Armchair Gardener

A few weeks ago, I needed the script of Arthur Miller's The Crucible in a hurry, and when I drew a blank in the bookshops, I went looking for it online. Web-savvy friends pointed me in the right direction, and I found what I needed, but along the way I came across a recorded performance at Audible.com, a subsidiary of Amazon. I wasn't sure I'd actually use a subscription, but I went for the free trial download anyway! It was an L.A. Theatre Works production, and very good.

I decided to take out a subscription. I like something interesting to listen to when I'm knitting. I'm a fan of online BBC radio, and TED Talks, but at Audible there are readings of unabridged novels and non-fiction, as well as performed narratives and dramatisations of plays - and I can hear samples before I buy.

So today, I've been listening (again) to my February selection, a performed narrative of Paul Fleischman's novel Seedfolks. It's so good - and so well done! And on this dull, cold still-winter day, with the one visible tree between autumn berries and spring buds,

and even my sunshine puddies struggling for the energy to nod at me,

(We preserve the happy fiction that I actually bought them for my husband....) I've been listening to this story of a community garden, and doing Jigzone puzzles of growing things. No aubergines, unfortunately. I think the aubergine is one of the most beautiful things the earth produces.

Incidentally, Paul's name caught my eye because I read Sid Fleischman's books when I was growing up. Chancy and the Grand Rascal, and Djingo Django were titles that shouted from the library shelves! Father and son. Marvellous.

.e