Sam gets his wish
Time to punt that dreary photo down the page a bit. Alas, not with a new photo of my arch-shaped socks, which I adore and have already worn five or seven times. It’s still drizzly. Last night we had high winds, which are supposed to usher in a week of… more rain. Not to mention forty thousand more wet leaves to rake. Ah well. I made more pumpkin-apple soup, and we all know this is ideal knitting weather. On my friend Katherine’s recommendation, I ordered up some Georgette Heyer on tape from the library. Often I watch movies while knitting, but with three kinds of colorwork —the Ivy League vest for Katrin, Mom’s Three and One cardigan, and my brother’s Mad Argyle — competing for my time, I need to do more peering at my fingertips than usual. Katherine described Georgette Heyer as “Jane Austen Lite” — sounds like perfect knitting ambiance to me.
However, when I went to hunt for the five or six titles she’d recommended, it became apparent that my beloved library is a little behind the times: they have many of Heyer’s novels on tape, but only one was available on CD. Happily it was False Colours, which was on Katherine’s list. The only tape deck we have is in the car, and I don’t believe I want to move my gift-knitting operation out to the driveway. I’d probably kill the battery, for one. Also the light is very poor after dark. Although if I had taken my CD and knitting out there last night, I’d have noticed that we’d forgotten Mr. G’s cell phone in the car… and I might have remembered to lock the doors, thus preventing a prowling burglar from pinching the phone. Ouch. That was an expensive lesson in being forgetful + too trusting of general human decency. Our burglar didn’t take the tape deck, funnily enough, and apparently didn’t think much of our taste in music. We’re fortunate he or she wasn’t interested in stealing the car registration for identity theft. Just after easy pickings, I guess. Sigh.
I can’t help a little wry smile, despite being awfully sorry to have cost my husband this frustration, inconvenience, and expense. One of my favorite stories about my young cousin Sam is from when he was in preschool, and all the children were singing a precious little song about “May there always be…” with each kiddo to offer up something he hoped would endure forever. By the time they got to Sammie, they’d sung all kinds of things: “May there always be puppies, may there always be rainbows, may there always be grandmas, etc.” Sam’s contribution was, “May there always be BURGLARS!”
Posted: November 17th, 2009 at 11:58 am
Oh, I worked my through Georgette Heyer in my very early teens thanks to the wisdom of a Children’s Librarian who shepherded me into the adult section of our wonderful library and got me a special card. Obviously, I was an inveterate bookworm, no cool at all, but I loved those books although I haven’t thought of them in decades. What a wonderful pairing — Georgette Heyer books on tape and colourwork flying through your fingers. I’ll cross my fingers you can get the tapes you want and enjoy. (although I guess if there were finger-crossing to be done, it should have been done in time to save your guy’s phone — sorry about that!)
Posted: November 17th, 2009 at 1:45 pm
I love Georgette Heyer. She’s one of those authors that you can’t believe you’ve missed and are thrilled that she was so prolific. Favorites: The Grand Sophy, The Foundling, The Toll-Gate (which is more a mystery). Enjoy!
Posted: November 17th, 2009 at 1:49 pm
Oh, bummer. At least it was something replaceable that got stolen. I never leave my knitting in the car for that reason–the car can be replaced, ditto most of what’s inside, but my project and the hours of my life that went into it cannot!
Posted: November 17th, 2009 at 2:07 pm
Oh no, too bad about the phone. That Sam’s a hoot!
I’ve tried Georgette Hyer and just can’t get into her books. Something about the characters… Perhaps it’s better in audiobook format?
Posted: November 17th, 2009 at 2:44 pm
We had some teenagers steal my son’s wagon from our patio. Luckily my hubby was able to get it back since they just abandoned it. Nice of them to steal from a 14 month old!
Posted: November 17th, 2009 at 7:21 pm
May there always be burglars indeed. I love that story.
Posted: November 17th, 2009 at 8:44 pm
Those lazy burglars are a product of today’s economy. We had a rash of car thefts in our town over the summer. My husband lost his GPS and an ashtray full of change. They looked at his music but didn’t like classical – everything is still there.
We’re locking the car doors all the time now.
Posted: November 18th, 2009 at 6:54 am
Such a bummer. We had the same thing happen to us a few months ago, on the one night we forgot to lock the car. They took our change for tolls, as well as the ashtray it was in, and rifled through all of our stuff. Apparently they don’t think much of Bob Dylan, though, because all of our CDs were safe. Sorry about your husband’s phone! Did he have insurance?
Posted: November 18th, 2009 at 11:25 am
Dang. That stinks. Hopefully it won’t be too hard to replace.