Chime In

This morning I awoke to the sound of a whooshing wind. The chimes hanging on my porch are dancing wildly creating a maelstrom of clanging sound. I peek out the window at a world gone autumnal. No blue skies and puffy white clouds today. Bits of paper and leaves skitter across the lawn, as if driven by demons. Sugar snuffs and sneezes and rolls her face in the grass trying to escape the wind.

I wonder if my neighbors resent the tinkling of my chimes. Lost of my neighbors have wind chimes on their porches, but the wooden ones don't make loud sounds, and the bells hardly move in the turbulence. Only my chimes laugh merrily with the breeze, like school children laughing and cavorting about on a playground.

It took me a long time to select my wind chimes. For months, I rang every wind chime I saw in the stores, wanting to find a sound that was both harmonious and at a pitch level I could resonate with. I finally found this set in an Amish store in Illinois. And even then, it was the last set they had hanging up. I rang every other set first and was not convinced that I would want to listen to their sounds over any length of time. But this set, this was a keeper. I knew immediately that this was the set for me. It was just the right size, rang in just the right octave, had the right brilliance without being piercing and sharp. The metal tubes were carefully tuned and nothing was flat or dull.

I know most people don't bother listening to wind chimes before they get a set. It is the idea that appeals. But then, perhaps they don't really hear them ringing often, especially if they hang them where there isn't much wind. I must admit, today is the first time my set has rung so wildly, and I am happy for it. Have a chime ringing day!