Chris OConnor wrote: General discussion of The Secret Garden I'm curious if anyone else is listening to this book on audio book. LibriVox has the entire book available for download so I've been listening while on the exercise bike at the gym. Actually, I've listened to the book while driving too...which is rather dangerous and somewhat illegal. Shhhhh [b]If you're pressed for time and struggle to fit print books into your life you really should look into audio books. They tend to be much more expensive than print books, but they sure are wonderful when your life is hectic and you can't find time to sit and read. LibriVox is great because all of their books are in the public domain, which means they're FREE! And last time I checked FREE is a fantastic deal no matter how you slice it.

We love audio books here. My children listen to them all the time, my 13 year old son even has audio books on his MP3 player! they complain when we don't have enough from the library. You are right though, when driving and listening to an audio book you can get lost in the story. Why is it illegal? I am not sure I understand what you meant by that. We get audio books free from the library and even small libraries have lending systems so you can get audio books from other places!

Yesterday, my Mary arrived. I stopped by the nursing home to visit my hysterically incapacitated Aunt Emily, who has come to believe that her back is broken and that she will die if she moves, even to feed herself. A man was putting heavy socks on her, and apparently he is the person in charge of physical therapy there.

"Roll over this way," he ordered. Emily frowned and got red in the face, but he rolled her over anyway, out of her dead-as-a-log position.

"Now you are going to sit up," he said. Emily began to sing, "I'm going to fall, I'm going to fall. . . ."

"Have I let you fall before?" he asked, and pulled her up into sitting position and sat her on the side of the bed. After another chorus of "I'm going to fall, I'm going to fall. . . ." (nothing about back pain, note) he made her stand up on her own legs and sit in a special rolling chair for transport to the physical therapy room. I have never been able to get her to do anything except I insisted that she break her dead-as-a-log act and wave to me when I visited, and this guy -- who's undoubtedly had a great deal of practice -- had her simi-mobile in short order. Most impressive. I think she might eventually recover enough to get out of nursing home if only to get away from the physical therapy

Tom

Thank you Tom, I am pleased for you and for Aunt Emily.

It just seems to take the right person, with the right attitude, a sort of 'forceful compassion????'.

Penelope, my opinion is that my aunt would not be in this fix if it were not for the thoughtless compassion showered upon her. She found that she could get sympathy and attention from her aches and pains, real or imaginary, and her condition snowballed to a total incapacity as she wallowed in self-pity. Being allowed to enjoy total incapacity for two months has definitely set her back, but her health still appears good enough that recovery is possible, thanks to this new-found Mary.

Compassion, yes, but not without judgment.

Tom