Learn by Listening Level 2

[00:00.46]My Parents|[00:02.70] My parents live in England, and I live in Canada.|[00:06.49] I don't see them often.|[00:08.04] They used to come and visit on a plane,|[00:10.34] and we would pick them up at Toronto airport.|[00:13.58] But now they are older|[00:15.38] and say the flight is too long for them.|[00:17.81] I went to visit them last year, with my son, their grandson.|[00:22.41] They live by the ocean, and we could hear|[00:25.96] the sound of the waves through the bedroom window|[00:28.45] and see the blue water of the English channel.|[00:31.31] There is an island with a castle on top in the bay.|[00:35.29] We walked many times on the beach|[00:37.53] and picked up pebbles and feathers.|[00:40.08] We visited the island and walked up the steep hill to the castle.|[00:44.56] My mother likes to cook.|[00:46.74] She makes delicious cakes and pies.|[00:49.66] We went for a hike and picked wild blackberries.|[00:53.14] She made them into a pie that smelled so good|[00:56.19] coming out of the oven and tasted so good on our plates.|[00:59.93] She has many cook books with recipes from all over the world|[01:04.09] and likes to try new things.|[01:06.46] She can make pastry very easily|[01:08.64] and rolls it with a rolling pin quickly.|[01:11.37] When I tried to make pastry, it sticks to the rolling pin,|[01:15.41] it has holes at the bottom of the pie, and it tastes like a rock!|[01:19.89] Her pastry is crisp and tender.|[01:23.00] My father likes to garden.|[01:24.99] He grows lettuce, carrots, potatoes, tomatoes,|[01:28.79] cucumbers and many flowers.|[01:31.53] When my mother was very ill last year, she had to stay in bed.|[01:35.63] He planted roses outside her bedroom window,|[01:38.93] so she could open the curtains and see them.|[01:41.98] Their house has small room with windows all around,|[01:45.21] and they plant seeds there in winter in small pots.|[01:48.63] The warmth from the sun makes the seeds grow,|[01:51.68] and in spring they are a good size to be planted outside.|[01:55.47] In the house beside them and in the house in front of them,|[01:59.46] there are older ladies whose husbands have died.|[02:02.38] These ladies do not drive, so my father takes my mother|[02:06.05] and the two ladies to the town for shopping every week.|[02:09.47] He helps one find her groceries because she cannot see well.|[02:14.20] He helps her take tapes of books from the library|[02:17.13] so she can listen to books instead of reading them|[02:20.30] because of her eyes.|[02:21.92] He helps them cut their grass and fix anything|[02:25.21] that is broken in the house.|[02:27.14] I am very proud of my parents;|[02:29.63] they are over eighty years old and often hurt|[02:33.11] when they move around.|[02:34.48] But still they help other people, and they help each other.|[02:38.27] They have been married for over fifty years,|[02:41.26] but still my father loves my mother enough to plant roses|[02:45.30] for her to cheer her up when she was ill.