Back in 1997, Pete bought me a sublime set of wind chimes for Christmas. He’d found them at the Wilderness Society store and they had cost (even back then) a small fortune. These aren’t scrappy bits of tin that clank together in a cacophony of metal whenever the wind blows. Instead, they’re a set of magnificent, tuned, powder coated pipes which provide the most gentle and soothing of tones in the lightest breeze.
Ours is majestically named the Cathedral and the pipes are tuned to a D major scale. These dangle off the pergola roof, largely unprotected from the weather, and, apart from the cobwebs, they’re in almost exactly the same condition as they were when we first hung them. My kitchen opens onto the back deck and often, perhaps daily, there will be a whimsical moment in the mid-afternoon when I’ll be pottering at the stove, the house will be silent and I’ll hear the deep tones of the wind chimes as a slight breeze rustles them – and I’ll be cheered and uplifted for the rest of the day. I found them online today – you can click here to listen to them.
Recently I had a discussion with Pete about how fortunate we are to have each other and the boys, and how grateful I was for all the good things in our lives. I was feeling very blessed. Pete’s reply was that everyone is blessed in some way, it’s just that most people don’t acknowledge their “blessedness”. That’s what the wind chimes do each day – they remind me of my blessedness.
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 