On Wind Chimes:

This morning I moved the last of my wind chimes outside. This I do knowing full well that they may still be snowed on a time or two before the nice weather comes to stay for a while. I live on top of a mountain so spring comes a bit later and winter a bit earlier then for the folks that live around me in the valleys and lower lands.

I love the sound of the chimes and gongs and have missed their discordant music with the exception of the occasional clatter when they were bumped into in the house where they hung awaiting the wind all the long winter.

I take lengths of stiff wire and bend them into the form of an ‘S’ to replace the wire that had rusted over from last years weathering. Each wind chime on it’s own hook hanging from the tree outside my kitchen door. The heavy long tube chime with it’s deeper gong like sound. The light clacking hollow note sounds of the bamboo. The tinkle of the brass bell chime. And all the others filling in the other notes and noises in the breezes. Metal, Glass, Stone, Wood, and Pottery. Shards of broken things that had an interesting sound when strung up with a clacker or bumped into each other on the breeze.

As each one is placed in their place of honor they are checked for damage and fixed if possible. A new clacker string or a bit of wire to hold something back in place. Some do not make it, their cording rotted away and their pieces are taken to be replacement parts for others that have seen the ravages of time. So interspersed with the newer chimes are the miss-mash of the reclaimed.

I remember the person that had given it to me. The occasion it was received and the time spent in finding the right placement for it’s unique sound or look. They are important to me not just because I like the sounds but because of the memories that they invoke. Some of them I have made myself. They may not look as good as the store bought ones but I like them just the same.

Today the music of my wind chimes is back and I am content.