Podcasts

I've been hearing about them forever. I may not be on top of digital developments, but I'm still conscious. I never looked into them. For starters, I have no idea how to go about making them appear on my phone, and then, I have no idea when I'd listen to them. I know I have more time because there are all these things I can't do these days, but I can't seem to find it. Anywhere.

On a road trip last winter, we stumbled across a radio show called, "A Way With Words." We both enjoyed it--all kinds of trivia about language. My husband, brilliant man that he is, found the podcast and had it ready for our next car trip.

He also found a couple of history podcasts. With hundreds of topics to choose from, we can always find something or someone we'd like to learn more about. Did  you know that Vincent Price, the star of old horror movies, was a passionate art collector and helped Jackie Kennedy choose the artwork for the White House?

As you might expect, I sometimes find myself arguing with "the experts." In one episode about Lucille Ball (she was a whole lot more than a great comedienne), they said that while filming "I Love Lucy," she had an absolute rule that Ricky Ricardo was never to be made to look foolish. Then they talked about the episode where Ricky was making dinner, put way too much rice in the pot and it boiled over onto the stove and floor. They said that it definitely made him look foolish.

I was surprised that historians, however young, didn't know that when the show began in 1951, while there were certainly men who cooked, it was not usual or expected. The scene was exaggerated, of course, but it was a mistake an inexperienced cook could make. You can't judge past comedy by today's standards.

These podcasts help pass the time, and they save my husband from the fate-worse-than-death of listening to me sing for hours on end.