Description
Book SynopsisAn anthology of Peter Smith’s captivating musings on being Minnesotan.
Trade Review"In his wonderful new book Peter Smith has assembled a year’s worth of short pieces that prove the true power of story lies not in the ability to reveal but to conjure. Visceral and poignant, these beautiful tales each catch and release a moment. Suddenly memories begin to flood like the Mississippi River in springtime. As he does on Minnesota Public Radio, whether it’s a crisp autumn day under a Hudson’s Bay blanket, a Little League game, or perhaps the best opening line ever in ‘Meditation on a Lawnmower,’ Peter reminds us that a year—a lifetime—is made of episodes, times with those we love, community, and family. In Peter’s world we are verbs not nouns, always changing, living, experiencing, and yet like the seasons, bound to come around again. These little gems, or at times more like Pop Rocks, burst forth; we belong." —Kevin Kling
"I’ve had the pleasure of knowing Peter for a long, long time. A great guy—and it turns out—a great writer. His radio commentaries on life in Minnesota are real jewels." —Gary Eichten
"Smith’s prose can have the flavor of Bill Bryson or of that old Minnesota standby Garrison Keillor. Other parts of Almanac are infused with an autumnal quality that’s movingly elegiac. Smith’s little volume is, overall, heartfelt and appealing." —Star Tribune
Table of ContentsContents
Preface
Porch Sofas
Off to College: A Parental Spreadsheet
School Starts This Morning
We Want to Go Back, Too
In Praise of Small-Town Football
Conflicted
Autumn Golf
An Open Letter to the City of Hopkins
Hudson's Bay Blankets
Splitting Wood
The Menu Changes
Good Autumn Reads
Darn Packers Fans
Election Night Radio
No-Bleeping-Vember
Thanksgiving Road Game
A Thanksgiving Lesson
An Amusing Pastime
North Country Fashion Statement
Winter Wimps
Together Again for the Holidays
Sulking in a Winter Wonderland
A Christmas Shopping Memory
Now It Can Be Christmas
Alas, Poor Taurus
Dog Days in the Ice Fishing Shack
The Inscrutable Finn
Crows
Real World Valentine's Day
A Timeless Saga
Split-level Shack-whacky
Contemplating Gutter Gloves
Thinking Ill of the Literate
Jogging Again
Talk about Your Golf Drives
Cooking with Grandma
Are You with Us? Or Are You One of Them?
Planting Corn
A Little Frugality, Por Favor
Lilac Season
Meditation on a Green Minivan
They're Back
What's the Rush?
A Tiny Discrepancy
Is Ambivalence the Perfect Father's Day Gift?
Tacky, Tacky, Tacky
People Watching at Lake Calhoun
Little League. Big Problem.
Thanks, Mom
Meditation on a Lawnmower
A Minnesota Must
On Finding a Bungee Cord
In Praise of Municipal Golf
Who Turned on the Air Conditioning?
Homegrown Tomatoes
Still Going Out for the Team
Start the State Fair without Me
A Fifties Flashback
Acorns and Toyotas
4 Sale
