A Winding Path

Ever since I was a kid, I have loved winding paths or trails. There is something about rounding a turn and seeing something unexpected that is fascinating to me. Kind of like opening Christmas presents. It is why, given the time, I will always choose the blue highway over the interstate.

This morning while I was flowbeeing my hair, I got to thinking. Life is a lot like a winding path if you let yourself explore. As I have grown older, I find that I don't turn on the car radio as much as I did when I was younger. Also, not much holds my continued interest on the radio so I tend to keep the scan button engaged. Sunday, on my way back from Columbiana in the van, I was tuning around on the radio (old radio, no scan button.) I came across a Prairie Home Companion on WBHM. I always enjoy PHC and I was getting tired of tuning so I settled on that station. One of the groups performing was a tuba jazz band. Now that is something you don't hear every day. On the last piece they performed, the bandleader played a penny whistle instead of a tuba.

The sound of that penny whistle intrigued me so when I got home, I did an Internet search for information about the penny whistle. I discovered a lot of interesting information. One of the things that surprised me the most is that they are very cheap. There are some that are expensive, but counter to intuition, the less expensive ones are considered by most people to make better music. They were so inexpensive, around 5 dollars, that I ordered one for myself, My Christmas present to me.

After I completed my purchase, I figured that I might as well do some searching for penny whistle songs. I found a great website that had music and midi files for many traditional penny whistle songs. It also had a lot of links at the bottom of the page. I created a shortcut to that site so I could go back.

Last night before I went to bed, I went back to the penny whistle music site and listened to a few more of the songs. Then I clicked on one of the links at the bottom of the page. It took me to a site with multiple links to WebPages containing all kinds of folk, bluegrass, Celtic and traditional music. I was scanning down the list and I came across a song that I recognized. The song was 'Soldier's Joy.' When I was growing up, my father often played the fiddle or the guitar and my mother's father played the fiddle. I remember being down in the living room of my grandfather’s house in Pentonville when they would play music together. One of the songs they played was 'Soldier's Joy.' I also came across the song 'Red Wing.' That was another of their favorites. I can't begin to describe the flood of memories those old songs brought back. Strange how I started out listening to a tuba jazz band on public radio and that took me down a 'winding path' to a 50 year old memory from my childhood. That memory is a great Christmas present in itself.