughts of coffee and pine trees,

Katherine Almendinger
Columbus, OH.

You young people lead such adventurous lives, Katherine, and it's a privilege to get a glimpse of one now and then. My top lifetime temperature probably is around 110 and I can't remember where that was ---- guess it affected my brain cells. But I can sort of imagine a tall girl from northern Minnesota in Ghana patiently going over trigonometry with her class as perspiration trickles down her face. She's wearing khaki shorts and a sleeveless blouse and sandals and she feels greasy and slightly faint but she keeps soldiering on. You can do these things when you're young. But when you get to be a certain age, Katherine, you may want to think about returning to the comforts of the north woods. That little cabin in the birch trees, the frozen lake, the sauna, the big window looking out onto the bird feeder, the bluejay vs. the chickadees, the smell of coffee and woodsmoke and pancakes with lingonberry jam.

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