Being read to

Ages ago when I knew I was going to have to spend a whole day tearing up carpet and I was sick to death of all the music I had, I went to the library and got a book on tape.

(am I dating myself here?)

I dragged my boom box

(again: okay, we're talking 1997)

over to the area in question and magically spent the day listening to the story of a British newspaperman who moved to a farm in Cornwall with his artist wife after WWII and spent the rest of his life writing about the commercial flower growing operation they ran there, in books she illustrated.

Along the way they acquired a cat, which was the point of this particular book, and I was so smitten with the angle he took on this otherwise minor event that I got a bunch of his other books out of the library to read.

Can I remember now the title or author, particularly now that I'd like to read or hear it again? Of course not.

However, I did remember how nice it was to be read to, and when some knitting friends suggested I try audiobooks rather than old movies as accompaniment to this yarn obsession that has beset me, I got more or less on it.

Which is how I ended up on the elliptical machine at my gym on Monday listening to the opening chapter of Queen Lucia, courtesy of Librivox and the recommendation of my friend Kathi. Between the music and the people walking around and my own internal monologue

(entirely related to why exactly did I forget my water bottle and how many minutes more had I programmed in already and wasn't it getting a bit warm? and so forth)

it was hard to follow, but yesterday I tried it again with my knitting in hand and - yes. Got it. Loved it.

Today: it's back to the gym, with Queen Lucia and a bottle of water. Let's hope Chapter Three gets me through more than 15 minutes of ellipticizing, shall we? And also that I remember the water bottle.